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Does anyone have any sources for purchasing replacement parts for Aragosta Coilovers? I recently bought a set of Type-S coilovers for my FD. These were supposed to be low mileage and in great shape, but it turns out that the dampers are blown. I'd like to attempt to save them.
The dampers each have an internal yellow plastic/rubber(maybe urethane?) piece that has deteriorated into hundreds of particles that cause the pistons to bind up. This piece was originally positioned above the piston and I believe it is either an internal rebound spacer or some sort of flow diverter.Can anyone confirm the purpose of this piece?
Now that this style of Aragosta coilover is more than a few years old, I'm sure that everyone else with these shocks has the same problem. Has anyone come up with a solution? I have contacted a few suspension shops (including some that advertise Aragosta rebuilds as well as some Aragosta dealers) but none that I have found are able to source parts for these shocks.
Holy crap. That is mega blown. If you bought them on the forum here, I hope you left negative feedback on the seller.
On to your question - It's unlikely the shock company will sell you parts to rebuild on your own. That is what their dealer and service network are for. You might be better off asking the dealer or Aragosta themselves for a price on rebuilding.
Yes, the piston is 46mm. Bilstein teflon bands might work if they could be cut down to the right height (about 4mm). The piston bands are actually in good shape though (although it would be good to replace them while doing an overhaul), I'm mostly concerned with the yellow "plastic" piece. I really can't tell what the purpose of this piece is but I'm sure it was included for a reason. Is it a rebound spacer/internal bump stop, or does it have to do with oil flow?
Looks like a bit of a mystery without seeing one whole, it's probably to stop the shock topping out and Aragosta has helpfully used something not very durable. If the shaft is 10mm, I'd bet you could find something more common to replace that, I'd normally suggest someone here to try, who caters to unsupported stuff - at a price - but not very convenient for your location!
Can't say I've seen an oil circuit beyond the piston itself, stack and any shaft drillings.
Hopefully it wouldn't ride up through the gland, is there a ding in the hard chrome just above that yellow mess in that 2nd pic?
Looks like a bit of a mystery without seeing one whole, it's probably to stop the shock topping out and Aragosta has helpfully used something not very durable. If the shaft is 10mm, I'd bet you could find something more common to replace that, I'd normally suggest someone here to try, who caters to unsupported stuff - at a price - but not very convenient for your location!
Can't say I've seen an oil circuit beyond the piston itself, stack and any shaft drillings.
Hopefully it wouldn't ride up through the gland, is there a ding in the hard chrome just above that yellow mess in that 2nd pic?
If it's simply a top-out/rebound spacer, I'm sure I could come up with a solution. The shaft is 14mm.
Like I said, the second picture is not mine. I borrowed it from a similar thread that I found posted by user, "Feedthafire", so I'm not sure about the ding in the shaft, but it does look like it might be damaged. Seeing another user with the same issue (deteriorated yellow piece), I'm sure that all of these older Aragosta coilovers are like this. This seems to have been a highly regarded suspension a few years ago, I'm hoping someone else with the same shocks will chime in...
From my experience rebuilding shocks, I highly doubt it has anything to do with flow. It's probably just some internal rebound bumper as you have described, unless of course it's a wiper seal from within the bearing cap that fell down (I can't see from the pictures). You usually just find hard plastic or aluminum spacers between the piston/shim stack and the bearing cap.
I have Aragosta Type-S coilovers as well, just on my MR2. I haven't been able to source parts to do a rebuild myself, but I do know that there are some companies in North America that will service/rebuild them.
Of course, I would reach out and ask ahead of time if they actually are willing to do it, as support for Aragosta is pretty small outside of Japan
Aragosta themselves will not ship out rebuild parts/kits for them as far as I know, if you want them to do it, you have to ship the coils back and it's like a 2 month turn around time
Thanks for the replies. It was very difficult to get in contact with Aragosta, but I finally got confirmation directly from them that the yellow pieces were simply intended to be compressible top-out spacers. I believe I have sourced a perfect replacement from another manufacturer.
Many of the components of these shocks are AST and AST has been very helpful answering my questions, although I don't know if they are actually affiliated with Aragosta and I don't know if they will service these shocks. Finding a rebuilder that will work on these and that can source parts for them was very difficult so I decided to take this on myself.
I'm still trying to source a couple more internal seals, but I am deep into rebuilding these shocks right now and I plan to report back with more information after I complete this project.
11-05-19, 11:31 PM
