RAudi Driver

I know I've promised a DIY and it's coming. I had an issue getting the pics into my computer due to a lost piece of computer hardware (USBC splitter). I purchased a new one so will get the pictures into the computer and uploaded.

However this thread is to give an honest unbiased review of the Bilstein air shocks. Preface by stating that I've run Bilstein shocks on 3 cars now, which includes the Cayenne. On my fox body Mustang back in the day, they were great. Coilovers on my B6 2006 Audi S4 were awful. Bouncing all over the place. Could never get them set correctly and it was determined that the valving for the shock just didn't match the car.

Now on to the Cayenne turbo. Removed the NLA ATE's and replaced the two fronts with the Bilsteins. Bilsteing advertises them as an exact same spec as the OEM system. They are not. Here are my observations in bullet points:

Normal ride height and normal valving: Exactly the same as OEM
Normal ride height and sport valving: Better than OEM. It's a stiff but more compliant ride than the OEM was. I love it.

Lower ride height and normal valving: Worse than OEM. It's a bit bouncy. Don't know if this stems from the rears being oems and thus throws off the compression and rebound characteristics of the whole car in general, but the bounciness reminds me of my S4 to a lesser extent. I'm going to install the Bisteins in the rear to see if that remedies the issue. It's slight, I'm picky and OCD so maybe the normal layman wouldn't notice. I do and am not a fan. The ATE's were great at a lower ride height and normal valving as this was the setting that I used 99% of the time. I loved it. Great low look with a smooth ride. this bounciness is only evident on the highway at certain speeds. The ATE's were never bouncy for me.

Lower ride height and sport valving: Better than OEM. Stiff and compliant at the same time.

In summary, these Billies are a great aftermarket choice if you can't get the ATE's. If you're looking for absolute perfection, then the ATE is the way to go. If you can still get NOS ATE's then I'd opt for them over the Billies, even at that insane price. However, they are no longer available from Porsche. Sucks that my SA said, "Porsche is now rebuilding the bladders and just reusing the old dampers. It's all we can do".

I'm a fan of the normal valving and a lower ride height so this set up has been a compromise for me. I find myself constantly changing the valving for the road conditions. So now, I've stuck to leaving the car at a normal ride height and normal valving, when the car gets up to speed, it lowers and if it gets bouncy, I stiffen up the valving.

NLA - No longer available
NOS - New old stock

onehot

Was the job a straight install without needing a PIWIS? I would imagine it needing calibration of some sort. My indy does the calibration and charges 500 for the job. Not cheap.

I spoke to a well known german mechanic for a respected shop. He says that all air suspension break down around 5 years time. Either air bags or compressor they will all degrade over time and will not last the life of the car.

MayorMcCheese

How many miles on the bilstein so far? You know I want to do this so I am subscribed to this thread lol

Could be the rears staying Ate but you’re more compliant to how the front feels on the road.

Have you thought about inflating and deflating back to back a couple times to play with the system?
Im curious to see how it drives

13CayenneTurbo

Link where to purchase the Bilstein replacements?

Kind of surprising Porsche doesn’t manufacture replacement air struts. Are they charging $1500 (or whatever it is) for reman struts?

JAGMAN1

I have an older cayenne that is 16 years old. 170,000 miles. Air suspension is in good shape. I'd say the 5 year estimate is a little pessimistic.

deilenberger

Sounds like a salesman for his own work. My CTT is now 8 years old, air-suspension hasn't broken down yet (92,000 miles on it), and my old BMW 2002 525i Touring (wagon) rear suspension had about 12 years on it - and 140,000 miles and was still working like a champ when I traded the car in. The only thing it did - from new - made a noise just like a loud fart every so often when the system was releasing air back into the reservoir tank.

A thing to remember when talking with mechanics - they see and remember cars that break. They don't really take notice of things on cars that simply work.

RAudi Driver

I didn't us a PIWIS. Maybe a calibration would help but one would think that the car's system would automatically set the suspension with the onboard computers. I filled with Nitrogen then installed and let the system do it's thing. Worked perfectly. Ride height set perfectly and the car raises and lowers perfectly.

I would like to hear what they actually do before I shell out the cash for a calibration. Can you elaborate on what the $500 got you. I'm interested.

RAudi Driver

http://www.bmaparts.com

RAudi Driver

Searching for a water pump and just realized that one can get a new front air shock from Porsche. They list the front air shock as NLA but all the individual parts are available. Money no object, you can buy all the parts to assemble the shock yourself and get an OEM system brand new.

Just an FYI. Cost to do so looks slightly under $2,000 for each shock.

Slickdvl

side note: just got my water pump from ECS (matched lowest price I could find online).

RAudi Driver

did
you get OeM or
aftermarket. Can you post price

Slickdvl

Oem 359 - comes with gasket

RAudi Driver

I just purchased my OEM Porsche water pump for $285 from sonnen.

Slickdvl

95810603314?
i ordered about 3 weeks ago, price may have dropped

RAudi Driver

UPDATE for bouncy Bilsteing suspension.

Just had Porsche align the car and all the bounce in the bilsteins went away. It was the alignment the entire time as I took the car in for Air ride calibration. Shop said air calibration is not possible, which I diaagree with. Don't know what to think now. However, I also had them do an alignment and when I picked up the car all the bounce was gone. So they rither calibrated the air suspension or the alignment fixed the issue. It was tracking almost perfectly straight before the alignment, sllight drift to the right, but after the alignment it's trackng spot on and absolutley no bounce. Rides like it did when new. Very happy camper.

s far as alignments go, Iusually have West End do my alignments on my Gt3 and RS4. took the Q7 and CTT there at the same time for alignments and both cars came back driving pretty much the same way they did going in. I thought something else is going on with the car as Darrin is the man. Well, maybe not as much with air suspension as the Delership got this car spot on, at twice the price. Whatever the case is, CTT is tracking like a cat.