17 replies to this topic

[carneil3]

Afternoon all,

I have adjustable hi-lo's with lowered adjustable GAZ shocks on my 88 mini running on 13". I am running a gap at the rear wheel of approx 2 1/2 to 2 3/4".( 3 fingers) and they are pretty fat????  Everytime i go over a small bump in the road i am getting a thud at the rear as if i am bottoming out on something. Anyone any ideas as to why and what i can do to fix it. All parts have about 100miles on them and were new when purchased.

 

Second part to the question. She failed the MOT due to the drivers rear wheel not freely dropping when jacked up. Would this be down to the shocks being set to hard. Set at 16. If i set them to soft then i encounter the banging above and MOT tells me my shocks are failing???

Cant seem to win on this one.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[cian]

Are your radius arms in good order? Not seizing up causing friction on suspension travel?

[THE ANORAK]

Yes, check radius arm bush condition. Also all nuts are tight. Could be anything in that corner even the subframe mountings.

[nicklouse]

Never been a fan of Gaz shocks.

Sounds like one of them is not right. Hence the MOT comment about it not dropping correctly.

[cal844]

Sounds like the radius arm is seized and also a shock failure(hence the knock) had this with a friends mini

[cian]

I've worked with Gaz shocks many times and never had an issue, that's not to say a failure can occur

[nicklouse]

I've worked with Gaz shocks many times and never had an issue, that's not to say a failure can occur

One of the most complained about shock makes on other forums (non Mini). And yes happy customers don't say anything.

Still does not take away from the symptoms mentioned. One is faulty.

[cian]

Horse before the cart, it might not be the shock just yet could be any number of things

[GraemeC]

I take it the wheel does/can drop further when jacked up?

[Dusky]

Put some pictures up, if something is not right someone will spot it quickly :)

[carneil3]

Thanks all for the help. All is new, rear sub, radius arms etc etc. The car has been fully rebuild with all new parts front and back. When i turn the shock down to 1 as soft as it can go it drops without issue but then i get the bottoming out effect hitting everytime i hit a small bump in the road. As mentioned, it could be faulty shocks but why would i get the bottoming out effect, Again, all new hi-lo's etc set to approx 21/2 to 2 3/4" from tyre to wheel arch.

Yes eventually drops to the same as the rear passengers side level after several minutes.

 

reading above it looks like i need to change out the shocks. I suppose for 100 quid it is better than thinking the rear is coming off the car or doing more damage costing more money.

Edited by carneil3, 19 March 2017 - 12:49 PM.

[cal844]

Thanks all for the help. All is new, rear sub, radius arms etc etc. The car has been fully rebuild with all new parts front and back. When i turn the shock down to 1 as soft as it can go it drops without issue but then i get the bottoming out effect hitting everytime i hit a small bump in the road. As mentioned, it could be faulty shocks but why would i get the bottoming out effect, Again, all new hi-lo's etc set to approx 21/2 to 2 3/4" from tyre to wheel arch.
Yes eventually drops to the same as the rear passengers side level after several minutes.
 
reading above it looks like i need to change out the shocks. I suppose for 100 quid it is better than thinking the rear is coming off the car or doing more damage costing more money.

Call your supplier of the shocks aren't old

[Robdavmtb]

I have this on my gaz lowered shocks. Any more than 5 clicks and the rear of the car will not come back up. First test drive the car was almost dragging on the floor. Unclicked the dampening and it came back up to normal height.

[tiger99]

It is DAMPING, not dampening, and adjusting the rate of damping on a damper DOES NOT make it lock up solid unless something is broken within.

It has been said over 100 times on this forum that DAMPERS DO NOT CONTROL THE RIDE HEIGHT or words to that effect.

Edited by tiger99, 22 March 2017 - 03:12 PM.

[nicklouse]

I have this on my gaz lowered shocks. Any more than 5 clicks and the rear of the car will not come back up. First test drive the car was almost dragging on the floor. Unclicked the dampening and it came back up to normal height.

 that is the shock packing down. as the return force in the shock is greater than the spring force and it sucks the shock closed.

 

as you found out reduce the damping and the shock can work. controlling the motion of the wheel.