Suspension Repairs.

[shaun_perry]

I have HKS Hyper D shock absorbers F&R of my skyline.

I was wondering if they are servicable and if so, where can I

send them?? I live in Mount Isa and I would also like to know the nearest HKS

dealer or service agent.

Thanks,

Shaun

[STATUS]

hey hey say hi to kev at autobarn for me, and tell whitey to keep the gtr

there is a place in qld www.shockreco.com.au/ ive used a few times and they are a bit hit and miss, i had some gpsports done there that came back worse

the other option is fulcrum i think they will do them but expect to pay more.

[Equinox]

Why is everyone who does shocks in QLD.

[shaun_perry]

Still need help.

Thanks.

[black_gtst]

i could be wrong about this but do big motorcycle shops do work on shocks etc?

[Sydneykid]

The question of servicing shocks comes up a lot and is usually met with poor response, the reasons why;

1. Each shock brand is different, so the parts are almost guarateed to be different. No one can afford to to carry spare parts for every brand of shock. Plus it is not unusual for special (expensive) tools to be required.

2. Most Japanese brands of shock don't have spare parts. They are not sold separately by the manufacturer, so no one can buy them. Plus very often the shock bodies are sealed at the time of manufacture, the don't have easily accessible internals. No service manuals are available. Their thinking is "buy new shocks" when the old ones are worn out.

3. So a lot of shock reconditioners use second hand parts in the service. They get 2 or 3 sets of one brand and make 1 good set out of them. That's why the success rate of getting shocks reconditioned is patchy, you might be lucky and get good second hand parts and you might not.

3. The majority of the value in shocks is in the parts that wear out. The shafts, the bores, the pistons and their valves, that's where the money is and they are what wears out. Add labour to the cost and you end up with more than the cost of new shocks.

4. Sometimes you can be lucky and the only thing wrong with a shock is the seals are damaged. Then you need to be lucky again and hope that the seals are a standard size, which doesn't happen very often with Japanese shocks. The process is to replace the damaged seals, new shock oil and regas with nitrogen. Based on my experience that would happen less than 0.1% of the time. Why? Well when the seals let go the nitrogen escapes and the shock looses a lot of its efficiency, it moves up and down a lot freer. Quite often so much so that bump stops start wearing out. When the bump stops are gone, the piston starts slamming into the top and bottom of the shock tube. That very quickly destroys the valves and the piston itself. Plus the resulting bits of metal score the bores on the shock tube and it becomes useless. So you have very short timeframe between seal failure and total shock worthlessness, the last piece of luck is noticing the damaged seals in that short period of time.

5. The more sophisticated shocks (Bilstein, Koni, MSA, Sach, Penske etc) are designed to be serviced. Their manufacturers offer spare parts and service kits. They have designated agents who carry the range of spare parts for their brand, they have the special tools and the manuals. They have shock dynos to confirm the results, which is essential, unmatched shock pairs are not a good thing.

Cheers

Gary

[BOZ22N]

Gary,

Do Bilstein, Koni, MSA, Sach and Penske make a track shock and spring combo or coilover set up for skylines?

What are our other options other than the jap ones for track use?

Cheers,

Ryan

[Sydneykid]

Gary,

Do Bilstein, Koni, MSA, Sach and Penske make a track shock and spring combo or coilover set up for skylines?

What are our other options other than the jap ones for track use?

Cheers,

Ryan

H Ryan, I specify Eibach/Bilstein sets for Skylines almost every day for circuit racing, drag racing and drifting. We use Konis in lots of applications but I have tried their offerings and for R32/33/34's and the bottom line is the Bilsteins are a superior solution. The Bilstein/Eibach combo's work out around $2,200 depending on the specification. I have recently arranged some sets of R33GTR, R34GTT and R34GTR Bilsteins in the PS9 style with track day specification, they will be around $2,900. For MSA (nee Proflex) you are looking at around $8K for the double adjustable, remote cannister and $9.5K for triple adjustable. Penskes are around $11K which is similar to the Ohlins (that's Swedish Ohlins, not Yamahas). I am doing some work on the Sach range, they are 5 way adjustable so the engineering is substantial.

Cheers

Gary

[shaun_perry]

Bump