Spacer vs warranty

[Mattfunk 120]

Hi MJ, will the spacer being illegal be a Queensland transport thing.? I don't know a lot about suspension but I'm slowly learning

[Mattfunk 120]

When I asked about the spacer and asked if this was purely a body lift I and would negate my suspension travel I was told the spacer would lift my suspension. On another note I agree with AJ and MJ that I should have been supplied 885 front coils as myself and wife can remember asking salesman at the time who was aware of dual batteries that we wanted to accomodate for future winch when choosing suspension (reason for deluxe winch bar)
so upgrading coils later wasn't an issue. Anyone who looks up the OME suspension selector and types in steel bar with winch bar is given 885 coils yet I have 884 for steel bar no winch.
Cheers Matt

[mjrandom]

It is illegal to use spacers. Very simple call them and ask to talk with the manager. If no success call ARB Nundah and keep complaining. Front is too low regardless, that is a lift of maybe 15mm. They cocked up. Find Sam on here and send him a pm. Make lots of noise that is not good enough.

EDIT: Spacers are probably legal, refer later post.

[rorza]

Yeah, I definitely would not be happy with that service. Saying he didn't check it because it is too hard basket is a crock. That's what they do, it's part of their job. Going for the simple fix over actually identifying the problem is piss weak. Take it over their head without a doubt, mate.

[Mattfunk 120]

Well I hoped my problem would be sorted today as this has been a long process to wait for them to order coils and wait for them to come in and organise a day convenient to drop the car off . By the way I am dealing with ARB at Coopers Plains and as I have never named the store you can imagine Im not too happy . I originally said no to a spacer when I was offered one to fix my suspension which had sagged 14mm FL and 17mm RL since the 500checkup. I rang the salesman at 9am to ask him to call me once they had things apart and let me know what was happening. He tells me my car is not there so I call my wife at work to see if she is alright and yes she is fine and dropped the car off at 7.30am but no one had done a job card. After a frantic phone call and having to look outside he realises the car is there . Anyway I was really busy today and get a phone call about 2pm from the mechanic telling me he took the rear coils out and measured free height right was 390 and left was 385mm and apparently they need to be 10mm out for OME to warrant them. Apparently no one in Brisbane can check the spring rate to see if this is correct. I was told he didn't check the front coil because there was only about 3-4mm difference in the front so something must have changed in the last 3 weeks because if you look at the measurements posted previously that were confirmed the first time I took the car in , front and rear difference were an equal 12mm difference
1yr & 11000km FL-763 FR-775 RL-803 RR-815
I was also told he didnt check the front coil free height because they are harder to get out. A lot harder
He then told me he had installed a 10mm spacer to the RL and driven it around the block and it was ok. I told him I didn't want that and was assured that this is a normal practice. I was told the spacer was staying cause the coils rear were not out of spec and car was level so effectively problem solved. My MRS isn't home with the car yet but I was told my ride height is
FL-765 FR-768 RL-817 RR-817 . So the spacer in the rear right has levelled the back and lifted FL-2mm and lowered the front right by7mm.
not happy because now if you look at ride height it looks as though there was no problem. All opinions appreciated as Im going to see the manager as soon as I get a chance although I don't know if this will do any good as the mechanic tells me he is aware of the situation.
Very frustrating . Did I mention I shop at ARB coopers plains.
Cheers Matt

[Mattfunk 120]

Thanks Amts & very much too Whitey , I'm still not up with the technical terms regarding suspension but am slowly learning. I will ask more questions for my benefit when I book a date
Cheers Matt

[Whitey]

Hey Matt,

The 884's and 885's are the same spring rate, at least according to the 120 suspension database;

http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...nsion-Database

The 885 is just 5mm taller in free height than the 884. The ride quality should be the same, and you should gain some lift.

I don't understand the bit about "measuring to the bumpstop"? The bumpstop only touches the lower control arm, and has nothing to do with the coils.

The only time to be concerned about coils and bumpstops is if the coil is getting solid coil bind before the bumpstop touches the control arm. I can't see this happening, the coils would need to be much shorter than 390mm for this to occur, see here;

http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...-Prado-120-IFS

I think the ARB folks will simply find coils that are either a) different free height, or b) different spring rate. It may be harder for them to determine that it is b) if the coils look the same free height. You need to put some weight on the coils and compress them and measure how much the free height changes. If ARB has a press which measures the load accurately, this would be the most unambiguous way to determine b).

Hope this helps you in your ARB struggle!

Best

Mark

885 are longer, same stiffness.

[Mattfunk 120]

I chased up arb today and spoke to the salesman who put me on hold for a couple of minutes then had an in depth answer for me ,I suspect an email. Anyway from what I can remember arb have agreed to take the car in for another look and will take out the springs and check the free height and measure to the bump stop? And have another set of front and rear coils on "standby" for me. I will quiz him a bit more when I ring back to finalise a date as the rear coils will not be in till early Feb. I'm not sure what standby means other than not committing to anything yet ,but I don't know what else would cause this lopsided ness . I'm sure he said that they would have 885's on standby for the front also which is what AJ120 & MJR suggested should have been installed in the first place but the computer says 884's. Are these a stiffer coil & how will this affect my ride. Still thinking positive about this outcome.
Cheers Matt

[Whitey]

Hey Matt,

Similar issues reported for a Grande here...

http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...er-2-quot-lift

Best

Mark

[Mattfunk 120]

Hey mate , I gave them a call to follow up today as I hadn't heard anything since Thursday when I took the car in . I talked to the salesman who assured me he hadn't forgotten and was following up with the OME warranty and had made his branch manager aware of my situation so hopefully they will sort this soon & swap the springs out. Hopefully they will come to the party as they did when my A/C pipe rubbed through after the bar install. I have talked to a couple of suspension shops in the meantime to ask advice and recommendations.
Matt

[BiLLz0r]

Have you heard anything yet Matt?

[Mattfunk 120]

Spacer vs warranty

Accidental send.( send is right next to "p"
Positive outcome. Salesman was going to email OME Nundah to see their response as I said I wouldn't be happy with spacers cause I thought that wouldn't fix the problem of the coils not performing as they should.
Thanks again Matt

[Mattfunk 120]

Thank you Mark that is an unbelievably generous offer. I sort of understand what you are saying about the front. I will pursue Arb next week to see what they can do as I'm still under warranty and having paid good money to have these installed I would expect a positive .

[Whitey]

Hey Matt,

Seems a bit peculiar that just the LHS has dropped more, but it can still be ascribed to simply being a difference in free height and spring rate to begin with.

When the coils are baked during powder coating, they can relax quite a bit as they temper and lose a little hardness, and you can get one coil being 4-5mm lower in free height, or the heights can stay the same and one coil can be a bit softer in spring rate. This is straight from the mouth of a well known coil manufacturer! Their idea of quality control is not so much quality! ...up to 20mm difference ride height on 200 series coils has been an issue!

The difference in the front is 12mm of ride height, which is 12/2.2 = 5.5mm at the coil, so that could be understood to be a difference in spring rate to begin with. Just a few mm difference in free height quickly adds up to big differences in ride height on the front due to the 1:2.2 leverage ratio.

The 12mm difference at the rear is more significant, and not so easily explained.

It looks to me to be just a coincidence that only the LHS has sagged, as the LH rear coil could easily have been installed on the right, and it would have been the RHS that sagged in the rear. 50/50 chance.

The only way to confirm this is to pull the coils out and check the changes in free height and spring rate, which I'm pretty sure you don't wanna have to do!

ARB should come to the party with this and just replace every coil, why muck around with stupid spacers on one side, that is ludicrous.

Might be worth your while going to another ARB store, or calling the ARB head office.

Either that, or ditch the OME coils and try some Dobinsons if you've got some spare bucks and can't bear dealing with ARB again.

I'm happy to put some new coils in for you free of charge if you need a hand, just pm me, I'm in Brisbane southside.

Best

Mark