Bilsteins, Who has them and whats your review?

[Christobal65]

As the title stats i would like some reviews of the stock replacement Bilsteins. I spent the better part of 2 hours searching and reading up about people who had bilsteins, yet most people just said is "yeah i have bilsteins." I would like some more indepth reviews.

Some questions to think about:

1. Ride Quality- Large bumps and dips
2. Ride Quality - small bumps and broken pavement
3. Off Road ability
4. Body control
5. Handleing

These are just some basic things i would like to know about these shocks for our application, as I have read wonderful things about them on other cars.

If you plan on writing to tell me to get some Rancho, Edelbrock IAS or Monroe shocks thanks but theres lots of info on those shocks out there and my 92 Explorer currently has Sesitracks on it. PLEASE keep this thread about Bilsteins HD OEM replacement shocks.

 

[Rodeo Joe]

I have them on my 97 and love them. My original factory ones were shot and the Bilsteins replaced those. I can't compare them to any other shocks, but the difference was noticed immediately.
They ride very well on all types of pavement, I can't help you with off road though.
I really don't push it, but when I put the EE sway bars on, they can take care of the handling and body control!

Joe

 

[unclemeat]

I have a stock set on my 04 Level II Ranger. They are far superior to the Ford stock shocks. They do everything noticibly better. They are best in gravel road, high speed situations, IMO. They do not fade under heavy duty use. I need to put new shocks on my X, the first brand I am going to consider is Bilstein. They are a bit pricey, but you get what you pay for.

 

[Rodeo Joe]

They are a bit pricey, but you get what you pay for.

Plus they have the lifetime guarantee! Bilstein will rebuild them when they wear out.

Joe

 

[BigDave!!!]

by far the best shocks i have ever used, i use the 5100 series which is pretty just a version of the stock shock for lifted applications, have prerun with them they were unbelieveable. I will never buy another brand

 

[Firefighter]

I have bilsteins on my x and really like them. I would agree with what everyone else has said so far. They actually seemed to give my x a little bit of lift, because they're so stiff. I had to use a jack to compress the rears when installing them. They do work very well off road and are very responsive. I figured that since Ford and a few other manufactures offered them on their factory off road model trucks that they must have a good balance between on road comfort and handling and off road performance, and they do seem to.

 

[jimbo74]

not to thread hijack, but if they are soooo stiff, will that limit axle articulation offroad?

 

[Firefighter]

No, the axle still seems to articulate fine off road. They seemed very stiff compared to the original shocks which I could compress with my own weight easily (and they only had 30,000 miles on them). I could balance on the bilsteins and they wouldn't budge, even when I tried to put quite a bit of force on them. They were much stiffer than the OEM-quality shocks that I installed on my 3/4 ton truck, which weighs nearly twice as much as my explorer. I don't know why there is such a big difference in stiffness, but I did gain about a half inch of lift from them.

I would trade a tiny bit of articulation for more ground clearance any day, but I didn't notice any loss of articulation. Besides, it would be a very minimal loss of articulation when compared to what an AAL would do.

 

[donaldthacker]

I have a dual bilstein setup on the front of my 99 sport and love it. I have run the edelbrocks, ranchos and superlift own shocks and I do not think there is much of a comparison

 

[Christobal65]

Keep the responces comming lots of great info here and with more posts more people can find this thread in a search.