Rear Shock "stiffness" - Time to Replace??

[VFR750]

12 year old Bilstein SPORT rear shocks in question.

I can push down on the rear of the car, and with little force I can move the back up and down about 1/2". The front requires substantially more effort to move up and down.

Maybe I'm asking a silly question, but does anyone have a similar occurrence with newer Bilstein shocks? Are the rears a lot softer than the fronts, or am I blind to the obvious: I need new rear shocks.

Play nice......

[azasadny]

I don't believe the "bump test" works with Porsche 911's due to their torsion suspension. I would replace 12 year old rear shocks because of their age alone...

[Zeke]

The amount of miles driven is a big factor. I have Sports with 100K on them and I can say they work. How well, I'm not all that sure.

[wildcat077]

Mike,

I agreee with Art on that one !
When i changed all four shocks on my 89 after i purchased it.i thought they were OK after bouncing the suspension around but when i took them apart i found that they were completely toasted ...
It's impossible to tell by bouncing the car !

Cheers !
Phil

[Reifle]

I replaced my original shocks with Bilstein Sports at the beginning of the season - what a difference! I also believe that the shocks give way after a period of time/mileage and we just get used to that performance. We do not notice the increments of the shocks wearing away as well as other things! My car had the USA bumper height and about 160K on the all the parts. Replaced and set up the suspension with European specs and WOW what a difference!

[VFR750]

Thanks for playing nice....

Just thought I'd ask. They have about 50,000 miles on them. It's time....

[gtc]

With 22/29 T-bars and Bilstein sports, your bounce test results sound normal to me.

I replaced my original Bilstein HDs at 204,000 miles. They were still working fine. YMMV.

[Trackrash]

The only way to tell would be remove the shock from the car. Bilsteins should extend out on its own and should be difficult to compress. The force needed to compress it should be even though out the entire range.

[RWebb]

send them back to Bilstein - they will revalve & custom valve -- all very reasonable in price

it seems that when you buy a set of Bilsteins, you never have to buy new shocks again

[GMR911]

Have had my rear bilsteins since 1987, 120,000 miles ago. Sent them out to bilstein to be tested a few years ago. Results from dyno came back almost perfect. Put them back in as is. Still working fine. As a sideline sent the fronts out also, one failed their parameters- they replaced both free of charge! Jerry