trouble with Bilstein's
 

I was up in Death Valley last week and made the trek out to Racetrack Playa. It's a 27 mile dirt road that is heavily washboarded in some places. On the way out I was going too fast and seemed to have damaged my Bilstein struts. On a flat surface the car rides just fine and the problem is not noticeable. But as soon as I hit any kind of bump the springs fully compress and I get a loud thumping sound.

Took it to the dealer and they estimated $3500 for four new Bilstein's, installed. But after doing some research I've found out about 'revalving' the struts for much less money. Forgive me, I'm an idiot on this topic. Can I just get my Bilstein's revalved and that will fix them? Thanks.

Yep, you should be able to send them in to get rebuilt by Bilstein. They will charge you for any extra parts needed during the rebuild. I paid under $400 shipped when I had my Bilstein dampers rebuilt + revalved in 2011, hopefully prices haven't gone up too much since then. I would give them a call and check though.

Or brand new Bilstein HD for about twice that. I've been very happy with mine.

Thanks Jim3142.

bhmax, I wondered about a beefier setup but am not too excited about upwards of $7000. But can you elaborate? You have Bilstein HD's on your Evo IX? What is the model number? Are these just a softer ride then Bilstein Sport or can you actually put them to heavy duty use? I would love to throw on a set of dirt tires and hit a gravel road and not have any worries about the suspension.

I meant twice the $400 shipped. About $800. Just do a search, most people seem to love them. Mine paired with swift spec r springs actually rides better than the stock kyb suspension. Been impressed also with this setup in autocross, although I'm a novice. I got mine from eshocks.com. That would give you the opportunity to have 2 sets for less down time if that's something you'd need.

Looks like the eshocks site isn't currently working properly for me so I can't see what they currently cost there. Got crazy fast shipping when I ordered them a little over a year ago.

For $3500 you better get ohlins R&T coilovers...
Cheapest for you right now would be sending stock bilsteins to get rebiult, second cheapest would be to get brand new bilstein HD's ( hard to find).

Ok I agree. Thanks!!

You're in the 8/9 forum. You have a X?

Yeah I know. I was an f-up when I made the OP. But it's kind of a general question, not really specific to the X.

Well in that case, I don't think there's Bilstein HD's available for the X, however, you could get them rebuilt ( your original bilsteins)

Thanks again and yeah I know that now. The X MR only fits stock Bilstein's. So I'm going to be sending them in. I'll try to post up the outcome when it happens, but it might be a month or so.

Call Andrew at GTWorx and ask him what they have for the X. There are options besides the Bilsteins Im sure . Let him know what the intended use is for and he can help you.