Rebuilding Bilsteins?
 

I finally got around to pulling the old Bilsteins out of my 94R and need to figure out which way I want to go. It looks like at least one is leaking so I'm leaning towards a rebuild. I'm also considering having them revalved to handle so stiffer springs (500/350?) while they're in. First question is where? What I've read about SD isn't comforting, I can't justify the FCM price and I've heard Bilstein doesn't do a great job either. Second question is the revalve worth it? I'd pick up some cheapo ebay coilover kit and QA1 springs, probably in the 500/350 range. Is this worth it or would the ~$600 be better put towards a different setup? Based upon the suspension hierarchy thread, I think the rebuild/revalve is a reasonable path. Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Word from the back alleys is that R package billes stock valving is excellent for 700 lb springs on the front. I dont recall what they like in the back. But if you only end up wanting a rebuild there is approximately 17 thousand circle track shops that rebuild billies, some might revalve for you but you're going likely going to have to come up with more information than you would need to with shaik/SD, but less info than you would need with bilstien direct.

And speaking of shaik, I dont think he revalves the old style R package shocks anymore, he only works with the newer HDs.

He only does brand new shocks and charges 1100+ for the package
Cool for him terrible for us.

SD will work with your used ones, and I think will charge around 600 or so.
But has bery bad reputation on most forums from many botched previous transactions.

Bilstein supposedly doesn't do good work after some skillful old guy that did them passed.

So yeah. Not a whole lot of options.
IF you find a local race shop like Leafy is saying that might be your only option.

No matter what you do with Bilsteins, at the end of the day you're looking at AST money.

Hustler, I know you're a huge AST/XIDA fan but I honestly don't see how they're comparable price wise to what I'm proposing. The Club Sports are $1900 and they go up front there. I'm thinking that I can do what I proposed above for ~$600. Am I missing something?

Yes. Next he will tell you that without Xida/Ast you might as well drive a school bus

sub'd. Im in the same boat, and came to the same conclusions. At $65/shock, I'm tempted roll the dice with Bilstein, at least that way I can request the dynos and see how hard they screwed me.

I've also heard ISC will do revalves, but don't have any experience with their work.

If you want to send your stuff to SD, have fun and good luck.

If I trusted SD then this would be a easy decision. As I do not, as I stated in my first post, I'm looking for other options and opinions.

I just talked to Mike at ISC Racing and he does not revalve shocks.

These 2 below can also revalve Bilsteins besides FCM, SD and mfg:

Racing Shocks and Suspension at RE Suspension
fealsuspension.com - Directory

I'm on the same boat, but I'm almost tempted go to with FM1 or Vmaxx.

Here you go Kennny Hendricks does and excellent job revalving rebuilding bilsteins and almost any other shocks Been doing this for 20 plus years his turnaround is fast and cost is reasonable. I sent him a set of hard S to revalve to accommodate the FM springs I opted for 350 ft and 250ft rear took 8 days from the time I shipped to received them back. cost 66.00 a shock including schrader valves.

Automotive Shock Repair, Shock sales and Leasing, Rebuilt Shock Absorbers and Managed Racing Shocks for NASCAR Racing provided by Suspension Systems LLC, Huntersville, NC

Thank you qax and 1FastMx5. I'll give them a call and see what they have to say. qax, do you have any experience with either of those vendors? Vmaxx is in my calculus as well...

I've talked to all 5 sources.

Bernie seems to have the best resume, but looks like you have eliminated that option so I won't add anything to that.

FCM is no go on used shocks.

The guy I've been talking to and emailing @ Bilstein told me that his tech manager told him that (my) 450F/300R # springs will ride stiff no matter what, and if you want ride quality you should just stick OTS valving. hmmmknothxbai...

RE had some experience with SM billies I think. $75 per shock, 4 to 5 days turn around.

Feal charges same rate as SD if not more, has experiences with Bilsteins but not Miata. He seems to generate some positive feedbacks from the Subaru crowds. He's semi local to me so that's the only reason I looked him up. Had a short discussion with him over the phone, but he never called me back as promised so I didn't bother to follow up but mainly due to his pricing.

Shipped my shocks off to Kenny at Suspension Systems LLC today to be rebuilt and revalved. He told me to expect approximately a one week turn around. I'll let you all know what I think when I get them back and installed.

Where are you finding Bilsteins for $65/shock?

the rebuild is 65/shock

Do you know if they had a specific shim stack already worked out for the springrates you want? Let us know how they work out. Huntersville is just down the road from me...

cheers!

donour

I got my bilsteins revavled at bilstein in december. All I can say is that the car drives fantastic. It rides over small bumps without feeling a thing, medium bumps you will feel the car move slightly letting you know its there but with bigger bumps you will feel it! But it is always very controlled. Coming from stock suspension just driving on the freeway the car feels less busy (less motion from bumps) and when compared to my ms3 on ots bilsteins with 4.5kg/mm springs front and rear is far less body movement on the highway. At the same time, the shocks were not the only thing that changed, I did GC coilovers and suspension bushings at the same time, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

How much per shock? Any updates?

I don't believe he had a specific shim stack in mind, he's done miata shocks before but not a ton of them. I'll post an update and final price when I get them back. He has only had them for s couple of business days at this point.

I received my shocks in the mail today and started the install. Problem is one of the fronts isn't holding any pressure! I can easily push in the shaft and I hear a faint hissing noise. I just sent the guy an email so hopefully I can send it back and get a quick turnaround.

I am sure he will do right by you! I have talked to him a lot and am glad you guys are starting to use him. I told 1fastmx5 about him and he is very happy with his shocks. In fact I believe he just sent his second set in. I will have him do my PSS9's as soon as I finish my EFR build. Let us know how you like them when you get right.

So to summarize: 1 month+ turnaround, and one of the shocks is improperly valved. What was the revalve cost per shock?

Super ignorant question time: Can I revalve my R-package Bilsteins to MSM specs, or are they internally different?

Anyone on here rebuild a set themselves?

Theoretically you could revalve them yourself if you know what shims are needed and have a way to repressurize them.

I have been running SD revalved Bilsteins for the last 3 years. I just replaced them with Xidas this week.

Overall they have been an excellent damper for my dd/ autox toy. They worked very well as long as i kept the front ride height above 12.5" and with Fat Cat bumpstops cut down to 35mm. as i tried to get lower than that i found that the shock body was simply too long and i would find the bumpstops far too easily.

I have heard about people being displeased with Stuart Development, but i do not agree with them. He had my revalved units back to me in just under 30 days after i sent them out. i thought that was reasonable turnaround. I also happened to get mine done on a group buy pricing, so that was particularly nice. The only part that i did not like was having to source coilover sleeves and springs in the rates that i wanted for a price that i considered to be reasonable.

Mmmm... This reminds me - Bernie of SD still owes me $600 or a set of brand new Bilstein HD's with 450/300 valving that I've paid that money for (about 6 months ago).

You going to give him a call tomorrow?

I literally cannot count the number of people I've heard of him screwing, both here and on Miata.net. You should spend more time here before picking a side of that particular battle.

For the record, it took him about two weeks to service the shocks and then shipping time either way. It was about a month door to door. The leak was caused by bad schrader valve, he replaced it and sent the shock back the next day. Total cost was $451 plus shipping including replacing the bushings at $20/shock (which I do think is excessive). I had to order some shorter 550 lb/in springs for the front but the shocks should be going on Friday. I'll provide my impressions shortly after I get it back together.

Please do. More expensive than Bilstein, but likely worth it.

I finally got everything installed and the snow melted so I was able to take a test drive yesterday. in addition to the shocks, I installed 550f/350r springs, a racing beat tubular sway bar, and 949 racing end links. My initial impressions are good. It's definitely much stiffer but the ride isn't nearly as jarring as I had feared. Granted, my car has been in the garage all weekend but I don't think the ride quality is much worse than stock and the car feels much more responsive than I remembered. There is virtual no body roll and turning performance feels improved. I still need to get an alignment and test it more aggressively but do far I'm happy.