14 years - 1991 325ix, Stroker/5-Speed (N52 swap?)

[UNHCLL]

yeah, these are the re-valved inserts from 2012. the new konis are a tad shorter but they came with spacers to make up the difference.

no.. no water got in there, there was a little in the strut housing but most of that brown shit exploded everywhere when I pulled out the shock. luckily I didn't have it near my face!.

it started making noise long before there was any cold weather. I have no idea why the cap popped off. even if it bottomed out (and that would be basically impossible at my current ride height), it would have pushed into the bottom of the tube and not separated like that.

I had water get into a Bilstein past the main tube seal, and it blew out the shock like yours. The upper seal around the moving shaft had failed.

Only discovered it after a cold night when the right front corner felt and sounded like I'd replaced the suspension with a 4x4 post! This was on my 325is in 2004ish??

[tinkerputzer]

Wow that's horrible, especially after how much time was spent on that set up. Interested to see how the koni race dampers work out. Will you be using them on all 4 corners or just fronts? Are the race dampers D/A?

[nando]

I don't think there's an equivalent "race" damper for the rear but there are lots of options. I wanted top adjustable rears, but ended up with bottom adjustables.. I'm sick of riding on 2x4s, so I'm just going to use them.

there are DA and SA race inserts. these are SA - don't really need or want DAs, all I really need to do is set them to my springs and forget them. :)

[LJ851]

there are DA and SA race inserts. these are SA - don't really need or want DAs, all I really need to do is set them to my springs and forget them. :)

That assumes the non adjustable compression damping curve is pretty good !

[nando]

I had water get into a Bilstein past the main tube seal, and it blew out the shock like yours. The upper seal around the moving shaft had failed.

Only discovered it after a cold night when the right front corner felt and sounded like I'd replaced the suspension with a 4x4 post! This was on my 325is in 2004ish??

that would be weird. it always made a little noise, but I thought it was my ball joints - but they're all fine. it got worse over time and significantly worse the last couple months.

I'm swapping control arms anyway, since they're not covered in grease and I have them all put together already. :???:

[tinkerputzer]

I don't think there's an equivalent "race" damper for the rear but there are lots of options. I wanted top adjustable rears, but ended up with bottom adjustables.. I'm sick of riding on 2x4s, so I'm just going to use them.

there are DA and SA race inserts. these are SA - don't really need or want DAs, all I really need to do is set them to my springs and forget them. :)

Ahh...sounds like anything will be an improvement from what you currently have. Fwiw my revalved bilsteins have been great, but if i had to start over i'd go with koni's too. The waiting game stinks getting bilsteins revalved

[Jb325is]

Yeah I've never had great luck with Bilsteins, they always seem to ride pretty rough. I like my Konis for what they are. The next step up is a big difference in price.

[ForcedFirebird]

I have awesome luck with Bilstein. Coils on my daily have been on there for almost 2 yrs, daily driving, plus 10 or so track days a year - albeit they are not valved, yet have 450lb front 800lb rear spring rates, and only 2" lowering.

[nando]

yeah, I'm not saying it's some defect with the shock. I don't really know. maybe they messed it up when they reassembled it, or maybe it blew apart for other reasons. either way, the ride quality sucked so I was going to replace them anyway.

the handling on smooth surfaces was pretty damn good, so it does sort of suck that it blew. I was thinking I'd have my other set of struts shortened and use the bilstein setup for track days.

[ForcedFirebird]

Really disappointed they didn't work out for you. Lot's of hard work were put into those housings :(

[nando]

it's ok - the new Konis fit perfectly in the housings. :)

also, go to bed dude! it's like 3am there.. lol

[ForcedFirebird]

it's ok - the new Konis fit perfectly in the housings. :)

also, go to bed dude! it's like 3am there.. lol

You have no idea. Was working on the s52 318ti we swapped from Atlanta, up 'till midnight. Drove all the way down to have A/C installed, drove home at 25 degrees Fahrenheit hehe.

Just happy it wasn't another all-nighter.

[ForcedFirebird]

Plus...have a 14hr race to attend at Daytona with 2 cars later this month, perhaps we will call this "conditioning" ROFL.

[nando]

WOW.. this is what I wanted originally when I put in the Bilsteins. the car was so overdampened, it's not even funny. It drives like a regular car now - there are spots on certain roads that were so harsh it literally made it feel like my heart was going to jump out of my nose. Same roads with the Konis (fronts at full soft, rears at 1 full turn) I don't even notice those same spots, you could even say it was comfortable (yeah, it's still stiff - this isn't a buick - but I wouldn't be embarrassed to have strangers in my car, and I really was before).

My only regret is not doing it sooner, or even more so, that I'd gone with Konis like I wanted to in the first place. I think I could go down to 1/2 turn in the rear, but it's pretty good as is. I'll probably leave it for a while and mess with it later.

I had ideas of swapping spring rates, swaybars, etc. but I don't think I need to.. the car handles now like I'd expect it to (even better now that it's not throwing me around like eggs in a blender), I think I'm at a point where I don't want to F with it.

I have a little under 4" of travel:


redid the CV boots.. I think I'm just going to send them out next time. I'm getting old, it's just not worth it to me to stay up until 12am and getting myself covered in CV grease:


it's so much better I actually want to drive it again.. how refreshing! I made some excuses to run some "errands".

[LJ851]

Good news!

Now maybe your wife will ride in the car, lol.