Vitesse shockers

[Bobtaylor]

Hi, I am planning to replace the rear and front shock absorbers om my Mk1 vitesse, I thought I would replace the front springs at the same time. My plan is to use standard parts. Due to their age I think the car would benefit from a fresh set.

Any advice on best supplier for quality and problems I may encounter would be appreciated.

Bob

[Gary Flinn]

Hi Bob

I would recommend Koni Classic Dampers, I fitted them all round to my Mk2 Vitesse and had no issues, in fact the current owner, who I keep in touch with on a regular basis is always telling me how well the car still rides?

Although Koni aren't the cheapest they will last, remember you get what you pay for? 

Gaz & Spax are also well know and have a good reputation

I would keep away from unbranded black dampers, I've read and heard bad stories about them, probably made in Asia to poor standards

You may get luck and find branded Monroe N.O.S. ones on E-Bay but they may well be 20/30 Years old now so who knows what the internals are like!

Search around the usual suppliers for the best deal, Rimmer's sometimes have 15% off deals

Regards

Gary 

[Bobtaylor]

I accept you get what you pay for, but a set of Koni dampers is out of my budget.

it is only for general running around and would be happy to restore to original factory spec.

I see Rimmers do a set of 4 dampers and 2 front springs for £119. I guess these are unbranded though.

[Clive]

2 hours ago, Bobtaylor said:

Hi, I am planning to replace the rear and front shock absorbers om my Mk1 vitesse, I thought I would replace the front springs at the same time. My plan is to use standard parts. Due to their age I think the car would benefit from a fresh set.

Any advice on best supplier for quality and problems I may encounter would be appreciated.

Bob

Problems would typically be the cheap shocks don't absorb much, and may have spring pans at the wrong height (used to be the case, it may have been fixed) making the car sit way to high. New springs? again, it is finding some that are correctly made to the std specification. The brothers have a repuation for that, I know dolomite springs turn up with a pair that are different unfitted lengths....... and different rates. 

Try Fitchets or Canleys?

[Gary Flinn]

57 minutes ago, Bobtaylor said:

I accept you get what you pay for, but a set of Koni dampers is out of my budget.

it is only for general running around and would be happy to restore to original factory spec.

I see Rimmers do a set of 4 dampers and 2 front springs for £119. I guess these are unbranded though.

Chances are the Rimmers ones are made in China/India or some other far eastern country and are of dubious quality, you may get lucky but personally I wouldn't fit them to a car of mine?

How about these Branded Monroe ones on E-Bay?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304168713426?fits=Car+Make%3ATriumph|Model%3AVitesse&hash=item46d1de3cd2:g:j3YAAOSw~j1hVuA4

Gary

 

[Pete Lewis]

std springs in club shop are £45 inc vat 

shop only sell gaz  £185   and spax    more 

there is little point in adjustable shocks for normal leisure driving and pootling around 

shocks are very much how much /how many miles /what usage/driving style  all come into the 

utopia/compromise equation 

Pete

[Pete Lewis]

yes i found with adjustable you were always messing depends on the load and passengers  always too hard  too soft 

most  have them on the minimum setting  so agree they are a pain of little help

as they cost so much you rarely  hear of a bad idea 

how apart from much testing can you set the bump and rebound to match your cars specification 

and why not do a push pull test on what you have they may be better than you think

if you have a local chassis dynamometer handy then thats the way to go 

so stick to simple  less faf

Pete

[daverclasper]

Also I think the springs have a free length size quoted in the manual, I assume this may tell if they are Ok?

Not sure if there is a compressed, under load, with weight of car dimension a well?

[Colin Lindsay]

Fitted length and free length in this screenshot from the manual:

I'll be going for the standard black units on my Herald, I don't think I'll be rallying or even fast cornering. I'll probably buy from Paddocks although have just spotted these:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203515060433?fits=Car+Make%3ATriumph|Model%3AHerald&hash=item2f627160d1:g:AFUAAOSwXwRg4wVL