Pedders XA coilover shocks repeat failure?

[Xjas]

So I went on a little trip over the weekend to a small town out near West Wyalong from Newcastle, Saturday afternoon about 50km from West Wyalong the car started to feel a bit funny and very unsettled over the bumpy road, when I got West Wylong I poked my head under the back of the car and found both rear shocks of the coilovers were covered in oil and had obviously failed. I have already had one of these shocks replaced before, less than 10000kms ago and I'm stuggling to figure out why this is happening. The car is nothing special, a cammed VE with only 300rwkw, not overly low, its spot on legal height as it was engineered only a few months ago, at the time of failure the car wasn't heavily loaded, just myself and an overnight bag in the boot, travelling at the posted speed limit. The car has never been track dayed, or the drags, doest have a towbar so its never towed a heavy load.

I just cant work out why it would fail both shocks at the same time, has anyone else had this happen or have any idea what might cause such a failure?

Since there was no Pedders dealers open Saturday afternoon or Sunday and I have to work Monday I was left with no choice but to finish the trip with no working rear shocks, what an unpleasant 750kms that was.

[D_BLOCK]

I looked into the XA's about a year or so ago,and a guy that owns one of the franchises was very straight up about the whole design of this unit.
He didnt like it and told me it was flawed.He said it was the geometry that was out of kilta and failures had happened and would happen more as the became
popular. This guy was designing some sort of bracket to compliment the setup so that the movement stayed true.
I never went for the XA's in the end but appreciated the guys honesty.
Take it for what its worth,im only repeating what i was told.

*Not affiliated with any suspension shop .

cheers
jas

[SS317]

I was told by Scott pedder that setting them too low was making the rears fail, this was after I asked him why my new coilovers wouldn't get the rear of my car as low as all my mates VE's with XA's. He said they had made changes to them so they won't go as low to save the shocks, looked like the springs are just set higher to me. Sounded like a cheap fix to me.

[calais190]

I'm not sure when you originally purchased these but there have been a revised set released for the rear of VEs. It basically stops then going as low as the originally did and prevents premature wear on them. According to Pedders, if they last the full warranty period then we as customers have nothing to complain about. The top sales manager told me this personally on the phone. I think if you pay $2500 for suspension you expect the best and you expect it for longer than the 2 year standard warranty period.

I'd be making yourself heard about this. Don't complain at dealer level, call Pedders HQ and make sure they know what has happened. The squeaky cog gets the oil.

Edit: ss317 beat me to it

[Timson]

Mate it's funny how close your story is to mine. The weekend before we headed from Victoria to Parkes in NSW. The first shocker failed on the way up and the second failed on the way back home. The funny thing is we went through West Wyalong to get home. Travelled similar distance to you, very nervous ride home to say the least.
I have already had both rears shockers replaced, supposedly with the revised units. I have been told by Pedders in Parkes that you can tell if they are revised shocks because they will have a fluro dot on them. I have also spoken to the Dave Farley who I think is the general manager for Pedders and he first said that the failure might be due to how low the suspension is set. One shocker lasted only 5000klms which is pretty poor in my opinion. My suspension is not overly low, the guard sits just above the tyre. My complaint is that Pedders set the ride height and didn't say anything about potential failure of the shockers if the car is set at this height.
I am still waiting for new shocks to be fitted wich is pretty poor as my car is driven every day. Pedders in my town has just changed hands and Dave has spoken to the new installer and it might be in installation issue so once the shocks have been fitted I need to take the car to Melbourne for him to personally inspect the install to make sure that everything has been installed properly. Three sets of shocks in two years is starting to piss me off. The suspension is now out of warranty but Dave has said that I will be looked after as I have had failures in the past. Pedders seem to be genuine in wanting to help me out but I have lost faith in the product now. My main gripe is that the suspension should not have been installed at a ride height that would chew the shocks out. I was sold suspension on the understanding that I could set them at any height I wanted, now this might not be the case.
Sorry for the long post but it has been an ongoing problem for me and I am at the stage where I am ready to pull the suspension out of the car and bin it.
Cheers, Tim.

[calais190]

I have been lucky with mine - two years on and they're fine. The amount of failed shocks I've heard of doesn't leave me with a lot of confidence. The last thing id want is to have to replace them out of my own pocket this year after the two year warranty is up...

[steve_t]

My main gripe is that the suspension should not have been installed at a ride height that would chew the shocks out. I was sold suspension on the understanding that I could set them at any height I wanted, now this might not be the case.
Sorry for the long post but it has been an ongoing problem for me and I am at the stage where I am ready to pull the suspension out of the car and bin it.
Cheers, Tim.

Sounds like a "not fit for purpose" case if I've ever heard one. Three sets in 2 years? Definitely a design fault. If they don't give you a new set with a drastic change their design, just get your money back.

[Timson]

Sounds like a "not fit for purpose" case if I've ever heard one. Three sets in 2 years? Definitely a design fault. If they don't give you a new set with a drastic change their design, just get your money back.

Yeah that's my argument with Pedders. I was told that I might have to raise the car about an inch to let the shock have more travel. That's a big height difference from where it is now. When I went to the Pedders store and told them the ride height I wanted and was advised to go with the coil overs. So if it not a fitment issue and they cannot gaurentee how long they will last I don't want the suspension in the car. Dave told me that in most cases is is because the suspension is too low and the shocks are bottoming out and failing. The question I have is why allow the suspension to go lower than the shocker can handle? Sort of defeats the purpose of having adjustable ride height.
Cheers, Tim.

[Xjas]

At least it looks like I'm not alone on this.

I have 15mm between the top of the tyre and bottom of the guard on the rear so I would hope the ride height isnt the issue, the adjustment on the shocks is set to about half way between full soft and hard so that should be ok. One thing that stand out is when I had my first failure it was the first time I had driven the car with 2 adult passengers in the back and last weeked I took our two kids, 3 adults (including the driver) and a boot full of luggage to Canberra so maybe they are bottoming out and causing issues.
I understand that for $2500 I'm not buying the best coilovers around but I would still expect the shocks to last more than 10000kms, mine are out of warranty and I'll have to pay for the repair but I have no isssue with that, my only concern with this is safety.
Driving a car with both rear shocks failed is down right dangerous, I was aware of the problem and could drive accordingly (and it was still sketchy) but my wife uses the car to take our kids to Eden to see her olds sometimes, she probably wouldnt notice the change in behaviour of the car if the shocks failed again and could end up in an accident. Considering mine is not an isolated incident my XAs are done, I will replace them with something else no matter the cost, I will not knowingly put the safety of my family at risk is such a way, even if this means I have to go back to stock FE2.

Thanks for the replys gents, especially Tim, you have helped me make up my mind to ditch them.

[kayman]

Bugger. I have a second hand set of these waiting to go in. I was going to set them a little higher at the rear to help turn in anyway but now looks like I will be forced to. Has there been any problem with the front shocks?

[Timson]

If you change your mind and decide to keep the suspension I would push for the shocks to be replaced free of charge, there have been too many failures for Pedders not to admit fault of product. I will see what the response is from Dave form Pedders before making a decision whether I ditch mine or not. If I am told that the ride height needs to be changed to stop the failures I will push for a refund and buy something else. The concerns you have are the same as mine, we tried to get it fixed on the Saturday but no-one had any spares. I tried about a dozen stores from Dubbo to Albury and nothing, not very good after sales service. We drove form Parkes and the second failed around Temora. We drove from Temora to Traralgon in Vic with two busted shocks, not something I really want to do again.
Cheers, Tim.

[Xjas]

If you change your mind and decide to keep the suspension I would push for the shocks to be replaced free of charge, there have been too many failures for Pedders not to admit fault of product. I will see what the response is from Dave form Pedders before making a decision whether I ditch mine or not. If I am told that the ride height needs to be changed to stop the failures I will push for a refund and buy something else. The concerns you have are the same as mine, we tried to get it fixed on the Saturday but no-one had any spares. I tried about a dozen stores from Dubbo to Albury and nothing, not very good after sales service. We drove form Parkes and the second failed around Temora. We drove from Temora to Traralgon in Vic with two busted shocks, not something I really want to do again.
Cheers, Tim.

I rang Pedders this morning, $650 parts and labour to install 2 new rear shocks and wheel align which I feel is very reasonable but they have none in stock and wouldn't see them till thursday. Parts availability aside, I have had fantastic service from Pedders at Gateshead but even if they replaced them for free it would not be enough I think. Got a pretty good price from a local supplier this morning on H&Rs and am going to contact GSL Rallysport today or tomorrow regarding a set of Drummonds, if my car was a track work + city driving only car it wouldn't be such an issue but I need to use it for long trips and it seems the XAs just aren't up to the task in my application.

[white lie]

They're just a below par quality setup. Seen way too many spring and shock failures for them to not realise there is a problem. Price should not be an issue, nor should the ride height if it is within the range that the product can be adjusted. What's the point of making a setup that goes to a certain point if you can never actually use it at that point? I've had failures well above the legal limit in terms of ride height.

IMO they just aren't designed to operate with the weight of these vehicles, which is a design flaw. They should be able to carry a full car load of gear, just like any aftermarket spring or shock.

[zorro]

So are the shocks setup to be approximate standard height with little tolerance for lower causing more force on the shock and blowing seals or is it just poor design/quality of product?

Martin mentioned a while ago that VEs bounce around a lot in the rear which I agree with, add in the fact they are a heavy car this would put more stress on the shock.

Pedders recognize the issue and have released a revised shock to minimise this happening, product recall without calling it one. If you want to keep the setup then I would be demanding the new shocks as replacements

[Timson]

My second set were the revised shocks, both have now failed again and one failed at 5000klms so I'm not entirely sure the problem has been fixed.
If the product doesn't suit the application then they should not be selling them.
Cheers, Tim.