Warranty & Liability

We build dampers to be specced, valved and rebuilt for the life of the car, not binned and replaced. This page sets out the warranty that comes with our products and services, your guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law, and the limits that apply. It’s general information, not legal advice.

We stand behind every set

Every kit is specced and valved for your car and built to be lived with. We make them rebuildable for life: when a damper has done the kilometres, we strip, inspect, re-valve and rebuild it rather than throw it away. Our core hardware has been manufactured to our specification since 2011, and we back the work.

If something we supplied isn’t right, we’ll make it right.

Your guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law

Our goods and services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. For major failures with the service, you are entitled to cancel your service contract with us, and to a refund for the unused portion, or to compensation for its reduced value. You are also entitled to choose a refund or replacement for major failures with goods.

If a failure with the goods or a service doesn't amount to a major failure, you are entitled to have the failure rectified in a reasonable time. If this isn't done you are entitled to a refund for the goods and to cancel the contract for the service and obtain a refund of any unused portion. You are also entitled to be compensated for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage from a failure in the goods or service.

These rights apply on top of, and aren't limited by, anything else on this page or anywhere on this website.

What we warrant

In addition to your consumer guarantees above, and for the warranty period of 3 years / 100,000 km from delivery, we warrant that:

• Our dampers are free from defects in materials and manufacture under normal use, including road and track use
• Our work (the specification, valving, assembly, and any fitting we carry out) is performed with due care and skill
• Rebuildable for life: where a unit is serviceable, we will rebuild and re-valve it rather than replace it, on the terms quoted at the time

The warranty period is the commercial warranty we add on top of your consumer guarantees. Your Australian Consumer Law rights continue regardless of this period.

Built for the track

Our dampers are designed for hard use. The warranty stands for road driving, track days and competition. We don’t void your warranty just because you race the car, that’s what it’s built for. The exclusions below (crash damage, misuse, bad installation, tampering) still apply, on the track the same as on the road.

How to make a warranty claim

To make a claim:

• Contact the workshop on 0473 584 884, at sales@shockworks.com.au, or by post to Shockworks, 487 Monbulk Rd, Monbulk VIC 3793, within the warranty period, with your order details and a description of the fault
• Give us reasonable access to inspect the part and, where relevant, the vehicle and the installation
• We assess the claim and respond promptly. If it’s covered, we repair, rebuild or replace at no charge and tell you when it’ll be sorted

We pay the cost of assessing and remedying a valid claim. Claims outside the warranty period are assessed on their merits and may be quoted as chargeable work.

What the warranty doesn't cover

Our warranty doesn't cover loss or damage caused by:

• Crash, impact, kerb strike, or other accident damage
• Misuse, abuse, or use beyond the product’s design limits
• Installation, corner-weighting or alignment carried out incorrectly, not to our specifications, or by an unqualified person
• Tampering with, re-valving, or modifying our work, or fitting our parts to a vehicle or in a configuration we didn't specify
• Normal wear of consumable items, and damage from neglect, corrosion or lack of maintenance
• Parts or components not supplied by Shockworks

These are cause-based exclusions: they attribute the damage to something other than our product or workmanship. They don't limit your consumer guarantees.

Fitment, setup and your responsibility

Coilovers are safety-critical suspension components. They must be installed, corner-weighted and aligned by a qualified workshop, to our specifications and torque settings. Once fitted, you are responsible for setting the vehicle within the legal and safe range, and for ongoing inspection and maintenance. If you’re not certain a setup is right, talk to us before you drive on it.

Road-legal compliance is the owner's responsibility

There is no such thing as an "ADR-approved" coilover. The Australian Design Rules apply to whole vehicles as built, not to individual aftermarket parts, so no coilover carries its own ADR approval, and we never claim one does. Whether a modified vehicle is road-legal depends on the specific vehicle, how it's set up, and the rules in your state or territory, assessed under the National Code of Practice (VSB14).

It is your responsibility to make sure your vehicle complies with the Australian Design Rules, VSB14, and your state or territory’s registration and modification rules, including obtaining any required engineering certification, before you use it on the road. Some configurations are intended for off-road, track or competition use only and aren’t road-legal. We can tell you what a given setup does to ride height, travel and clearance, but working out whether that is legal where you are, and keeping the vehicle road-legal, registered and insured, rests with you.

The general guidance below is a starting point. It’s general information, not legal advice, always confirm the current rules with your state authority or a licensed certifier.

Coilovers and the law: where to start

Coilovers change a safety-critical system, so whether a car is road-legal once they’re fitted turns on the vehicle, how it ends up sitting, and the rules where it’s registered. States and territories work from the same national code, VSB14, then add their own requirements on top, and some of those apply to adjustable coilovers whatever ride height you settle on.

VSB14 is the starting point most of them build from. It treats a suspension change as basic and owner-level while ride height moves by no more than about 50mm (or a third of the original travel, whichever is less), at least two thirds of travel remains, the car keeps at least 100mm of ground clearance, the bump stops stay fitted, and stability control still works. Past any of those, expect to need certification before road use.

That is the shape of the conversation, not a clearance. Only your state authority or a licensed certifier can tell you where your car lands.

General information, not legal advice, and not a compliance check. Requirements change and turn on the specific vehicle. Confirm with your state or territory authority, or a licensed certifier, before you drive on a modified setup.

Who signs off, state by state

What each state adds on top of the national code is where it differs, and it’s worth asking before you commit to a setup rather than after. Who to ask:

• Victoria: VicRoads, with a VASS signatory certifying anything past the basic limits.
• New South Wales: Transport for NSW, with a licensed VSCCS certifier for anything past a minor modification.
• Queensland: Transport and Main Roads, with an Approved Person signing off past basic.
• South Australia: the Department for Infrastructure and Transport, which treats adjustable coilovers more strictly than most. An engineering report and modification approval can be needed even inside the height limits.
• Western Australia: the Department of Transport, which can require a permit and inspection for adjustable coilovers whatever the ride height.
• Tasmania, the NT and the ACT: the national VSB14 limits, with an approved signatory certifying past them.

Who decides, not a summary of what they’ll decide. Requirements change and turn on the specific vehicle. Ask the authority or a certifier in your state what your build needs, before it’s on the road. If you’re weighing up how low to go, talk to us first and we’ll give you the travel and clearance numbers to take to them.

Motorsport and track use

Motorsport, track and spirited driving carry inherent risk. You take part at your own risk. To the extent the law allows, we aren't responsible for incidents, crash damage, or any consequence of how a vehicle is built, set up, maintained, scrutineered or driven. Track and competition use is also governed by the rules of the relevant venue or sanctioning body, which are your responsibility.

Nothing in this section excludes, restricts or modifies your rights under the Australian Consumer Law.

Limitation of liability

Subject to your consumer rights above, and to the maximum extent permitted by law: our total liability for any product or service is limited to the price you paid us for that product or service, or to repairing, rebuilding, replacing or re-supplying it. We aren't liable for indirect or consequential loss, including towing, recovery, track or event fees, lost time, loss of use, or damage to other property, except to the extent the Australian Consumer Law requires.

Nothing in this section excludes, restricts or modifies your rights under the Australian Consumer Law.

Who you’re dealing with

Shockworks is operated by the trustee for the O’Brien Family Trust (ABN 58 101 176 251), of 487 Monbulk Rd, Monbulk VIC 3793. Where the law permits, you agree that any claim arising out of the supply of our products or services is made against that entity as the contracting and manufacturing party, and not personally against its directors, officers, employees or agents. Nothing in this clause excludes, restricts or modifies any right or remedy you have under the Australian Consumer Law, including any right against a person who was knowingly involved in a contravention.

Indemnity

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify Shockworks for loss or liability arising from your misuse of a product, your unauthorised modification of our work, your non-compliant or unsafe installation or setup, or your use of a vehicle that isn't road-legal. This doesn't apply to loss caused by our own breach of the Australian Consumer Law or our negligence.

Governing law

This warranty and the supply of our products and services are governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia. You submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the Victorian courts. If any provision is found invalid, the remaining provisions continue in full force.