Bilstein B12 kit, back to stock springs?

[Xyloft]

I put the Bilstein b12 kit on 18 months ago and have put 22,000 miles on the setup. yesterday over some rough road I developed a clunk. Pulled the front wheels off and everything seems firm, endlinks, sway bar bushings, no really play. But there is oil all over the right front strut tower. the piston rod in the damper is soaked in oil, all under the dust cover, and there is recently fresh oil dripping down that whole side).

The Prokit springs are a little firm for a daily driver with the road conditions around me and was thinking about putting the stock springs back on while I'm replacing the blown strut. I need to put another 40,000 miles on the car.

stock shocks are gone. they had 100k miles and were shot.

[asbrr]

Originally Posted by Xyloft

I put the Bilstein b12 kit on 18 months ago and have put 22,000 miles on the setup. yesterday over some rough road I developed a clunk. Pulled the front wheels off and everything seems firm, endlinks, sway bar bushings, no really play. But there is oil all over the right front strut tower. the piston rod in the damper is soaked in oil, all under the dust cover, and there is recently fresh oil dripping down that whole side).

The Prokit springs are a little firm for a daily driver with the road conditions around me and was thinking about putting the stock springs back on while I'm replacing the blown strut. I need to put another 40,000 miles on the car.

stock shocks are gone. they had 100k miles and were shot.

You could put the stock springs back on with the Bilsteins, but note one important thing. The dampers that come in the B12 kit are the "B8" "sport" dampers. These have a shorter shock body as they are made for a lowering (shorter) spring. So running these with stock springs (assuming you have non sport stock springs) will mean the shock is running outside of it's designed range of motion.

The "B6" version of the bilsteins would be a better fit for stock non-sport springs. The M-sport/sport springs if you had those stock are lower than non-sport, you might be ok running those with the B8 shocks...but I'd still not want to do it.

Sorry to hear about the blown shock, that's very rare especially only at 22K miles of use. Bilsteins are generally rock solid for way longer than that.

Good luck.

[Xyloft]

Originally Posted by asbrr

You could put the stock springs back on with the Bilsteins, but note one important thing. The dampers that come in the B12 kit are the "B8" "sport" dampers. These have a shorter shock body as they are made for a lowering (shorter) spring. So running these with stock springs (assuming you have non sport stock springs) will mean the shock is running outside of it's designed range of motion.

The "B6" version of the bilsteins would be a better fit for stock non-sport springs. The M-sport/sport springs if you had those stock are lower than non-sport, you might be ok running those with the B8 shocks...but I'd still not want to do it.

Sorry to hear about the blown shock, that's very rare especially only at 22K miles of use. Bilsteins are generally rock solid for way longer than that.

Good luck.

My stock springs are the 2008 sport package springs, so hopefully that'll put them in range.

yeah. I'm kind of disappointing with it. at the same time, the road conditions I've been driving on have been awful, especially on the right side of the vehicle. Seems like every nasty pot hole i hit is on the passenger side and I've had some nasty hits.

I still need to find a place to get a cost for a single bilstein strut. depending on cost, I may just replace the front's with the OEM sport package dampers sell the prokit springs and cut my losses.

[asbrr]

Originally Posted by Xyloft

My stock springs are the 2008 sport package springs, so hopefully that'll put them in range.

yeah. I'm kind of disappointing with it. at the same time, the road conditions I've been driving on have been awful, especially on the right side of the vehicle. Seems like every nasty pot hole i hit is on the passenger side and I've had some nasty hits.

I still need to find a place to get a cost for a single bilstein strut. depending on cost, I may just replace the front's with the OEM sport package dampers sell the prokit springs and cut my losses.

Bilsteins have lifetime rebuild warranty, should only cost you the shipping to get it done. A new front B8 shock usually runs around $200 or so, maybe a bit less. Shipping should be way cheaper. The problem is what do you run in the meanwhile. Maybe send both fronts for a rebuild as preventative maintenance and swap in your stock for now? Or, given the nature of how bad it blew, maybe Bilstein will be nice and advance ship you a replacement. Give bilstein NA a call and see...