95 m3 with bilstein sports, h&r sports, and uuc tubular sways. On my 3rd run I heard something POP and then felt loss of control. I pulled off the course and found my front wheel almost laying on it's side. I quickly jacked up the car, took off the wheel and noticed that the mounting point on the shock just let go and broke. I've never heard of a shock doing that... especially a bilstein. A few friends that were on site thought it was wierd it didn't have more reinforcement. Tell me this isn't a common issue.

So it looks like I'll be getting 2 new bilstein sport shocks... the other side has atleast 30k miles on it and I feel I better replace both fronts... and I'll have to get another alignment! I just had it aligned for more negative camber a few months ago! Argggh...

As a consoliation.. I still placed 2nd with only 2 good runs out of 6! My shock let go on the 3rd run :\ I bet those damn sticky hoosier's had something to do with this!! Anyone have an issue like this with bilsteins?

Where can I find the cheapest bilsteins?

Pics of the damage to my passenger front bilstein. F'd up or what?

http://photos.yahoo.com/chewtoym3y

That's the second I've heard of, the other being a Bilstein front strut as well. A friend broke his while racing in a BMW CCA club race in Watkins Glen.

wow :(

any pictures of it? Did it break at the lower mounting point where it bolts to the spindle?

www.bimmerparts.com has some pretty good Bilstein prices.

did you do the install? was the bolt torques properly? I will check mine out before I go auto-x.

No I didn't originally do the install. Now I'm starting to wonder if this is a good opportunity to get some koni's. Anyone running koni's up front with bilsteins in the rear? Is that a crazy idea? I don't think I'm ready to do the track/school CO kit from GC. I like the way my car was hooking up today until the shock let go. Anyone want to buy 3 bilstein sports? :)

Shouldn't I buy two new shocks? Maybe I should go with two new bilsteins and be done with it. I don't think I could run koni's up front and bilsteins in the rear. Where can I get the deals on Koni's? If you guys were in my shoe's what would you do? Replace the one shock? Replace both? Get Koni's up front? Get Koni's all around? Just curious.... tia.

Why don't you contact Bilstein tomorrow. Maybe they can warranty the strut. Just don't let them know about the auto-xing part. I wouldn't mix koni's and bilsteins.

Yeah, I thought Bilstein had a lifetime warranty. Surely this kind of thing is covered?

On the other hand, that's a scary failure. I can see it leading to a totaled car on a road course or on the street.

Originally posted by BJO
I wouldn't mix koni's and bilsteins.

Yeah, after a few beers, a fight always breaks out. :D

Wouldn't surprise me if Bilstein would warranty the part, they're generally a good company for standing behind the product.

- Rob

Well I bought the bilsteins used from a friend when they were barely broken in. I thought the warranty was for original purchaser's and besides that I have no receipt :( I'll call them today to see what's up regardless. You guys think I should order 2 new front shocks? Or just the one? The other side must have close to 30k on it.

I called Bilstein this morning and talked to Vinny. I showed him the pictures and he was in aww... he's going to see if there is anything he can do for me and call me back. He insisted even with 30k miles on a bilstein sport that it's barely broken in and that I should only need the one shock. What do you guys think? Maybe I should go ahead and get two now.

Were you using camber bolts (crash bolts) in the front, or shims for additional camber? In the pics, it looks like the top eye just tore out - with the tight tolerances of the original bolt, I just can't see how that would happen if everything was properly torqued up. Unless there was some sort of play that allowed the kingpin to jackhammer against the bracket...

Jim

That looks like what happened to mine last year... except mine was with a Koni insert in a stock strut housing. Plus, I did it on the street (don't ask).