neilh

81 AT 130k on car, I'm feeling more and more bumps in the road - time to replace shocks, me thinks...
Appreciate suggestions for which, how long to do, etc.

whitefox

I'm curious as to what the life span of the shocks are, I'm around 125k myself.

Jim bailey - 928 International

Once every 25 years is not too bad ! it will take you all day at home in the driveway nothing very difficult. you need some cheap spring compressors.

neilh

Jim, thats what i figured, i just did my land rover and they took 8 hours, and they are remarkably similar, except I'm guessing for the ground clearance and ease of access when jacked up to work on them! - and i have the compressor, etc. I
may be calling you soon...
neil

the flyin' scotsman

Replaced mine at 144k kms (+90k miles) and they were shot..........17 years old.

Sab

do you need alignement after?

ErnestSw

No

Jim bailey - 928 International

Depends on how you go about pulling things apart ,where you adjust ride height, if the shocks are high pressure gas and wheather or not the alignment was good BEFORE !

BC

I think an alignment is needed no matter what if you take the bottom arms off. When you are in there Neil give me a call. I'll be gone this weekend, but I have just done this for the 3rd or 4th time in the last few weeks, so I'm pretty familiar.
619.709.2882

Sab

Interesting.
How does one find out if the shocks are bad?

I do get some "funky" vibrations at speeds over 100 MPH. The shop said alignement is fine, but I do get excessive wear on the front inner threads and front inner thread wears out like saw tooth. No history on shock replacement. close to 180 k miles.

I guess change them just in case? Car handles flawless...

BC

If the car has over 50k, they are gone, I am almost promise you. My issue is that the 928 has a bad rap by some as
"large" and "heavy" because people think these shocks last forever. They don't. The shocks probably should have been replaced YEAR ago on most 928s.

Also, the wear is not noticable over time.

Joe '87 S4

I had mine replaced about two years ago at around 80K and 17 years (8 years the car never moved) and the ride improved a lot. It's not so much a more bouncy ride but when you go over a good dip in the road the car bounces up and snaps right back.

SMTCapeCod

I agree with Brendan, they are shot, or at least due as a matter of conscience.

If you are lucky enough to have Bilsteins, just set aside some time and send them in for a rebuild. I think it costs $50/per. I'm kind-of surprised none of the vendors have cooked up some special valving proportions and served as intermediaries for this service. Perhaps there were too few OEM Bilstein cars.

Ispeed

Most if not all euros had Bilstein, we did my buddy's '85 euro- we sent them to CA and it was $65 each, very nice.

neilh

BrendanC : thanks, I will, please PM me with your address and email

Neil