S-Prihadi

Gents,

Middle of last year I wanted to replace all of my shocks with Bilstein B4 or B6.
I ended up choosing B4. Reluctant to source locally as I fear they maybe a rebuilt ones, coz seller is online only and no physical shop.
Known local Bilstein importers with physical shop, dont stock them.

So USA is the most logical source as I usually do buy other stuff from USA twice a year.
@truckspring.com can order the front B4 #22-194091 from Bilstein USA, but the rear B4 #24-194112 is end of 2018 arrival.
By March 2019 I got the front B4 arrived, but year of manufacturer is Oct 2016. Still no rear B4 from USA.

So I ended up buying the rear B4 from the local online seller I mentioned, out of impatience.
However, year of manufacture is 2015. Bloody hell... but it does look like a new product and not a refurbished one.
And by August 2019, I got the USA sourced rear B4. Year of manufacture is Jan 2019....yipe !!!

So last Friday I installed the B4-s and keep the year 2015 rear B4 set as back up.










I tested the SACHS, the front one is so soft when pushed down with my hand, it still will bounce back up though, but its a goner already.
The rear SACHS is not bad, I think it is still 65-70% of its useful life.
I never expected the front SACHS to have such a short useable life.
My SACHS / MB part number : Front shock absorber is A212 320 88 38 and the one on the rear is A204 326 0598.


The age of the SACHS ( installed) on the car as per the VIN is Aug 2013 rolled out of Germany as a semi knock down car. So it is 6 years 2 months old.
Mileage is low, per last Friday was 19,800KM max or 12,300 miles from brand new.

I did not put much miles on the car after the shock absorber change, ony about 20 KM max but on crappy roads.
However, my driver clocked 70KM at least when picking up my kids at the aiport. He is enjoying the remarkable improvement of an obvious reduction on road noise ...so did I.

I gone thru many cars since the 80s, but I do not recall a quiter road noise from a shock absorber change.
My theory on this is : the first valving which controls the probably first 20mm or 0.78 inch of the shock bounce/rebound travel is better on the Bilstein.
Since my city roads roads surface some are really rough and uneven, I think the SACHS were not taking it well and hence more suspension noise which I thought was tire noise.

Handling wise I am sure its better now ( I have not tested high speed manuver ), as body roll would be reduced .....but amazingly comfort increased too with the Bilstein.

The SACHS were okey if I take a nice slow controlled bend under 65 MPH, but if I do zig zag, its crappy.
If at 110 MPH a mere 8 degrees long right hand bend even executed nice and slowly, the body roll is scarry as I can't sense my tire grip due to the "over sunken"
front SACHS numbing down the steering to road feel. The electric steering itself is already taking away my road sense and the SACHS added the misery.





The B4 is very compliant and it is now much better at rail road crossing and poor* road surface ( *not pot holes ).

When I say Jakarta ( Indonesia ) rail road crossing condition, one must imagine below photo and with the gravels removed.

A vehicle simply have to stop and climb the height of the rail slowly inch by inch.
Do it at 3 MPH or 5 KMH, you will damage your rim/wheel.


This is a cheap way of making our W212 ride better and handle better. In my younger days, handle better usually means much hasher ride
Front US$164 x 2. Rear is US$107 x 2
https://www.truckspring.com/Search.a...word=22-194091
https://www.truckspring.com/Search.a...word=24-194112


End of Report.

MBNUT1

To rest of forum: What is the expected life of the factory shocks on typical US roads? I have 130K on mine I can't tell if they need replaced or not. I know that I replaced struts on my wifes Mazda 3 and it made a world of difference.

S-Prihadi

@MBNUT1,

In my experience with shocks on a particular small hatchback Toyota of mine ( a long time ago ) which I abused greatly on the road and gravel, not on race track,
and gone thru 3-4 shocks set ( front n rear ) within 100,000KM, here are some pointers :
I usually use a known road as a reference, which has :
01. A rather tight corner which I can take at 50 mph having a minor uneven road surface in the corner itself.
02. A straight road with a small creek and a bridge as such the road will have a big nice "hump" which I can cruise at at-least 60 mph.

Driving the same car everyday and if one has it from new, its easier to detect suspension behaviour changes, even if it is on public road and not on a race track.
Surely on a track you will detect immediately of any changes, due to the familiarity of the track & car for you and the very aggresive driving one can push the car to its limit.

01 is to detect bound and rebound during a stage where the shock is already in bound/compressed mode.
When we take a right hand corner fast, the left shocks get compressed ( bound ) deep, and the minor uneven road surface will force it to bound and rebound.
Do this test often on the same road with the same passenger/s weight, one can detect changes on the shocks behaviour. Make sure tire pressure is the same and the speed is the same.
Right hand bend for left side shocks. Left hand bend for right side shocks.

02 is to detect greatest travel of bound and rebound at near zero loading to high loading on shocks + springs.
When we start at the small hump entry, the shocks will compress as the road surface increase in height.
Just right after the peak of the hump the shock will rebound as the car still has upward trajectory aka flying and spring + shock maybe at full extended length depending on speed ( tire has very little grip at this point in time ),
upon completing the hump at speed, the shock will take the full weight of the car + imomentum and this is the time a weakening shock will bound/rebound or "yoyo" one's car more than it should.
This will test all 4 shocks and also its bottoming out issue.

I used to have a dive spot which I need to drive to the closest Marina ( 170KM away) and the village grade road has lots of these small creek with small bridges where it will send my car "flying".
When the shocks are not healthy, I can sense upon landing the numbers of bound and rebound will increase, compared to when the shocks are still prime.
I know the car from new , so it is easier for me to detect changes.

This video is a good information on multiple valves found on shock and why traditional push down-the-hood test is not accurate, unless the shocks are 100% gone.

Informative video on Bilstein shocks and oil foaming.
I experienced this kind of oil foaming issue once. The car suspension handle badly after a long drive.

This video is also very good :


However, for shocks operation straight line regular road with surface not super smooth, I am too just discovering the notable difference of the Bilstein B4 vs what I classify as "worn out" front SACHS.
Rear SACHS still okey but I am getting road noise reduction improvement from rear B4 too, I think it is just the nature of the B4 better valving and not about the rear SACHS being no more a 100% virgin

I would now use this new B4 as reference point as far as road surface noise is concerned.
Cornering performance wise , I need to put some hours of aggressive driving to set up a baseline.

Drive safe....

.

MBNUT1

Thanks for the reply and great info

raja777m

I had my struts (and shocks also I believe) were changed at 47k and ordered shocks at 81k. I'm waiting on the part arrival. thanks NJ for screwing up my shocks. It was really hard past 4 months finding road between those damn potholes. Pay your taxes NJ and NY residents. If you pay, raise your voice dammit.

MBNUT1

How could you tell they were in need of replacement and in what way did the car drive different afterward? Honestly my car rides kind of ****ty but I can tell if its shocks or not. I have year old Michelins so I don't think that it is the tires.

raja777m

going over small speed bumps with no music playing in the background, you can hear hissing noise for failed shocks and metal clanking noise for broken struts

S-Prihadi

I now can confirm the high speed lane change or soft corner and body roll during more agressive manuver has also improved.

Unfortunately I can't test too much on smaller tighter corners. My tire grip is exceeding my comfort style seat grip.
I had to "stabilize" my seating position using the steering wheel. No fun my azz and body get thrown to one side.

Muhammad Arvito

Thanks for the very comprehensive review! do you think the harshness of b6s will be too much on the streets of Jakarta? My w212 needs new shocks as i feel that the current shocks are blown , mine is a 2010 with 38,000ish kms and it still has its factory fitted sachs. The car bottoms out on steep speed bumps even the car itself is very easy to push down just with my hands and i also do have clanking noises from the front suspension everytime i go over bumpy and uneven roads and i do believe that it has do with the shocks. I wanted to change mine to bilstein b6s as i want to make the car to feel less boaty to the road but still withhold its comfy ride feeling. Thanks!

S-Prihadi

Hi Arvit,

The car bottoms out on steep speed bumps = should not happen
the car itself is very easy to push down just with my hands = no good, no way we can do that due to there is a spring and also resistance from a healthy shock.

i also do have clanking noises from the front suspension .... this one must check in detail. damper do not usually make such noise unless the top mount rubber already broken.
From broken spring, damaged sway bar links, all other ball joints on arms and rubber bushing on those arms can be a suspect, or even as simple as bolts being loose...... can be the cause.
38,000KM ish if on Jakarta road is quite punishing hehehe.

B6 is probably too harsh for Jakarta equivalent road if you are like me at 53 years old. I mean W212 is nice as a comfy sedan and we would try to maximize that comfort while still keeping good road holding.
Harder damper is not always guaranteed better if the roads are bad quality.

See how a B4 perform here............ https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...helin-ps4.html
One thing for sure, our W212 is 1,950kg ( E400) with full fuel and 1 person of 75kg. This weight alone would not allow fun and safe maniac style zig zag like one can do on a 1,500kg car, it is physics.
Proper controlled cornering with decent G-force is do-able, that is most important

Drive safe....

Muhammad Arvito

Hi!

Thanks for responding to my somewhat bad explanation hehehe as im still new and clueless in dealing with suspension thingy. Well, b6 isnt actually what i wanted. I initially wanted b4 but its kind of hard to find sellers who have them in indo i could only find sellers with the front b4 shocks not the rear. While for b6, there are some online sellers who have both the front and rear shocks in stock.



As for making the car less boaty, i know kok its a heavy and not nimble car hehe and i honestly really like how comfy the car is. I just thought may be with b6, i could still retain the comfiness of the car whilst also have a more stable feeling when cruising (not zig zag driving like a maniac kokk). I guess im sticking with changing my sachs to b4 then hehe. Then again thanks for the prompt and thoughtful response!

You too drive safe!

S-Prihadi

Yes, it seems today 1st Nov as per Tokopedia, I can't see rear dampers B4 on sale. Easy find the front ones.

Try Bukalapak, there is one seller : https://www.bukalapak.com/p/mobil-pa...n=productshare

When I did my research, only two sellers name often pops out FANS SPAREPART and STAMX, both has Bukalapak and Tokopedia outlet.
If I remember correctly, my B4 rear damper which I bought locally in early 2019, but year of manufacture was 2015.... was from FANS.

Ask nicely to them sellers to photo the date ID stamping as I explained on this original post. I am sure you can visit their "store".
You then decide if you are willing to accept say a 3 years old stock .

Now my bump stop rubber of front B4 need to be replaced sometime later, as it is kinda "powdery" dry on its surface but still proper shape and firmness though.
This bump stop is from MB or Sachs, not Bilstein.

Happy shopping...