Has anyone had any experience with Bilstein B6 shocks? The HD series I think is now discontinued and there isnt much info out there. My car has the original struts at 253k and I think they are finally starting to get tired. These have the added benefit of running at a lower ride height with the adjustable spring perch. I'm looking for a smooth ride but more composed on the highway and less body roll. Any feedback on these would be great, otherwise I will probably do either KYB or a set of coilovers in the future. Thanks!

 

Bilstein will have a good product. I'd call them up and discuss the differences to the HD variant. If they say similar feel my choice would be Bilstein over KYB.

 

They're still available but more than twice the price of the KYB. At 253K miles, I doubt very much if yours are still OG unless you're the original owner or purchased the car fairly new. If you're & haven't changed them then you've been riding on the springs. I purchased mine (a 97 LS) at a year old & have been changing mines at 100K miles interval & the old ones came out completely shot so for safety reason, you'll need to change them ASAP.

 

Time is also one of the biggest enemies to these suspension components. In addition to the 97, I also have a 2000 LS with very low mileage. When I replaced the OEM struts in 2016 with only 46K miles, they were completely shot.

 

The OE's in ours were dead at 60K. The Bilsteins in ours are showing signs with 130K on them. Since ours is driven this less than 1K there is no rush to swap them. Will have to inquire if the warranty will include these newer variants.

 

I have the Bilsteins and they ride great on my 99' I'm on the lower perch and it drops it about 0.6" from stock. I had to wait forever for RockAuto to restock the rears and bought out their last 2 shocks as soon as they did since they were cheaper at $110 a piece. But typically you should be able to find them for $135 a shock on places like Summit racing.

 

If you're running original suspension, you'd be surprised how much just refreshing to stock will compose the car. Stuff gets weird over time and you don't realize just how sloppy things get.

I've rebuilt most of the suspension components on my car, and there is a huge difference in body control when things get replaced. The biggest difference was the lower ball joints and the engine\transmission mounts. Specifically with the lower ball joints - I thought the car just handled like **** with a vague front end and a TON of body roll. Nope. Replacing them had a huge impact. The front end felt more planted, tramlined less on the highway, felt more confident and the steering improved, and most importantly: it eliminated like half of the cornering lean of the car (I don't fall out of the seat when going around a corner anymore). They're a very cheap\easy replacement and commonly need to be replaced after 100k miles. Mine visually looked perfectly fine (my mechanic said he wouldn't replace them), but were making noise while driving and completely shot. Night\day difference. We were both shocked by the difference.

Difficult to give advice with because you can replace everything, but then realize it isn't enough and you've just spent all this money and time and have to do it all over again. But if you want to go aftermarket and lowered, you can do a lot worse than Bilstein. But do realize - you will be trading off the "glide" ride quality for handing characteristics and even with all the parts in the world, you will never be able to make this car handle properly. You'll get into a Porsche (even a old carrera) and be like "oh, this is how a good handling car drives".

 

Timely post,Im considering rears now.Anybody have the KYB number and is it an easy driveway fix like old mustangs or a PIA like the motor mounts? If its tough I will have the shop do em.Thanks in advance.....

 

Rear suspension is a pretty involved job. You need to remove the rear seats and un-do quite a bit. I think the billable hours for the job is like 4 or 5 hours from a shop, I don't remember exactly.

I think it's much more straightforward than something like the rear upper control arms, which involve ****ing with a lot of stuff in the rear end. But it is still a very involved job.

 

Holy smokes 400! Guess its a start saving for that project for me.Thanks for the info,appreciated.

 

My local shop wants 1024.00 to do rear shocks with KYB,6 hours labor.

Instead a nephew and I will do it ourselves,with enough research this job doesnt look all that tough.

 

Here's the Service Manual section for the rear suspension (SA-96 thru SA-103 specifically). The manual lists removal of the drive shaft. Keep in mind this is referring to the "Axle" shaft between the differential and carrier assembly/hub, NOT the main "propeller" shaft between the transmission and differential. I'm not sure if removing this shaft is essential, as I've only done this work on a 430 not a 400, but if so this will be the most difficult part of the job. I'm often amazed when rear shock service is quickly labeled as difficult simply because the rear seat has to be removed. I can assure you removing the rear seat is one of the easiest tasks during this service. Second only to removing the rear wheels...

 

I've replaced the struts on both of my 97 & 00 LS400s multiple times. It's a pretty easy job & you won't need to remove any drive shafts. For the rear struts, you'll need to remove the backseat in order to get access to the top strut mount's nuts & strut nuts.

 

Thank you guys as always,it will be a while before I do it.

I think the difficulty is over rated,usually its a rust monster and fighting bolts making it a horror show from the utubes Im watching.I doubt there are 20 nuts and bolts involved in doing both sides and heck,i can turn bolts,and the oh so scary spring compress which also doesnt look all that scary with a decent tool set.

Maybe I can get nephew to do a video on our job but he's a busy guy.He has done some on his Corolla and Odessey.I will focus on the strut assembly if he will do it,that seems to scare off people a lot.

EDIT- COOL! Nephew on board for a video,is there anything specific you want us to focus on?

 

Oh,1 more question....I carry a full heavy trunk load when we go shopping.Do you think the Bilsteins might be better in that application re:firmness and bottoming out?I see the B6 at parts geek available for the rears at 145 dollars.Out of stock at Rock Auto.

https://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/19...absorber.html?