Topic

I'm content to rubbish the firm to anyone who will listen.

The car is back, now with both rear mounts plated and welded. Oh, the joy of driving without a constant metallic clicking in my left ear.

David Aiketgate wrote: wrote:

I'm content to rubbish the firm to anyone who will listen.

The car is back, now with both rear mounts plated and welded. Oh, the joy of driving without a constant metallic clicking in my left ear.

Good to hear you are getting it sorted

As this kit has a write up in the latest MG fast magazine (I'm not an MGOC member), which apparently makes it sound wonderful, I thought I should update this thread to bring my findings back to people's attention.

AFAIK, Suplex are still selling their kit with the rubbish dampers that are likely to cause top mount failure. They still sell spring cans that clonk alarmingly and are difficult/impossible to adjust to a reasonable ride height.

Also be aware that it is my understanding that the writer of the article has been supplied with the kit FOC and does not have the standard suplex dampers but has Gaz adjustable dampers fitted.

Glad you are highlighting this again David - hopefully stopping any unsuspecting members falling foul of them.

Is there an MGOC member here who could possibly point them to this article and suggest they mention about the non-standard shocks being a NECESSITY to stop the kit destroying your F!?

Here's another satisfied Suplex customer

Quote:
Originally Posted by **********
Hi,
I have read your problems of this suspension kit and I am encountering the same problems.
Did you manage to resolve your issues and if so do you still have the kit fitted or as I am about to, junk it and wave good by to Aus $1000.
**********

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Aiketgate
Hi ***********,
I'm so sorry to hear you have been saddled with the Suplex shambles.
I did my very best to highlight the problems with this kit in the hopes that fellow enthusiasts would avoid making the same mistake.

To summarise I am still running Suplex. Rear canisters all round, Gaz adjustable dampers in place of the joke crap supplied by Suplex, and beefed up bump stops.

I have received emails like yours from all over Europe, and the UK. I'm surprised you didn't go with the Oz system which seems to actually work 'out of the box'.

I concentrate mainly on the T Bar.com these days so there is a lot more about Suplex on there.

http://www.the-t-bar.com/en/forum/9-...-it-s-not-good

Quote:
Originally Posted by************
David,
Thanks for the quick reply, we now have an Australian distributor who are of no help.
Suplex also don't reply and should not be allowed to market a product that is not fit for purpose.
The car that the product was intended for will be fitted with the Australian kit when it arrives in the next few days. But in the meantime I have a box of scrap metal with know one willing to take responsibility.
Cheers
**********

*********,
I completely agree with the notion that they should not be allowed to sell this crap, but while there are still well known MG personalities like Roger Parker out there supporting the kit, it' s difficult for anyone to get far. The fact that RP has been supplied with an upgraded version of this kit free (including adjustable dampers) may influence his viewpoint somewhat. I have even had an ex-Suplex sales manager email me to agree with my views. I spent a lot of time and effort with Jack Durham one of Suplex's top engineers trying to help them resolve their problems. He reported verbally to me that my returned units were showing the exact problems I explained to him when tested, (mainly the clonking and the lack of ride height) only to be told by Dan White(Managing Director) that the problem was my car not his units. He quoted 'hundreds of satisfied customers!' If you want to highlight your experience on the forums I will be only too happy to weigh in with my thoughts. I think that we need to keep hammering home the truth about this kit.
David

David,

Grab your blood pressure pills. 'Rog' has written a 2 pager in the Jan 2015 'Enjoying MG' called 'Suplex suspension for the MGF' and has said:

'Some early kits could see some knocking noise occur on the front, but this was inconsistent as I saw units on one car that suffered noise, swapped with units from a car that didn't suffer noise and the noise stayed with the first car, indicating that the issue was driven by something specific to the car, not the Suplex system.'

There you go, that proves it then! It's you car - it has to be as it's in print.

Take another one.

Richard

Sorry should have read further up the thread but I'll leave the message anyway.

Have put comments regarding this kit on MGOC forum.
Be interesting to see response

An MGOC member has been kind enough to send me a copy of this article. After reading it I have to admit to two feelings about it.

1/. I am appalled that this blatant advert should be included as an article. The author should be ashamed of himself. He is looked on as a guru by most of the MG community and to allow himself to be used in this way is terrible. He mentions the issue with dampers (especially rear dampers) without saying how this kit avoids the problem, while clearly showing the botched up rear damper in the attached photo.(note great lump of expanded foam on the damper rod) If he or anyone can explain to me how a damper can work when there's a great internal bumpstop preventing any possible compression I would be astonished. Further if he could explain how this doesn't direct excess forces directly through the top damper mounts, I will nominate him for the Nobel prize for Physics.

2/. I am disgusted that it is not made clear that the author was provided with his various kits and upgrades FOC by the company. Further it is not made clear that he doesn't run the actual basic kit he is promoting. He runs a modified setup with adjustable dampers.

There is no mention of dissatisfied customers, of which there are many, who have been left high and dry having spent a lot of money to have a system that in no way is as good as a functioning hydragas system. He is not ignorant of the problems; he was privy to all my records on the issues.

There is no mention of bottom bushes on their dampers squirming out after a few miles due to an obvious design fault. A fault that was only corrected (I presume they corrected it) after I pointed it out to one of the Suplex engineers. I don't know because they refused to communicate with me after Dan White the MD got involved.

This article is a blatant biased advert and If I had been a member of MGOC, I would resign forthwith.

I am going to highlight it on their Facebook page - bet it gets pulled! OK if i post your post up David and say there is a discussion on T-Bar?

Posted this on their Facebook:

Can I ask why there is an 'article' on Suplex suspension for the F in your magazine that reads more like sales literature, advertises a standard set up - known to damage F bodyshells - yet shows a modified setup which doesn't, and more importantly makes no mention of the many UNSATISFIED customers who have been left high and dry by Suplex (damaged bodywork etc). Roger Parker knows the full story about one of our members cars on 'the-t-bar' and yet chooses to not mention any possible issue with body damage. Maybe to regain any kind of credibility those unsatisfied views should be aired?

Let's see how long it stays on the page! It's under reviews - so people better get on it and start replying!

David, I won't quote your post 3 up here as it is quite long but I do agree with the fundamental thrust of it. It reads like an ad. I was thinking about it before your post and what else I don't like about the article is the 'doomsday' approach. By that I mean hydragas spheres are bound to fail, there are no new ones left on the shelf, ergo MGFs will be scrapped as soon as units fail - BUT, there is salvation - it's called Suplex. There is no mention of other alternatives such as converting to TF sub-frames & suspension or the various attempts to re-gas units. There is little mention of a ready stock of used parts. I'm considering how I might respond to the MGOC (I am otherwise a happy member).

Richard

Blow-in wrote: wrote:

David, I won't quote your post 3 up here as it is quite long but I do agree with the fundamental thrust of it. It reads like an ad. I was thinking about it before your post and what else I don't like about the article is the 'doomsday' approach. By that I mean hydragas spheres are bound to fail, there are no new ones left on the shelf, ergo MGFs will be scrapped as soon as units fail - BUT, there is salvation - it's called Suplex. There is no mention of other alternatives such as converting to TF sub-frames & suspension or the various attempts to re-gas units. There is little mention of a ready stock of used parts. I'm considering how I might respond to the MGOC (I am otherwise a happy member).

Richard

Let us know what they say Richard. They also ignore the fact that there are MK1 Minis, Landcrabs, and a host of other ancient Austins that are still driving round on their spheres! In comparison our cars are mere babies! Plus I believe you can have the spheres regassed now too.

Also does the 'article' mention 'thousands of happy customers'? If so then that is likely hogwash! Suplex themselves may have thousands of happy customers overall but there is no way thousands of F owners, whose cars are probably worth half of what the kit costs, have stumped up the money for that kit. If it is mentioned like that then that in itself is very misleading.