(G) Fiat uno mk1 / mk2 rear shock absorbers

Hi all,
Sorry to be so predictable...

Does anyone know if mk1 uno turbo and mk2 uno turbo rear shockers are the same? if you know can you just let me know asap,

Scrap that, I am sure someone must know, there seems to be a fair few clued up people around here!

Thanks very much,
Paul

Yes, they are the same. For both mk1 and mk2, the rear shocks tend to be better quality and have more damping for the turbo models. Most people fit budget shocks to the lesser models.

Hope this helps!

indeed it does, thanks mate, yeah i was actually told by someone on eBay (a seller!) not to buy his shocks as they werent gas struts or something they were just fluid - im not quite sure how true that is! either way cheers!

There's two types of damping medium used - oil and gas. Gas shocks tend to give better damping characteristics but cost more. Oil damped shocks tend to be cheaper, but get a decent brand (i.e. Monroe) and you'll still have a good shock

If you want to go racing then I think gas is better as they are less likely to overheat under hard use.

Not sure what either of my Unos have!

What Chas says is right, but I just want to clarify. ALL shocks use oil as the damping medium; some shocks have a gas charge (basically, instead of air, the free space is pressurised nitrogen). As I understand it, the purpose of the pressurised nitrogen is to keep the oil stable (not foaming), and to keep oxygen/moisture away. So it extends the life of the oil - therefore, gas shocks last longer and are better for heavy-duty applications. And as Chas said, for racing - although any oil gets thinner with heat, and a gas charge won't make much difference to that.

The pressurisation is not a lot, so the ride height isn't affected by more than a few millimetres.

Incidentally I find you can hear if shocks have a gas charge if you wind the window down and drive slowly over a judder bar (traffic calming measure, sleeping policeman, whatever you call them...) - you can hear the hissing sound if there's a gas charge being compressed/decompressed, sounds like a gas strut, I guess it vents through something inside.

On our market, the main brand for shocks is Monroe (a brand that's strong in Australia) and they seem to own some factories in Spain etc. so they make Uno shocks. This is good news as it means we get parts that fit from a 'common' brand supplier (=low price). The cost of importing alternatives (e.g. Spax) is prohibitive. So most Unos (including mine) get the cheap Monroe shocks, which are still a lot better than worn-out shocks. I have re-oiled front struts in the past (with success!) but for the rears, I'd just replace them.

I don't know what your market is like, but if you have to go with cheapies, I reckon that's OK. The back end of an Uno is just 'along for the ride' anyway and doesn't need a great deal of damping (it doesn't have a great deal of springing either - they're very soft). And because the shocks aren't working very hard, I don't think the gas charge is essential.

I drove an Uno once where the left-rear shock absorber had completely failed, and that was truly nasty - turned left much more sharply than it turned right - so I reckon the most important thing is to get a match on both sides.

Cheers,
-Alex

Yeah cheers, it's been a few years since I did my training on all this stuff, only tend to remember the useful things!
Think my rear left hand has collapsed, or for that matter has no gas/oil left in it, as it knocks and bangs like hell anyway - was on the to do list believe it or not.

Anyway as it turns out i've bought original fit gas struts (brand new), they are branded as woodhead - i dare say not the worlds most expensive make as i have never heard of them!

Great!

Expect to find that one or both top mountings need replacing - the centre tends to tear out of the rubber and may have contributed to your banging noise. Fortunately these are not expensive though anecdotal evidence suggests that genuine FIAT rubber mountings last much longer than other-branded replacements.

When you're changing the rear shocks the only extra work to replace the mountings is a couple of bolts each side, so I reckon it makes sense.

-Alex

cheers i will buy a couple just in-case!