Has anyone ever had Bilstien shocks "rebuilt"? My shocks perform just fine but are just a little leaky. As a proactive measure, The AM dealership recommended rebuilding them as an alternative to complete replacement (very expensive) as they only have 7K miles on them. Rebuilding and installing shocks costs about 1/2 of totally replacing them.

If anyone has experience with this or an opinion, would appreciate your feedback.

Best,
Mike

 

Mike you will first need to know who the manufacturer is for the dampers... On the sport pack I believe it's bilstein although not 100% certain. Depending on the damper some units are rebuildable others are not. I know race dampers like jrz, moton, remote reservoir and single body high/low speed compresion and adj rebound units etc... are fully rebuildable dunno about OEM dampers on the Aston. You will need to know the valving specifications, the bump and rebound stiffness etc... I would start by finding out more about the specific damper. If you can rebuild them, you're absolutely right the cost will be less when compared to replacing with a new unit.

 

They are Bilstien..but are you sure they are leaking, Bilstien uses a oil to grease the top ring cap/seal. I have had cars with 90km not even plated yet that if you didn't know, you'd think they were leaking..I clean it off and road test, no more oil residue.

If you don't hear any knocking noises at that damper, or have weird handling behavior as a concern.. I would clean off the oil residue and drive the car for a month..then recheck

You can get them rebuild by Bilstein them selves..take the dampers off and send them out to there service center would be needed though..did this for my mustang few years back..did it over the winter months that I don't drive it

 

Sunir and Irish07 - thanks, as always, for the responses. The Bilstiens are rebuildable - the AM techs told me so. It's great to hear about the grease at the top. These shocks have only 7K miles on them and the car performs flawlessly. Really appreciate the heads-up on this.

Best,
Mike

 

I believe Bilstien has a lifetime warranty? So after you rebuild them and they leak again you are only paying for labor. A lot of guys on the Porsche form had good things about their rebuild service. I wouldn't hesitate to have them rebuilt.

 

I know that aftermarket dampers from Bilstein do have a lifetime warranty on parts..but usually parts supplied to manufactures are not covered..the manufacture covers it and with in the cars warranty period Bilstein will credit the car manufacture the cost of the faulty unit