Magride shocks can seize in their extended position. It happened to my evoque last year. The ride was like a flintstone car.
There’s a recon firm based in Poland that do them on an exchange basis I think. There are cheaper alternatives from Hong Kong on eBay. As far as I’m aware no one on here has bought them and tried.

 

Thanks @qooqiiu - I have found a few references to them failing as you describe. It does feel like I'm driving a car from the flintstones, it's like there is no suspension at all on that corner.

I'd worry about buying something from Hong Kong without some feeling of quality or reliability. I'll see if I can find the details of this firm in Poland you mentioned.

 

Europe - Nagengast
Malczewskiego 103 80-107 GDAŃSK, Poland
https://nagengast.pl/en/about

 

Depending on the shipping + duty charge using this Polish company certainly looks appealing. At 339EUR /shock is a good option for keeping with OEM product. Anyone go with this option and can report back on review?

 

It might just barely be worth it if you live in Europe and have a relatively low shipping cost to deal with. Almost certainly not worth it for overseas...

Magnetic ride rear shock part# confusion...

So I'm trying to figure out if there's any actual difference between two part#s I'm coming up with for the rear mag ride... Not sure if anyone has in depth knowledge of these--I did a search for the part#s on here and only one thread (each) comes up briefly mentioning two of them while the...

www.ttforum.co.uk

I received a reply from Nagengast -

Thanks for reaching out! We have not heard of anyone needing their Audi TT shocks be remanufactured. Those are relatively inexpensive ($700) in comparison to R8 (~$2,500). Shipping those shocks from USA to Poland would end up being costing the same as buying a brand new part.

Raf Chelstowski
raf@nagengast.pl

So it looks like it might not be worth the expense to have them rebuilt. But for anyone in Europe, it might be worth contacting them to get a quote and turn around time.

 

Thanks for the advise. Should I find myself in the situation where a set of shocks is required I may try and find a car being parted out. Installing coil overs here in NZ are non-complient and require inspection and $$$ govt fees.

 

Hi All,

Thought I'd write an update about my magride shocks.

I finally found some time to get them off the car and get them sent off to Nagengast to get them repaired and reconditioned.

It took a week for them to ship from the UK to Nagengast. Nagengast had them for two weeks, then another week to ship them back to me. Frustratingly, they got held in customs for just over two weeks. Not sure why as all the paperwork was in order, I think it must just be random that customs hold some packages back. I can see where the package had been opened by border force.

So if you are thinking of sending shocks to Nagengast you will need to factor in that the car is going to be off the road for over a month.

Anyway, what about the shocks?

They come back all nicely painted and look pretty much like new. The main thing is that the problem I had with one of the shocks has been fixed, the car rides and handles like it always used to. My problem was that the nearside front shock would not compress beyond a certain point, as though it was bottoming out with no give while driving, the wheel was bouncing on the road. I've only had the shocks back on the car for a couple of days, but fingers crossed the fix lasts and I get a few more years out of the car.

So if you want to keep your original shocks then I'd say Nagengast are well worth using.

 

Whats was the final cost to repair and did you do 2 or 4?

 

I just did the fronts, there is a risk the rears will fail at some point, as the magride shocks seem to fail with age, but I'll deal with that if and when it happens.

The cost actually adds up, the cost per shock was 339 euro, then you have the shipping cost there and back, which is 50 euros and £50ish, and there are customs duties to pay too, which came to about £200, so all in you're looking at £900 ish, so same kind of price as buying the Aerosus copies, but cheaper than buying OEM. I wanted to keep my original shocks, so I'm hoping the repairs last.

 

Blimey, £200 duty.

They look like new on the outside?
Did they provide new connectors or are they the original ones do you think?

 

All good to know, thanks for info. Just preparing for the time when my Magrides decide to crap out. Leaning toward sticking with the OEM option as in our country (NZ) we have to get a compliance certificate if installing coil-overs.

 

Shipping from NZ to Poland could be so expensive as to make it not worthwhile. I've not found anywhere that is selling OEM magride shocks but numbers I've read say £1000 per shock.

I did consider the Aerosus copies, but I read a few bad reviews about them. Hard to know if they were isolated problems or more widespread.

You might get a few more years out of yours before you need to make a decision.

 

The cost actually adds up, the cost per shock was 339 euro, then you have the shipping cost there and back, which is 50 euros and £50ish, and there are customs duties to pay too, which came to about £200, so all in you're looking at £900 ish, so same kind of price as buying the Aerosus copies, but cheaper than buying OEM. I wanted to keep my original shocks, so I'm hoping the repairs last.

Shipping from NZ to Poland could be so expensive as to make it not worthwhile. I've not found anywhere that is selling OEM magride shocks but numbers I've read say £1000 per shock.

Hmm yeah 900 GBP = about $1500 CAD for the front struts. At the time* I bought mine they cost about $1k CAD each, plus taxes of course though I got a 10% discount on the parts at least which basically accounted for a tax savings (retail tax where I am is 13%). Obviously shipping those struts out to Poland and back again would increase the cost probably enough of the ways of that "$500 savings" that there would be no point in doing this, as mentioned.
If it makes no sense for Canada, I can't imagine it makes any sense for somewhere as far off as NZ. But then again the prices on the OE struts from Audi may be quite a lot of money in NZ too, not sure.

*The prices of these struts has continually gone up over the years and they are now nearly $1400 CAD each from Audi. Also for some reason these are a set of parts (both the shocks and struts) which enjoy lower pricing (after conversion) in Canada as compared to US--the US prices are about the same as the Canadian ones but in USD.

TBH I'm glad I bought all my struts and shocks and did the job when I did because the prices just keep soaring on these. When I bought the car in 2020 I had already looked into the cost of replacement on them knowing I'd need to do them in the near future. At that point in time, IIRC, the struts were about $900 CAD each and the shocks around $500 each. By the time I bought them a year and a half later they'd gone up to the $1k mentioned and about $650 each on the rears. (I was also able to get the rears significantly cheaper as mentioned in the above linked thread but that was just out of luck.) Now the MSRPs are sitting at that $1400 for the fronts and $830 for the rears!

I don't even want to know what these parts are going to cost in another two years! Eventually that "ship to Poland to rebuild" idea will make sense even here because the prices will be so damn high!

 

I was in touch with Nagengast just a few weeks ago as it's something I'm considering. Although I could just fit coilovers, and have posted a thread on here, I just can't be dealing with the 'modified' insurance and associated increase in premium for what is otherwise a standard car.
The duty is a PITA considering the shocks are only temporarily exported then re-imported...
I've seen the Chinese MagRide but I'm not brave enough to experiment, even though they are super cheap.
For the time being I'm replacing all the springs as they're abit crusty and warranted an advisory at the last MOT, then the bushes and top mounts if needed.
If the shocks need doing I'll have to find an independent willing to store the car for the duration... I've already got 2 'dead' cars in the car park!!

 

All sounds good but it's gonna be a good waste of time (and money if paying someone to do it) to replace the front springs in particular IMO. The job on a McPherson strut is the same to replace the spring as it is to replace the whole strut. (Actually to replace both is even easier since then all you have to do is add the mount/bearing and bellow (boot), and then you can replace the entire assembly instead of decompressing the old one).

So if you need to replace the front springs and you know the struts are well worn...I'd just do it all at once instead of doing the job 2x. Just my $0.02 anyway.

Also not replacing the mount is even more egregious lol--you need to remove the assembly and decompress the strut to do so as well. There's really no point at all in replacing a spring without replacing the mount/bearing on a McPherson. I can understand the strut itself is expensive in this case so one could def. replace the spring and mount without replacing the strut, esp. if the strut is not a problem. But replacing only the spring and not the mount seems simply a bad idea. Mount and bearing are relatively cheap parts and the labour (whether it's time, money or both) to change this on its own is the same exact thing.

The rears OTOH are super easy to swap the springs, so if you just wanted to replace the rears it's gonna be like an hour or so job.

 

I've seen the Chinese MagRide but I'm not brave enough to experiment, even though they are super cheap.

I hadn't considered this option and would be keen to give a try if mine fail. Might have to look into and report back to forum to see if its even worth considering.

On other car parts I've found Aliexpress to be hit and miss. Some of it is OEM spec (identical item) and others not worth the packaging its sent in. It can be relatively risk free as the dispute process works well if your prepared to follow-up on items that are defective or not as described.

jim

 

Looking like an option??
That price equates to approx 450lbs incl shipping for all 4! Second pic shows the electrical connection for others to check.
4X Front Rear Suspension Shock Absorbers Magnetic Strut For Audi TT TTS TTRS 8J MKII Quattro 2006-2015 8J0413029D 8J0513030 - AliExpress

Who's keen to try? There are options to just buy one for around 200lbs but seems like a no brainer to go with all 4. If they don't work or are very poor quality then lodge a dispute. Mine are still operational so would not go with this trial anytime soon.

 

Looking like an option??
That price equates to approx 450lbs incl shipping for all 4! Second pic shows the electrical connection for others to check.
4X Front Rear Suspension Shock Absorbers Magnetic Strut For Audi TT TTS TTRS 8J MKII Quattro 2006-2015 8J0413029D 8J0513030 - AliExpress

Who's keen to try? There are options to just buy one for around 200lbs but seems like a no brainer to go with all 4. If they don't work or are very poor quality then lodge a dispute. Mine are still operational so would not go with this trial anytime soon.


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That price seems almost too good to be true, when I go to the link the price I'm seeing is £285.75 !! They certainly look like they are compatible with the OEM shocks, the connector is the same.

As you say, at that price you could just try them for the hell of it.

 

I just looked on the Aerosus website and they are selling a new (non OEM) pair of front shocks for £655, and with no import duties to pay.

Yeah the Aerosus ones are like half the price or less--basically like getting two of them for the price of one OE (though that was with the OE prices a year ago, which are even higher now as mentioned).

I thought about it too but, like you, I decided against it and bought all OE stuff. The worst review/complaint I read about Aerosus was actually the spring seat breaking (!!) on a strut which is obviously very dangerous and could potentially result in a lot of damage to your car if not a very serious accident altogether. That said the specific complaint was for a magride strut on a GM SUV, with a bit different design. The spring seat on the TT struts...I mean it's hard to mess that up so bad that it would break or fail somehow. Most of the reviews I read were satisfactory but there's not much (meaning reviews & feedback) on their units for TTs specifically and nothing on here (the biggest 'TT place' on the intarweb) about long term results and reliability.

Basically I thought of them as jobber versions of magride dampers lol. If I were going to be selling the car and had a failed shock/strut such that the light was on, then I'd probably go for something like that, sure--just fix it and get it sold. But for a car I plan on keeping and having for the forseeable future (at least another 8-10 years ) then nah I'm gonna stick with the real stuff. To be clear I didn't have any immediate problems with mine--no lights or leaking or anything but the suspension was clearly worn out and wasn't right--after replacing everything it's as I said in my main thread about replacing everything, a night/day difference and well worth the money. Keep in mind I bought the car knowing I would do this so I incorporated that into the price of the car I was buying. $4k on suspension seems like a lot but not given what I paid for the car and how much I enjoy it 😁 and how much nicer it drives after the suspension refresh.

I had previously replaced my top mounts as they were badly worn, so had the shocks off then. Then I had a broken coil spring, so shocks off again to replace springs both sides, then the issue with the shock so in total I've had my shocks off three times in the last year ! I'm hoping this is the last time I have to have them off. I'm worried now the rears will fail at some point but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Yeah that's a lot of extra work there, sorry that happened to you but it does make me feel better I replaced everything--struts & shocks, springs, mounts...the whole shebang really.

If you've got over 100k miles on the rear shocks, presuming they are original, I would seriously consider replacing them too. I can't speak to how yours are but as said my car drives so much more nicely after I replaced the suspension. I mean it wasn't terrible or anything to begin with but it just "wasn't right" and I knew it, so I wasn't going to be as happy and confident with the car as I could be, just continuing to drive on aged and worn out suspension. Everyone will have their own take on this but the TT is a performance car of sorts and my feeling is if you have one you should have one to drive it, not to be some kind of grocery getter or economy car which it really isn't all that "practical" a car anyway. I mean what's the point of having a sports coupe with a tiny trunk and only two seats you can really make use of, if you're going to pretend it's a Civic or something? lol But just my take on it.

Looking like an option??
That price equates to approx 450lbs incl shipping for all 4! Second pic shows the electrical connection for others to check.
4X Front Rear Suspension Shock Absorbers Magnetic Strut For Audi TT TTS TTRS 8J MKII Quattro 2006-2015 8J0413029D 8J0513030 - AliExpress

Who's keen to try? There are options to just buy one for around 200lbs but seems like a no brainer to go with all 4. If they don't work or are very poor quality then lodge a dispute. Mine are still operational so would not go with this trial anytime soon.

That price seems almost too good to be true, when I go to the link the price I'm seeing is £285.75 !! They certainly look like they are compatible with the OEM shocks, the connector is the same.

As you say, at that price you could just try them for the hell of it.

Yeahhhh see this is the kind of thing I'd personally stay away from, far away. There's an old saying, "If it seems too good to be true..." People are certainly free to do as they wish but I've had enough experience with cheese-whiz aftermarket parts that I wouldn't even think about going there. The Aerosus are one thing but these ones for this cheap my immediate thought is these are just standard dampers with resistors built-into them, to fool the system into thinking they are fine--i.e. a "delete kit" built into cheap regular dampers. I mean at that price it would not surprise me one bit if they were pulling that kind of con job. My advice here is to not buy your car parts off AliExpress, Temu, etc. under any circumstance. I mean if you want to buy cosmetic trinkets, led lights, interior/trim parts, and ghetto "mod" stuff off there, okay sure. But your suspension? Well I can't stop anyone but seriously... Just. Don't. Do it!

 

I wouldn’t discount these parts so quickly as often Chinese knock-offs are manufactured by companies associated with OE. Bosh for example has plants in China.
If I was in need of replacement shocks I’d take one for the team and give these a crack.

 

Well BWI (who owns MagneRide, buying it from Delphi/GM years ago) is a Chinese company so let's not make any mistake there. The "BWI" you see on those later OE units are from this company. However the OE ones for the TT are made in Poland, not China. The new gen BWI stuff that's going into Vettes and Caddilac Vs and whatnot, are typically made in Mexico. BWI despite now being the sole owner of the tech still works very closely with GM to develop this stuff for their vehicles and producing in China and shipping to plants in the US for a production lines that run on JIT principles, clearly won't work out too well--Mexico is a much better option.

You are correct that we should not discount some Chinese companies that may be making things out of the same factories or what have you but there is zero evidence here that this is occuring (OE ones are not made at a BWI China facility, nor is there anything to suggest this brand could possibly be associated with BWI somehow). Not only that the real/true indicator is the price. There is cheap (like Aerosus) and then there is unbelieveably cheap, like these. We all know OE parts are certainly marked up and it's often much cheaper to buy the same part from the actual company, without the Audi (or whatever) logo, for less money. That's one thing, yes. But those parts are clearly made in the same places, by the same companies (brand is on the box), etc. Unforutnately this is not the case with these dampers (trust me, I've looked) so buying with the Audi markup is kind of mandatory--you're not going to find BWI boxed/sold dampers out of Poland because they simply don't run a direct-to-consumer parts division it seems, at least not in all countries.

Now this (these cheap AliExpress magride units) is not the same thing as "buying the OE part from the OE supplier", at all. If you think it's possible to make a legit product (meaning actual working magneto rheological dampers in this case); and one with quality (that is not going to fall apart on the road and lead you to your possible death); and make a profit off doing so (these companies are not doing charity work seling them)? If it's all possible in your mind and Audi is really selling these for just that much more money than they're worth? Uhh then sure, go for it.

In reality, the vast majority of the time, if it's sounds too good to be true it actually is exactly that.

You're of course free to believe and buy what you feel is worth your money, but myself I wouldn't be caught dead here. And dead is perhaps a key word here. Should something go wrong with a critical component like this it could be the difference in you just driving from A to B and you ending up from A into a tree. Or into say a vehicle with a family of four inside or heck a school bus for that matter. Just keep in mind you're on the road with millions of other ppl too, you're not necessarily responsible for them but you do have some obligation to not put them in danger too.

Let's keep in mind China is a place that is absolutely rampant with counterfeits, knock-offs, and absolutely horrible quality junk that pretends to be legit/good or "the same", all for rock bottom prices. There are basically no laws or enforcement regarding things like IP theft, patents, copying, counterfeitting, etc. so it goes on...a lot...basically "in broad daylight" as "business as usual". The extent of this does not just include stuff like car parts, electronics, and designer fashion stuff. This goes as far as food products...for human consumption! This is a place known to lace and fill products like toothpaste and milk...milk!...with stuff like plastics and polymers which are well-known to be absolutely hazardous to your health. So think about that a minute. If places there don't give a shit about maiming people directly with doctored food products, what do you think is going to happen with auto parts? When these guys don't have the correct thing to make what they're making they just substitue in whatever. So if that real magneto fluid is too expensive to make or source or not easy to get, what you think they're gonna do? Exactly what they're going to do is just say, "hey we can just make a regular damper that's shorter internally, throw some resistors in the bottom to turn off any error lights and we've got something we can sell!" If you think this stuff doesn't cross the minds (and actually get done) by the people making this kind of stuff and selling it at these prices? Well I don't know what to tell you other than exactly what I have--believe what you want.

There's another multi-layered, multi-faceted problem with buying anything in the counterfeit or knock-off market which I'll only dip toes in here... The former of course being significantly worse but knock-offs not really being good either. This is not just to do with individual experiences with poor quality or unusable products they've wasted $$$ on. It goes much further than that and has significant problems for economies (esp. those that aren't China), and does harm to legit companies producing, inventing, innovating, etc. the real products in legit fashion...even if those products are actually made in China (that itself is a different problem but not one you can really do anything about in this day and age). As an individual you are free to ignore these very significant "macro" problems with knockoffs but if you choose that route you should also consider the kind of things in regular life you shouldn't then complain about.

Back to the more direct and immediate/individual case, with such auto parts, you certainly shouldn't complain if you've wasted money on what turns out to be bogus parts that don't work, or crap out in short order, nor would you have anyone to sue or hold accountable if you should end up in an accident because of such a thing. It's one thing to buy a sunvisor clip or armrest that doesn't even close to fitting and is just cheap garbage you throw in...the garbage (been there, done that lol), and another thing to buy a major suspension component which, if it fails, could result in absolute disaster. And if these ultra cheap interior plastic parts are so horrible (even though they take pictures of the real thing to sell you on it ) what do you think is going to happen with an expensive suspension component? At best you may end up with a car that doesn't ride or handle as it really should and you either not ever realising it or again having no one to blame or complain to but yourself.

Sorry about this lengthy post on this but obviously I've stated firmly where I stand on it and the reasons as such, people are again free to do as they want to do--their money, their car, all that stuff. I do wish you luck if you buy these but I seriously recommend against it.

 

I don't disagree with your logic but am only suggesting someone give it a try and report back. You make many assumptions which may or may not be true.

 

In the UK, I thought there was a rule that it has to be OE quality for it to be classed as not-modified ?
Otherwise if it's not OE, it's a modification, in the eyes of insurance companies.
Or have I misread something somewhere.?

 

The Aliexpress shocks are listed as OEM equivelant but the question is if you believe it or not. Not sure what docs you require in UK for getting MOT.

 

Just come across this post, sorry if it's resurrecting from the past. Can anyone give me an idea of the expected life of magnaride shocks? I have a TTS with 50k miles, 20k of which I have done, and live in the Fens where the roads are horrendous. I've also got a TT with standard suspension, 110k mines, around 70k of which has been done in the Fens and seems to be going well, and while I can tell the difference between the two, I wouldn't say it's a massive difference, so anyone got an idea of the cost of standard shocks and a delete kit if I change to standards shocks, or a very good reason why I shouldn't?

 

I just replaced my two rear Magride shocks a few weeks ago when they showed signs of leaking. I have a 2007 with 159,000km / 98,000miles on the clock. So for an 18-year old car, not too bad they lasted this long.

 

I have a 2010 TTS with Magride, ~90k miles. Replaced the 2 rears earlier this year. Fronts are fine. Not bad for 15 years' worth of driving!

 

My fronts (or the nearside) failed at 15 years approx 70k miles. My rears (at least for now) seem OK at 18 years. I'm not sure if the failure is age related or mileage related - probably a combination of both.

When the magrides fail, it is very noticeable, at least it was for me. They have no "give" at all, and as @qooqiiu mentioned earlier in this thread, it is like driving the flintstones car !