Those pictures are frightening to say the least & the suppliers explanations disgusting.
Testing the damper rod breaking point with a 2Lb Hammer incredible, that man deserves a job in Aerospace
When I started the rebuild of my S4 I got a very good deal from Spyder for their chassis, wishbones, RSC, dampers, springs & a host of other bits so fair do's.
However, after fitting the RSC to the chassis I decided that the geometry just "didn't look right", without doing any measurements etc. it came off before the chassis hit the ground.
Assembling the supplied front springs to the supplied adjustable platform dampers was very, very scary.
The free length was incredible & when fitted the coils were very close together & buckled all over the place.
TTR modified my rear struts for 2.5" springs, put his dampers in & supplied matching front & rear springs.
Fitting those front springs went the way I would normally expect with no fear of serious injury, as previously encountered
But to get to the point, in this Country where I live, changes from anything standard on cars is very strictly controlled, in the name of safety.
e.g. A non-standard Steering wheel or Road wheels have to be supplied with correct paperwork & that is then entered into the registration document.
Even a change of tyre size must be approved by the T?V.
In comparison there is practically no control in GB.
The MOT doesn't check part numbers & suppliers of parts do not have to subject their components for official testing.
Owners can do practically anything they wish to do to their cars provided the inform their insurance company about any
"changes to performance"
Now that IMHO in these days of overpowering "GB elf & safety" is close to being miraculous.
Nevertheless that situation gives us all (in GB) freedom to do things to our cars which in other countries would be impossible but on the other hand we leave ourselves wide open when unwittingly using components such as the dampers being discussed.
Basically that supplier needs to be punished for supplying those parts but where & how far can you go without arousing the interest of the national & European legislators (read "Bean counters")
It's great to still have "freedom of choice" & that this forum puts up warnings like the ones in this thread.
Oh well Friday rant over
Hope my rambling makes some sort of sense
Have a good weekend.
John