Junkyard bistein stut insert

[CRIS]

Found a pair of nice looking strut insert today. Does anyone know what i should be testing/looking for before purchase??

thanks

[Farbin Kaiber]

rebound.

[Tad]

look for leaks first of all.

when you push the piston in, there should be resistance, and it should push in smoothly.
then it should slowly come out on its own.
if it stays in and you have to pull it out, or if it "collapses" in when you push it in,
or if oil leaks out during this, then that's a sign that they are bad.

[CRIS]

thanks... i think i'll pass on this one.....

[Mike B.]

Bilsteins can be rebuilt/revalved to your specs for about $120 per shock. They are never trash due to this fact. If you can pick them up for cheap, it will be pretty reasonable to end up with custom shocks for your car.

[CRIS]

Bilsteins can be rebuilt/revalved to your specs for about $120 per shock. They are never trash due to this fact. If you can pick them up for cheap, it will be pretty reasonable to end up with custom shocks for your car.

good to know...... the shock look brand new, but no rebound.

[chbimmer]

Bilsteins can be rebuilt/revalved to your specs for about $120 per shock. They are never trash due to this fact. If you can pick them up for cheap, it will be pretty reasonable to end up with custom shocks for your car.

cant you get Bilsteins for 120 for the front and cheaper for the rears brand new though?

[Tad]

not revalved custom ones

[redhatpat]

look for leaks first of all.

Yes.

when you push the piston in...then it should slowly come out on its own.
if it stays in and you have to pull it out... then that's a sign that they are bad.

No. Not all shocks will rebound out when compressed. You can do a very rough test by pushing the shock closed, then pull it out again. There should be smooth travel and pretty good resistance in both directions.

Cheap shock will come back out on there own. Good quality shocks may or may not do this. My Konis don't.

[CRIS]

Yes.

No. Not all shocks will rebound out when compressed. You can do a very rough test by pushing the shock closed, then pull it out again. There should be smooth travel and pretty good resistance in both directions.

Cheap shock will come back out on there own. Good quality shocks may or may not do this. My Konis don't.

Can someone else confirm this. Cause this is exactly what the insert is doing. You would think that the insert will act exactly like a shock absorber(rebounds when pushed in). Never having to examine a new insert before, i was not sure how to test it.

The insert has good resistance both ways (pushed in or pulled out) - but no rebound

The shock looks really clean i could have sworn it was brand new.

[Rigmaster]

Yes.

No. Not all shocks will rebound out when compressed. You can do a very rough test by pushing the shock closed, then pull it out again. There should be smooth travel and pretty good resistance in both directions.

Cheap shock will come back out on there own. Good quality shocks may or may not do this. My Konis don't.

I disagree.

Cheap shocks don't all come back out on their own (we're talking about struts here anyway- right??)

*Most* gas-pressurized strut inserts will come back out on their own. Bilstein brags about how they use low pressure gas- so they might come out more slowly than some others- but they should come back out. UNLESS they are NOT Gas struts. Not sure, but I think the HD's are not gas struts, and the sports are gas struts. If they're black, they are probably Touring, which is a cheaper version- but might be worth getting if they are like new.


Confused yet?

[CRIS]

I disagree.

Cheap shocks don't all come back out on their own (we're talking about struts here anyway- right??)

*Most* gas-pressurized strut inserts will come back out on their own. Bilstein brags about how they use low pressure gas- so they might come out more slowly than some others- but they should come back out. UNLESS they are NOT Gas struts. Not sure, but I think the HD's are not gas struts, and the sports are gas struts. If they're black, they are probably Touring, which is a cheaper version- but might be worth getting if they are like new.


Confused yet?

YES...... i'm confused.................

They are yellow. I tried typing in the stamped numbers on the inserts to see if i could dig out more info. But no luck....

[Teaguer]

Bilstein Sports and HD's are both gas pressurized .
They are even valved the same , only difference is the internal piston shaft lenght .

Bilsteins are supposed to rebound when compressed .
Toss them or rebuild them .

[IRON-E]

I have the yellow billsteins myself, but I had to get them out (the rear), because the metal thread at the top of one of them is destroyed they have good resistanse and I don't want to toss them. can anyone give me any suggestions?, because I had to put on some shitty gabriel shocks for the mean time., when I hit a bump at about 30 mph I can feel no support like it's hitting metal on metal, even though I replaced the strut mounts too?