jwillman

Does the old push on the fender and no more that 1 1/2 cycles to dampen out test apply to the 928?

My car passes this test but based on the condition of the car when I got it I doubt the shocks have been changed anytime lately.

Thanks

borland

No the suspension is too stiff. Best to use a floor jack, raising the body, then lowering it and check for any rebound. A good shock will not allow the body to rebound.

jwillman

So jack up at a jack point until the wheel is light and lower quickly and I should see no rebound, just a controlled settle rate?

Thanks

Tom in Austin

My opinion ... judge condition of the shocks by driving feel and whether you can see any leaking fluid.

My (probably original) Boges would not show any indications of bounce or rebound, but the difference with new Bilsteins is night and day. No more shake and jitter over uneven pavement and the little bit of floatiness on certain roads I use is all gone. Actually, I wish I had done shocks when I first got the car so I could have enjoyed this improvement right from the start!

dr bob

^^^^ What he said...

The WSM method says that oil leakage is the indication.

My own experience: Replaced original equipment with new Boge/Sachs original equipment shocks. ~~90k miles on them. Old ones were not leaking and "felt" OK in my normal driving. New ones much better.

Tangent: I continued the experiment by adding new Eibach springs to the new shocks. Combo seemed way too stiff, with almost doubling the original spring rates. Now, with a few thousand miles on the shocks, they have lost their initial sharpness, and are much closer to 'acceptable'. I still have the original springs and may at some point go back to them. I really like the original touring ride vs the Eibach 'sport' ride, but the handling and weight transfer with the Eibachs is significantly better.

James Bailey

Worth noting that Tom has a 1994 and Dr Bob an 1989.....Jim is ??? shocks on his 1979 And he quite possibly has the ORIGINAL shocks. Just like spark plug wires they seldom get changed because the dealer cost was quite high ! Just another reason why most of us have no idea what a 928 is supposed to feel like.....brand new !

Leon Speed

If they are original it's a safe bet that new shocks will drastically improve your ride. The ride will be much smoother and tighter.

dr bob

Jim--

I'm of the opinion that a lot of 928 suspension wear parts, certainly not limited to shoks, are due for replacement long before most folks get around to them. The original suspension was designed for autobahn storming at high speeds, and the majority of us casual street drivers don't get anywhere near discovering the limits at our slower speeds. So a 180MPH suspension won't need work until it's half-worn, if we never go over 90MPH, right? Meanwhile, there is certainly a lot of evidence that 100k is probably the max that a car should see before a real serious effort is made to renew the old/worn/tired parts. All our cars are old, most have over 100k and are tired, so a serious look at a suspension replacement program is in order pretty much fleet-wide.

borland

Often overlooked when considering worn shocks is safety.... Big concern is reduced stopping distance, but there are other factors besides ride quality. Reduced speeds of hydroplaning is another.

Here's a link with some discussion on worn shocks ..

http://www.monroe.com.au/what-are-sh...er-safety.html

EspritS4s

It might be educational, or at least interesting, to put together a suspension refresh thread with owners' experiences and expert opinions. I am in the process of acquiring parts for this project on my '87 and have read through many of the threads from the archives, but there are very few complete update threads. Replacing every wear item on the suspension ends up with a fairly daunting list of parts. Many of these parts and the need to replace them are obvious, but I've read mixed messages about other items, like the A-arm bushings. It would be good to know what to change as a matter of course (shocks) and which items are better left alone until they really need to be changed. I realize this ultimately depends on the condition of the parts and the owners willingness to update, but any guidelines or rules of thumb might be helpful.

tlsmith1999

I have replaced almost everything do do with handling/ride quality on my S4. The one thing that made the most noticeable single change? Setting the ride height within recommend range.

jpitman2

The WSM gives a test for Bilsteins, but only off the car - push the shaft in to the body, and if it DOESNT bottom at the specified length its done. Some shock shops have tester rigs where the put a wheel on a plate, run a shaking routine on the plate which is graphed, and you can see by the trace if its doing its job.
jp 83 Euro S AT 53k.

Ethre

After looking at my swaybar bushings from the inside, I am inclined to agree with you. Outside they felt (to the finger) and appeared tight and in tolerable condition. Inside there was much more obvious wear.