I cant help but think Bilstein is dropping the ball on a good PR opportunity here regardless of the cause. Maybe Im way off in that though.

 

washer could have been upside down that would cause same failure

 

I think this has become the most intriguing thread on the forum. I can only echo what has been said by others. It's one of two causes, improper install or faulty material. If you can rule out the later, then you have your answer. It sounds like there are methods of analyses to do this. Good luck.

 

Scary! As others have said, thank God it happened right out of the driveway and not on the highway, especially with the kid in the car...

Totally unacceptable for a solid piece of steel to snap like that regardless of the costs. I'd be way too spooked to switch from OEM after reading all this.

Goodluck OP!

 

Derek --
I echo Cannga's opinion. I spoke to the guys here and they would be glad to answer any of your questions and if you can get the car here .. I believe they will do their best . I will e mail you the info and regardless of what you decide safety comes first.

 

Seems to me that the top strut mount is not allowing the shaft to rotate as it is required to do and it is failing in shearing force when the wheels are turned hard left or right.

I think the strut mounts are binding and shearing the shaft. Should have conical bearings.

 

I have run multiple track laps coming off a 120mph turn over a rough transition so hard that my control arm ball joint have failed but the Damptronics have never shown signs of a catastrophic failure. I seriously doubt you could replicate the load my car faced in turn 1-2 of Texas World Speedway over dozens of laps. There is no doubt in my mind your installer totally fracked up the install process.

 

+100% on that. There is a common denominator with 2 identical breaks on the same car. The washers may have been on but something else wasnt done right. Imagine the likely hood of Bilstein supplying 2 faulty shocks in the same kit out of the numbers they produce. Thats some serious gambling odds.

 

^^^
What he said

 

Even if it was installers error such as missing that little washer/rubber piece from the OEM shock; wouldn't be the manufacturers fault to not have put enough emphasis on this issue?

Why wouldn't they just include one if they knew that it can be lead to such failures as this? Does someone have to get into a horrific car wreck and for Bilstein to get sued for them to finally include this little piece that can lead to "catastropic" failures?

And finally, I feel that someone who is a gear head should be able to install these without much of a problem regardless of their experience with the actual coilovers on hand. If a typical gear head can't install these without simply following the directions (such as knowing to take off an oem piece), then they're something wrong with the directions itself not the installer.

 

Also keep in mind bilstein is the OEM supplier to porsche for shocks and struts on all the 911s', if their QA was that shoddy you would be seeing suspension failures worlwide on a large scale. The only thing bilstein is guilty of is crappy instructions, although I'm sure they assume an expert is doing the install, and shiiit droplinks.
GL either way, if I was the OP I'd install my stock suspension with some gmg springs just for the ease of mind factor........and never go back to that installer again.

 

If I may disagree...

I looked at the instructions and the piece in question is definitely pointed out with a big circle and arrow. If an installer can't follow directions, or if their ego leads them to believe they don't have to 'RTFM' then that is THEIR error not the manufacturer.

Manufacturers typically have a warning that the equipment has to be installed by someone who is competent and knowledgeable of their equipment. One of the reasons why there are 'AUTHORIZED' dealers, installers, etc.

 

Fair enough. I was just assuming and it was open for interpretation.

 

You may be on to something here. Shocks by design are subject to z-axis movement only. If the shock is getting stress in the x-y direction then something else is not installed properly or other suspension component went bad.

On the other hand, what are the odds that both strut bearings (for example) went bad? Let's get real here. This topic keeps pointing to improper installation. Let's move on.

 

strut bearing top mount could have been installed on wrong side(left or right interchanged) or incorrect position (there are 3 possible positions) causing axis of shock to be different than axis of wheel movement causing lateral stress on top section of shock shaft. this is the only install issue that could cause a axis change as far as i can tell(this can happen on bmw 3 series but never heard of shock failure)