Can front shocks be reconditioned?

On Wed, 07 May 2008 08:03:01 GMT, Catman
> wrote:

>Zathras wrote:

>>
>> It's a good point. Even if the undertray looks good, it can be sagging
>> by a couple of cms toward the middle rear which seems to make an
>> incredible difference to grounding.
>>
>
>I was on the verge of spending ~£600 when Jamie fixed mine.

Same here - I thought my suspension was on the way out. Main Dealer
hadn't even bothered to put two of the retaining bolts in. Once all
was as the manufacturer intended, the car was *vastly* better.

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject will be auto-deleted..sorry!)

Zathras wrote:
> On Wed, 07 May 2008 08:03:01 GMT, Catman
> > wrote:
>
>> Zathras wrote:
>
>>> It's a good point. Even if the undertray looks good, it can be sagging
>>> by a couple of cms toward the middle rear which seems to make an
>>> incredible difference to grounding.
>>>
>> I was on the verge of spending ~£600 when Jamie fixed mine.
>
> Same here - I thought my suspension was on the way out. Main Dealer
> hadn't even bothered to put two of the retaining bolts in. Once all
> was as the manufacturer intended, the car was *vastly* better.
>

Still nose heavy, but not worth the cost IMHO.

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

On Wed, 07 May 2008 17:04:21 GMT, Catman
> wrote:

>Zathras wrote:
>> On Wed, 07 May 2008 08:03:01 GMT, Catman
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> Zathras wrote:
>>
>>>> It's a good point. Even if the undertray looks good, it can be sagging
>>>> by a couple of cms toward the middle rear which seems to make an
>>>> incredible difference to grounding.
>>>>
>>> I was on the verge of spending ~£600 when Jamie fixed mine.
>>
>> Same here - I thought my suspension was on the way out. Main Dealer
>> hadn't even bothered to put two of the retaining bolts in. Once all
>> was as the manufacturer intended, the car was *vastly* better.
>>
>
>Still nose heavy, but not worth the cost IMHO.

Quite. However, I'm also 7 years older than when I got it and don't
feel the need to charge over 'rough ground' as much as I did when I
was younger!! :-o

The 'fix' is to replace it but the 159TI 2.4 has the following flaws:

Rubbish colours
No sunroof
Doesn't look as good
They've admitted (with their Prodrive collaboration) that they still
can't do UK-style suspension.
lardy? *70 hp* more than mine and it's only 1.3s quicker to 60!!
Very slow seller

Gah!

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject will be auto-deleted..sorry!)

Zathras wrote:
> On Wed, 07 May 2008 17:04:21 GMT, Catman
> > wrote:
>
>> Zathras wrote:
>>> On Wed, 07 May 2008 08:03:01 GMT, Catman
>>> > wrote:
>>>
>>>> Zathras wrote:
>>>>> It's a good point. Even if the undertray looks good, it can be sagging
>>>>> by a couple of cms toward the middle rear which seems to make an
>>>>> incredible difference to grounding.
>>>>>
>>>> I was on the verge of spending ~£600 when Jamie fixed mine.
>>> Same here - I thought my suspension was on the way out. Main Dealer
>>> hadn't even bothered to put two of the retaining bolts in. Once all
>>> was as the manufacturer intended, the car was *vastly* better.
>>>
>> Still nose heavy, but not worth the cost IMHO.
>
> Quite. However, I'm also 7 years older than when I got it and don't
> feel the need to charge over 'rough ground' as much as I did when I
> was younger!! :-o
>
> The 'fix' is to replace it but the 159TI 2.4 has the following flaws:
>
> Rubbish colours
> No sunroof
> Doesn't look as good
> They've admitted (with their Prodrive collaboration) that they still
> can't do UK-style suspension.
> lardy? *70 hp* more than mine and it's only 1.3s quicker to 60!!
> Very slow seller

Expensive......


--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

"Zathras" > wrote in message
...
> On Tue, 6 May 2008 12:59:54 +0100, "David A Stocks"
> > wrote:
>
>>
>>"Charlie Money" > wrote in message
...
>>> I've got a 2005 1.9 multijet diesel sportwagon. The front end is
>>> bottoming out really badly, even on relatively minor dips in the road,
>>> with the front spoiler scraping worryingly on the road. Unfortunately
>>> it is out of warranty, as the mileage is very high (102,000 miles)
>>>
>>> Is it possible to get the front shocks reconditioned, or are they
>>> fully sealed units which can only be replaced? If they can be
>>> reconditioned, does anybody know somewhere around Bristol that they
>>> can recommend. Alternatively, are there any good aftermarket shocks
>>> that people know of?
>>>
>>It's more likely that the engine undertray is knackered. Unless you're
>>certain that there's a problem with the springs/dampers I would look there
>>first. The solution for me (2000 2.4JTD SP3) was simply to remove the
>>undertray.
>
> This is *not* a good solution. Next time he hits the road, there's
> nothing between the road and the sump! My old garage pointed out that
> they had experience of this and it wasn't pleasant. "You need a new
> engine..er..that'll be..thousands.."
>
> Makes no sense, for an 80UKP part you risk writing off your car.

The tray does not prevent direct damage to the engine caused by contact with
the road - if you ground the car enough to hit the bottom of the engine on
the road, the repair bill will be large with or without a plastic tray! The
front exhaust pipes are lower than the tray (even a saggy one), so a
grounding which plonks the engine on the ground would have to go through all
4 exhaust downpipes first (ouch). This indicates that the tray's purpose is
only to stop dirt and objects (maybe water?) from flying into the engine bay
and causing damage.

Repair bill to replace the tray would probably be more than £80 too as the
parts of bodywork that the undertray bolts on to tend to break off along
with the tray.

On Wed, 28 May 2008 16:57:39 +0100, "GT"
> wrote:

>The tray does not prevent direct damage to the engine caused by contact with
>the road - if you ground the car enough to hit the bottom of the engine on
>the road, the repair bill will be large with or without a plastic tray!

All I can say is that my (now ex) main dealer said that they only had
experienced ripped sumps on cars with the tray removed or where most
of it was missing. You're also ignoring the fact that the tray *will*
help disperse a point impact (e.g. from a stone) giving the sump a
much better chance of survival.

>The
>front exhaust pipes are lower than the tray (even a saggy one), so a
>grounding which plonks the engine on the ground would have to go through all
>4 exhaust downpipes first (ouch).

The hit points on my car go from the tip of the front valence all the
way back beyond the engine compartment. There are a lot of factors
governing what part of the car will be struck. It may be that the
exhausts don't often get hit where they are. Nevertheless, it's a
matter of record with Alfa UK that sumps have been ripped on vehicles
without trays..

> This indicates that the tray's purpose is
>only to stop dirt and objects (maybe water?) from flying into the engine bay
>and causing damage.

...also noise reduction (esp. on the diesels).

>Repair bill to replace the tray would probably be more than £80 too as the
>parts of bodywork that the undertray bolts on to tend to break off along
>with the tray.

Not by much though. All that was missing on mine was two captive nuts
- fixed with bits I had in stock from B&Q. Still fine after 3 years.

In my 7 years with the mine, I've had lots of bad scrapes (Ireland,
Scottish Highlands and Fife typically) and one very severe set of high
speed road impacts while overtaking fully laden in Fife! Yes there are
lots of scrapes on the bottom of my car but there's no damage worth
mentioning. Everything's all present and correct.

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject will be auto-deleted..sorry!)

"Zathras" > wrote in message
...
> On Wed, 28 May 2008 16:57:39 +0100, "GT"
> > wrote:
[snip]
> In my 7 years with the mine, I've had lots of bad scrapes (Ireland,
> Scottish Highlands and Fife typically) and one very severe set of high
> speed road impacts while overtaking fully laden in Fife!

Is that Bin's brother?

On Thu, 29 May 2008 11:04:29 +0100, "GT"
> wrote:

>"Zathras" > wrote in message
.. .
>> On Wed, 28 May 2008 16:57:39 +0100, "GT"
>> > wrote:
>[snip]
>> In my 7 years with the mine, I've had lots of bad scrapes (Ireland,
>> Scottish Highlands and Fife typically) and one very severe set of high
>> speed road impacts while overtaking fully laden in Fife!
>
>Is that Bin's brother?

LOL!

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject will be auto-deleted..sorry!)