What kind of shocks do I have?

[preston_brown]

According to Wayne's 101 projects book, I'm supposed to tell what kind of struts/shocks are on my 911 by looking at their color. Well, the color is almost all worn off of mine, so I'm not entirely sure. I think they are boge (white?).

What do others think? This is a '87 911 Carrera.

-- Preston

[jazzbass]

Your img tags didn't show right - try using lowercase.

[john walker's workshop]

KYBs are white. is that the lunar surface, or mars?

[jazzbass]

That's better. Have you tried cleaning them with some Simple Green or Castrol degreaser? From the pictures, they just look really, really dirty. Boges, most likely.

[preston_brown]

It's the lunar surface. No really, I know they are dirty. I haven't really hit them with the pressure washer yet. I've owned the car for 6 months, all my time has been spent rebuilding my 356. This car is fun and the ride, while harsh, is OK, so I haven't killed myself fixing anything yet.

The car just has nearly 123k miles so I know that the struts/shocks need replacement.

[masraum]

Boge struts are black, if you have an '87 that's probably what you have. It looks like there's a bunch of crap on them. you should clean them off to tell for sure, they'll probably have the manufacturer stamped on the body somewhere. You'll probably have to remove a tire to find out.

[ubiquity0]

If they're KYB's they warrant replacement no matter how old / young they are.

[preston_brown]

I'm pretty sure they aren't KYB's. I think they are OEM, and ORIGINAL to the car. The previous owner was a cardiologist, I don't think he would have cheaped out with KYB's, and I can't find shock/strut replacements in his maintenance records.

[aigel]

Put whatever you want in the back. Only the front is important to know, since the inserts / mechanism depends on brand. Most folks go with Bilstein shocks in the back. No way of telling what you have in the front until you scrape some grime off.

George

[Paul Franssen]

Preston, these pictures look like you took pictures of my own 1988 ROW Carrera shocks (before I replaced them all with Sports Bilsteins).
My old shocks were definitely and for sure BOGE shocks, unanimously said to be "standard issue" for those years' 911 Carrera cars.
In fact, you if you can just emery-paper (or kitchen scrub) the main tube, you should somewhere see a little engraved rectangle with BOGE engraved inside of it. But there is no doubt in my mind.
Go right ahead and replace them with Bilstein (or bicycle pumps, if you prefer! )