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      11-09-2017, 01:55 PM   #1
Suhb
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Bilstein Denied my Warranty

Car was driving perfectly fine. Went to sleep, woke up the next day. Clunking from the driver side front wheel and very bad instability over bumps. I can compress the wheel 2 inches without resistance. Take the wheel off, see the leaking fluid. Take the car to a shop for them to rule out any other failures. Confirmed, just a failed shock. I drive very safely on the shock for 2 days while a new shock is purchased for $162 and shipped through the warranty claim. Shock is removed and I spend another $52 to ship the old shock back.

There is 0 resistance in the shock. Completely free to move as all fluid seems to have leaked out. Initial warranty claim asked if there was any mods to the car, I noted M3 control arms and dinan camber plates.

Bilstein denied the warranty WITHOUT EXAMINING THE SHOCK claiming that the camber plates will cause the shock rod to snap. I explained how it's a fixed plate and the associated warranty BMW and Dinan provide and that it shouldn't cause failure. They finally assess the shock and returned with this message.

"fyi: for order (omitted). Denied... There is more issues to the strut then just the camber plates being used. Proof is in the pixs. Looks like he may have bottomed out just right causing damage to the shock piston which resulted in leaking. You can email him the pixs and the blue sentence from Bilstein's quality control dept."

This is absurd. 3 years and 40k miles was the life of the shock. Don't get me wrong, they transformed the handling of the car, but so much for this company's "legendary" warranty, using terms like "proof is in the pixs" and "bottomed out just right" when the car absolutely has not. I used to rave about bilstein to everyone but I can't anymore.




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      11-09-2017, 02:10 PM   #2
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I'd like to add, the 3rd party sales rep who helped me with the entire process was extremely helpful and nice. He also let me know that he has had other customers he was helping through bilstein's warranty process also received rejections with some of them on being account of terms like "regular wear and tear" which even the rep confessed can be stretched to fit any reason for rejection.

Just very bitter about this whole situation because I referred and convinced a handful of other enthusiasts I know to order from them, then got shafted like this in the end.
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      11-09-2017, 02:14 PM   #3
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Wow - I'm surprised. Most experiences I have heard of have been positive. I'm 30K kms into my B12 kit and all has been well so far knock on wood.

One question - the tear in the tab that's on the shock body, that doesn't seem right, a lot of force would have had to been applied to rip the metal like that. Did that happen when you were trying to dis-assemble the shock? Not trying to say they are right, just wondering on that part as it's a pretty sturdy/thick piece of metal...
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      11-09-2017, 02:35 PM   #4
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When I initially checked the shock the day of the leak, the tab was fine. All I saw was fluid everywhere. Between the initial check and removal, the tab was splitting, I’m assuming from the shock not absorbing bumps anymore.

I didn’t think much of it because in any case, the tab is to set the ride height and doesn’t bear any load. If they’re claiming destruction of the shock from “bottoming out just right” the evidence wouldn’t be on the alignment tab and you’d have damaged internals. Just all around seemed like they were looking for reasons for denial rather than owning up.
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      11-11-2017, 06:27 AM   #5
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The tab only ends up like that after severe impact. Since you say the strut had zero damping prior to your first inspection, any sort of bump would risk doing physical damage and as a result, in the eyes of the examiner they assumed you bottomed out big time and smashed the locator tab. The locator tab in that condition is like the moisture pads inside a lot of portable electronics which tells the warranty inspector the item has been subject to immersion or high humidity at the very least.

That tab sits flush against the top of the pinch clamp of the knuckle. I've only seen the tab smashed like that after a major impact like mounting a kerb at speed or the usual 'big pothole' story.
However, that is usually accompanied by the clamped section of the strut showing signs of vertical scrapes from the strut slipping past the pinch clamp (loose pinch bolt or severe vertical impact) and/or the bottom section of the strut bent (sideways impact or severe vertical impact).

It's a crap situation to be in but it appears the bullshit filter at Bilstein has killed the benefit of the doubt. They just assumed a chain of events
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      11-13-2017, 01:57 PM   #6
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If you truly bottomed out the strut (piston makes contact with base valve), Bilstein should be able to provide a picture of your cracked base valve (assuming this is a twin tube strut) or damaged piston.
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      11-13-2017, 03:19 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Skers 05 View Post
If you truly bottomed out the strut (piston makes contact with base valve), Bilstein should be able to provide a picture of your cracked base valve (assuming this is a twin tube strut) or damaged piston.
This is a monotube inverted strut.....so I am not sure your explanation would still hold (I'm not expert), just wanted to state the above.
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      11-15-2017, 03:40 PM   #8
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Some more back and forth with bilstein. They said the splitting of the alignment tab is a telltale sign of a hard impact. Nothing they can do.

If I did hit something, I'd include it in the post. I don't have some ulterior motive for this. Just posted this thread for my experience with the warranty process, nothing more. I'm still running bilsteins. Car still handles way better than stock. I guess the take-away is that a lifetime warranty does not mean guaranteed longevity and that if your shock leaks its fluid out, don't drive on it or you'll likely void your warranty.
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      11-16-2017, 03:35 AM   #9
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Makes you wonder though - Conventional (twin tube) shocks usually don't fail this catastrophically. Ie when they lose their oil they tend to do so gradually.

This looks more like a sudden almost explosion of the seal. Monotubes are supposed to be the tougher design..
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      11-16-2017, 08:17 AM   #10
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I had a set of Bilstein cartridges installed in a set of stock struts as Bilstein didn't make a direct replacement for my project car. After a couple of years running with the setup, I had a similar catastrophic failure.

I was willing to give Bilstein another chance with my 135i but this thread is giving some major second thoughts.
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      11-16-2017, 09:55 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by juld0zer View Post
Makes you wonder though - Conventional (twin tube) shocks usually don't fail this catastrophically. Ie when they lose their oil they tend to do so gradually.

This looks more like a sudden almost explosion of the seal. Monotubes are supposed to be the tougher design..
Indeed - the monotubes are "tougher" in that they are thicker so they resist side loads/strut deformation better and they also run cooler than twin tubes...I think any seal issues are not any better than a twin tube design?
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      08-15-2018, 07:32 PM   #12
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15,000 miles later and the front right shock blew out. Let's see if they warranty this one.
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      08-16-2018, 08:46 PM   #13
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So - this is crazy, after I commented on your thread last year mine were running fine (B8s, part of the B12 kit I've had since summer 2016).

Spring rolls around, and I'm on my summer tires back in April. I notice the car pulls to the left when accelerating at highway speeds, and then to the right when I let off the gas (need to do it suddenly, but easily reproducible). Thought it was an alignment issue, or perhaps a worn bushing somewhere.

Had alignment check on multiple machines, all good. Mechanic checked the passenger side front strut - thick goop everywhere. Driver's side still looked clean. I ordered 2 new struts (didn't want to have one old and one new), and turns out the driver's side is back ordered till September (!!?!?!), but they had a passenger side available which is the only one I thought was blown.

Front passenger strut gets replaced, and the problem is almost WORSE now. A week later, I'm back at the shop for further investigation and now it seems the driver's side has finally let go (thick fluid everywhere). I'm stuck waiting on the back ordered one for another couple of weeks.

I haven't sent the first one in as I figure I'll send both at the same time. Reading your story does not give me a lot of hope for a successful warranty claim...although my struts from the outside have no visible damage (tab and other mounting points are ok).

I'll post back to this thread when I have further news...

The components are exactly 2 years old, 50K Kms on them.
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      08-19-2018, 09:18 PM   #14
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Between this thread and the "normal" oil on the B4s in the front of my S80 I am glad I put Koni Sports in my 128, and sorry I didn't just put Sachs struts in the Volvo instead of the B4s.
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      04-04-2019, 12:20 PM   #15
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Here is the front passenger side now. About 50k miles on this one.

Got the last shock in stock from AJ USA. Sending this back for a warranty claim. let’s see what they say this time.

I’ll be going Koni for my next car.
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      04-12-2019, 12:24 PM   #16
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That's what my fronts looked like, they warrantied them.
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