My Front Bilstein Coilover Failed

[skullandbones]

This afternoon I was pulling out of a parking lot to return home with the roadster. When I made a right turn and started up in first gear, I heard a clunk and then the right front side drooped and trapped the tire in the fender well. I pulled over to the curb without incident. At first it looked like the head of the shock at the rod end facing down had broken off. After a friend (thanks Karl!) came to assist me, we found that the shock had come unscrewed at the head. There was minimal damage (mostly the right 4 inch tube scratched up from sitting on the road). So I removed the shock from top and bottom and reattached the pieces as tight as I could. I drove home with no problem but now I'm wondering how to keep this from happening again. I was not aware of any maintenance requirements for these shocks. I thought they were permanently assembled at the factory. So should this be one of those checks you do periodically or is there a more permanent fix that will assure piece of mind. When these come apart, there is no safety backup!

My first thought was to drill thru the head and tap it to insert a locking screw. Drilling thru the entire piece may not be practical with the hardened rod. Anyway I feel quite lucky as a couple of days before, I was zipping along a mountain road at speed. That would have been a totally different outcome given the circumstances!!!

Mine is an older build as a lot of time was lost (three years due to unavoidable circumstances). But I do remember contacting FFR at the time when I heard about the Bilstein recall. I was told that my shocks were not affected so I left it at that. Also, this is not a broken shock so I don't know if that would have been applicable. So I'm at a loss at this point. Hate to discard the shocks but also don't want to flirt with death. I think there is a little of that risk by definition when driving these but I just don't want to stack the odds against myself even more.

Has anyone experienced this before? I didn't see any threads about shocks coming apart in my search. I will give FFR a call tomorrow but I don't know if they can help at this point. I guess worst case scenario is go to different shocks: Koni, Pro 1, etc...... Unless and until I get a satisfactory answer, I guess I will not be on the road for a while.

Thanks,

WEK.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Bill,
Sure happy to hear that things didn't turn out any worse!

... I thought they were permanently assembled at the factory...

They were not permanently assembled. Check the "Front coilover shock assembly" portion of the manual and you'll see that it directs you to remove the rod end from the shock, explains how to install the sleeve and spring then goes on to reassembly which includes tightening the rod end and jamb nut. I remember using blue Locktite when I did mine way back when (ultimately changed to Konis long ago).

... I do remember contacting FFR at the time when I heard about the Bilstein recall. I was told that my shocks were not affected so I left it at that...

Unfortunately there was a period of time when some misinformation and uncertainty was floating around regarding the Bilstein issue and I bet you got caught up in that. Ultimately ALL of the BE3-A273-(any suffix) shocks were involved and should have had the upgrade done. Although your problem wasn't due to breakage it doesn't sound like yours were ever done and if not you need to do so! It's easy to tell; the originals had 11mm shafts and the upgraded units are 14mm. I built a leftover Mk3 last year that included non-upgraded Bils; sent them to Bilstein along with 70 bucks and they turned them around in less than 2 weeks.

Here is the contact information :

AFTERMARKET & MOTORSPORTS HEADQUARTERS - WEST
ThyssenKrupp Bilstein of America
14102 Stowe Drive
Poway, CA. 92064
1-858-386-5900

AFTERMARKET & MOTORSPORTS – EAST
ThyssenKrupp Bilstein of America
293 Timber Road
Mooresville, NC. 28115-7868
1-704-663-7563

Good luck, and again I'm happy that your incident ended with only a scare and no real harm done (maybe you should buy a lottery ticket while your luck is hot!).

Jeff

[Gordon Levy]

I have some new Bilsteins laying around if you need any. I also have new Koni's and QA1's if you want to upgrade to a newer better shock.

[JL1958]

I have an MKII and had a similar thing happen recently. I was tooling along at 55 mph and hit a bump in the road and a rear shock broke. The rear suspension collapsed and the body fell on the tire. I got it off the road and thought i had blown a tire based on the car sitting down and rubber burning.
The shock broke and the spring shot out from under the car, leaving a crazed mark on my rear fender well. I had to be towed and replaced both rear shocks with a larger diameter shock. Very scary stuff.

[skullandbones]

Jeff,

Very informative as usual. It's been a long time since I assembled the shocks. That was the first thing I did. Since I had them assembled, I must have taken them apart. I do think I tightened the jam nut as instructed but I did not add lock tight. It's not in the manual but that's no excuse. That's on me.

I contacted FFR just to cover all bases. I was told by Tony that there was no recourse for FFR to help (since no inventory of Bilsteins). That was to be expected. So I got with Bilstein West and got the ball rolling. I will try the upgraded ones for a while but I think I will probably migrate away from this setup to something more in line with the other folks. I remember looking at the shocks when I first got them and thought to myself, "these just don't look very substantial more like kart shocks than real car shocks". Hope the upgrades change my mind. If not I may be changing over even sooner.

I've always heard it's better to be lucky than good. I think I have had more than my share of good luck during my life: skiing off clifts and hitting a bridge at 60 along with many other close calls so it's time to be good and lucky (starting with this upgrade).

I'm glad the service you mentioned is still available. I must be one of the last change overs. I do appreciated the contact info and history lesson too.

Would you do anything other than adding blue lock tight to the procedure? I thought about putting a couple of reference marks to the jam nut and shock head that I could inspect periodically.

Thanks Gordon. I guess I will be talking with you when the time comes for me to switch over.

JL1958: Do you have an IRS or the live axle? I have not heard of any Bilstein shock failures on the rear except IRSs.

Thanks,

WEK.

Note: the roadster will be on the lift for a couple of weeks while the Bilsteins take a much needed vacation to sunny CA.

[mike w]

Jeff,

Very informative as usual. It's been a long time since I assembled the shocks. That was the first thing I did. Since I had them assembled, I must have taken them apart. I do think I tightened the jam nut as instructed but I did not add lock tight. It's not in the manual but that's no excuse. That's on me.

I contacted FFR just to cover all bases. I was told by Tony that there was no recourse for FFR to help (since no inventory of Bilsteins). That was to be expected. So I got with Bilstein West and got the ball rolling. I will try the upgraded ones for a while but I think I will probably migrate away from this setup to something more in line with the other folks. I remember looking at the shocks when I first got them and thought to myself, "these just don't look very substantial more like kart shocks than real car shocks". Hope the upgrades change my mind. If not I may be changing over even sooner.

I've always heard it's better to be lucky than good. I think I have had more than my share of good luck during my life: skiing off clifts and hitting a bridge at 60 along with many other close calls so it's time to be good and lucky (starting with this upgrade).

I'm glad the service you mentioned is still available. I must be one of the last change overs. I do appreciated the contact info and history lesson too.

Would you do anything other than adding blue lock tight to the procedure? I thought about putting a couple of reference marks to the jam nut and shock head that I could inspect periodically.

Thanks Gordon. I guess I will be talking with you when the time comes for me to switch over.

JL1958: Do you have an IRS or the live axle? I have not heard of any Bilstein shock failures on the rear except IRSs.

Thanks,

WEK.

Note: the roadster will be on the lift for a couple of weeks while the Bilsteins take a much needed vacation to sunny CA.

WEK,

Looking at your 2nd picture, I noticed that you have your UCA mounted to the bottom of the frame bracket and there is some sort of wedge in between. I have never seen this before. Can you elaborate why you assembled it this way. Is there some sort of advantage over mounting it to the top of the frame bracket?

Mike W.

[skullandbones]

Changing MKIII Front Steering to Resemble MKIV Level is a thread I did in July of 2013 describing the changes for the front suspension. The title sort of explains the goal. There is an interesting link on it that addresses exactly what you mentioned (moving the UCA). I had read a number of mods that people have done over the years to improve the various Mk versions. I compiled some of them to see if I could improve the steering geometry of the MKIII for my build. I also made sure I could reverse the process if it didn't work. Long story short: it is working as planned. I don't have a MkIV to compare with it but I'm sure with time I will be able to find some baseline measurements that will support the mods. Hope that helps.

Thanks,

WEK.

Note: sorry couldn't get the link directly.

[RoKaNo]

Hi WEK,
I upgraded my shocks this past summer. One issue that came up was that the spring hats also have to replaced to a slightly larger and beefier hat. The Bilstein folks do not have the hats and told me to contact FFR. Initially I was told by FFR that they no longer had the hats but Jason was able to get some for me and sent them out to Bilstein. You may want to talk to Jason about this.
Joe

[skullandbones]

RoKaNo,

Thanks for the heads up. I didn't speak to Jason. I figured they are probably getting fed up with continually having to deal with a problem where there is always one more. I will give him a call. So is it the "hat" down by the heim joint or is it both that you had replaced? I really want to lay this to rest finally so I want to make sure I have all the correct upgraded components.

Thank you, WEK.

[JL1958]

I have a solid axle on my MKII. The wall of the shock blew out.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Bill,
When I sent them to Bilstein last year I removed the snap ring from the shock body at the fixed end then slid the collar and spring off. The hat stayed on the shaft. They returned them with the hats and rod ends already installed and I simply reversed the process to reassemble (be sure that the collar is oriented so that the snap ring is captured in the relief in the end when it's slid over it).

Jeff

[skullandbones]

Jeff,

Jeff: I striped the shock down to the body and rod but left the snap ring on. I see the relief in the collar you are referring to. So that needs to seat properly on the snap ring to avoid damaging the snap ring. Got it! Did you get new hats as mentioned above? After looking at the ones I have, they look OK but the new rod may not go thru the hole in the hat (drill out hole slightly). I think the larger heim join will set on the top side of the hat OK. I will contact Bilstein since there has been enough time for the shocks to get to Poway, CA.

JL1958: Blowing the body out is one I have not heard on a live axle. Sort of validates my first impression of them when I first saw them (too small!). Too bad I didn't follow my gut feeling back then. So did you get any explanation from Bilstein and FFR about that or did you even pursue that? Curiously Bilstein offered to rebuild my rear shocks for $95 each even thought they were not involved in the recall and I didn't ask.

Thanks, WEK.

[JL1958]

I was told the shocks are too small in diameter and discontinued. FFR advised a replacement part #.
I did not equate the failure with what I have read on here. The car is 8 yrs old, so I just ordered a new set.
I was just happy no one got hurt and my car wasn't screwed up any worse.

[skullandbones]

It appears there has been some miscommunication about shock failures. I would like to clarify that my failure was not due to manufacturer's defect but rather an oversight of my own by not adding "lock tight" to the threaded end of the shock. The title of the thread may mislead some people. It was seriously tightened by me but vibration caused it to come loose. The other front shock was also not as tight as originally installed. The reason I make this statement is to separate it from the threads that were addressing things like shock head breakage or shock body failures.

I spoke to Tony at FFR again regarding the "hat" on the Bilstein. FFR sent all of their inventory to Bilstein so they do not have any improved components for the shock in question. I will ask Bilstein if there is a new and improved "hat" to install on my upgraded shock. I think the answer will be no.

As far as the failure of the rear shock on JL1958's rear live axle: that may have been an isolated failure (I'm glad you came out OK with your incident like I did. We were both lucky!) There are no recalls for that back shock. Just wanted to set the record straight.

Thanks to all for your input especially Jeff for the clarifications. I'm looking forward to getting my roadster back together in the coming weeks for some more testing and driving fun!!!

See ya,

WEK.

[Jeff Kleiner]

JL1958,
Curious what brand of shock you had "blow out" (something I've never heard of before). I believe Mk2s were delivered with Pro shocks and the Bilsteins didn't come into use until the Mk3. Of course that doesn't mean that they may not have been replaced somewhere along the line. What color was the body of your failed shock?

Jeff

[JL1958]

JL1958,
Curious what brand of shock you had "blow out" (something I've never heard of before). I believe Mk2s were delivered with Pro shocks and the Bilsteins didn't come into use until the Mk3. Of course that doesn't mean that they may not have been replaced somewhere along the line. What color was the body of your failed shock?

Jeff

Jeff,
I'm sorry to say I don't know the answer to you query. I had the car towed to my shop and the guys handled the replacement. I'm going to assume they were original to the kit as the car had only 700 miles on it when I purchased it from the builder. It was 8 yrs old, but he never had time to drive it due to family and work.
I'm pretty handy and check to keep everything tightened up, but I am not like most of you on the site. I'm a grandmother with a love of high performance machines, particularly this roadster. i thoroughly read what everyone is doing and may attempt a build when I retire. I think it would be so rewarding, but I love my car and am working to refine and upgrade her.

[Gale K]

Late Mark II here, and it came with the Bilsteins. Buddy's Mark II (on the same Stewart truck) had the Pro Shocks. So, I think they must have been switching over right before the Mark II was done.

[skullandbones]

I got my shocks back from Bilstein yesterday after their upgrade. It appears there was a major change made besides the enlarged rod (11 to 14 mm) and a beefier attachment point. There is a new hat installed on the rod. At first I didn't think that was significant but after further inspection, it is probably more important (to me) than the enlarged parts. Now there is a swedged end on the rod so no more falling apart from a loosened jam nut, no need for lock tight or periodic inspection of that part of the shock. The new end is also rebuildable whereas the old heim joint was not. So I'm OK with it for now. Too bad I didn't get that done initially but "no harm, no foul!". Hope I'm the last one to have this problem. Now back to the garage to check on the back shocks and lock tight them!!!

Thanks, WEK.

[cmdrury77]

I have some new Bilsteins laying around if you need any. I also have new Koni's and QA1's if you want to upgrade to a newer better shock.

Gordon. Do you still have any of these? My car just broke one of the bilstein at the rod. Called bilstein and they will upgrade but turnaround is close to a month.

How much for koni and do you have any of the upgraded bilstein?


Thanks
-chris

[skullandbones]

Chris,

If Gordon is out of shocks and you have to fall back on Bilstein as a source, they told me 5 weeks and ended up taking 2 weeks. I sent them quickly and called them when I knew they would arrive at the factory so that may have expedited it some. They called me the day they were shipping back to me. Just for FYI. WEK.

[Gordon Levy]

I still have a bunch of Bilsteins.

[sbevans]

Gordon, even though I haven't had any problems with the coilover shocks on my FFR MKIII, I've decided to replace the fronts anyway. They are the 11mm bilsteins and based on the posts here, I feel that I'm driving on borrowed time. Do you think I should replace the rear shocks also ? I haven't seen any posts that would indicate any inherent problems with those.

Steve

[skullandbones]

I'm glad you revived this thread. I had planned on examining the rear shocks thinking that they might be suspect for another failure. I'm working on a Watts link so I'm back there every day looking at the components and I was somewhat surprised to see that the rear Bilstein shocks look brand new. I was checking for the nut that holds the spherical rod end to see if it was loose or tight. Both were in perfect order. I think the problem is with the front shocks since they live in a bad neighborhood so to speak. They take a beating due to the their angularity and the action they get up front. In the rear, the shocks are in one of those neighborhoods where there's and HOA, no cars on the street, white picket fence, and security. They are almost vertical so the action and forces are in line with the piston and rod much better than the front. I haven't seen even one failure on the rear (Bilstein that is). Personally, I feel save with them but I'm not beating the heck out of them on the track either. When that time comes, the Bilsteins will have to go! They look a little too puny for racing. WEK.

[Gordon Levy]

Live axle rear really aren't a problem it's the IRS that I would be concerned about with the Bilsteins.