What happened to the Bilstein B12's??

[Matticus91]

I've come to the point where I'd really like to swap out my tired suspension and long ago decided I'd aim for the B12 Sportline or Pro kit. However now that I'm looking to buy, it seems they're gone? No one has them and Bilstein doesn't seem to have immediate plans to re-stock, anyone have any info on this?

Also does anyone have any thoughts on the H&R kit here: https://www.tirerack.com/suspension/...+Sport+Package

Seems similar to the B12's

Or these Koni's: https://www.tirerack.com/suspension/...+Sport+Package


I'm looking for something just a bit stiffer than stock that will lower around 1" and not break the bank

*Update* - Bought a B12 pro-kit from a member!

[swagon]

Damn, you're right. Just checked the German parts catalogue and the B12 Pro Kit is not listed anymore; though the dampers and springs alone are still available.

Have had the B12 on our daily E91 since Feb 2016 and the front struts seems to be already done. Better than oem in terms of performance, but def not as durable. Disappointing. I know that German guys have had lots of problems with B14 PSS, so I thought the B12 would be better but, at least in my own experience, probably not.

H&R ewww

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by swagon

Damn, you're right. Just checked the German parts catalogue and the B12 Pro Kit is not listed anymore; though the dampers and springs alone are still available.

Have had the B12 on our daily E91 since Feb 2016 and the front struts seems to be already done. Better than oem in terms of performance, but def not as durable.

H&R ewww

Oh wow that's not at all the sentiment I'm used to seeing. Maybe they had a mfg issue in recent years or something. They do have a lifetime warranty I think so you should look into getting them replaced.

I'm leaning toward the Koni kit, it looks pretty solid for the price

[swagon]

Originally Posted by Matticus91

Oh wow that's not at all the sentiment I'm used to seeing. Maybe they had a mfg issue in recent years or something. They do have a lifetime warranty I think so you should look into getting them replaced.

I'm leaning toward the Koni kit, it looks pretty solid for the price

Bruh, there's a 90-page thread on just problems with Bilstein dampers over at 1erforum lol.

I know they've got a warranty, but IIRC, you have to sent the dampers out to their HQ in Germany, which is a PITA and not doable as the car then would be undriveable, obviously.

Alpina uses Bilstein & Eibach... probably should've gotten their spec dampers instead. Everyone raves about the ride comfort of Alpinas.

And I know a guy with an xDrive E91 that's got Koni Yellows and HR springs - his dampers are shot, too. 40k miles or so. So either they all get crappy after a few years or their QC just sucks so they ship out bad batches. Who knows. I know our family has bad luck with cars.

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by swagon

Bruh, there's a 90-page thread on just problems with Bilstein dampers over at 1erforum lol.

I know they've got a warranty, but IIRC, you have to sent the dampers out to their HQ in Germany, which is a PITA and not doable as the car then would be undriveable, obviously.

Alpina uses Bilstein & Eibach... probably should've gotten their spec dampers instead. Everyone raves about the ride comfort of Alpinas.

And I know a guy with an xDrive E91 that's got Koni Yellows and HR springs - his dampers are shot, too. 40k miles or so. So either they all get crappy after a few years or their QC just sucks so they ship out bad batches. Who knows. I know our family has bad luck with cars.

Man, it's so hard finding decent quality stuff sometimes lol. I think I'm going to go with the Koni setup I linked if the guy selling the B12's in the for sale section offloads them to the first poster.

[1and1]

Turner may have em in stock? Was able to put em in the cart and arrange shipping anyway...

turnermotorsport.com/p-177977-e82-128i135i-bilstein-b12-pro-kit-sport-suspension-package/

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by 1and1

Turner may have em in stock? Was able to put em in the cart and arrange shipping anyway...

turnermotorsport.com/p-177977-e82-128i135i-bilstein-b12-pro-kit-sport-suspension-package/

Nope checked with them, on backorder. I just purchased them from a forum member with dinan camber plates

[chadillac2000]

I've put nearly 30,000 miles on my Koni STR.T shocks and Eibach Pro-Kit springs and they still feel like brand new.

I was not a fan of the Bilstein PSS9 coilovers I had on my E46 M3 back in the day. Sold them after a few months for a set of TCK DAs.

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by Matticus91

Nope checked with them, on backorder. I just purchased them from a forum member with dinan camber plates

Good for you Matt. Your luck is changing for the better. I think it is your lucky carbon fiber hood.

[asiflicious]

Originally Posted by Matticus91

Nope checked with them, on backorder. I just purchased them from a forum member with dinan camber plates

Let us know how you like them! I've been on the fence about which suspension route I want to go with

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by chadillac2000

I've put nearly 30,000 miles on my Koni STR.T shocks and Eibach Pro-Kit springs and they still feel like brand new.

I was not a fan of the Bilstein PSS9 coilovers I had on my E46 M3 back in the day. Sold them after a few months for a set of TCK DAs.

I looked at those and considered jumping on them, probably would have gone for either those or the ones I linked in the first post if I hadn't gotten this deal on the B12s

Originally Posted by Esteban

Good for you Matt. Your luck is changing for the better. I think it is your lucky carbon fiber hood.

Lol we'll see. All I know is my car is happy from this cold dense air haha

Originally Posted by asiflicious

Let us know how you like them! I've been on the fence about which suspension route I want to go with

Will certainly be posting a thorough review! I have no other suspension mods so hopefully it's a good benchmark compared to stock.

My criteria was pretty simple but somewhat hard to meet:

• Lower than stock but not much more than 1" (roads in DC are amazingly terrible)
• Well under $1k total cost (installed)
• Stiffer than stock with better dampening

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by Matticus91

Lol we'll see. All I know is my car is happy from this cold dense air haha

Yeah, next week we're hitting temps that are near the 100s. I want my fall weather, dammit!

[asiflicious]

Originally Posted by Matticus91

I looked at those and considered jumping on them, probably would have gone for either those or the ones I linked in the first post if I hadn't gotten this deal on the B12s

Lol we'll see. All I know is my car is happy from this cold dense air haha

Will certainly be posting a thorough review! I have no other suspension mods so hopefully it's a good benchmark compared to stock.

My criteria was pretty simple but somewhat hard to meet:

• Lower than stock but not much more than 1" (roads in DC are amazingly terrible)
• Well under $1k total cost (installed)
• Stiffer than stock with better dampening

Just let me know if the car feels like an actual sports car and not like the pos it is stock lol

[swagon]

COngrats. Finally you are getting rid of that wheel gap.

[Dackelone]

OP here you go...

Bilstein B12 pro kit for $686
https://www.ajusa.com/bilstein-b12-p...-kit-46-180537

[pablom2c]

I recently ordered B8 kit from ECS Tuning and they sent the fronts, and then told me the rears were on backorder. I had to cancel the order for the rears with them and find them elsewhere (carid dot com). I also saw some Amazon sellers have stock of the B8. Maybe you can buy the B8 kit and find the springs separately.

[Bimmer-Bob]

I put Bilstein PSS9's on my car in January 2011 at 5,662 miles. Replaced them in April 2012 at 15,400 miles because both front struts were blown. Bilstein was great about honoring their lifetime warranty - I sent them to San Diego (site of Bilstein's USA HQ) and the entire set was rebuilt very nicely - I think the springs were even replaced. I was able to sell the kit for about what I bought it for (it was on clearance from Turner originally, as the PSS10s had just come out).

I don't know if my experience is unique or not. I did like the Bilsteins, performance-wise. I think I should've been able to get more than 10,000 miles out of them, but maybe I hit too many potholes or something, I don't know. I switched to Öhlins and haven't looked back. I was supposed to have them rebuilt 7,000 miles ago, but they're still going strong.

That said, I would consider Bilsteins again in the future. Maybe not their coilover kits, but I'm probably going to put Bilstein Sports on my W124 at some point. I think that's more of a bread-and-butter product for them.

[vtl]

I had the B12 kit on my car before I put the KW V2s in.

The B12 kit was a mistake, the shocks I quite liked, but the Eibach springs were rubbish. Slammed the car up front and the spring rates were only maybe like 5-10% stiffer than stock. This made the car scrape and bottom out very easily and caused the front springs to continually sag, I think I must have lost 20-30mm throughout my ownership of the shocks. I had them for around 40,000kms, all four shocks were fine when I took them out, rear springs were good, front springs were totally rooted.

Do it right the first time and just get coilovers, people get scared of coilovers because they think itll be too stiff. Butmost of the coilovers available for these cars have pretty soft rates (e.g V1,2,3 have 200 pound/inch front, 450 pound/inch rear) and are quite comfortable.

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by swagon

COngrats. Finally you are getting rid of that wheel gap.

Excited for this haha

Originally Posted by Dackelone

OP here you go...

Bilstein B12 pro kit for $686
https://www.ajusa.com/bilstein-b12-p...-kit-46-180537

Great price but also backordered!

Originally Posted by vtl

I had the B12 kit on my car before I put the KW V2s in.

The B12 kit was a mistake, the shocks I quite liked, but the Eibach springs were rubbish. Slammed the car up front and the spring rates were only maybe like 5-10% stiffer than stock. This made the car scrape and bottom out very easily and caused the front springs to continually sag, I think I must have lost 20-30mm throughout my ownership of the shocks. I had them for around 40,000kms, all four shocks were fine when I took them out, rear springs were good, front springs were totally rooted.

Do it right the first time and just get coilovers, people get scared of coilovers because they think itll be too stiff. Butmost of the coilovers available for these cars have pretty soft rates (e.g V1,2,3 have 200 pound/inch front, 450 pound/inch rear) and are quite comfortable.

I've considered getting stiffer springs but I'd like to maintain a nice ride for the roads here. We'll see how they feel, I can always swap them out and keep the shocks if I really want to.

Coilovers aren't even in the same realm price-wise for something decent. There's a ton of knock-off brands under 1k but anything good is around $1300+ and I'm just not looking to spend that yet. They also would void my warranty lol

Also from what you're saying about the ride height it sounds like you had the sportlines and not the pro-kit. The sportlines lower the car way more while the pro-kit is pretty modest around 1.2" drop all around.

[vtl]

Originally Posted by Matticus91

I've considered getting stiffer springs but I'd like to maintain a nice ride for the roads here. We'll see how they feel, I can always swap them out and keep the shocks if I really want to.

Coilovers aren't even in the same realm price-wise for something decent. There's a ton of knock-off brands under 1k but anything good is around $1300+ and I'm just not looking to spend that yet. They also would void my warranty lol

Also from what you're saying about the ride height it sounds like you had the sportlines and not the pro-kit. The sportlines lower the car way more while the pro-kit is pretty modest around 1.2" drop all around.

Nope I had the B12 Prokit not the sport. My fronts had sagged a lot and was just riding on the bumps stops all the time. Dreadful ride quality. Wasn't immediate, was fine when I first put them in but progressively got worse and worse.

Again, like I said people are scared of coilovers because they think it'll be too stiff, but if you lower the suspension you have to increase the spring rates otherwise you're in a world of hurt. But most of the spring rates of BMW coilovers are VERY conservative and still quite soft and comfrtable for daily driving. Softer springrates doesn't automatically mean the car will be comofrtable, i've been in very stiff setups but due to the quality dampers they were very comfortable over bumps.

I wouldn't reccomend swapping out the springs of the Bilsteins either. You're basically fighting an uphill battle, all the fixed springs with decent spring rates lower the car too much (ie Swift Spec Rs) and still suffer from sagging.

[pablom2c]

Then do what I will be doing shortly, get the B8 kit and keep the stock springs.

[tock172]

Originally Posted by swagon

I know they've got a warranty, but IIRC, you have to sent the dampers out to their HQ in Germany, which is a PITA and not doable as the car then would be undriveable, obviously.

Incorrect. You can have them rebuilt stateside. Bilstein has a facility in Poway, California. Roughly 20 minutes from where I live in San Diego.

Originally Posted by swagon

Bruh, there's a 90-page thread on just problems with Bilstein dampers over at 1erforum lol.

I haven't seen this thread or run Bilstein dampers on a 1-series, but I have used them on several other BMWs. At this point, even though they aren't perfect, I'll take them over the other junk out there.