Suspension from Suncore

[96_Pimpin_Deville]

Hey Everyone! I went and replaced my struts/shocks all the way around my 96 deville with a full kit from suncore industries. I did a lot of searching on forums and decided to go with them. The two big hitters were Suncore and Arnott. Didn't read much bad about either. I am just wondering if anyone else has had the same experience that I have been having with not only the product, but also the customer no service. First, I ordered the kit and when it arrived, got all excited and went to install everything. First I found I needed to cut a sway bar link mount off one side because I only needed one.(the other would have hit things) Called them first and got the ok to do so. I was assured I had been sent the correct parts! I still believe to this day I needed the later model struts, the pictures only show one mount. Anyway, I get em all in and go to put the rear in and find they forgot to send my air line kit, so I had to wait a week for that to arrive, no biggy, everyone makes mistakes. Get my car aligned and go about my business, car rides ok, not the best, but no rattles. A week goes by and I notice the front starts to rattle, which progressively gets worse in 6 months to the point I cannot stand it anymore! I call them up and after talking it over with them, they send out what was supposed to be 2 strut mounts, I get one. Then I have to wait a week to get another. I finally get it and find out it is only parts of the mount. Here I sit without a car for a whole weekend and most likely the whole next week while they ship the rest. When I pulled the one side apart, I realize why they both failed. It's because they use a cheap nylon block and a wannabe plastic bearing in place of what was a metal bearing on the oem setup. So far I have two alignments and a lot of time wasted on this setup to get a sub par ride quality anyway. As far as the rear air shocks go, They are not that well either. No matter what pressure I have in them, when I have anyone (big or small) in the back seat, or anything in the trunk, The back end bottoms out over bigger bumps and feels very uncontrolled while driving.

I just want to know if anyone had any similar experiences with this company as well as let others know about mine.

[96_Pimpin_Deville]

Due to my anger while posting, I forgot to mention that through all of this, my Service Ride Control light is still on! The resistors must not work with my system.

[bill57]

I'm sorry to read of your problems. I'm currently dealing with Suncore, and am not far enough along in my dealings to make an assessment.

[richscho]

I used the Arnott replacements on a 97 Concours. I had a shop put them on, so I don't know for certain of the installation specifics.

They had some very innocuous verbiage telling me that the ride control system would not be operational when using their product, and it is my understanding that this is attributable to a proprietary (read: patented) chip that exists on the OEM version of these parts.

If the chip is patented, I would think that for a '93 model vehicle that patent should be soon to expire?? Perhaps you can identify the mfr. of the chip and order a few?

Unfortunately, they do not tell you that the deactivation of the Ride Control System also means that you must reset the indicator light for this system, at minimum, each time you operate the vehicle. It also probably tells you that vehicle speed is limited to 90 mph.

Depending on the timing of the reset of that indication, the 90 mph limit is real. Someone once suggested that I could get into the vehicle programming to 'fix' this problem, but my high speed days are probably well behind me - so I don't expect to 'go there'.

Recently - having decided that I was wearing myself out ( ;-)) ) punching the "info reset" for the ride control system - I decided to contact Arnott and request from them, the service of having the OEM parts (which I had the repair shop preserve) rebuilt. In my case the failures occurred in rubber parts of the air control system.

I also asked that, in the event that Arnott would not rebuild them, they suggest someone who could/would rebuild them.

The response I got from Arnott merely informed me that they don't rebuild them. I guess they feel they've got a good thing going with the current arrangement. [I didn't expect them to do it for 'free'! I would have thought that they could charge me the same amount of money, and had far less material cost incurred to create the part?!]

I'd rebuild them myself if I knew how to find a mfr. for the components.

The OEM parts are really very nice, with a high quality power-coat finish.

Probably there is no organized way to market such a rebuild service cost-effectively? No one recognizes the EXTREME pricing of the OEM parts until they are faced with the problem, and that is not a time when you have weeks to look for a solution.

In short, Arnott at least seems quite comfortable with the current arrangement. Only by organizing an operation that makes the existing arrangement 'not so nice' as it has thus far been for them, can there be any real hope for improving the situation.

GM is not going to be interested, because they are probably able to sell a lot of sets of shocks/struts for ~$3K. People don't like the price, but when your shocks are shot, you want to get your vehicle operational immediately.

If you think that you believe that there is an opportunity here to construct an enterprise focused on making suitable parts available at reasonable prices, let me know. I'd like to do it, just because the current setup "displeases" me so. [Just wanted to make sure I got by the censors...]