Ohlins 996? - Saftety Issue - Don't use car

[richardlee]

Has anyone received replacement units yet? I was told by the supplier theyd been told the units were 'ready to ship' from Ohlins ~4 weeks ago but haven't heard any more since?!

I'm still waiting :sad:

 

[arry]

Cannot believe you're all still waiting. What the hell are Ohlins up to!

 

[Diggermeister]

When this issue came to light, I posted up on Pistonheads and was shot down by some for saying they have form.

I am a keen mountain biker and a few years back they got a terrible name for having suspension fork failures. You might think "well they're only push bikes, so they don;t go fast - what's the problem?" Well if they fail on a decent downhill, you will definitely be going straight to A&E.

Report here: https://gearjunkie.com/biking/ohlins-rxf-air-fork-recall-specialized

I'd not heard of any other fork manufacturer have similar types and numbers of critical failures. I could not believe, with proper R&D and testing (Ohlins have a full time mtb facility in Verbier), the fault could be present.

 

[DynoMike]

As one of the affected customers, my initial thought when this came to light was that Ohlins are a stand-up company, they will resolve this pretty quickly and efficiently. How wrong I was!!

We are now entering month 5 of 'do not drive your car', and frankly, it sucks. Each time I email my supplier I get the same reply, 'ready at the end of the month, there are some problems with shipping'.

Our treatment by the company has been appalling. I will be moving to another brand in due course.

Having recently sold my small business to a larger concern, my new role within that company involves commissioning parts for bespoke car builds, amongst others. Ohlins will now be off the agenda there too from now on. It doesn't matter how good the product is if the back up is this poor.

Meanwhile in the 'states, I read that are getting supplies through and all are getting resolved pretty quickly. :nooo:

Rant over.

 

[tob_today]

Many of us are seeing Brexit related challenges for companies (and individuals) wanting to ship in / out of UK. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a contributing factor, although granted it shouldn't take months to resolve. Sounds like the whole customer experience has been very poor. Unfortunately.

 

[linson]

I received mine at the end of February and last week received the refund for the installation costs so they are coming through albeit very slowly it seems. I was hacked off by how long mine took but it seems I got away quite lightly.

 

[Spinner]

Well after an awfully long wait I finally had my replacement shocks and top mounts installed.

Interestingly Ohlins are specifying elephant racing top mounts with this redesigned kit. They supplied them FOC as part of the replacement.

Due to my 4S now being a 2S I had a slightly softer spring on the front and Ohlins replaced that with the same.

All in all it doesn't feel much different to before but I am just glad to have got it done and had the uprated top mounts at the same time.

BG Motorsport have kept me updated the whole way through and done their best with availability of kit so good marks from them. They also checked and updated the alignment prior to releasing the car back to me.

It's a very pointy thing but I still may take it to CoG for a custom setup and more tweaking.

 

[DivineE]

So close! They tried to ship but it got returned as there was no phone number on the package. Dammit. Got the car booked in to have them fitted now though.

Looking forward to worry free motoring.. and just in time for my first track day of the year 8)

 

[_gez_]

Still waiting - sets coming through at snails pace. Have 20 customers 'unable to drive their cars'

You should make that 21. Fancy coming to Australia to fit them????

 

[DynoMike]

After my mini rant last week, my replacement units turned up a few days later from the supplier.
No mention of recompense, so will have that conversation with him after fitment and take it from there.

The top mounts look reasonable to me, will see how long it takes before they rattle, if at all.

Light at the end of this particular tunnel, I really hope the rest of you get sorted soon. Good luck guys

 

[richardlee]

Finally...

 

[DivineE]

Grrrr arrrgg you beat me! :sad:

 

[DivineE]

Finally got mine. Now just deciding which lower (coffin) arms to fit to make use of the camber adjustability in the top mounts.

I've owned a rose jointed road car before NEVER AGAIN, so it'll be something with rubber bushes, but I would quite like to make the front end more responsive.

Driving back to back with my 996 C2 in the brief time I had both, the turbo felt like a very blunt tool, particularly in low speed, sharp bends.

I can't say the same for the 996 C4 I drove that felt almost as pointy as my C2 so it must be something in the standard C4S/Turbo geometry.

P.s. I watch tyre pressures (32psi front) and had the same Michelin N2 tryes on all three cars.

 

[Mattjevans]

Still waiting for mine. D911 assured me it would be last week... but still nothing

I'm going to put on softer springs and probably Eibach front arms while I'm at it

 

[maldren]

I went with 40Nm front and 70Nm rear. Ohlins don't make soft fronts in the std diameter so you will either need 3rd party springs (not yellow) or fit different spring seats, CG fitted Bilstein seats on mine).

If I were going again, I would probably go softer still and use the standard Porsche spring rates.

Feel free to PM for more details.

Mike