Lloyd

Looking to buy new shocks for my 1985 Euro. Would like to buy Koni or Bilsteins. According to some vendors, you must pay attention to the original shocks that came on the car...typically Boge or Bilstein. The Koni and Boge are compatible. Bilstein must be a different animal. Apparently the mount may be different?? So how do you identify each?? I looked at the color of the upper shock body and through the caked on dirt they appear to be black. However, the lower section resembles a zinc chromate. I cleaned a patch and took some pictures of the rear shock. The "Made in West Germany" is visable with a triangular mark above it, but I did not cut through all the dirt to see a manufacturers name. I did a search, but did not come up a definitive answer Any suggestions??

Mark Anderson

Bilstein

Lloyd

Thanks for the short answer, but what identifies it as a bilstein?

ammonman

IIRC it's the threaded body of the shock. The other two brands require a threaded sleeve to make them adjustable.

Mike

Mark Anderson

That and its gold. Very early bilstein was green
Boge have been black, blue ( red for sport)

Lloyd

Thanks, Well I jumped the gun and had already bought a set of red koni shocks. Oh well!! I would prefer to sell the Konis and go with the threaded Bilsteins to make it an easier install. I bought the 928 Eibachs a couple years ago. Mark, do I have to change the spring perch on this 85 Euro to get the Eibachs to fit?

Mark Anderson

Your 85 will have the correct perch's

ammonman

If you are able to wait a bit you can send your shocks to the Bilstein repair shop in California and have them reconditioned for $95US each as long as none of the hard parts (rod, piston, body, etc.) need replaced. This time of year the turnaround should only be a few weeks as the motorsport season is winding down. Here's a link to their web page with pricing and the repair order form.

Mike

The Forgotten On

I did this and had my pair turned around in under 3 weeks. This was during summer too.

They cost me about a little over $400 to have done as they had to custom fab some parts they haven't made in years to rebuild them, plus they came back looking like new with greased threads.

Best investment I made at the time as my stock ones were past gone oil filled BOGE.

ROG100

I have full sets of Bilstein shocks for $928. They come with the correct hardware as well.