Just a few short months ago, the northeastern United States was in the unrelenting grasp of old man winter. Months of absolutely brutal temperatures, wind and record snowfall took their toll on our roads, our bodies, and our vehicles. In the middle of one stretch of below-freezing temperatures, my own car developed a loud knock which seemed to come from the rear suspension. Upon further investigation, it turned out that a seal had perished on one of my Bilstein coil overs after years of abuse on Philadelphia’s boulder fields, and central Pennsylvania’s chronically broken pavement. As luck would have it, a replacement was still being produced, but it happened to be backordered, and would need to come directly from Germany. So rather than order a new piece, I decided to give Bilstein US’s in-house shock rebuild service a try.
Faced with the costs of shipping, and the inevitable downtime (keep your stock suspension bits, kids!), I thought it would be best to send both rear units to Bilstein US’s Southern California facility for a complete refresh, rather than just the one that needed it. It was a pretty easy decision to make- something about having my pieces completely stripped, analyzed, and rebuilt by those who eat sleep and breathe suspension components just made sense. It’s a lesser-known service offered by Bilstein US, and as such, one that is likely underutilized. So with that in mind, I boxed everything up and sent my pieces on their way.
With my dampers safely in California, it was time for one of Bilstein’s specialists to do a thorough investigation. This includes inspection of the internal gears, bump stops, dust boots, and finally a ‘nail’ test of the rod. Yes, it’s a fairly in-depth process, but as we all have likely found out the hard way, best to check everything while it’s apart. Luckily, the damage was not severe, so this would be a fairly straightforward rebuild. With a clear plan of attack, Bilstein’s specialists began to disassemble the dampers, cleaning each piece of the unit both inside and out with a special cleaning solution to ensure that the rebuild was free from any outside contamination or dirt.
As the damper comes apart, Bilstein takes the opportunity to perform preventative maintenance, replacing all shims and valve stacks proactively regardless of appearance. From there, the damper comes back together with all new oil, a new dividing piston, a new piston wear band and any other new pieces that the system requires. It’s important to remember that the service is essentially giving you a brand new damper, and Bilstein takes the work quite seriously. And although this may not be the exact way that you may have done it in the past, Bilstein’s years of experience are proof positive that the steps taken are all carefully chosen.
Once final assembly is completed, Bilstein attaches new product stickers to the damper, and sends it off to their shipping department. In total, the service will take roughly 3-4 weeks from start to finish, depending on how busy they happen to be at that time. If you need things done a bit more quickly, you’ll be happy to hear that a rush service is available at an additional fee, lowering lead times to just one week. As for cost, well that depends on what type of damper you’ve got, and what exactly you’d like done to it. In this case, my Monotube single adjustable PSS9 dampers were rebuilt at a cost of $192.50 each, which is not only quite a lot cheaper than buying a new replacement, but also extremely reasonable when you factor in all the new components and labor associated with such an endeavor. For those lucky enough to be the original purchaser of their suspension pieces, this work will all be performed under warranty and completed in just one week.
With the newly refurbished dampers back in my possession and reinstalled on my car, I do not hesitate in saying that the difference is night and day. Aside from eliminating the loud noises that made me originally pick up the phone, ride quality and handling have both improved greatly. Other rattles that I previously though to be the product of age have also subsided, meaning that the car is also more enjoyable to physically be in. To put it bluntly, it’s money well spent, easily making the car feel much newer than it actually is from a dynamic perspective. Now I just need to budget a few weeks to get the fronts redone.
To see more images of Bilstein’s damper rebuild service, click here.
The post Spotlight: Bilstein’s In-House Suspension Rebuild Service appeared first on VWVortex.
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