Cannga,

You are correct it is a complicated poll. My intent is to see how many true failures vs install failures. Everyone would have to be honest though. As you mentioned before I am sure KW and others have their issues also.
I still would have to go with my Porsche Tech buddies that report very few failures but I am still interested to see how this poll turns out.

Walt- In Seoul

 

Yeah Walt - interesting indeed.
Quite a few failures - this isn't surprising. But like you, I'd be interested in knowing the whole truth, including failures of other systems.

What I can say, without doing any real digging I can't recall reading any published failures of other systems.

PS. I was on the phone with the guys from Bilstein today and they are going to work with me to get a shock delivered (with a $ deposit exchange) until they receive my faulty one. At least this time I won't be stuck with an undrivable car.
Border duties to Canada though are still a pain!
Will keep you guys posted how this all works out. Honestly I won't be surprised if 12 months from now I have another failure ... watch this space August 2014 :P

Mike

 

No failures in my car so far. Have had them for 8 months.

 

pureporsche, all these other systems (Techart, H&R, TPC) are based on the Bilstein B16 Damptronic, so if you want to get out of PASM, the closest feel to stock is as I mentioned, the Bilstein B16 PSS10, non PASM.

I've never been a fan of PASM because of its electronic and gimmicky nature (so difficult to diagnose electronic problems) but unfortunately it is also the nicest and cleanest shock setup for 99% of non-advanced drivers. The automatic damping force is unique as there is nothing to do, no damping force adjustment to worry about, and you maintain basic understeer/oversteer behavior of the stock car, just stiffer. (IMHO, manual setup of damping forces of non PASM systems are best left for advanced drivers and setup man; much more complicated than what vendors advertise.) So for 997 Turbo, for simplest and "best" street improvement of handling, you are basically "stuck" with this B16 Damptronic, or the Bilstein B8 that Chris/TTSurgeon is installing.

As for failure comparison, there are 2 kinds - why I had mentioned to Walt previously that readers should know the distinction:
1. Mechanical (leak, valve failure, broken shaft, etc.): this will likely be similar across the reputable manufacturers. There are several reports with all companies, all cars; it is "nature of the beast," of modding.
2. Electronic: you can't compare with KW or JRZ, etc., simply because they don't have it. Hopefully Bilstein will learn from this and design a more fool proof next generation, but for 997 Turbo owners, I think we are stuck with this design. I know that there have been 4-5 reports the last 4-5 years, out of how many working Bilstein I don't know, and most are fixed with new shocks and stay working for many years.

I believe the problem is with the front wire design, which could be damaged during installation and even afterwards if not tucked in correctly. Once this wire is shorted, it leads to other problems. You mentioned your wire is stretched during turn - this should not be the case. Did you ever take a picture of how it was installed in your car, and the "stretching" you mentioned?
(My installer tucked the wire in and tied it along the shock absorber with one of those plastic ties I think, and the shock has been in and out many times for spring and other changes over the last 5 years, with knock on woods no problem so far. I will post picture later.)

 

They should've put thr wire in the same top/bottom configuration as stock.

 

In 6 years I had :

1) PASM warning light -system replaced via warranty in 1st year .
2) PASM warning light -- goodwill repair .
3) wire broken (after 5 years) - repaired and I paid (dont recall price /wasnt high but i did have to pay labor and alignment) .
4) This is the bad one -- on Friday while driving in a garage over a very small speed bump at 5 MPH I heard a crunch . I thought it was a a few empty plastic containers I had in the trunk . Parked the car and went swimming only to come back and find that when i backed out of the spot I heard more crunching , PSM failure and a broken strut .

Not sure what I am going to do and am waiting for my tuner (on vacation) to discuss further after he sees it. If I do change the system I will not buy another Bilstein . I am just glad it occured at 5MPH . I have never tracked my car and outside of a few brief sprints pretty much drive it like an old man . The car under 16K miles.

Edit (just an FYI)- I did have the most current drop links installed a few years ago (after reading a post by Sharky) despite the older system .

 

Wow, ouch. Guess I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

Wow Larry. Wonder if this is another case of an over torqued strut top bolt. No way I would drive a car unless I checked the bolt myself. With kw or anything else, they are all susceptible to the same problem.

 

scary stuff, glad you're ok!