At 03:14 PM 12/10/2000 -0500, Edward Woods wrote:
>O.K., I'll bite. Why isn't Apple recommended? A personal bad experience?
If so, what. If not, then it's heresay, right? Be specific.
Okay, here's specific. I went through NINE Apple Hydraulics rebuilt front
shocks on my MGA in two years before the warrantee ran out. Apple was
covering all shipping charges (most of the time), but it was still a major
inconvenience continuously changing out the parts, and cleaning up the oil
mess, and driving the car on leaky shocks most of the time when I really
wanted to autocrossing or would rather be working on something else. Two
of the units were returned before installation, one with a seal obviously
hanging out the side of the unit, and the other with absolutely no damping
force right out of the box. The other seven units all leaked out the oil
within a few thousand miles of installation, some of them within the first
week of use, after which none of them would hold oil for a week. The real
kicker was that one of the two shocks I sent them in the beginning was in
good working condition and not leaking.
After the two year warrantee ran out I finally bought a pair of NOS units
at a swap meet for $40 each. They have been on the car now for two years
and 30,000 miles with no problem.
More recently the best recommendation I have received was to have your
shocks rebuilt by:
World Wide Auto Parts
2517 Seiferth Rd., Madison, WI 53716
(800) 362-1025 Fax (608) 223-9403
http://www.mailbag.com/users/nosimport
They machine the shafts if necessary, install real bushings in the housings
(originally none), install polished sleeves on the shafts to renew the seal
surfaces, and install real shaft seals in place of the original rubber
packing washers. I have not had the need to use their services personally
(since I found out about them), but I have had several excellent reports
from folks who have, and not one bad word.
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude
http://www.ntsource.com/~barneymg
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