marklemac

Hi,

Just wondering what the expected lifespan of the AST's are ?

They are stated as being able to be rebuilt and maintained, so after how many miles would this be expected to be done ?

jgevers

Most monotube dampers could do with a service once a year. The main reason is that a damper converts energy into heat. This means that the oil in the damper does 'wear out' and will have a bit of bearing swarf in it. Normally the bearing material around the piston wears as well, hence the swarf.

Most montubes also have a small amount of natural loss of gas pressure.

So I would expect ASTs to benefit from a yearly service to keep them in tip top condition.

Cheers

marklemac

ok, just was never told anything about servicing when I bought them.

DuncanG

Job, are monotubes worse in that regard than twin-tubes? Is it just because of the higher pressure?

jgevers

Hi Duncan,

As far as I am aware, twn tubes wear just as much although bump damping normally isn't done through the piston.

Most twin tubes (apart from some really high end ones) seem to lose quite a bit of their damping efficiency within their first few thousand miles. Most of them are not rebuildable, are made with pretty cheap parts and damping curves are not very uniform.

The fact that most mono tubes are rebuildable and a lot more expensive, maintenance will keep their damping as intended.

Most twin tubes are are cheap enough to just renew once worn.

If you remember that Koni sold their dampers specifically with adjustability to compensate for wear.............

Cheers