Hey guys, so I finally finished my suspension revamp and as I am about to take the car out for a spin, I did a little tour of the car to make sure nothing was forgotten. Found a puddle of leaking shock fluid. I know some leaking on new shocks is normal, but have only hear of a few drops or a dribble. I am not sure how much is normal and how much is fubar. Any experience with this? Shocks are Bilstein Sports.

 

Bad seal, send it in.

 

****** gay. I gotta send it back to TR, who has to send it back to Bilstein, where I need to wait weeks for them to inspect it, so it can be determined if I can get credit back or not.


Bilstein wasn't much help really. They told me to contact Tirerack. Lame.

 

I have a spare NA Bilstein HD sitting around that might be bad, want to borrow it? Pay for shipping and it goes out tomorrow.

 

I already ordered a new sport. I got an event in 2 weeks anyway so I need everything to be good to go (although if I didn't, I would be all over this).

I am a little worried that they are going to complain about my grinding off the tab though. I find it hard to believe they will justify a bad seal by a lack of mounting tab. Lets see what happens though.

 

Just to update this thread, Tirerack just informed that they are crediting me back the $100.

So Bilstein has said it was a bad seal, even with me grinding off the side tab. Good news! thanks Hustler for your offer to help!

 

good job on actually doing something about seeing a puddle. I've dealt with idiots that either don't check their parts or just ignore it until the shock leaks all of the oil and scores the casing.

 

I always thought Bilstein would send you a replacement shock if you pay for it and then refund you when it's determined the old one needs a rebuild? Do they not offer this service anymore? Or is it because yours is new that it's handled differently?

 

^thats pretty much what happened. Got a faulty shock, complained to tirerack (when I called Bilstein, they told me to contact the seller), Bought a new shock, Tirerack shipped the old one to Bilstein, Bilstein determined fault, Tirerack credited back the money.

Just had to pay the shipping on the new shock.