September 2009

We have just completed our 2009 Tagalong Tour season which included the Canning Stock Route, Kimberley, Red Centre and Cape York Tours trialling the new Old Man Emu Nitrocharger Sport Shock Absorbers you kindly fitted to our 2006 Toyota LandCruiser RV Turbo Trayback Support Vehicle.

As you know, we have always run the OME shocks in the past on the same tracks averaging 20,000 kilometers of dirt roads and tracks each year.However these new SPORT units on the same corrugations, ruts, termite mounds, spinifex clumps, washouts, sand dune approaches and descents, creek entries and exits, are something else!

At first we thought that there had been some improvement to the CSR but the track is never maintained and there had been many parties over the track by the time our eleven vehicles traversed the track in May / June.

Each of the other four vehicles running the new Sports version on the CSR agreed with us that light corrugations became just a vibration and moderate and heavy corrugations were much more tolerable with the Sport's ability to cushion the spring travel. However where we really noticed the difference was on the Gibb River Road and the Cape York Development Road when we hit the dips. The new Sports seemed to grab firmly and evenly only once on exit rather than bouncing unevenly out of the rut.

Needless to say we had no shock absorber failures or spring failures and will be strongly recommending the new OME Nitrocharger Sports Shocks to all our future clients.

Congrats to Old Man Emu and ARB for producing and marketing a top product.

Fun travelling

John and Sue Forwood
Tagalong Tours Broome
Website: www.tagalongbroome.com

July 2009

I'd just like to congratulate you on how good your bull bars are.

On July 5th 2009,we were involved in a head on collision with a DUI driver. The steel ARB bull bar on our Mitsubishi Pajero took the full brunt of the impact and everybody that has viewed the vehicle has no doubt it saved our lives. Our whole family was in the car: myself, wife and 3 kids (including our 18 month old).

All vehicles were total write offs and the police at the scene were amazed nobody was killed. We were travelling at 70km/h and the other driver was travelling at least the same, witnesses said much more. The other driver's car was unrecognisable (the whole front gone) and ours, although extremely damaged, had nothing structural. What a great product.

We're from the country and have owned the bar for over ten years and apart from a few scratches from wayward kangaroos and the odd fallen tree it has never had any damage. The accident happened in the city whilst we were visiting the kids' grandparents. For those who have been trying to outlaw bull bars in the city, this is one incident where owning a 4WD with a bull bar is justified.

I'll always have a steel ARB bull bar on all of my vehicles, it saved my family.

Best Regards

B. Matthews

July 2009

G'Day

I am writing to you to congratulate you on the new Nitrocharger Sport shock absorbers - the new design is a huge improvement on the previous shock and would appear to be far superior to any other brands I have tried of recent years.

I recently have had the requirement to source a new type of shock when I sheared the shaft of a Bilstein that I was running on my 2006 TD 100 Series. This was the second shock in as many months to fail prematurely and no one has provided me with a plausible reason for this. This led me back to the Nitrocharger Sport under recommendation of Macquarie 4x4 in Sydney. I will point out that I now live in the Pilbara in WA and these shocks do get a solid workout when I go off road.

On a recent trip to Rudall River National Park, on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert, I had the opportunity to test both brands of shock, albeit not an ideal test with one set on the front and the Nitros on the back. On this trip we were towing our camper trailer so the rear set was under a considerable load. The difference in performance quickly became noticeable when we left the bitumen and hit the Telfer Mine access road - the rear shocks just appeared to cope better with the culverts and creek crossings. As the day progressed, the roads deteriorated to heavy corrugations and eventually to a goat track, where we finally reached camp. The fade was becoming increasingly noticeable over the day from front to rear, with the Nitro's definitely outperforming the Bilstein's.

The following day we unhitched the camper and explored the local region - again the Nitros shone. With no load on the back and rough tracks I thought the ride would be quite rough but it was not.

The real test came when we decided to return home - this leg of the trip was going to be an arduous one in anyone's book - 10 hours, 8 of which were going to be on dirt. The road conditions started as a goat track, then heavy corrugations, to well formed dirt road. By the time we were halfway through this leg the shock fade was quite noticeable and towards the end of the dirt the fade was so bad on the front the nose was dancing around causing great concern. Unfortunately time was of the essence as I was trying to avoid as much night driving as possible due to the high risk of striking a bullock. There was no noticeable fade on the rear which I found astonishing given the torture I was dealing out to the suspension.

Again I congratulate you on a superior designed shock. I am so impressed by their performance that at the next opportunity I will look to exchange the front pair for the Nitrocharger Sport. The front shocks only have 10,000km on them, however, the Nitro's ability to cope with fade provides me and my family with another level of safety, and in turn confidence, which in remote areas is paramount.

B. Day

May 2009

Hi Matt,

You don't know us but we are a couple of POHMS travelling around the world in a Land Rover Discovery.

Could you please pass onto whomever deals with customer relations our thanks for the fantastic service, support and friendship my wife and I have received whilst having work on our Land Rover carried out at ARB Newcastle. After travelling the past two years overland from England, and spending one of these circumnavigating Australia, they have constantly provided service beyond the showroom on numerous occasions, including arranging wheel hub assemblies to be flown out to Darwin and new shocks to Broome after a very rough Mitchell plateau trip.

We feel that in a world where the only sound heard is a complaint it is refreshing to have praise where praise is due and would be grateful if you could please pass this on to the powers that be for it to be recognised. We both feel that Len Van Vloten & his team at ARB Newcastle are a valuable asset and jewel in the crown to the ARB Corporation.

Best regards

Andrew & Karen Brown

Website: http://www.landroveradventure.co.uk

April 2009

Dear Matt,

My partner and I are recently retired and will shortly be seeing much more of the 'Wide Brown Land'. We have purchased a HiLux and after some pretty extensive research are now ready to bolt on a few 'goodies' and get out there.

After researching both your products and the other major supplier available we have opted to fit out the HiLux with ARB accessories as we see ARB as having the most comprehensive range of options and competitive pricing (knowing we will be spending more than a few dollars to achieve a decent off roader).

Besides that, we attended the recent 'Supershow' at Rosehill with the idea of confirming our thoughts on what to do first - bar, suspension, tyres etc. The guys at the ARB site couldn't have been more accommodating. Listened, not pushy and gave me the advice I was seeking. I must add too, the local ARB stockist, Peter Van Wel at All Things Off Road has been really generous with both his time and what I consider to be excellent advice. After 35 odd years in sales and marketing positions, that kind of treatment is appreciated.

All we need to do now is make a final decision on a camper trailer and. we're off!

Cheers,

Mike

January 2009

Dear ARB,

We have just completed a three month, 27,000km trip around Australia. The ARB suspension upgrade and Cooper ATR tyres installed on our Nissan X-Trail by your St Peters office was perfect for the journey. From driving into Jim Jim Falls in Kakadu and Cape Leveque north of Broome, to exploring out the back of El Questro Station, or towing our campervan to Drysdale River and along the full length of the Gibb River Road, the car performed without fault. Driving the long lengths of bitumen through the windy forests of south western WA or the Great Ocean Road, to the long windswept straights of the Barkly, Eyre and Stuart highways was not a problem either.

Apart from the awe of the owners of bigger and thirstier vehicles that we were attempting this trip in a softroader, we had a good laugh after we crossed the Chamberlain River and were pulled up by a driver of an 80 Series, complete with suspension lift, snorkel, and numerous other accessories, to see if the crossing was too rough. While his three extra inches of clearance and turbo diesel engine would have had no issue with the crossing, it was nice to know that our ARB modifications gave us the confidence to tackle crossings that others baulked at.

Cheers,

David, Rachel and James

May 2008

Dear Sir/Madam,

I recently had the misfortune of reversing into a huge washout north of Townsville; the attempts of two 4WDs to extract me were in vain. "Time to use the winch!" I exclaimed to the wife, only to see her knuckles white from gripping the 'ooh s*** bar'. "Are we all right?" came this faint burbled question. "Not a problem!" I responded jubilantly. "This is exactly why I bought all that expensive stuff you thought we would never use."

And that says it all - we ran the winch cable out to a tree, engaged the diff locks and were free in minutes without any sweat or fuss. I fitted my vehicle out to travel to remote locations alone, towing a 19ft Kedron caravan. I chose ARB products based on their performance only and have not been disappointed.

My vehicle was fitted out in both Toowoomba and Rockhampton, as I purchased it in Dalby and live in Gladstone. The guys in Toowoomba did an excellent job, and as for ARB Rockhampton, I can only say that if better service or advice exists, I have not seen it! Thanks to Greg and his team (yep, I'm still fishin').

To sum up, this email is to say a big thanks to ARB for the quality products they produce, and I can only hope others can see through the 'cheap screen' so they can explore our wonderful country, confident that the equipment they have will work when they need it.

Thanks again,

Col Clow