[DML] Struts that dampen opening shock

[James Espey <james@xxxx>]

At 6:54 PM -0500 10/25/99, dcsj@xxxx wrote:
>Yes ,the LIFT-O-MAT struts are still availiably as new manufactured units.
>I saw all 6 struts at the St louis expo . Don Steger of Delorean Motor
>Center in California sells the NEW units.
>
>Basicly the same price as all the other vendors. Btw: the manufacturer is
>Stabilus, Its in small print on the side of the strut housing
>
>Don told me he is also trying to get the manufacturer to make a set of door
>struts that dampen the last 25% of the opening stroke, to help ease the
>strain from the more abrupt opening shock,
>
>Hope this helps, Dennis VIn 5180

The fact that the Lift-O--Mat struts do NOT have this dampener are the
reason that we do not sell those at DMC (Houston). I wasn't aware of how
big of a difference that dampening feature made until I replaced my old
struts with some from Don this spring in Phoenix. Once it got warmer, the
doors would seemingly fly open, causing a significant "bounce" at the top
of their travel. This is really hard on the door hinges, and when I got to
Houston, I mentioned it to our mechanic, Bill. he replaced them with a set
of our struts, that have the dampening valve in them and the problem was
solved. When the door is opened, once the door reaches about 75-80% of its
travel, the valve kicks in and slows the door down so that when it reaches
the top of it's travel, it's moving slowly enough that there is no "bounce".

Stabilus has shown no interest in creating their strut with a valve for
such a small market, so we have stuck with our current supplier.

James Espey
DeLorean Motor Company
Houston, Texas

281/568-9573
800/USA-DMC1
http://www.usadmc.com