[DeTomaso] Aldan shocks

[cengles at cox.net]

Dear Mike T and Mike D, I checked with the Aldan web site and I have included the key sentences in their warranty statement. "Aldan Shock Absorber Co. makes no warranties whatsoever, expressed or implied, oral or written to purchasers. There is no warranty of merchantability made to purchasers. Liability is limited to repair or replacement of defective parts to original purchaser". To get the Aldan site, I googled "Aldan Shocks". There was a surprising number of hits regarding Aldan shock failures and this is a clip from a Viper owner's post about his *third* failure. It was simply the first one on the list. "Well funny in a sad way. Ambients cooled, my Kumho V700s got a bit hard, I wheel hopped the car hard a couple of times, and the driver's side rear Aldan started leaking again. Today I took them off and shipped back to Aldan (who has great customer service and rebuilds them whenever they blow up). When I was backing off the spring perch ring on the driver's side to relieve the spring pressure before popping the top mount out, the two parts of the shock body started unscrewing. Apparently, the last time the shock was rebuilt, they did not tighten the two separate parts of the shock body with sufficient torque. I used a chisel and hammer to move the perch ring until it got loose enough to use the spanner. Then it tightened up again. Went back in forth ths way, I thought I had it under control, then bam the seal between the two parts of the shock body broke loose and shock oil started squirting out across the garage. The shock had been leaking out of the shaft seal, but there was still a lot of oil and all the nitrogen pressure was left." In the interest of objectivity, I did google Aldan shock failure= 28,300 hits. Koni shock failure=72,500 hits. I think that given the years of manufacture and the number of units sold, there is probably a whole lot more Konis out there than Aldans by way more than a 3:1 ratio..................... Warmest regards, Chuck Engles PS: I do understand about home owner finances. We get to put on a new roof after a hailstorm of Biblical proportions