[DeTomaso] Need new shocks - which to go with
David Bell
davidabell at att.net
Sat Jul 24 11:29:04 EDT 2010
I'll chime in with MD. I've had the same set of double adjustable Aldan shocks on the Pantera for 8 or 9 years, with ~ 25k miles and 10 or 12 full track days (with multiple off-track excursions), and a couple of ORRs. The car corners predictably neutral, very controlled and flat at the track, I don't bottom my suspension out coming off the banked front straight at TWS (the original shocks/springs were a total disaster there), and the street ride is nice and firm without being the least bit harsh. I set/tweaked the compression and rebound adjustment knobs at the track when I first got them and have pretty much left them alone since. The adjustable spring perches allow the stance of the car to be finely controlled or even tune the corner weighting if you chose.
No leaks, no problems. Konis were about $500 more at the time and can't possibly offer better performace than what I've received from the Aldan setup. From my perspective, the Aldan shocks/springs have been an excellent price-performance purchase.
Dave Bell
--- On Sat, 7/24/10, Mad Dog Antenucci <teampantera at yahoo.com> wrote:
> From: Mad Dog Antenucci <teampantera at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Need new shocks - which to go with
> To: "Ken Green" <kenn_green at yahoo.com>, "Curt Hall" <cuvee at sbcglobal.net>, detomaso at realbig.com, "Mike Thomas" <mbefthomas at comcast.net>
> Date: Saturday, July 24, 2010, 4:58 AM
> No failures here in street, baby butt
> smooth open track or rough open road race
> conditions with Aldan Shocks in 25 years! That included
> the early steel and
> later billet gas double adjustables.
>
> 40 open road races at speed on some very tough road
> conditions in Mexico, Texas
> and Nevada. Or driving the Pantera to the beach and no
> Aldan failures....unless
> you guys live in New York City and London and are driving
> through potholes what
> is the problem.
>
> No surprise we are not hearing from everyone else who has
> "not" had a problem. I
> think for the money they are a bargain. You guys gotta stop
> beating up on the
> vendors.
>
> P.S. Someone send this letter to Aldan! ;-)>
>
> Mad Dawg Antenucci
> Team Pantera Racing
> The 1st & still the only vintage race team in open road
> racing
> www.teampanteraracing.com
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Ken Green <kenn_green at yahoo.com>
> To: Curt Hall <cuvee at sbcglobal.net>;
> detomaso at realbig.com;
> Mike Thomas
> <mbefthomas at comcast.net>
> Sent: Sat, July 24, 2010 6:45:25 AM
> Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Need new shocks - which to go with
>
> What we may be seeing here is that Aldan shocks don't take
> low pressure too
> well. Assuming that the various comments are accurate,
> the failure rates are
> significantly higher in Europe than in the US. The
> shocks shipped to Europe are
> probably shipped air freight and experience a period of
> very low pressure that
> may damage some seals resulting in future failure. May
> want to skip 2nd day air
> in the US.
>
> Or maybe they just work better in California?
>
> Ken
>
>
>
> --- On Fri, 7/23/10, Mike Thomas <mbefthomas at comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
>
> From: Mike Thomas <mbefthomas at comcast.net>
> Subject: RE: [DeTomaso] Need new shocks - which to go with
> To: "'Curt Hall'" <cuvee at sbcglobal.net>,
> "'Ken Green'" <kenn_green at yahoo.com>,
>
> detomaso at realbig.com
> Date: Friday, July 23, 2010, 5:23 PM
>
>
>
> Send us your poor, your tired, your overworked, and we will
> offer them a new
> chance for a better life . . .on a fiberglass '32 lowboy
> replica . . . .
>
> Mike
>
>
>
> From: Curt Hall [mailto:cuvee at sbcglobal.net]
>
> Sent: Friday, July 23, 2010 5:09 PM
> To: 'Ken Green'; detomaso at realbig.com;
> Mike Thomas
> Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Need new shocks - which to go with
>
>
>
>
>
>
> With all these Aldan shocks crapping out, what do the
> people at Aldan have to
> say?
>
> --- On Fri, 7/23/10, Mike Thomas <mbefthomas at comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
>
> From: Mike Thomas <mbefthomas at comcast.net>
> Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Need new shocks - which to go with
> To: "'Ken Green'" <kenn_green at yahoo.com>,
> detomaso at realbig.com
> Date: Friday, July 23, 2010, 4:59 PM
>
>
> When I spoke to Dennis about buying my new Konis, which are
> on the way with
> a new 7/8" rear bar and sphere ball end-mounts, he said he
> has replaced a
> lot of Aldans in the last couple of years. Mike Drew has
> been faithfully
> helping out members of our European community who have had
> Aldan shocks fail
> and have had trouble getting them returned either with the
> right bushings,
> or other issues. The last string we had on this did not
> result in one
> person that I recall who used their car consistently who
> had not had issues
> with them. One of our local guys who got in on the
> original Aldan deal a
> few years back had his rears rebuilt TWICE in three years
> before he gave up
> and switched.
>
> Message is, if you have them and they haven't failed, enjoy
> them until they
> do, which they will, and check them often. Mine looked
> fine when I did an
> inpsection a month ago, now I have one completely blown and
> another starting
> to ooze.
>
> Mike
>
> _____
>
> From: Ken Green [mailto:kenn_green at yahoo.com]
>
> Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2010 10:09 PM
> To: Mike Thomas
> Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Need new shocks - which to go with
>
>
>
> Mike,
>
> A lot of people have run Aldan shocks for years, but
> you don't hear
> about that. I guess I'm tired of hearing people shoot
> down products without
> a basis. A while back I posted a questions about the
> suitability of a
> Painless Wiring fuse panel. Some of the "experts" jumped
> in and said they
> probably were Chinese junk. The truth is that Painless
> makes a really nice
> product, I think in the US. I wasn't asking if they were
> good, I knew they
> were good, I wondered if anyone had used them in a
> Pantera.
>
> Aldan has a lifetime guarantee. How could they
> still be in business if
> their shocks failed all the time? It makes no sense.
> They may have
> occasional failures, but so does everything. Can't you
> just have them
> rebuild yours?
>
> If you don't want them, do you want to sell them?
>
> ken
>
>
>
> --- On Thu, 7/22/10, Mike Thomas <mbefthomas at comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> From: Mike Thomas <mbefthomas at comcast.net>
> Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Need new shocks - which to go with
> To: "'Ken Green'" <kenn_green at yahoo.com>,
> "'De Tomaso List'"
> <detomaso at realbig.com>,
> "'Julian Kift'" <julian_kift at hotmail.com>
> Date: Thursday, July 22, 2010, 9:18 PM
>
>
> Huh? not sure what you're saying here. Please translate
> . . . .
>
> _____
>
> From: Ken Green [mailto:kenn_green at yahoo.com
> <http://us.mc308.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=kenn_green@yahoo.com>
> ]
> Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2010 8:49 PM
> To: mbefthomas at comcast.net
> <http://us.mc308.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=mbefthomas@comcast.net>
> ; De
> Tomaso List; Julian Kift
> Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Need new shocks - which to go with
>
>
>
> I think that Dennis (Mad Dog), among others, has been using
> Aldan shocks for
> quite a while if a very stressing environment. It seems
> like a small amount
> of data is being extrapolated past it's useful value.
>
> And everyone knows that all Panteras overheat and have
> terrible handling?
>
> Ken
>
> --- On Thu, 7/22/10, Julian Kift <julian_kift at hotmail.com
> <http://us.mc308.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=julian_kift@hotmail.com>
> >
> wrote:
>
>
>
> From: Julian Kift <julian_kift at hotmail.com
> <http://us.mc308.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=julian_kift@hotmail.com>
> >
> Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Need new shocks - which to go with
> To: mbefthomas at comcast.net
> <http://us.mc308.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=mbefthomas@comcast.net>
> , "De
> Tomaso List" <detomaso at realbig.com
> <http://us.mc308.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=detomaso@realbig.com>
> >
> Date: Thursday, July 22, 2010, 8:21 PM
>
>
>
> It sounds like your mind is already made up.... realizing
> it's time to ditch
> the Aldan's is the single biggest step.
>
>
>
> I have QA1's (what were Carrera's) on both Pantera's and
> very happy with
> them. Available from Summit Racing in either single or
> double adjustable
> with either heim or poly ends and a variety of spring rates
> available off
> the shelf too. Some of the Pantera vendors will sell you
> them too if you are
> conscious of giving them the business.
>
>
>
> Julian
>
> > From: mbefthomas at comcast.net
> <http://us.mc308.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=mbefthomas@comcast.net>
>
> <http://us.mc308.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=mbefthomas@comcast.net>
>
> > To: detomaso at realbig.com
> <http://us.mc308.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=detomaso@realbig.com>
>
> <http://us.mc308.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=detomaso@realbig.com>
>
> > Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:09:56 -0700
> > Subject: [DeTomaso] Need new shocks - which to go
> with
> >
> > Eating my words, and my shocks . . .
> >
> > Okay, so it wasn't that long ago I said my Aldan
> shocks were doing fine.
> > Well, now I've had a rear one blow out so bad I'm
> about to nick name it
> BP.
> > There's oil everywhere, and the other rear is starting
> to show signs. Not
> > sure about the fronts, but they can't be far behind.
> >
> > I'll probably go with a set of Konis from Quella
> rather than mess with
> > getting the Aldan's rebuilt ($50 per plus parts plus
> shipping) and just
> wait
> > for them to fail again. Dennis will preset the jounce
> and rebound, and his
> > standard spring rates unless specified otherwise are
> 450/550. I have
> > 350/550 now, and have occasionally felt a little more
> in the front would
> be
> > good. 95% of my driving is street, with the occasional
> auto cross.
> >
> > Also, I still have the stock sway bars: 7/8" front,
> 3/4" rear. Dennis has
> a
> > recommendation on this as well, so I'll see what he
> has to say.
> >
> > Any input/comments one way or t'other would be
> appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks
> > Mike Thomas
> >
> >
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