dr_mat

Yeah, the dealer price for VR6 fronts was £55 I think? Something like that. They offered me 10% - 49.50, but GSF is 5 minutes walk from my house and can do the same bits for £35.. The official prices for the Sachs Advantage shocks, by the way, are: SACHS Advantage GAS dampers (as fitted in the factory): Front: 170 128 £54 Rear: 105 776 £31 So VW basically charge the RRP + £1 in each case.

It might even be caused by a sticky *rear* caliper.. And they're much more prone to sticking than the fronts.

Correction - GSF can get the front ones, but they will happily supply Boge Turbogas for the rears. If you can get VW partsclub prices (you are a CCGB member?) then you can get the rear shocks from VW for £23 + VAT each. The front ones are cheapest from GSF - £35 + VAT each, and I'm assured that these are Sachs Advantage - as Kev says these are OEM. According to the UK arm of Boge/Sachs (they've been the same company for many years now by the way), the Boge Turbogas and the Sachs Advantage shocks are both identical, made on the same production line to the exact same specification, just with different labels on them. That's what I was told... Click http://webcat.zf-trading.com/nc2_typ_teile.asp?LKZ=D&PKW=1&KHERNR=121&KMODNR=3887&MODEL=CORRADO+%2853I%29&KTYPNR=1755&LASTPAGE=http://webcat.zf-trading.com/nc2_typ_teile.asp this for the parts.

Most likely it's a wheel bearing, as you say..

Yeah yeah, I know. But by design, the lighting circuit on the Corrado drops those extra volts (as we all know)...

FYI, GSF says they supply sachs advantage front shocks for the VR6 - i.e. identical to the factory part. Oddly they have boge rear shocks, however. NO-ONE can get me prices for the sachs "performance" range!? I'm waiting for a call back now, but it's pretty tiresome..

Just got to find a supplier that stocks the range, rather than just "this is the shock for your car"... Waiting for a response from sachs on that one. It seems this one is hard though, cos every other email has got a response in 5 minutes...

I'm going to find a sachs supplier and get either the OE-style "advantage" range or if they're not too pricey the enhanced "performance" range. The performance range are also sold with the indication that they can be used happily with lowered spring sets - down to -50mm, just in case I get any ideas in the future... It's quite possible that the ones G&S sell are the "super touring" range, i.e. the budget model from the same company.

This is the problem. There's so many things that "last about 100k" on these cars that I wish I'd held out and got a low mileage one.

In other news, "Herr Schumacher"'s Ferrari has sachs dampers fitted.. Unfortunately they're not available for the Corrado...

Hmm. I just had an email back from SACHS/BOGE UK. Apparently the Corrados were all fitted with oil-only dampers at the factory, apart from the VR6, which was fitted with gas/oil hybrid dampers.. For the OEM and replacement market, the two brands are identical - they are both made on the same factory production line to the exact same design and specification, they are simply badged differently. The difference between the two brands is in the higher-echelons of their ranges. sachs market more very-high-performance parts than boge. So in other words, the sachs/boge gas damper is the same one fitted in the factory...

Plough is the word! I wonder if anyone has specced the price just in parts for a new corrado from VW? (Ignoring labour and assembly). Even discounting the body panels it wouldn't surprise me if the total cost of bits was around £50k!! (Given that a VR6 engine block costs £2800 + VAT, before you've bought pistons etc etc...)

Ok, I got the "other" set of part numbers - the slightly cheaper setup - by having the driver's arm-and-blade plus the passenger arm-and-blade packs. They work great, really impressed - but the only drawback is the passenger arm doesn't have the angled offset at the base - so the arm pretty much sticks out straight from the spline nut and along the screen. Which *works* fine, but it's a little bit awkward getting them to sit off the screen with the bonnet down. My set was 6X2 998 405 and 6X2 998 406. It's cheaper by the cost of the extra blade, basically, which is around a tenner. I couldn't get a discount due to the .... (I won't say, there's women and children listening!)

The BOGE website is clearly aimed at "comfort" and "safety", as opposed to performance, so it's no great surprise you didn't really get on with them. SACHS are definitely billed as the performance choice from that company. Believe me, if I'm looking at £250-300 for dampers I'll be banging on Koni's door.. I suspect it'll be something I can amaze (and amuse) my friends with - adjustable suspension.. :)

Ouch. I was sitting down, but even so, I nearly fell off me chair! :) I've been looking around - and it seems that the "turbogas" dampers are actually oil-filled dampers that use the gas pressure to keep the oil under pressure, and prevent air-locks or oil foaming. But I've also seen it said that given the choice between plain hydraulic and gas-pressure dampers of the same price.. choose the plain hydraulic. Sadly, they're not the same price! I've emailed SACHS' UK distributor to see if they can shed any light on the situation...

Bilstein are presumably significantly pricier than the turbogas efforts... (I note that ECP has bilstein dampers in both £27.50 and £125.40 guises!!!) So I suppose, the next question is - what's next up the ladder? What's your suspension, kev, and what's it cost?

You are joking! They're supposed to look like that!? :shock:

So - oil ones are "better"? What do I have to buy to get one that's at least as good as the originals? How can VW charge so much money selling sub-standard replacements?

ECP have front struts (GAS) listed as being manufactured by "BOGE/SAC" ... which is it, guys!? £31.00 each.. I'm pretty sure the VW price is something around £48+VAT, but like you say - it all depends whether they're the sachs or boge...

http://webcat.zf-trading.com/index.asp? ... ,1632,1614 Dunno if this link will work for anyone else, but it looks like sachs/boge are basically different arms of the same company - sachs are definitely the higher-quality arm though.. Interestingly, both are listed as GAS type dampers..

For example what do GSF stock? They have "SHOCK STRUT BQ GAS FR" and "SHOCK STRUT GAS FR" for the VR6 at £35/£28.50 respectively.. What make/quality are these?

Are there any good alternatives that suit the standard springs out there?

At least I now have a reason for the iffy handling I've been suffering from!!

Would like to stay OE.... And labour is presumably about an hour each side? I'll get the rears done at the same time, I think.. They're much easier to fit too, I suspect.

Right... One front shock has decided it's going to go "shhhh" when the car is bounced. The other doesn't. Discuss. Extra marks for factual accuracy and lowest prices!!!