Paul Marangoni

My front suspension has been horrible the last couple of days, and I can hear and feel a strange rattling/shuddering whenever I go over even the slightest bumps. I was planning to take it in for service asap, and then just now, as I was parking at home, I noticed a rather large oil stain where I park, right near the front driver's side wheel....This can't be good!

Any ideas what it might be? I'll report back as soon as I have it diagnosed. Shocks?

1999Porsche911

leaky strut.

Paul Marangoni

What would the repair entail? And any guess on how long it would take?

JimB

Paul,
I would count on replacing the damper on your H&Rs. How long will depend on how long it takes to get the part. It will only take a few hours to put in.
Good luck,
Jim

Viken

Or, you can have the shocks rebuilt by Bilstein in San Diego. Most of H&R's shocks are made by Bilstein.

Paul Marangoni

I just found out that the H&R shocks have a lifetime warranty. I bought them at TireRack, and they're going to get the faulty strut/shock replaced. They're trying to get the parts from H&R, and then ship it to me ASAP. I will need to send them the damaged one so that they can inspect it to see if it really is a warranty issue.

What a total drag!

Viken

How many miles on the shocks? If many, I wouldn't want one new damper out of four.

Paul Marangoni

There are about 60,000 miles on them. Should I get four new dampers sent from H&R too?

Viken

Most definitely. I suggest you read the following:

https://rennlist.com/forums/showpost...3&postcount=57

https://rennlist.com/forums/showpost...8&postcount=12

Paul Marangoni

When you say 'damper', are you referring to the actual shock? I wonder if they'll sell me the shocks from the kit individually. Would you recommend I just get some Bilstein shocks? Would they be swappable? Which model do you suggest? Thanks for your help man!

Dubai911

Now the struts are rms'ing! sheesh, whats next

Paul Marangoni

I told TireRack that I wanted to replace ALL FOUR struts/shocks, since I had 60,000 miles on them already. I figured they could reimburse me for one, and I would pay for the remaining three....but no. They said if ANY component in the kit is okay, I can't make a warrantly claim. They said this is due to H&R's policy. Next I called H&R (here in the U.S.) to complain, and they basically said that they don't stock the individual components, just the kits. If they were to charge me for three struts, it would cost more than the whole kit. So, I'm SOL.

I called TireRack back, and asked for a 'mercy discount', and they ended up selling me the whole kit for $1,500, which was pretty nice of them. I considered switching to another kit (like the Bilstein PSS9) but all the other ones are much more expensive and have way more adjustability than I require.

I'm getting it all installed and set up at West End Alignment in Gardena next week. I am PISSED at the city of Los Angeles. The roads are PATHETIC!

ebaker

Sounds like the H&R warranty is worthless.

Paul Marangoni

Sort of, yeah. I guess it depends on how many miles are on the suspension (as Viken pointed out). Really, after a certain amount of mileage, you really need to change the shocks even if they AREN'T leaking. For us in North America, it makes more sense to buy shocks from a company that can rebuild them locally, at a cost that is less than purchasing new ones.

To get my H&Rs rebuilt, they would need to be sent to Germany and after all is said and done (shipping etc.) it would cost more than a whole new kit.

H&R claims that they manufacture the shocks themselves, but many people believe that they're made for them by Bilstein.

Viken

How about sending all four of them to Bilstein for re-valving? Can you afford the downtime?