Ariel Atom 3 Bilstein dampers rebuild service

[Curves Junkie]

Hello @all,

my Ariel Atom 3 have built-in Bilstein dampers with Eibach springs and the car was built at 2010.

Now I'm considering whether a rebuild service might be necessary after 9 years.
OK, the first 5 years the car only parking in a very big garage with a lot of other cars. But at the last few years the dampers had a hard job.

What's your opinion. Is a rebuilt service necessary or not?

Where to go?
Bilstein is a German firm - but they know nothing about our Ariel Atom but on their UK-website the new Atom4 is on the first page including a story about the new Atom 4 - so I will do a new phone call next week at the motorsport department.

What's about the Eibach springs? Are they to be renewed or not necessary?

[VickersUK]

Service will be worth while, springs won’t need to be replaced

[Karl V]

Why do you think the shock absorbers need a service?

It's not a bad idea in itself, but how 'hard a life' has the car had?

There are probably items like rod ends, rose joints and geometry checks that may need to be considered if you're worried about a shock rebuild.

Unless of course you have shock absorber oil seepage...

[HenryJS]

CurvesJunkie,

If you want Bilstein UK to service your Dampers - they will ask you to come back to us...

So if you want them doing, please send them over.

Servicing your dampers is a good thing to do at 9 years of age. you could leave it another to make a nice round 10, but it wont really make much of a difference.

The reason you might want to service your dampers:

Heavy use - can aerate the oil over time.
Although the damper is sealed - it is not impenetrable. There may be traces of water, solvents form cleaning, dust particles forced pasts the seals if you have pressure washed your car.

New oils, new bushings keeps the shock super plush at all times. That combined with cleaning out your bell cranks, applying fresh grease and replacing worn / old rod ends will transform the way your car travels down the road / racetrack.

Promise!

You don't need to renew the springs. Unless you want them to just look new...

[Curves Junkie]

Thanks guys for your all response.

If you want Bilstein UK to service your Dampers - they will ask you to come back to us...
So if you want them doing, please send them over.

Does Ariel do the damper service too? Can you tell me a price?

As I wrote - tomorrow morning I had made a phone call to Bilstein Germany. The only thing they tell me is a website with a service form. I have to fill the form, send together with the dampers. After that then they tell me what they can do for me.

Servicing your dampers is a good thing to do at 9 years of age. you could leave it another to make a nice round 10, but it wont really make much of a difference.
The reason you might want to service your dampers:
Heavy use - can aerate the oil over time.
Although the damper is sealed - it is not impenetrable. There may be traces of water, solvents form cleaning, dust particles forced pasts the seals if you have pressure washed your car.

Now the new season is starting. So the dampers service have to wait now and will be done at the next winter. Then we have 10 years.
Yes, the damper oil will aerate - like the brake fluid - so its good to change. The shims inside the dampers need to be cleaned or renewed too.

New oils, new bushings keeps the shock super plush at all times. That combined with cleaning out your bell cranks, applying fresh grease and replacing worn / old rod ends will transform the way your car travels down the road / racetrack.

All bell cranks cleaning and regreasing is a MUST one-time service every year. After that the car feels like new.
All done this winter except replacing the rod ends. The rod ends are all fine - no gap and inside stiff.

[HenryJS]

We cant really give you a price until Bilstein have seen the dampers. It does depend on what needs to be done! Sorry....

[Curves Junkie]

Sorry I don't understand.

You wrote:

If you want Bilstein UK to service your Dampers - they will ask you to come back to us...
So if you want them doing, please send them over.

This is what I understood:
If I want to send my dampers to Bilstein UK, they will tells me that I have to send my dampers to Ariel factory (because special product exclusive produced for Ariel).
So I have to send my dampers to Ariel for a service.

We cant really give you a price until Bilstein have seen the dampers. It does depend on what needs to be done! Sorry....

Here I understood:
I send the dampers to Ariel, you send it to Bilstein UK, they tells you what to do and your price, you tell me what I have to pay to Ariel.

[mention]HenryJS[/mention], have I got that right now?

[HenryJS]

I send the dampers to Ariel, you send it to Bilstein UK, they tells you what to do and your price, you tell me what I have to pay to Ariel.

Thats correct

You are not obliged to have any of the work done if you don't want to, if it proves too costly.

Is it mostly track work your car is used for?

It may be better to have some Cup Car dampers... much stiffer and faster round a race track.


If you would like to discuss - email me at Ariel henry@arielmotor.co.uk

[Curves Junkie]

[mention]HenryJS[/mention] thanks again for your excellent support here.

As I wrote above, the shock absorbers will get their service in autumn/winter then. I will contact you then.