Agree with Gene and can, go elsewhere.

 

Eclou,

Was actually in Houston this past weekend visiting my best buddy and his wife. Going to have Luis at Autodynamica do the next install (after I have the stock units put back on). I met him about 6 months ago...seems like a good guy. For what it's worth, I have already purchased another passenger side unit and will be purchasing a drivers side unit. Mike at AWE said Bilstein was going to call me personally...this was 2 days ago...still no call...doesn't really surprise me.

 

Luis has a good Porsche tech. Next time you visit PM me and I will try to hook up with you. I have a good friend/tech who can also R&R the suspension in little to no time

 

^^^Derek, above offer by eclou is the best possible ending for this nightmare. Simply put, eclou has been around 997 Turbo forum forever & knows his "stuffs" like nobody else LOL (many of my car's mods mirror his for a reason). IMO he is the best "advisor" you could possibly hook up to in a situation like this. (And no he is not my brother in law. ;-)) Don't let the opportunity slide & best of luck!

 

On the KW V3's had a setup on my prior car and have heard the exact same clicking noise when reversing. Worse than the noise, the ride was nothing short of terrible (extremely stiff!) the adjustability was a pain and also didn't seem to do much if anything at all when adjusting the compression/rebound damping...

 

Eclou, I'll definitely give you a call when I come to Houston. By the way, would you mind checking out my post (in this thread, a couple of pages back) where I included my pics of my broken shock vs. the pics Bilstein "says" they took of my shock, along with their analysis...I don't believe they are pics of my actual shock. Their conclusion was that the little spacer wasn't installed correctly, yet it was there on the other side (which broke anyways). I'd just appreciate your input, as you seem to have tons of knowledge about suspension. Thanks!

 

I looked at your photos in posts 66 & 67 and compared it to the Bilstein photos. I could find only 1 top view photo which unfortunately is blurry but nevertheless similar to the Bilstein photo. Imo, it would hard to rule out that these two shocks are not one in the same. Did you also compare the impressions on the formed washer and stem base with this latest broken damper to the first one that supposedly lacked the cone washer? What about ride height? Did the installer set the height correctly?

 

Derek to me the explanation by Bilstein is the only thing that makes sense. Disclaimer - I do not work as an engineer, but every male member of my family is an MIT engineering grad, save my weak suck brother who went to Harvard

 

A Texan, while on vacation finds himself lost on the Harvard campus. He says to the student, "excuse me but could you please tell me where the library is at?" The preppy student answers, "at Harvard, we don't end our sentences in prepositions" to which the Texan replies, OK "could you please tell me where the library is at @$$hole?

 

Hang tight Derek. A gentleman by the name of Scott will be calling. They have not forgotten you.

 

Thanks Mike. I'm anxious to hear from them. I'll go ahead and cut/paste my update from another thread. Forgive me if I sounded a little harsh on the other post...I'm sure you can understand my frustration. Here it is:

For what it's worth to everyone:

1.) Bilstein HAS agreed to rebuild my passenger side front shock (I am satisfied with that); however, the time frame is VERY long...I think it's been almost a month since they said they'd rebuild it...still no shock...I gave in and bought another one because I'm so ready to get back on the road
2.) Everyone now knows the DRIVER's side front shock broke in EXACTLY the same fashion as passenger side shock (less than 3 hours after I got the car back); the magic washer WAS installed on the drivers side (personally viewed it myself)
3.) I've been told by Mike at AWE that Bilstein wants to personally call me (this was on March 18, still no phone call from them). I have a business myself, and I guess to me, a phone call takes about 5 minutes? Maybe it's just me, but tomorrow will make 5 days and no call...seems a little long.
4.) Don't believe I'll be sending the drivers side shock back to Bilstein...they can't use the "magic washer" issue on me and am sure they'll find some other "installation error" reason why this one broke (and don't get me wrong...it VERY well may have been installer error, I'm just not willing to wait another 6 weeks or so to get a "rebuilt" shock back from them). I'll probably bite the bullet, buy another damn shock and be on my way. I will be sending the drivers side shock to a metallurgist for my own curiosity. I have also asked Mike, at AWE, to ask Bilstein "who manufactures the steel rods for their coilovers?"; no response yet (have a feeling they import it from China...but even if it is from China, I SERIOUSLY doubt Bilstein would admit to that...betting a million bucks they're going to tell me it's made in Germany).
5.) I am having the stock suspension put back on the Porsche and will be driving to Houston to have a specialist tuner install them (will be calling Cannga before my trip and get some works of wisdom from him as well).

 

Eclou,

I hear ya, but how can they explain the DRIVERS side shock breaking in EXACTLY the same fashion with the magic washer installed??

 

Personally, I wouldn't trust 'em anymore, although I'm sure it was install related. How could you ever really know?
But to be completely honest, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a good set of gmg springs and a set of adjustable sways. My car was stiffer and a lot more planted around the track than with the bilsteins. In fact the gmg spring rates are much stiffer than the std bilsteins (you have to ask F). The only advantage of bilsteins over gmg springs would be the ability to set ride ht and corner balance, minimal advantage on most street only cars. This was my main empetus to go with the bilsteins, corner balancing, i.e. weight jacking. The best coilover is the moton or penske. If I were doing it again I would probably not install bilsteins, I would have just kept the gmg springs or just gone with motons and be done with it!
Again, this is simply my opinion, not the party line.

 

You've been extremely patient. Your situation is unfortunately unique which makes the response by Bilstein even more disappointing regardless of whose at fault.

 

Well, I received a call today from the Eastern Regional Manager of Bilstein. They are keenly aware of my situation and have volunteered to do the following:
1.) Send me an ENTIRE, new set of coilovers (yes, that's 4 complete units)
2.) Offered me a FULL refund of my original costs in ADDITION to sending me the complete, new set
3.) They want all four of my original shocks; they will be sending my drivers side, front shock to a metallurgist for evaluation; I am not to install the four, new units until they receive their report back from the metallurgist

Needless to say, I am quite satisfied with their offer. I will anxiously be awaiting their report from the metallurgist. Also, many of you who have been following this thread may recall I questioned where their steel rods are fabricated (I was guessing China) and have been reassured they're fabricated in Germany. Bilstein is a "ThyssenKrupp" company and is technically known as "ThyssenKrupp Bilstein of America." This company is apparently quite involved in steel and steel fabrication. Anyways, I told the manager I wasn't looking for a "free lunch" and there was no need to reimburse me my original purchase price IN ADDITION to four new units. I did tell him I'd be happy to accept reimbursement for the additional unit I bought from AWE and the additional installation costs I will incur (which I am assuming he'll agree to...haven't heard from him yet regarding this). I've spoken with my Porsche tech and informed him I'll be using a tuner in Houston to do this next install (he and I have become friends since all of this...he's also a member of 6speed) and he completely understands...we've come to conclude there is simply "bad karma" with this whole deal! He still has my full confidence and will be doing my exhaust and tune in the future. So, that's it in a nutshell! Many thanks to the 6speed family for your support, insight, suggestions, and everything else! I will definitely let you guys know what the metallurgist report reveals! Take care.