I was doing my control arms on the yellow car yesterday. It has been doing some clunking again so I bought the heavier duty spring seats. When I pulled the driver's side strut off this is what it looked like.



I am going to take the passenger side off later today and see what it looks like too. They are Bilstein Touring and been on for exactly one year. No waranty either becuase I bought them from some guy on Craigslist for $120 for the pair. He said they were brand new and they looked brand new when I got them. Not sure I want to replace with Bilstein now.

 

Do some checking with bilstein because I think most of their products have a Lifetime warranty.

 

Tried to get in touch with them yesterday, but there is no way to e-mail them and their hours are M-F 9-5 or something close to that. I will contact them tomorrw. Got the heater running in the garage now so I can stand to work out there. Just changed the oil in the white car at 30 degrees inside. Had to get it out of the way so I can turn on my propane heater. Want to look at the passenger side before contacting them.

 

Sounds like a plan. Be sure to let us know how you make out.
I have a set as well that I just put on the daughters wagon.

 

Damn, I'm planning on running those on my sedan, hopefully it's a fluke.

Are you running lowering springs too?

 

No, my car sits low enough for me already for around here. My son has his lowered though and he has the Bilstein Touring all the way around too. The one on the passenger side looks fine though. I would have really been ticked if they were both bad.

Now if I could only get the damn control arm off. Drivers side had a bad ball joint, but the passenger side obviously has been changed before/ I was going to change it anyway, but can not get the bolt for the ball joint out. Might have to go buy a bigger hammer.

 

My experience with Bilsteins goes back aways, but last set I had weeped a little bit too; the rep told me that was normal and expected.

I think they do have a lifetime warranty but you probably need to the original purchase reciept.

Let us know how you make out; I was planning on getting some of those in near future...

 

I had this happen. The trick for me was to push the strut twards the engine till you find the happy place where the ball joint shifts position. This is if you are replacing the strut. If your replacing the entire control arm just take the two bolts out from the frame, once free its pretty easy to get the ball joint out.

Key point, this is not a chamfered fit, Once the bolt is out and you expand the knuckle there is nothing to hold it in other than rust or a bad angle.

 

How do you like the ride of the TCs? I assume your running the stock springs then?

 

Just talked to Bilstein and they won't do anything unless I am the orginal purchaser and have proof of purchase. The lady I talked to was almost rude about it to be honest.

Yes I have original springs and it rides ok, but not great. I really like the way the white one rides better than the yellow one. It has 15" wheels on it right now which makes for a much smoother ride. The yellow one handles much better though.

 

How would you describe the ride? Does the white one have the same suspension? I'm going to be running TCs, sport springs, and 17s, I'm looking for a sportier ride. Just want to make sure the TCs aren't to bouncy or anything.

 

I'm not really very picky about the ride. My son is though and he has the TC and lowered about 1.5 inches on his and he likes it. I just notice the white one rides smoother and both have OEM suspension. I just replaced the worn out shocks and struts on the yellow one because the ones on there were really worn out and I did notice an improvement when I first put them on.

 

This is what I got back today from Bilstein:

Bilstein does hold a life time Warranty on our Aftermarket products with a proof of purchase. You may either email or fax a copy of your receipt.Once received I can verify my inventory and proceed with one of two replacement options. The first requires a warranty deposit from the customer to ship a replacement directly to you. The warrant deposit is refunded to you upon us receiving your defective shock and verifying it has failed. In the instance the shock tests out as to the standards of an off the shelf shock you will be denied the credit for the amount of the warranty deposit and your tested shock will be retuned to you. The other option is to send in the shock in question to be tested and if failed under Bilstein standards a replacement will be issued once the evaluation is complete a deposit is not required for this option.


Sounds like my car would be out of commision for two weeks or more if I did have the proof of purchase which I don't. I sent a reply and gave them a picture of my strut, and told them I just went ahead and bought a new one from fcpgroton.

 

you can always rebuild them for ~$60 each.

So, whre they actually "new" from the guy you bought them?
I have had the Bilstein HD's for 13years. no problems.

 

He said they were new, but he decided to go with Koni adjustables instead. And they looked new when I got them. Cost me $100 for a new one and the other one looked fine.

 

okay..

Hope you have better luck!