Front shocks - how do you test?
 

I have new Bilsteins shocks all around for about 4 years. The old school says that to check your shocks, try to bounce the car to determine the condition of the shocks. Now, my car is so stiff that bouncing it is almost impossible. Jumping up and down on it shows that my car returns to normal height after 1 bounce.

Last week, while installing my triangulated Rennline strut brace, I noticed that the left shock was easier to compress than the right. I mean, I struggled to compress the right one.

Is there another way to check the overall condition of the shocks?

You shouldn't be able to compress the shocks by hand at all.
My car bounces once as well but I can compress the wheel and tire assembly attached to the car on the pass. side. I am installing new inserts this winter. I would think that Bilsteins would last more than 4 years unless they were damaged at some point..

Hmmm, I have replaced shocks on my LandCruiser and various other vehicles over the years and was able to compress the shocks.


Are Bilsteins the exceptions?

If "by hand" you mean compressing them against the housing, that's normal. If you mean Lou Ferigno chest compression style pusing in towards teh middle with a hand on each end, that would be tough unless you were pretty buff.

But then, I'm not.

I compressed my new ones the first way with some effort.

What I meant was that shouldn't be able to "easily" compress like The Hulk.
If you put the shock against a hard surface and push, yes you can compress.
Mine must be gone as I can pick up the tire assembly, on the car, and push it up into the wheelwell. There is no resistance. No, I'm not that built.

non scientific way :

you put some weight on the one side of the bumper , i usually put my foot on it then put my whole weight on it

car should go down, and come back up in one smooth movement , and not bounce back down again like a jojo

but like a said , definately not scientific
scientific way is to go to a testing station , they put the all wheels on a seperate tester, that thing vibrates them like nothing else, and the puter then tells you how well the shocks behaved... gives your numbers like fast rebound and slow rebound and what not...


the stiffer the car, the lower it is , the more difficult to test without the tester, as it sometimes becomes impossible to even move em by sitting on the car...the range of travel on low and stiff cars is so small , that you hardly notice anything

When I changed to new Bilstein I had a real hard time compressing them enough to slide them back in under the fender lip. I had to push like forever and they would compress ever so slow.

Suffered a rather bad acid build up in my upper wimpy torso..;)

The bounce test didn't work on my 911. At 80K miles it had the original Boge shocks. One side was still functioning and one side was dead.


If a shock on one side was too easy to compress I'd guess that it was bad.

Hmmm, I do recall that Bilsteins do have a Lifetime Warranty. Correct?

Yes, I think it's to the original purchaser.

The only real way to tell truthfully given the torsion bar setup on these cars is to pull the shock/insert and compress is by hand. Serisouly, it's not that tough, just a little more time consuming than the bounce test which wont tell you squat anyway.

If it falls in on itself, replace it. If one from one side comporesses easier than it's mate on the other, you've got an issue with the softer of the two. They need to match.