AVO coilover's Good/Bad?

[dhdev (Oli)]

Anybody got any opinions/experiences.
They're for a small block nova so bottoming out shouldn't be a prob.

[Chris]

i ran them on my 20XE and had no problems with them at all, also on the 16SE they were fine, very positive feel.

I did have a problem when I first got them though, the spring platform is single (it doesnt have a locking ring), it is help in place by a nylon grub screw and mine stripped the threads straight away so I got some locking rings machined, but I have been told that when the threads have been tapped into the platform they dont clean them out so when you put the grub screw in it gets mangled in the swarfe left from the tapping process. This has been raised with them a few times though now so they might have started doing them properly, but it doesnt take long to clean them out yourself.

Chris

[dhdev (Oli)]

Cheers for the advice!

[Rick Draper]

****

[Mark T]

Heard storys about them poping seals out

[Riggy]

the early ones did have a prbleam with the seals , they are sorted now i believe

i poped 2 of mine and bent the pistons aswell lol - had them all rebuilt a few month back just not got round to fitting them again yet pmsl

[SRlew]

do you need to turret the rear to fit them?

[Riggy]

no but you may have to make a small amount of clearance from the inner arch with a big hammer


but , you should realy strenghen the mounting points on the rear beam as there not designed to take all the weight on them , i never and didnt have any probs but i will be doing on my XE

[Stuart]

early avos were simply Spax rejects resprayed and sold on lmao.

the rear end only really needs the sheel strengthening if you dont have it stripped out/want to make it uber low and have the correct geometry for the CO.

[NovaNeil]

Oli you've been asking this question for about the past year! lol

I ran them for 2 years and they performed fine, and Padge ran them on his Valver Nova which they also ran fine on. And he's now replacing his Yellow Billy's for them on his Valver Corsa!

I to have heard a few bad stories about the older versions (the ones we fitted to Scott's Nova recently but don't tell him ;)). But the later ones seem to be fine.

Neil

[NovaBen]

That exact suspension setup that was on Padges Nova, is now on my rally car!! I am wanting to change them soon though as i'm not overly impressed with them. A guy i was speaking to the other day put it in perfect words, Avos are ok for fast road but not for rallying!
I'm going to Bilsteins or possibly forking out and going to Pro-Flex.

Ben

[dhdev (Oli)]

I know i've been asking for years lol but it really is time to get rid of the cheapo PMC set up i've been runnin for the last five years :roll:
The only reason i've been dragging my feet for so long is cos i want Ledas but will never be able to afford them:cry: But there are a few sets of second avo's about at the moment tho:thumb:

[Dar]

Avos are ok for fast road but not for rallying!:thumb:

That just about sums them up perfectly. They are effectivly a cheap set of coilovers - so they are fine for your everyday/track use but you will need something better if you want to go offroad/rallying. Basically anywhere where the suspension is going to get a real hammering.

[dhdev (Oli)]

So to sum up, they seem to be fine for me then! I realised that they were never gonna transform my car but as long as they perform as well as my old fixed rate/height dampers i'd be fairly happy. Plus my car/driving is very forgiving mechanically, i've had the same tyres for 4 years lol! A539's and they've done over 50 1/4 mile runs, two ring trips, two trax, brunters, cadwell, donnington, snetterton, llandow, curborough and plenty of road miles :thumb: Think they're limited edition plastic ones lmfao
Gonna get some Toyo R888's this year :cool:

[Mark T]

Bloody hell Oli! I'd be able to do about 1 ring trip out of a set... I have no mechanical sympathy though!

[jamie gsi16v]

id say avos are cr-ap or mine are, there wound down bout 80mm and set on rock hard and they bottom out everywhere, they have no obvious leaks anywhere but really do seem bad coilovers, they were fine on my small block but crap on my xe, they are officially up for sale!

[Chris]

there must be something wrong with them then Jamie, the only time I have bottomed mine out with the 20XE in was at Llandow, and I was running a kerb straight on virtually at about 60-70mph, that was the only time they have bottomed out. But it made a faster lap although a bit bouncy. I blame that on BigRuss though for showing me the line when he took me out in his car lol.

Chris

[dexxturbonova]

id say avos are cr-ap or mine are, there wound down bout 80mm and set on rock hard and they bottom out everywhere, they have no obvious leaks anywhere but really do seem bad coilovers, they were fine on my small block but crap on my xe, they are officially up for sale!

Get heavier poundage springs, would sort the bottoming out.

[Dan]

I say they are ok aswell, as already said, they arent top of the range so dont expect it, but for the cost and the uses you want them for they are ok.

With reference to yours bottoming out at llandow chris mine didnt come near to bottoming out and i was running the exact same lines from first thing lol

[Chris]

that line was quality lol mine was set soft too most of the day, I hardened them up but wasnt pushing as hard later in the day due to the magic milkshake going on lol

Chris

[jamie gsi16v]

what poundage springs do avo users recommend, length/width/lb. i want to wind them down abit so length matters i should think?

[jamie gsi16v]

http://www.performancecentre.co.uk/p/Home.asp
part search
suspension
avo springs (but what size etc as theres loads)

[SRlew]

what sort of strengthening do you need to do then and where?

cheers, lew

[broster]

http://www.corsasport.co.uk/carimages/652/coils_gone_manky_002.jpg

keep the thread all greased up or they go kinda ****ty.....