Arnott problems

D

Dave 88 LSC

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Well it didnt take long for the second Strut to start making horrible rattle noises.
Arnott will not fix it since I am not the original buyer, yet the struts are only 8 month old. Last time This happened to the driver side, and I had to purchase another one of their struts, but this time I refuse to buy form them and will never buy anything else from them for that matter.

American Air will be getting my business from now on. Their Compressor works excellent .
 
ya arnott have been known to have crappy bags, I have all 4 corners used them for 6 months wrecked the car took them off, bought a 98 and and dont know what i will do when those bags go out, either pay the 500 per corner for oem or put the crappy arnotts on and hope they still work.
 
I paid $330 for OEM new. Not sure who would pay $500 for them?
 
Arnott sucks.
I made the mistake of buying a compressor from them immediately after I bought my Mark VIII years ago. It was crap. The service was crap. I even went to their office in person to replace my parts under warranty.

Never again.

Always use Eddie at American Air Suspension.
 
Lesson learned. I got a compressor from Eddie and it works great. very quiet.

The only reason I bought a left strut from Arnott is to match the driver side. If I had known that the right side would go to hell as well, I would have bough from American Air, this way they would match.
 
Has anybody tried the "Aftermarket" struts from AAS? Just wondering how the quality is compared to Arnott or whatever, seeing as the price for a pair is the same as a single OEM strut.
 
Marcus said:
Has anybody tried the "Aftermarket" struts from AAS? Just wondering how the quality is compared to Arnott or whatever, seeing as the price for a pair is the same as a single OEM strut.
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Well, they're usually from Arnott...
 
98lincmk7lsc said:
Well, they're usually from Arnott...
Click to expand...
I figured as much, but wasn't sure if Eddie used a different supplier, or even if there were other suppliers. I know he was complaining about one of his vendors a while back, but that was for rebuilt struts as I recall.
 
Oem fronts are now $413.21 retail each and LVC pays $356.40each. The rears are $403.84 each and include the upper mount and LVC pays $214.67each.
so that is $1142.14 for all 4 corners. 12/12 warranty.

Max
 
This is just wonderful...when I got my 98' they guy told me it had brand new Arnott front assembly's. I thought "Great" and now I'm thinking "Oh great" :rolleyes:
 
i bought a set of rear shocks from arnott, they were wasted in less the 6 months. i called them and let them know, originally they wanted me to ship them back, but by the second phone call they just said we will send you another set and to throw the old ones out.
 
I bought a set of Arnott front air spring/shocks from "Strutmasters" when I first got my '96 about 10 yrs ago. They crapped out in 13 months, 1 month over the warranty. Due to my nonexistent budget, I had to get a new set of Arnotts with my tax return last year because I can't afford OEM or $214+ from American Air (over $200 for a frakkin' shock is rediuclous anyway you look at it...and the hydraulics will wear out long before the air spring does...why can't you get the spring by itself...the integrated air spring/shock wasn't exactly one of Ford's "better ideas"). And so far, they're fine. The only thing I really don't like about the Arnotts is that they are soft and mushy. They don't make the car handle well at all. At least not like the wife's LSC. Now that thing has some stiff shocks! Anyway, they've been on the car since January of '09 with no problems yet...knock on wood.
 
American Air: $369!?!?!?!?!?!?:eek:! for ONE air spring/shock???? Waaaaaaay. Out of my budget. If they'd sell them for $180 or less, I'd buy. Didn't have time to jump through the hoops to request a price from 5 Star. But good God that's a lotta money. And if somebody would figure out a way to design an air spring/shock that has separately replaceable springs and shocks, that would be wonderful. I know it's doable. Somebody just has to do it. That way, when the shock wears out, you just replace it. And when the spring starts leaking, you replace it. Simple. Until then, I'll have to get whatever the budget allows.

Edit: Just noticed that American Air also sells the Arnott air spring/shock assemblies for $179 with $15 shipping. But that's still $194 each. I got mine from Arnott for $186 each with free shipping. So that's what I went with. I couldn't afford that, but I had to have a car.
 
thaywood said:
if somebody would figure out a way to design an air spring/shock that has separately replaceable springs and shocks, that would be wonderful. I know it's doable. Somebody just has to do it. That way, when the shock wears out, you just replace it. And when the spring starts leaking, you replace it. Simple.
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which will cost more:shifty:
 
Wow... those air springs seem to have gone up in price.
I don't remember paying nearly that much for my OEM air springs a few years ago.
 
CobraStar_LS8 said:
which will cost more:shifty:
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Not necessarily. After the initial purchase, you just buy shocks or springs, not both. When your shock wears out, buy a new one for $50 or less (unless you're crazy - or rich - enough to pay over $100 for a shock absorber:eek:). When the spring wears out, buy one for...hopefully not more than the cost of the shock. Over the course of ownership of the vehicle, you will save quite a bit of money.:)

Calabrio said:
Wow... those air springs seem to have gone up in price.
I don't remember paying nearly that much for my OEM air springs a few years ago.
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Yeah. They're high dollar items. I really wish OEM shocks were cheaper. Then I'd be able to afford them. That way I could put some OEM LSC shocks on my '96 base and make it handle better. Until then, I'll just settle for the Arnotts. Even though they're softer than stock. They're still high priced - more than I would expect to be reasonable - but if I'm going to keep driving these cars, I have to buy what I can barely afford.
 
thaywood said:
Yeah. They're high dollar items. I really wish OEM shocks were cheaper. Then I'd be able to afford them. That way I could put some OEM LSC shocks on my '96 base and make it handle better. Until then, I'll just settle for the Arnotts. Even though they're softer than stock. They're still high priced - more than I would expect to be reasonable - but if I'm going to keep driving these cars, I have to buy what I can barely afford.
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I kinda noticed the same thing. My 96' felt a ton stiffer handling wise than my new Arnott equipped 98'?!

Yes I had 17' rims with 245/45's on it but it also had 200k on the clock and it still felt better. I had been thinking about how squishy the 98' was lately then I read this thread that reaffirmed what I was feeling. :(
 
2002WRXSTi said:
I kinda noticed the same thing. My 96' felt a ton stiffer handling wise than my new Arnott equipped 98'?!

Yes I had 17' rims with 245/45's on it but it also had 200k on the clock and it still felt better. I had been thinking about how squishy the 98' was lately then I read this thread that reaffirmed what I was feeling. :(
Click to expand...

Yeah. If you go to the Arnott website, the description of the front shocks states that they are tuned for a compromise between handling and comfort. But judging from the ride quality, they feel like they're tuned way more toward comfort than handling. The Arnotts on my '96 are a year and 9 months old and the car nose dives under braking and wallows like a hog in the corners. While my wife's '97 LSC, on the other hand, has OEM shocks front and rear and it is stiff as hell. Almost no body roll and little if any nosedive under braking. It's like driving two completely different cars. It would be nice if Arnott would make one shock tuned for a base model and one built to LSC specs. That's why I want to put the T-Bird SuperCoupe adjustable shocks on my Mark. That way, if I want a smooth, comfortable ride, I can switch it to "soft". And if I want a firm ride and good handling, I can switch it to "firm".
 
thaywood said:
Yeah. If you go to the Arnott website, the description of the front shocks states that they are tuned for a compromise between handling and comfort. But judging from the ride quality, they feel like they're tuned way more toward comfort than handling. The Arnotts on my '96 are a year and 9 months old and the car nose dives under braking and wallows like a hog in the corners. While my wife's '97 LSC, on the other hand, has OEM shocks front and rear and it is stiff as hell. Almost no body roll and little if any nosedive under braking. It's like driving two completely different cars. It would be nice if Arnott would make one shock tuned for a base model and one built to LSC specs. That's why I want to put the T-Bird SuperCoupe adjustable shocks on my Mark. That way, if I want a smooth, comfortable ride, I can switch it to "soft". And if I want a firm ride and good handling, I can switch it to "firm".
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Yeah I friend of mine told me about the spring swap when I first got my Gen1 and I was complaining about my rear airbags being down every morning. Said it made his mothers 97' more like a Corvette than a Mark VIII after he did the EBAY spring swap.

I think about it all the time sept I went and got a Module 8 and have just been to lazy to install it. Then it would be one more thing I got for my car that I never used and make it that much more of a money pit :rolleyes:
 
2002WRXSTi said:
Yeah I friend of mine told me about the spring swap when I first got my Gen1 and I was complaining about my rear airbags being down every morning. Said it made his mothers 97' more like a Corvette than a Mark VIII after he did the EBAY spring swap.

I think about it all the time sept I went and got a Module 8 and have just been to lazy to install it. Then it would be one more thing I got for my car that I never used and make it that much more of a money pit :rolleyes:
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:)I think you misunderstood me. I'm not talking about a coil-over conversion. I'm talking about using the shock absorber cartridges from the front coil-overs in a T-Bird Super Coupe and swapping them into the air spring/shock assembly of the Mark VIII. I like my air ride and have no intention of converting to coil springs any time soon. But I would like to have the handling advantage of adjustable shocks with the ride comfort and automatic level control of air springs. And since the T-Bird coil-overs are a direct bolt-in replacement for the Mark's air spring/shocks, it would seem logical that the hydraulics would interchange between them as well.
 
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