Matt Vaughan

Well, I thought I'd post regarding this issue, since it's been a topic recently, with regards to the failure of the compression and rebound adjustment ***** on what I think is limited to the first production run of the Bilstein PSS-9's.

I installed my PSS-9's exactly two years ago this month. I have approximately 20-25K miles on them, with a number of track days on them. The car is my daily driver as well, with a whole 12 mile commute into the office.

A few people have experienced the "free-wheeling" action of a failed compression and rebound ****, mostly with the rear shocks, and I was one of them. I would venture a guess that I noticed this failure within the first couple thousand miles that they were installed, however, aside from the fact that the adjusters would spin round and round with no place to stop, I experienced no ill effects with the performance of the setup... until 2 days ago.

On Wednesday, I ventured out to lunch, in an area that had a number of speed bumps through the parking lot. I drove very slow over each one, as I always do, but noticed a big klunking sound after going over one them. I thought to myself that it was definitely louder than I had noticed in the past, but didn't pay any more attention to it as these setups do exhibit more noise than the standard Oldsmobuick U.S. spec. suspension. When I noticed a problem is when I got out on the highway, and then I knew something was not right. Going over bumps the car would rebound properly on one side of the car, but not the other (this being the right, rear side).

Anyway, to make a long story a little shorter, after checking every nut and bolt possible, my mechanic and I have come to the conclusion that the right rear shock is toast. At this time (and probably not ever) I can't find any direct correlation to the adjustment **** failure[s] and the total shock failure, but I thought it was worth mentioning. I am thankful that I have good support person [Gert], who's seeing to it that I have replacement shocks in hand promptly. Thanks Gert!

nels415

Matt,

Thanks for posting your analysis and experience. I am definitely going to have my right rear shock replaced right away. I was going to try it for a little awhile just to experiment with turning the **** a few times in one direction and the other, but now I won't bother.

-nelson

viperbob

The good thing Nelson is that it is on the rear. It can be replaced fairly easily (no more than a 2 -3 beer job) without impacting your alignment. We can also adjust the sway bar perch at that time and you won't need the adjustable drop links.

Have you called Bilstein yet? I think I would go to them and not bother contacting Bimmerparts. Hopefully they will send out a shock BEFORE we remove yours so it can be a quick R&R. Here is where to call:

For additional information about our warranty, please contact our Warranty Service Department at 858/386-5900

nels415

Okay, I know Bob thinks I'm totally losing it. I drove my car down to his house today for him to take a look at the ****. Lo and behold, the shock has miraculously fixed itself. Don't ask me how this is possible. When I adjusted it a few weeks back, the **** did not stop at position 9 or 1, but now it does. Overall, I guess I'm happy that I won't have to replace the shock. But, I'm going to keep a close eye on it. Thanks, Matt and Gert for your feedback and Bob for your Houdini performance.

-nelson

Carrera GT

Hey Nelson,

What's the warranty period on Bilsteins?
I'd raise this as problem immediately and then look to have them reproduce it during the warrant period so you have something to stand on if it dies at <warranty-period>+1 days.

nels415

Adam,

Lifetime warranty cause I bought here in the U.S. of A.

-nelson

viperbob

See Adam, just the car thinking it was coming over to Bob's house of repair caused it to fix itself. These are getting easier all the time. Which was good because that gave us more time to ride the new gas powered scooter...

ScottMellor

Man I gotta move near to Bob! I can completely get behind the beer/complexity of job paradigm.