109 replies to this topic

[alanoo]

The ride height has not much to do with it, it is mainly a problem of badly dimensioned bump stops

[chris_uk]

what you recon i can do to sort it? add another?

[alanoo]

Shout at Gaz, and ask them to pay you new wishbones

[Jameshs]

Shout at Gaz, and ask them to pay you new wishbones

Did you ask for new wishbones from Nitron then??

[chris_uk]

Shout at Gaz, and ask them to pay you new wishbones

im going to do that right now

[alanoo]

Shout at Gaz, and ask them to pay you new wishbones

Did you ask for new wishbones from Nitron then??

It's a bit more complicated, mine occured when hitting a security rail on a track so was a lot more than any "normal" event could be.
But I asked Nitron if they were aware of any bump stops issues yep...

[chris_uk]

they are not answering so must have left for the day, i will speak to them tomorrow early doors and see what they have to say

[Arno]

Check the bottom wishbones for straightness too. They may well be bent as well, especially the section between the shock mount and the balljoint. If a wishbone tube is out of true (use a steel ruler) by more than 2mm it should be junked. They are pretty thin-walled and if they become buckled they lose strenght. Also plays hell with your geo.. Bye, Arno.

[chris_uk]

i will check them all out tommorow cheers.. not looking forward to the cost of this repair tho lol

[chris_uk]

i spoke to gaz this morning and warren the lad there said it was very strange so he agreed to send me out some stiffer springs 425lb as i have 375lb on atm.. if that doesnt work he told me to send the shocks to him and they will fit larger bumpstops..

[severnless]

But what did they comment on the wishbones? Have they offered to help you purchase some more? I would not be happy driving with dents in them. They have appeared since you replaced the original suspension for their 'upgraded' version, am i right? Then there product is not fit for purpose, as by their own admission they have not provided enough bump stop clearance get it sorted mate as the wishbones are made form thin wall tube, so thin in fact, that they dent when making contact with the thin rear subframe if you have a dent in a tube that will be the place where it 'could' bent from! which would really fcuk up your day Gaz have a good customer service to sort these problems ( by reputation) so lets see if they can live upto their reputation please keep us upto date, as i was thinking about changing my shocks for Gaz?

Edited by severnless, 26 February 2009 - 06:55 PM.

[chris_uk]

ok i would just like to follow on now it has been sorted out.

firstly i would like to comment that gaz's c/s is very good and i was very pleased with whats been arranged.

the springs warren sent me out arrived this afternoon, so when i got home i whipped off the wheel and had propper look at the wishbones.. and not only is it dinted but looks bent.

these are the springs i received and they are actaully 475 not 425 like i put earlier. lol



then i took the wheel off and had a look, i wondered how far the wheel would have to travel inside the arch to get the top wishbone to make contact with the subframe, so i removed the coilover and jacked it up.



as you can see its pretty far inside the arch, so first thing i did was measure the gap between the two bolt holes to get a distance




and then measured the coilover.



the gap that the coilover was to fit in was just roughly 13.5" and if we measure the coilover its 17.5" ish from centre hole to centre hole.. but without a spring its 14" (inc bumpstop) so the coilover effectivly does nothing to stop the wishbone hitting the tub, so as a conclusion i didnt think that the bumpstop was big enough..

i spoke to warren to explain my findings and at the time nothing was mentioned about replacing the wishbones but he agreed so very kindly to send me out some new rear shocks so i could fit the new springs and use them.

and also fit 2" bumpstops, hopefully it should suffice in stopping this problem

i also suggested that he may want to look into using the 2" for all the rear sets he sends out for the vx220

** please note.. this has not happened because of the gaz kit, if you have any aftermarket coilover on regardless of make i would suggest you whip your wheel off and check it out**

** make sure of the following
- ride height isnt stupidly low
- ride stiffness isnt very soft
- make sure you dont hit any bug potholes (this is what happened to me)

[Winstar]

** please note.. this has not happened because of the gaz kit, if you have any aftermarket coilover on regardless of make i would suggest you whip your wheel off and check it out**

I'm not sure how you come to this conclusion surly a produce should be tested to make sure the bump stop is big enough to stop the wishbones being damaged?

[goodeg]

** please note.. this has not happened because of the gaz kit, if you have any aftermarket coilover on regardless of make i would suggest you whip your wheel off and check it out**

I'm not sure how you come to this conclusion surly a produce should be tested to make sure the bump stop is big enough to stop the wishbones being damaged?

Surely if it was caused by the bump stops not being big enough how can it not be GAZs fault?

[severnless]

** please note.. this has not happened because of the gaz kit, if you have any aftermarket coilover on regardless of make i would suggest you whip your wheel off and check it out**

I'm not sure how you come to this conclusion surly a produce should be tested to make sure the bump stop is big enough to stop the wishbones being damaged?

Surely if it was caused by the bump stops not being big enough how can it not be GAZs fault?

I'm sorry Chris, but although i have used 'Gaz' kit before on my kit cars, i have been very impressed with it, unfortunately they have supplied it to the VX220 market without enough research, your wishbones have proved this!
so i'm sorry but they are 'not fit for purpose'

Unless they sort you out with some new wishbones and supply every other VX220 owner who has purchased their shocks with the upgraded bump-stops then i don't think i will be a customer of theirs.

Good luck fella

[chris_uk]

** please note.. this has not happened because of the gaz kit, if you have any aftermarket coilover on regardless of make i would suggest you whip your wheel off and check it out**

I'm not sure how you come to this conclusion surly a produce should be tested to make sure the bump stop is big enough to stop the wishbones being damaged?

what i meant was they worked as supplied.. and the only reason it happened is that i hit a big assed pothole, under normal circumstances (well saying that we live in britain and our roads are sh**) but what i mean is they work the same now as they did when i got them, so they didnt fail or anything like that,,

i would say that if you are worried about it then by all means call warren up and get them to change the bumpstops.

[goodeg]

what i meant was they worked as supplied.. and the only reason it happened is that i hit a big assed pothole, under normal circumstances (well saying that we live in britain and our roads are sh**) but what i mean is they work the same now as they did when i got them, so they didnt fail or anything like that,,

i would say that if you are worried about it then by all means call warren up and get them to change the bumpstops.

The shocks may not have failed but their design allowed the wishbones to hit the tub. Which is now going to cost you £400+ to fix...
If the bump stops where of an adequate size then this wouldn't have happened?

Edited by goodeg, 28 February 2009 - 05:14 PM.

[vauxhallade]

Hi I am thinking of getting A VX220 turbo I have been reading about your suspension problems can you tel me why the standard set up needs changing ?? appreciate a reply regards Adrian font="Arial Black"][/font]

ok i would just like to follow on now it has been sorted out.

firstly i would like to comment that gaz's c/s is very good and i was very pleased with whats been arranged.

the springs warren sent me out arrived this afternoon, so when i got home i whipped off the wheel and had propper look at the wishbones.. and not only is it dinted but looks bent.

these are the springs i received and they are actaully 475 not 425 like i put earlier. lol



then i took the wheel off and had a look, i wondered how far the wheel would have to travel inside the arch to get the top wishbone to make contact with the subframe, so i removed the coilover and jacked it up.



as you can see its pretty far inside the arch, so first thing i did was measure the gap between the two bolt holes to get a distance




and then measured the coilover.



the gap that the coilover was to fit in was just roughly 13.5" and if we measure the coilover its 17.5" ish from centre hole to centre hole.. but without a spring its 14" (inc bumpstop) so the coilover effectivly does nothing to stop the wishbone hitting the tub, so as a conclusion i didnt think that the bumpstop was big enough..

i spoke to warren to explain my findings and at the time nothing was mentioned about replacing the wishbones but he agreed so very kindly to send me out some new rear shocks so i could fit the new springs and use them.

and also fit 2" bumpstops, hopefully it should suffice in stopping this problem

i also suggested that he may want to look into using the 2" for all the rear sets he sends out for the vx220

** please note.. this has not happened because of the gaz kit, if you have any aftermarket coilover on regardless of make i would suggest you whip your wheel off and check it out**

** make sure of the following
- ride height isnt stupidly low
- ride stiffness isnt very soft
- make sure you dont hit any bug potholes (this is what happened to me)

[jules_s]

Chris, Why do you think this damage is related to hitting a pothole, when the damage is to both the nearside and offside wishbones? It seems to me that Gaz have indeed dropped one on the spring rates (at least)..... and I agree 'not fit for purpose' springs to mind......what on earth would be the damage be like if you were carring any sort of weight in the boot?

[chris_uk]

Jules, i would tend to agree with you, but if you think of how many people have the same shocks, why is it that there are no other problems with other peoples setups? two possibilities that i can think of are running too low or possibly the dampers set too soft so because i know that i wasnt running too low, and that the dampers were infact set quite hard i have to rule this out, so i have to investigate other means, it must be something thats happened to my car that is out of the ordinary, and the only thing to spring to mind is a pothole i hit a couple weeks back. i think the pothole i hit was on this video, just after overtaking the van... so i was accelerating down a hill and just as i get to the bottom i hit the pothole, whether its has something to do with the force of the sudden uphil (forcing the car down) and hitting the pothole at the same time i dont know..