Suplex suspension - my experience(it's not good!).

At 15:13
I send this to the engineer:-

I do appreciate all that you has done so far to help, but the plain fact is that I parted with £750 in March and it is June 1st tomorrow, and here I am with a barely usable car with a damaged suspension knuckle.
I have spent a considerable amount of time and effort putting on and taking off defective units, replacement units, and talking/emailing to you. For info, I attach a link to video of the suspension travel on the rear of my car. suplex rear
As I said in my last email to you , I am leaving for Indonesia on Wednesday 6th June and will be away for a month, leaving my wife with this car. The issue must be resolved before I leave the country.

I believe I have been more than accommodating on the time, money and effort I have expended on this, and, truthfully, I feel more like a part of your pre-production test team than a paying customer. Indeed, the rest of my administration team on the forum suggested a medal for patience, however, even my patience is limited and I feel I have reached its limit.
Please arrange for suitable front canisters to be sent out as soon as possible; Obviously, I want to fit and test them before Wednesday 6th.
I also believe the company should consider what you are willing to offer me in compensation.

Once this is finally resolved I will be considering how to post my findings on the MG forums.

I receive this:-

Sent: Thursday, 31 May, 2012 4:35:44 PM
Subject: SUPLEX

Dear Mr Fisher

I intervene in this matter in order to try and help you resolve your problem.

Very simply we have designed and developed a replacement for failed hydragas suspension units. Replacing them in effect with a spring in a can. We have sold a great many of them.

The issues as I understand it you have are with knuckles which are not part of our supply package. We have come across some vehicles which are out of alignment and need rectification. That is something you must examine for. Unfortunately the aftermarket sell ball joints instead of rocker joints which is not good but totally out of our control.

As I understand it there is no reason to suggest any parts of our supply are in question. We will happily change any parts if they are.

As I understand it you need a quick resolution to your problem. We respectfully suggest you contact a specialist workshop with the equipment to examine your car thoroughly. We are not vehicle technicians we are spring makers and there is a very real limit to what, with the best will in the world we are able to do for you.

With the great many successful installations of our spring conversion kit carried out we do genuinely suggest your problems are not associated with our parts.



Best Regards

Daniel G. White
Managing Director

SUPLEX UK Ltd.
Unit 'E' Vector31
Waleswood Way
Sheffield
S26 5NU
Tel: +44 / (0) 1909 / 770660
Mob +44/ (0) 7764 / 995996
Fax: +44 / (0) 1909 / 774177
e-mail :[email protected]
www.suplex.com
Managing Director: Daniel G White

To say I am annoyed and confused by this, is a bit of an understatement!

At 17:20
I send this:-

Dear Mr White,
I appreciate your involvement, but I am afraid you do not seem to have the full facts.

The original front canisters were returned to you; Jack Durham fitted them to your test car and recorded the same problems as I highlighted ie Clonking alarmingly and not adjusting up to sufficient height. Therefore the problem can not be with my car, which was examined at an MOT station at an early stage in this event. The result of that was that the tester declared therere was nothing wrong with the car apart from the canisters clonking and the suspension being too soft. Further, prior to removing the hydragas system the car was handling perfectly and was 'in alignment' with no issues. The four wheel alignment was perfect, all bushes are in good order there was no issue of uneven tyre wear, steering 'pulling'. Anyone who knows me and my car will vouch for that.

The only problem I have had with the suspension knuckles results from Jack Durham's suggestion that I fitted rear canisters and rear dampers to the front in an effort to improve the soft noisy suspension. This resulted in the knuckles coming out of the suspension arms. It was only after this that Jack had time to test the returned front units and confirmed to me that he encountered the same problems with them.

I know of at least two other people who have had problems with low ride height and have resorted to having spacers made up to get the required height.

I have sent Jack a video of the amount of travel in the rear suspension, which you might like to look at. I have also shown this video to Roger Parker of MGOC and his reaction was, 'My that seems soft!!!!' he relates that for similar effort his suspension movement is half mine.

Basically, I believe you have a problem with the quality/rate of the springs in your cans. They seem incredibly soft to everyone I have demonstrated them to.
You suggest that the problem is not with your parts, I would welcome any idea from you as to what else could cause my car to bounce so much other than soft springs.

Having received no reply at 13:48 I send this to the Engineer:-

Would you please let me know if you are sending up some tested workable front canisters today?
We already know the returned front canisters are defective in some way. You tested them and told me so. I suggest you send me the test car front canisters as you know they are usable.

You cannot, in all conscience, leave me with four rear canisters and a car that's at 370mm ride height and expect me to be satisfied. My wife needs this car in full working order, which it was before fitting your suspension system.
Do this, and if I fit them and they are indeed OK, I will consider this business transaction complete between your company and myself.

I receive no reply.
The following weekend is the Queen's Jubilee and I fly on the Wednesday.

So Suplex have left me high and dry!

Now, being in possession of 4 rear canisters, I thought I would take the rear rear ones that have been under compression from the engine and swap them for the front rears.
Theory being - the rear rears are soft anyway and may have settled/compressed enough to work on the front with a better(lower) ride height than 370mm.
Then the newer stiffer front rears can go on the rear.

This is effective and with a bit of lateral thinking I get the ride height to an acceptable level too.
So, finally finding a way to make what I have been left with work to my satisfaction, and, with some relief, pack my bags.

Finally back in internet range!

No reply from Suplex, so I send this to the MD, copied to the engineer:-

Dear Sir,
As I have not received a reply to my last email, I suspect you have not received it.
I will re-send it and would appreciate your further comments.

I re-iterate my surprise that, despite evidence to the contrary confirmed to me by Jack Durham, (engineer) you assert that there is no problem with parts supplied to me.

For your information, I have found a way to make the parts I have been left with work to my satisfaction.
This involved changing the original rear canisters to the front and the replacement rear canisters to the rear. It is clear from the reduction in rear suspension travel that the newer rears are stiffer than the originals by some margin.

I have also modified the car's standard front suspension in a small, easily accomplished but effective manner to enable the front ride height to be within an acceptable range even using the replacement stiffer rear canisters.

This, I believe, would be an effective way for a much stiffer set-up to be produced to satisfy the many Trophy owners in the community.

To date, Suplex have failed to contact me!


The suspension is still performing to my satisfaction, feeling sporty, not bottoming and with a sensible ride height. This has only been possible after months of MY efforts.

The modification to the front suspension necessary to make the stiffer springs work on the front, I am not prepared to broadcast. Why should I give Suplex the chance to benefit from my work?
If anyone has similar problems. however, with Suplex's kit, pm me and I will explain what needs to be done.

Suplex have already benefited from gaining knowledge of my adaptation of the lower damper bush, which stops the common wear problems. This I gave them early in the saga because the bottom bushes in their new dampers had already squirmed out!
So they are not savvy enough to even figure out that problem as evidenced by the comments on the MGF Register!

I sent a precis of this tale to Nick at ECP, who has passed it on to X-Part.
Nick also mentioned that another Suplex kit he has sold has been problematic.

David,

You have the patience of a Saint! I would have gone off the deep end weeks ago and going down the court route. Best of luck with the ongoing use of the system, but considering the effort you have invested in their R&D I think you could have had a set of the Aussie collars shipped sans springs ( to save shipping) and had your own springs made up in the UK.

Tourbillon

I know exactly how you feel david

I'm new to the tf so you might have to bare with me a bit.

Am I right in thinking that the conversion is to replace the hydrogas units, like the old Metro system???

And that the new tf's now use a different suspension system.

Cant you get the newer tf bits and replace the hydrogas bits???

Sounds like a right pain in the ****, let alone time and effort, plus the rather large cost of it all.

Sounds like you are doing the R and D for them.

The TF uses standard suspension, rather than hydragas.
To change an F to TF requires the two subframes being swapped out, as the attachments are different.

Unfortunately after your experiences, that would probably have been the easier option! You really must have the patience of a saint...