I'm hoping that the "fix" implemented to mine has resolved the issue. I'm actually a bit surprised to hear that yours was low on oil. Let's get together for a drive when the spring comes around and see if either one of us experiences this noise. What do you say? We need to bring the Cobalt Twins together once again!

 

I really don't care for bilsteins, the quality in their aftermarket renderings is just not up to par.

 

I'm just surprised at the number of reported problems with the aftermarket Damptronics. Wiring damage. Low oil? Broken shaft. Multiple PASM failures.

Very unbecoming for the developer of Porsche's suspension coilovers.

 

Bob, good point, but is the failure rate any worse than any other after-market suspension system? We have 2 members here with the outstanding and well known KW V3 systems, one develops coilover failure (Ed corrects me if I'm wrong), does that give KW 50% failure rate? IOW, while the problem is there, I do not know if any valid conclusion could be made from "forum statistics."

Or come to think about it, is problem here anymore than any other mods that we do to our car:
**from exhaust that falls apart at welding point, makes funny noise, throws CEL, loses low end torque, etc.,
**to wheels that shatter,
**to ECU mod with funky data logging numbers, hiccup, hesitation, noise, etc.
**to intercooler that leaks, or does nothing to IAT,
**to drop links and sway bars that bend,
**to lowering springs that cause coilover failure and induce high speed stability problem from poorly matched dampening,
**to Moton/KW/Bilstein/etc. with damper failures and leaks (these problems are not limited to any manufacturer)
The list goes on and on, and inherent to modding, I would think. It's parts and parcels of pushing the car to its limits; it's part of modding.

I am not blind to Bilstein's mistakes, starting with that weird washer deal that apparently has been corrected, and ending with my love-hate gimmick, PASM. That said, I am not sure any conclusion could be made as far as "quality," versus other after-market coilovers, AND mods. The issue here I guess is not whether Bilstein has problems, it is whether Bilstein's problems are any "worse" than its equivalent counterparts, KW, Moton, and the likes. This to me is far from settled. (Forum statistics is "dangerous" in that sense because 1 or 2 long threads could bring down a vendor/product as it tends to falsely create an impression of "common occurence.")
What is certain is that the overwhelming majority of people who use Bilstein or KW in the Turbo think it is a fantastic transformation and never move back to stock. (For the record, I would have sold my Turbo for a GT3 had it not for Bilstein. The changed suspension creates for me the epitome of a daily driver - BEST that I've driven.) Whatever risk it has, is well worth it for that reason.

Larry sorry for the thread-jack and hope your problem will stay a thing of the past.

 

I was pleased to read Chris managed to find a cure for his problem but the crazy thing here is his damptronics came off my 997s and i never had any clunks at all. So why these set of damptronics clunked on his and not on mine is a mystery. Maybe its a car thing and not related to the shocks as such...i cant understand it. I will say though that Bilstein never provided clear formal instruction on how to install the shocks and then set them up...ride heights etc. Very poor form if you ask me. You should be able to take your car to any steering suspension specialist and have them fit these coil over shocks without having to employ any guesswork or even common sense. Maybe i just got lucky with the shop that fitted them to my car although im pretty sure Chris used the same guys. For him to have to go out on his own to devise a fix is not a good look for Bilstein imo....very unprofessional. And the weak link i see with his fix is just how long are those needle rollers going to remain contamination free in an unsealed environment? Hope it works out though but users should really not be put through this crap.

 

The one 'mod' I was thrilled to remove.
Chris's fix looks like a good one, I also remember the 993 kits including just such a bearing plate.

 

Hi Paul, Bilstein does provide a detailed manual, but it's in German so you got a good point there. I wonder if Moton, JRZ, KW, provide manual? Probably not but I don't know -- they really should all do.

Re. noise, in my "web research" on coilover LOL, I've come across "clunk" noise with probably just about ANY aftermarket coilover you could name. In fact that same thread mentioned JRZ, I believe. This reminds me a lot of brake noise or that infamous exhaust resonance that we've been talking about. It's parts and parcels of modding, why does some people have it and others don't? Who would ever know? Is Bilstein worse than Moton/KW? I don't think so and I don't think anyone knows.

You could say lowering springs do not make noise, but this is at best an imperfect solution with inherent problem of poor matching of spring to the underdamped stock damper that is NOT designed to be lowered. This could be why some people have reported stability issue with lowering springs at speed in the curve (aka "porpoise") (Even the maker of one of the more popular lowering springs on the market, GMG, offers Moton/Bilstein as the "better" solution.)

So really if you want to stiffen your suspension, IMHO your choice is KW or Bilstein for street, and Moton/JRZ for track, and I don't think any one of these companies have been proven to have any less problem than any other.

 

Can, I know of no such reports of instability re gmg springs, perhaps a link?
Maybe Fab could chime in...
Back to the topic, I would surely try the needle bearing trick if I were Humm3.

 

Gents want to clarify a few things.


1. Lets all understand and agree modifying your car with performance related or motorsport parts may in some cases cause noises etc that are not noticed with the stock parts.

2. Reading this thread I agree with TT Surgeon as I would look to the drop links to transmit noise.

3. I want to clarify a quote by Cannga while we do offer a solutions other than the our spring and sway bar combination like Moton or other brands we do feel that for customers who want to improve the handling of there cars with out having to deal with noises, creeks and other issue which can come up when replacing major suspension components we recommend that you stick with a springs and sway bar combination.


To further that there was some reference made to the fact that some aftermarket springs are not matched to dampers and while this in fact maybe true in some respects with certain tuners, our springs have been matched to the stock PASM equipped dampers and this work was done in conjunction with EIBACH. The springs that are made for GMG are made to our design and specification and are unlike any other spring offered by any manufacture or tuner on the market. In addition our design and specification is completely different than what Eibach offers.

I hope this helps shed some light on the questions and statements in this post.


We all love to modify our cars but I think many customers are a little naive in thinking that there car will not require additional maintenance and or more attention to these components when they are installed.


In the end I would highly recommend that you do a thorough amount of research before installing any components on your car.

Or you can always contact GMG and we will gladly take the time to understand your intend use and what you want to get out of a certain upgrade. We will than advise you of a proper solution for your use.

 

I can verify that the noises that came from mine were NOT from the droplinks. I even went as far as adding rubber boots over the connecting points and greasing the endpoints. That did not eradicate the noises. I'm fairly confident that the latest change done by Motoring Unlimited may have finally resolved the noise issues but I won't know for sure until I've had a chance to drive her for an extended period of time.

 

When I did TPC's stage 3 setup I was told that there could be some added noises. As Fabryce stated, you can't mod the car and not expect that anything will change. I occasionally do get some noise (usually only heard at low speed i.e. backing out of driveway, going over speed bumps in parkin lots etc.). Sometimes it's dead quiet. Who knows why?

doesn't bother me at all - as long as nothing is wrong. Actually, I kind of like it - sounds like a race car

 

1. So very true and thank you for saying this. If anyone looks enough, you will see "clunk" associated with every after-market coilover out there. I do not want people to be scared from what is essentially a key upgrade to the very soft Turbo: To fully enjoy this car, you need a good coilover system, Bilstein/KW for street, Moton/JRZ for track.

2. I am not sure about this. The clunk has been reported in cars WITHOUT drop links. I think it's from the spring rotating in the top spring seat, but that's just another guess.

I will respond to your discussion about after-market spring matching stock damper system in a bit.

 

Very interesting thread on clunk that Bob/bbywu brought to my attention, take a look:
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...ml#post3067659

 

I'd have to drive the car, but it sure sounds like a DL to me. However, I did have an x73 that made a similar, but very different sound while going over bumps, that indeed was the spring perch.

 

This is what the noise sounds like in mine after driving 500 hard miles through the twisties. Definitely not a clunking sound but a groaning noise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj0Y3r7zCm0