DamperMan Posted March 19, 2016 Author Share Posted March 19, 2016 Hay blink thought you was going to post the graphs of your protec dampers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kit Car Electronics Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 This looks a really interesting offer. Like many here, I had Spax fitted reliably for years with no complaint other than ride harshness and lack of control on rough roads. It would be interesting to know how these compare with those 'Spax of old' - could one of the surviving original dampers be dyno'd as a comparison perhaps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 I've always wondered if the old original fit Spax's were actually as bad as you'd think, given what you hear/read now. And that what most people were complaining of was actually just down to them being old! They do have a hard life on a Westfield, after all. Alternating between very heavy use, on track, hard road use etc, and just standing around for long periods on a laid up car, can't be great for seals, bushes, gaskets etc. I seem to recall them being quite a budget product too, as against what they're sometimes compared to now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamperMan Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 Like most the old products the valving was quite generic. The valving had the tendency to be either hard or soft not much in between. Westfield themselves would only pay a certain amount for the product limiting what could be offered. The dampers I took off my car of 1995 vintage worked ok but the quality was a bit hit and miss in the old days. The shafts where corroded which to be honest 20 years exposed is hardly surprising and that lead to one leaking. . The rubber bushes again perished with age. Some history... Spax started in the mid 50's. Long before I was born. I know it had a shop and factory in Kentish Town London. At some point manufacturing moved to Jersey. I can only assume there was tax advantage!. Then to Walsall, then to Bicester. It had several owners on the way and made some very fancy products. Spax went into receivership I think 1999, Bought by a new owner all the previous management where exited. Proper quaility controls where implemented and continue to be monitored and tweaked. . Gazzard engineering supplied much of our machined parts. 2002 ish Gaz shocks was born, helped by the guy who set up Avo (rod Avon previously wAs connected with Spax). We quickly resourced all the machined parts which made a massive improvement to Spax products, but caused some sweat for a few weeks. Our server was stolen the same week which made life a little more difficult. Mr Avon went on with very old Spax knowledge, Avo and Gaz experience to set up Protec. He's since left them to I believe. Other spaxlings have been guy Evans of nitron. His first dampers where Spax-like. Nigel Killerby of Avo was a Spax sales man if I'm correct.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tisme Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 There's some interesting information there - I use AVO's as the car was fitted with them when I got it and I updated the rears last year with some new units from them. I used to use them on my Jedi as well, and being based in Northampton I've "stuck locally" as the product looks well made and does what I want it to do and at a good price. I guess this is what "brand loyalty" is often about - a recognisable product at a reasonable price and if it's local and you can go and chat to them, then so much the better (I've had a few conversations with Nigel now - I believe he's the sole Director but either way he knows his stuff). Going back further though, many of my previous "sporting" cars have used Spax without problems so I'm always open to seeing what's available when the time comes to replace something - however, once you get out of sync in terms of front / back replacements, then I'd stick with the same brand as swapping all four of something when two are probably ok gets a bit expensive. As for the tintops, I've tended to stick to names like Monroe and Armstrong (though I'm not sure who owns Armstrong now - maybe just a cheap "branded" product?) - I've been caught out with poor quality dampers from the likes of Britpart so prefer a company I can find and where I can see they actually have a manufacturing facility and not some shack on a hillside in India or China Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamperMan Posted March 21, 2016 Author Share Posted March 21, 2016 Your a tad late on the Armstrong thing... They where bought by Tenneco Walker (Monroe) back on 1989. Your comments about buying products from a know source is more relevant now than ever. My other addiction is a 1989 VW camper. Some of the parts are stupid crazy cheep and even though the original part has lasted over 25 years the replacement cheapy lasts 2 minutes. In an my industry things are not what they appear either. Mahl who made a lot of the o.e stuff for vw don't make dampers, you can buy dampers with their brand on. KYB is the largest shock absorber manufacturer in the world (I believe) but much of the low volume stuff in their catalog is made by 3rd parties. And then there are is Fabi Bilstien which is not Bilstien dampers or a side division. Its not part of the thyssen krupp group at all. In the last few years a lot of people are turning away from the ebay parts, and returning to specialist retailers because they can trust the products they sell. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamperMan Posted March 26, 2016 Author Share Posted March 26, 2016 Hay blink thought you was going to post the graphs of your protec dampers. clearly not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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