I am deeply disappointed in the lack of communication from RMT about a failed front strut. Though I installed my struts two and a half years ago, the car has done less than 1000 miles on them and has been garaged all of that time. Two eMails and three phone calls with no response. I am not an unreasonable person. I am not sure what a limited lifetime warranty is and I really don't expect a free replacement but this is terrible customer service.
I did see ShockMasters is selling a new air strut unit for less than the RMT refurbished unit. I did mail and ask if the shock contained the Jaguar ECats system and had a response to say it does but I am not yet convinced. Anybody have any experience with these people and/or struts? Please no responses to tell me to convert to coil over shock...
Steve

 

Well i hate to be the bearer of bad news, but R M T rebuilt shocks seem to have issues with these shocks.

A set on the rear left the car on its stops after a week.

The car raised as soon as started, and rode fine. but sent them back for a refund.

A set that was put on the front of the other Jaguar a couple years ago, now has a clunk, so their going to be replaced.

We will see what they say when i put the Arnotts on.

Have a set of Arnotts to replace them, which will put them on both cars, both front,& back.

 

I have much experience with air struts from owning an Audi A8 over the last 7 years and can say Arnott has been great. I've purchased their 'new' struts and never had an issue. On the other hand, stay away from CARDONE. They are horrible struts with zero support after the sale.

 

lol...I also have an Audi A8L as my daily driver. Fortunately it is new enough that I dont need to worry about the air struts just yet. RMT has accepted my request for a warranty inspection so I will see how that goes. If I can get a free replacement I will stay with them and hope my problems go away for a few more years. If I lose another strut, I will consider the Arnott solutions
Steve

 

Hi Steve,

I don't have any experience with the ShockMasters units. I have installed several Arnott replacement air springs and many of their coil-over conversion kits, and I recently installed a Suncore coil-over conversion kit. One of my friends has just purchased two new front air spring/damper units from Suncore that are claimed to be compatible with CATS and to not trigger CATS Fault warnings on the instrument cluster. I'll be installing them in a couple of weeks and will try to remember to report on them.

BTW, I think at least a couple of our members have reported that RMT has ceased rebuilding the OE Bilstein units due to a high failure rate. I have not confirmed that myself.

Cheers,

Don

 

I spoke with Suncore and they did say their air shocks keep the cats system active and come with a 1 year warranty. Think I will order a pair for the front after my RMT experience. Probably be next weekend before I put them on. I will be sure to update my experience and the quality of the ride afterwards.

 

I ended up buying a front set of comfort Suncore air shocks. They are about 2 inches longer than the originals when placed side by side. I can confirm they are CATS active and do not set off any warning lights. Once installed the car raised up with no problems. Rather quickly too since I rebuilt my air compressor as well. After driving about 30 minutes they performed as expected. They seem maybe a tad stiffer but they replaced some really worn and leaking originals so I don't have much to judge them by. The cost was $500 and shipping was extremely fast. I will be doing some highway driving soon and well update if any problems develop.

 

That's a great price, i sure hope they work out for you.

Much of the Chinese stuff is of good quality.

Be great to have good shocks available for that price.

 

Luckily it looks like you are near FL, so the cost of sending struts back to RMT for inspection will be minimal. I too had a warranty inspection on a a pair of RMTs which cost me quite a bit to ship back from the Northeast and your car sits undriveable while you wait. In my case I will say that they honored the warranty and sent me another set of struts. Unfortunately one of those replaced units only lasted a couple of months. After changing out three struts over the course of six months I finally bit the bullet and bought some Bilsteins. And while I really couldn't afford them at the time the car has performed flawlessly since they went in, and despite the hit to my wallet my blood pressure has returned to normal finally. That alone made the cost worth it in the end.

 

RMT doesn’t rebuild the shock part of the strut so it’s luck of the draw when it comes to the condition of the core you’re getting. Their warranty is pretty explicitly designed to deny coverage to as many people as is humanly possible (i.e not ASE certified)

I’m gonna go to the junkyard and pick up some struts out of a V6 S-Type and call it a day