Bilstein shocks - lifetime warranty replacement

[Anime]

Last week I noticed the front passenger side shock on my '93 had leaked oil all over the radius arm. Removing it and inspecting the shock revealed an opening around the rim of the shaft end. When the shaft was moved, oil spurted out. Obviously blown.

Following the Bilstein warranty instructions, I sent the shock in, with a completed warranty form and copy of the sales receipt. Today I received a brand new replacement (still made in Germany, too), and they even included four Bilstein stickers as well.

Just thought they deserved some good publicity for honoring their lifetime waranty as advertised, and in such a speedy manner. I bought these in 2002 and never had the slightest problem before the leak, glad to know getting them replaced under warranty isn't a problem either.

Big thumbs up for Bilstein warranty service.

 

[colintrax]

I'm just wondering, what if the shocks are just worn all to hell and need replacement. Does that count under the warranty?? If so, I'm getting bilsteins!

 

[Anime]

They'll cover a worn out shock under warranty if it no longer functions correctly, but they won't cover a shock just because the owner thinks it's old and worn out and wants new shocks.

Whatever claim you make under warranty needs to be reproducable in their test lab. The one I sent in still had some damping force left in it, but every time the shaft would go up and down under load, some of the oil would squirt out - this was probably super easy for them to see in the lab just by hooking it up.

For them to replace a shock that is "worn out", it would likely need to have little to no damping force left in it, meaning you'd have to be able to work the shock by hand or it would have to otherwise provide little to no damping force on the vehicle it's intended for.

If you just send in an old shock, even with a receipt, and claim it's worn out and you want a new one, and they test it and find that the shock is still within spec, they'll likely either just send it back, or contact you to see if you want it shipped back at your expense, or perhaps offer you a discount on a new shock.

The warranty doesn't cover normal wear and tear, and it also doesn't cover any sort of damage, so if the shaft is bent, if there's any sort of impact or collision damage, or any kind of modification, the warranty doesn't apply.

My guess would be that a seal would go (likely what happened to the one I sent in) or there would be other warranty issues before a shock would just be so worn out that it just didn't have any damping force left. For that to happen, the gas and oil would need to be low or gone. Once the gas or oil starts leaking out, obviously the performance is going to suffer, and of course it will eventually fail completely, all of which would be covered under warranty.

They likely don't expect most people to keep a vehicle long enough to make a warranty claim, or to keep the receipt. You need to be the original purchaser with proof to that effect to make a warranty claim. The people who buy Bilstein for the performance would likely not want to wait for the performance to deteriorate to bother with a warranty, so they likely just buy all new shocks as soon as they feel a handling difference.