Thread: How long to Bilsteins last?

They say generally with them they either work properly or they're broken. Not much in between.

They're probably still good by the sounds of it. I've never had to replace mine either.

Originally Posted by Leo109

Hi All,

Thanks to all who replied to my "How long to wheel bearings last?" thread. Now I'm wondering about my Billis.

I fitted these not long after we bought Daphne with ~89,000 km onboard. They have now done just shy of 300,000 km (382,000 km on vehicle now).

They still seem to be damping quite well at 100 km/h on our crap Qld country roads. And they have always felt underdamped at very slow speeds such as over sharp carpark speed humps. This has never worried me, as it seem to me at those speeds they are not restricting axle movement on rough terrain. Is the damping supposed to stiffen with increasing stroking speed? (I realise I could have worded that better! Hope you understand what I really meant!)

No sign of leaks. If I were to unbolt them and the gas pressure still slowly extends them to full travel, is this a good test that they still have adequate gas pressure? Any other simple tests?

Thank you, all resident gurus (gurii?)

I have transferred my Bilstiens from my first Disco 10 years back to my latest Disco (94), I would imagine that they have clocked up 100,000klms. since then.
They seem to be as good as the day I installed them along with the steering damper that came with the shocks, I had occasion to remove and inspect all of them recently.
Look for dents in the outer tube (single tube shocks), heat blueing on shafts, compress to full depth without bumps or notchiness, they should rebound slowly to full length and no oil leaks.
I intend having mine rebuilt when they do finally wear out, the shocks on my previous 93 Disco V8 had popular brand shocks, supposed to be ultra tough, they were installed 12 months earlier when I purchased the Disco, all 4 were totally buggered, so I will stick to Bilstiens, Regards Frank.