Had Them Rebuilt

[Rexina182]

My Sachs have now been rebuilt at a cost of £583.20 (inc VAT) by BG Motorsport. A brilliant service, very quick turnaround and smiles all round.

However, I am a little frustrated with Renault. Clearly, when deciding how to see off the 182 they saw 1000 or so Sachs suspension units and thought, "ah yes Claude, we can go round to your house, drink some wine, share our wives and then put these suspension units on the 182." Rene replied, "Cest fantastique! We will make the ultimate handling hot hatch and sell to the British."

Brilliant, except one thing: they never told us when to service the Sachs front units. The cam belt, aux belt, seat belts and various other bits have service intervals. These suspension parts, much like the forks on a bike, need servicing. They are not mass produced throw away items which can be found, for example, on the Clio 200 Cup.

Yes there appears to be no rhyme of reason for the need to service (Harry Metcalf's failed after 16,000 miles and mine were okay after 45,000 miles) but a guide line would have been nice.

It really does smack of poor forward planning and spur of the moment product development. They did make a hell of a car though and FY55 now feels stiffer and more agile than ever.

Great work Mr Ben Fricker! Try harder next time Rene and Claude.

 

[PB.283]

Thats more than I was quoted

Did you have BG take them off the car too??

Mine are fine at the mo but will be having a pre-ring service

 

[son of solo]

one of mine went at 22k - i'll look at the bill later, i know the price went up a few weeks ago, mine were done on tuesday this week...

 

[hoolio]

My Sachs have now been rebuilt at a cost of £583.20 (inc VAT) by BG Motorsport.

Jesus, air and bits of rubber are getting expensive these days arn't they. :shock:

 

[BenG]

Thats the most expensive service ive seen. Worth it though :wink:

I think your right in what your saying. There must be a guideline servicing time for the dampers, at least for motorsport use, it may be a different story for road use. These dampers were designed for motorsoprt use and will more than likely have a recommended service time for when in use with motorsports, with them being fitted to a road car this becomes irrelevant. ?? like you say Harry's failed at 16K and yours are still going at 45K, thats a big gap.

 

[wlshyd182]

Yes but i bet those 16k in Harry's weren't 30mph commuting miles over nicely laid b-roads, were they? 007 is used as a commuter at the moment, has hit over 50k now and they feel as good as ever. To be honest i barely ever get the chance to give her a good run out on a mental road, hence the reason why they still feel fine.

I will be getting them done in the new year, but hopefully at the £160+VAT (i think) that i was quoted, not £580+!! :shock:

 

[wlshyd182]

Is there anything that could hinder Ben's progress whilst carrying out the refurb to increase the price?

I have just read the email that he sent to me, in which he states : "Most of the sets I’ve seen work out to cost around £150 or £160 per unit (Plus VAT and delivery)" which to me would intonate that certain things might need doing that could actually increase the price once they had started the refurb?

 

[Rexina182]

The £583.20 included taking the suspension off and put it back on again. To be honest it's a bargain.

 

[Johnnytheboy]

That's about par for service plus removal/refit.

 

[PB.283]

The £583.20 included taking the suspension off and put it back on again. To be honest it's a bargain.

Thats about what I got quoted for taking off and refitting.

Good stuff

 

[Jay]

Mine cost just shy of £400, plus another £110 or so for new top mounts from renault. Lucky my mate helped me take them off and put everything back on again.

Still £500 I didn't want to have to spend, but boy the car feels better for it.

 

[Johnnytheboy]

You've got to look at it as a sort of extra necessary stamp in the service book.

Clued-up buyers are going to look for a history of damper attention. If I was buying a T and it HADN'T had a refurb or thorough check I'd be suspicious.

 

[Not a Diesel]

Indeed I expect clued up buyers to be knocking £500 off the price if the car has not had Dampers done.

I see a real differential opening up next year in 2nd hand values in Trophys that are selling with Dampers Refurbed/Cambelt changed and those that have not.

If you dont know what you are doing you could be walking into £1k's worth of work and thats without the normal consumables such as brakes and tyres.

Not sure how long the original exhausts will go either?

I had my shocks done a couple of months back and its more the hassle factor than the cost for me of not just being able to walk into your local garage and say "Fix this"

 

[Berty]

How long did it take them Rex ?

Mine looked ok a couple of months ago when I checked them a couple of months ago, and it still feels fine to drive, but I was told this week when it was serviced that there was a bit of damp around the offside damper so I'm not sure whether by early next year I'll need mine doing. It's done 45k so I'm not doing too badly compared to some.

The exhaust isn't doing too badly either. It's lasted 45k and while the outer skin is a bit rusty in places it's still holding together. But when then goes I've got a good excuse for a yozza one.

 

[SharkyUK]

It really is strange how mileage varies (no pun intended).

My Trophy has now done 56k miles and not yet had the dampers refurbed. There appears to be no leaks, no noticeable loss of damping capability and it still handles as well as anything. And, as anyone who knows me and my partner will concur, the Trophy gets a fair hammering as well as being used as a daily driver. In fact, we had a very enjoyable day at an airfield activity day recently and it embarrassed some of the 'bigger' cars when my partner and I were taking it around.

Mind you, I think I'll take the plunge and get them refurbed next year as 60k miles is perhaps a little excessive... :lol:

 

[Jay]

Yeah just keep an eye on them mate. You'll know when they start to go

 

[Rexina182]

How long did it take them Rex ?

Mine looked ok a couple of months ago when I checked them a couple of months ago, and it still feels fine to drive, but I was told this week when it was serviced that there was a bit of damp around the offside damper so I'm not sure whether by early next year I'll need mine doing. It's done 45k so I'm not doing too badly compared to some.

The exhaust isn't doing too badly either. It's lasted 45k and while the outer skin is a bit rusty in places it's still holding together. But when then goes I've got a good excuse for a yozza one.

I took them in Thursday the 1st October at 10am and they were ready by 14.30pm Friday the 2nd October.

 

[PB.283]

Rex who is that fella on your facebook who is claiming the sachs dampers are crap?

Has he got a saxo running konis??

 

[Johnnytheboy]

I see a real differential opening up next year in 2nd hand values in Trophys that are selling with Dampers Refurbed/Cambelt changed and those that have not.

When is cambelt due? 5 years/50,000?

I'm selling mine shortly at ~4 years and 30,000 so while dampers have been refurbed (at 3 years/23,000) and AUX belt was done at the same time, I don't feel like I'm short-changing potential buyers by landing them a big bill next August for the cambelt.

 

[BenG]

Cambelt is 5 years or 72K