Arnott squeak

940 Views 9 Replies 4 Participants Last post by JSwizzle, Aug 10, 2020

JSwizzle

Discussion Starter · Aug 9, 2020

Hi all,

We have replaced a few Airmatic parts over the past 5-6 years of ownership. The first part was a front shock absorber, back in early 2016. Replaced with Arnotts.

We don't drive the car a lot, less than 10,000km since that strut was replaced.

It's developed a squeak. It's definitely the shock absorber.
See video:

We've pulled it out, pulled down the lower boot and sprayed white lithium lubricant over the rolling rubber sheath. Reinstalled the squeak disappears while stationary but reappears within a few minutes of driving.

I've been in touch with Arnotts who aren't aware of an issue and the part is no longer under warranty so are not offering any support.

Has anyone else come across it? Any suggestions? I don't fancy buying another if it's not going to last. Also not keen to do a spring conversion.

I feel like I've hit that spot where every time I go to drive it something else is wrong with it and it's driving me crazy.

Thanks for reading

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JSwizzle

Discussion Starter · #4 · Aug 9, 2020

tusabes said:
Squeaks like that are more often the ball joints /control arms

Thanks, it's definitely the shock.

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JSwizzle

Discussion Starter · #5 · Aug 9, 2020

cowboyt said:
How about a reman MB spring or new Bilstein? Either one of those is sure to work. Not sure if Rock Auto ships to NZ, but the new Bilsteins are US $401, brand new.

Funnily enough Arnotts recommended Rock Auto to me as well, which doesn't give me much confidence in Arnotts.

I guess my biggest grumble is that I've basically wasted a big chunk of money on a product that wasn't fit for purpose and the manufacturer is washing their hands of me because it's out of warranty, as far as I'm concerned the warranty period shouldn't be the extent of customer support.

Thanks, there are ways of getting stuff to NZ even if they only ship within the US.

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JSwizzle

Discussion Starter · #7 · Aug 10, 2020

tusabes said:
Arnott offers a lifetime warranty to the original purchaser so if you bought them, with receipt , they should be under warranty

Thank you, unfortunately that only applies to US & Canada, internationally the warranty is 2 years. I'm in New Zealand.

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JSwizzle

Discussion Starter · #10 · Aug 10, 2020

cowboyt said:
I'm not sure why Arnott is not doing so well, quality-wise, in other countries outside of the USA and Canada. Could it be that in other countries, Arnott is taking Chinesium cores and remanufacturing those? That could explain the 2-year warranty elsewhere. Here in the USA, they've been much better; all three of our AIRmatic cars have Arnotts and they work very well.

OP, given what you're experiencing, I'd trust the Bilsteins first.

In our case our shocks were bought directly from Arnotts in the US, brand new not reman.

The quality appears to be good, we replaced the other front shock with an Arnott shock about a year later, no squeaks there. I don't want to bag them too much, we were impressed by the quality of the shocks when delivered, and they drove nicely. They have replied to all my emails, but offered no solutions or discount on a new strut.

I don't actually know what I'm hoping to achieve, I guess I was hoping someone else had found a solution to the squeak that doesn't involve replacing the shock. We haven't even driven 6000 miles on it in the past 4 years so it's just disappointing. And all the money and time spent replacing other parts to get rid of the squeak, because there was no way it was that near new Arnotts shock

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