People with coilovers in Canada, if you have ever gotten them serviced/rebuilt, where did you do so, and what brand of coilovers were they.

I'm basically trying to figure out the product support for the different brands of coilovers, located in Canada.

a lot of coilovers have good US/overseas support, but sometimes price and time quickly goes up if they have to be shipped from Canada.

 

What part are you trying to service? The shocks? The bearings at the top?
The threads? We sent our Bilsteins out to be rebuilt but there is really nothing else service on the coilover other than making sure the threads are okay.

 

oops, i should have been more clear.
i want to get some entry-level coilovers this summer. there's a few choices which all seem good, but mainly i am just concerned with what happens if i damage a damper somehow (driving on some shitty roads where i live). are there places in Canada that do servicing, or do i have to ship it out, pay some crazy sum of money, and get it back a month later.
just wondering what others who live in Canada do in that situation.

the choices i am looking at all seem equal in terms of performance (and price of course), so the deciding factor i guess is ease of serviceablity, product support, etc.

 

Last I checked, the only North American company that rebuilds Cusco coilovers is in California. My 2 cents.

 

ok, thanks for the info.

 

Any shock shop that deals with automotive dampeners. Can do it. Its just seals.

The only problem is sometime it might take a while for them to arrive.

 

Sure there is. If it is physically ok, the oil doesn't last forever. The nitrogen pressure gets lost over time. The shim plates wear from repeated flexing. The seals may go bad. The bore/piston may have chatter marks in them.

 

If yuo have the money and you coilovers are worth money as well. I'm willing to be multimatic motorsports can rebuild them, same goes for aim tuning

 

Just to let you guys know, only authorized service facilities for the specific brand of shock are able to rebuild them. Koni's are only rebuilt by Koni, Truechoice and Tri-Point, Bilsteins by Bilstein and 3 other shops, etc....

Multimatic only rebuilds Dynamic Suspension shocks.

The wear items in a coil over are the oil, nitrogen and seals (as Cheers said), plus internal valving, adjusters, piston seals and in some cases internal bump stops.

One real cool thing is that if you send in your shocks or struts for rebuilding, for a little extra $$$$ they will revalve the shocks to custom tailor them to your spring and car weight. Really worth the money.

Only issue with rebuilding is that when you take into account the shipping costs, rebuild costs and taxes and duties, it almost costs the same as a new shock. That is why I like my Koni's, Lifetime Guarantee", I have already used this feature and you get a new shock for about $30 bucks.

Super deal and well worth looking into.

Eric

 

ok, so there is some conflicting opinion here. in this same thread someone has said that some shops will rebuild any shock, while the post above mentions you need to take it to a specific dealer?

23Racer, a big incentive for me to get something like a GC/Koni combo over a matched coilover is the fact that both the GC sleeve, spring, and Koni shock have a LIFETIME warranty. pretty much every coilover out there is 1 year...i'm really worried about reliability because honestly the race tracks are usually fine, it's the roads i have to drive on everyday that worry me.

what about coilovers where you can just replace the shock catridge? is this a big advantage? one of the coilovers i am considering, new replacement catridges are $150 US. about the same as a rebuild.

 

Just replace the cartriridge then. Call the above shops.
AIM Tuning
Multimatic.
Ask them if they rebuild coilovers that were not manufactured by them. There isn't a great deal about the mechanical aspects on a monotube shock, so parts aren't that bad. Just be warned that the cost may be even more than a brand new set of JIC magics. AIM tuning and Multimatic do not cater to the poor amateur racer. They cater to wealth or corporate clients.

 

ok, thanks for that info. so there ARE local shops that will do it, just maybe at a fairly high cost...

one more question, if anyone knows, i know there are performance differences between dual and mono tube shocks, but are there any reliability or durability differences? i can't seem to find much info on that...i know monoshocks are less susceptible to overheating, but are both designs equally prone to damage from potholes, large bumps, seal failure etc.?

 

Both shops can rebuild shocks that parts are generally available for. That does not include high pressure Koni's, high pressure Bilsteins, Ohlins, Motons etc... Some versions of Penske's, Koni 2812 versions and a few others that are low pressure monotube design can be rebuilt by anyone as the parts can be bought over the counter.

I don't know why I keep trying to advise you guys. I have been racing for over 20 years, I ran a racing shop for 7 years and know a lot of the people in the Motorsports industry personally. Do what Cheers said. Call up Aim and Multimatic. Ask them if they will rebuild your Tokico Illuminas, Koni Yellows or KYB's or if they send them out for rebuilding. Find out for yourself. See if they will first talk to you and secondly if it makes sense.

Coldfire, get some good suspension design books and read about it. There is no simple answers in motorsports. Everything is a compromise.

Now I am in a pissy mood. Enough from me on this subject. See you on track.

 

thanks 23Racer, i know you have experience that is why i like hearing from you.
i actually have access to some good motorsport/suspension tech books, publications, etc., since i am an FSAE member with my university, and i also registered as a SAE student member. i'm going to try to get a hold of some of those.
anyways, thanks again.

- Aaron

 

Aaron, great job, keep going at it. I just wish they had FSAE when I went to automotive technical design school. Study and learn for yourself and keep an open mind. As well I had 10 years in component design with domestic and international OEM automotive sales. I do know just a little bit.

Ooops I said I wasn't going to respond again. my bad.

 

I know this is an old thread. let me reopen it! hahaaa! neways, I have a set of HKS HIPER-D coilovers that I'm 100% sure needs to be rebuilt. anyone know where I can have them done in Canada? are the above stores, "AIM Tuning" and "Multimatic" Canadian stores??? where are they?

 

Yes Canadian shops, AIM in Woodbridge and Multimatic in Markham. It is doubtful that either would be interested in helping because it's HKS. Contact the master distributor for HKS in North America and ask where their recognized/accredited service facilities are. I worked with Multimatic for a summer and these guys are far too serious for handling casual 7 suspension jobs. The dynamics area can build 2nd and 3rd gen coilover packages but be prepared to pay between $12,000 and $15,000. I'll stop by once in a while and see Newman Haas there or another indy team doing work on the four-post shaker rig testing the Dynamic Suspension. We're talking $$$.