ERA Shocks

[jhand]

I am trying to see what are the best options for shocks for the ERA, I am thinking spax. Any input would be great and a good place to purchase them, any used sets around?

Thanks
Jay

[juneracer]

hey Jay,
i have an ERA as well and i'm investigating the shock spring question. what did you end up doing?

thanks

Rick

[patrickt]

Why do you guys not go with Eibach springs and SPAX shocks?

[kevins2]

The recommended Spax dampers and Eibach spring part numbers/specs are listed in the ERA manual. You could even support ERA and buy them there.

[juneracer]

not a big Eibach fan had some issues with there spring quality control this year on a different car application, hypercoil have worked well for other applications. dont have an issue getting spax from ERA if that's the best combination of performance, cost and durability. its a pretty big $ outlay so i'm just fishing for options and seeing whats been experienced. QA1, Spax, Strange, Dynamics, Penske and others all can fit. relatively simple installation. only want to do this once.

any suggests are appreciated.

thanks,

Rick

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by juneracer

not a big Eibach fan had some issues with there spring quality control this year on a different car application...

Fair 'nuf. My stuff is seven or eight years old now, and in this hobby, a company can be bought, sold, gutted, and reborn easily in that time. When I had ERA build my car for me, they were about as good as you could get, but maybe that has changed.

[juneracer]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Fair 'nuf. My stuff is seven or eight years old now, and in this hobby, a company can be bought, sold, gutted, and reborn easily in that time. When I had ERA build my car for me, they were about as good as you could get, but maybe that has changed.

used both interchangeable for years. had some sets (more than one) of eibach recently that were flat and parallel top and bottom but the axis (center-line) was not perpendicular to the ends. a little like the leaning tower of Pisa with a flat top parallel to the ground. this caused excessive side load on the shock shaft from the spring not loading evenly. it put heat marks on the shock shafts and in this case chewed up the damper perches as the springs were free (no pre-load) at full droop. granted the spring heights are much shorter and rates much higher (2-1/4 ID, 1050 lb/in, 5"), but haven't seen that in the hypercoil. haven't had any sag or rate issues with either spring manufacture and this issue i'm sure only affects a small percentage but.... if everything is square and happy i'm sure either is fine. but after that we just dont buy eibach anymore. if you roll them on a flat table you can see if its an issue, or check with a square. with the ERA having relatively soft long springs with a fair bit of travel might not be a bad idea to use a thrust washer on one end against the spring too keep the side loading down by reducing the spring twist from rebound to bump.

[strictlypersonl]

We've been using Eibachs for about 20 years and I can't recall any failures or misalignment.