For all who are considering or may be considering Bilstein B14s or B16s, I would suggest you look elsewhere. The struts below were on my Alltrack for 65K miles and about 4 years. The suspension was not modified beyond these coilovers and a rear sway bar. I've owned cars with modified suspensions (both strut and double wishbone front ends) for more than a quarter century and I've never seen chrome worn off of a shock shaft before. Not surprisingly once the chrome started to chip it tore up the piston rod guide and seal so the struts started acting very poorly in rebound and clunking at low speeds from the movement of the shaft relative to the strut body.
Reviews of Bilstein strut assembly
291 vote
They are excellent. Firm (supposedly 10% greater than stock), but still provide suspension articulation. The car felt very planted on hairpin and carousel turns encountered on a recent mountain drive.
Buy once, cry once. Get the good stuff (I agree Bilstein, Koni orange, Tein). You'll need new bushings and strut bearings to replace what comes out.
Installed Bilstein B4 Struts and Shocks all around @ 80-85k miles. The car feels very planted. I drive 90-100MPH (140-160kph) daily for up to an hour, and I can tell you that it does not feel like it crashes into potholes or bumps like people say. The rebound on the struts are a tad far but that’s at high speeds and takes a quite a launch for it to rebound as far as I’m saying.
Added a modest 40mm lift, upgraded to a better quality Bilstein struts when it was time. Added Falken Wildpeak AT tires.
if you’re on a budget go with ST, BC or even just the tried and true bilstein struts with H&R springs
Bilstein struts, Lovells springs. Perfect combo.
In 2018 I installed Bilstein B8 struts/shocks with vogtland springs on my '13. Within the past 2 years, I've started to notice a knocking sound in the front, usually at low speeds and generally when I have passengers, but not all the time.
I ordered Bilstein b4 non sport and had a similar result once installed. It still seems my car was non the sport package but that could be the problem. I had found other threads regarding this issue with B4s and some gas struts. They never really settled.
Not long after I purchased it I put all new Bilstein PSS9 struts on and about a year after that I completely refreshed my front suspension (control arms, tie rods, end links, strut mounts, etc.).
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