I need to post this every year or so.  Guess I'm the only one, but . . .

I bought a set of Bilsteins for my '85 Westy back around '90 or so.
Turns out that I had to order them - from RMMW, IIRC.  Put them on to
replace the stock Boges and noted a big improvement in ride.  Only
problem was (and my mechanic had warned me of this) the damping
mechanism was far more effective than the quality of build.  After 5 -
8000 miles of driving (highways and unpaved roads and whatever else the
blue lines on the map tossed my way), one of the mounting bolt collars
broke.

No big deal, I say to myself.  They have a lifetime warranty.  Turns out
that since there was no local Bilstein dealer (in the sixth largest city
in the USofA!), I had to ship the shock to San Diego in order for it to
be inspected and approved for replacement.  Got it back after nearly a
month of driving around town with only three shocks.  Replaced it.  A
couple weeks later another one bit the dust.  Bought a set of KYBs and
haven't looked back since.

I put almost 200K miles on the first set of KYBs, then removed them and
put them on my seven passenger van, where they still reside with close
to 300,000 total miles on them.  The new set on the Westy has around
100K on them.

One note:  the top mounting hardware on the front KYBs is not worth a
crap.  Keep the original Boge hardware, or get new/used from a wrecking
yard.  All it takes is a few miles on dirt to bend the cups inside out,
and you'll get loud banging noises from right under your butt.

Karl Wolz

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of Robert Keezer
Sent: Friday, May 14, 2004 11:40 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Bilsteins 2 different types?

I have a set of the regular Bilsteins and they are a big improvement
over
KYB. Got them from Shox.com.

I replaced the front springs on my former Diesel vanagon Westfalia with
front springs from a '85 Westfalia.

The ride was improved , as well as front ground clearance.

before my front end was sagging , porpoising and bottoming out.

Robert K

1982 Westfalia

----Original Message Follows----
From: Tromper <tromper@COMCAST.NET>
Reply-To: Tromper <tromper@COMCAST.NET>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Bilsteins 2 different types?
Date: Fri, 14 May 2004 23:02:58 -0700

Kinda had a hunch on that, any subjective comments??
JT

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
Of Ian Anderson
Sent: Friday, May 14, 2004 10:50 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Bilsteins 2 different types?

Iirc the Heavy Duty ones are firmer and are intended for rougher usage.
Ian Anderson
Australia
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tromper" <tromper@COMCAST.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Saturday, May 15, 2004 3:35 PM
Subject: Bilsteins 2 different types?

 > Hi folks,
 >
 > I popped up two different types of Bilsteins
 > http://www.proamauto.com/page15bbiltci19.htm
 > Is "Touring"
 > and
 > http://www.proamauto.com/page15bu4.htm
 >
 > is "Heavy Duty"
 >
 > Which ones do folks on the list have and does anybody have any
experience
 > with
 > them both so they can tell the difference??
 >
 > Thanks
 >
 > Tromper
 > In a state of shock over his "new" Diesel
 >
 >
 > Curiosity Kills more Mice then Cats

Robert
1982 Westfalia 1987 Wolfsburg