[michael lang]

My car is equipped with stock Boge struts & shocks. I was browsing through the web looking @ prices for replacements because I noticed that the fronts were showing the slightest ( I mean barely wet) amount of oil leak when I was doing the turbo tie rod installation last Sunday. Now I'm not at the point of absolutely needing new shocks right now but I'm wondering what I'll have to kick out for shocks. Alot of the websites that I visited were talking about fine thread & course threads. What's the difference if I have nothing to compare to for the threads and how can I know what to buy when I have to? I don't remember seeing it stamped anywhere on the housing! Oh yeah, the cheapest I have been able to find so far, & I just was only nosing around this afternoon was $449.00 for a set of 4 Bilstein sports @ www.shox.com. That's $54.00 cheaper than any website recommended from the Bilstein site.

Mike

[Jazzbass]

My $0.02:

New shocks/struts can really freshen up the feel of your car. Your car is 16 years old, and has Boge shocks, which were "absolute crap from day one", to paraphrase Steve Weiner. While not critical, I'd say its probably a pretty good bet that you could use new shocks. They tend to be one of those things you don't notice until you replace them, and then you think - Wow! Those old shocks really sucked!

You have Boge strut assemblies. When buying Bilstiens for these, you have make sure of the following: first, don't get the Bilstien inserts for Bilstien assemblies, as they are a completely different design and will never fit. The second thing is the threading on the Boge assembly, usually referred to as internal and external thread (never heard of fine or coarse, but I don't have a G50 Carrera so I never looked). Internal threads run up to late 85 (mine has them), and internal thread runs late 85+. You should have internal threaded assemblies.

$449 for all four corners in Sports is a good deal. I think a lot of us have got our shocks from shox.com. If you change, make sure Sports is what you want to go with - i.e. you moved up to bigger torsion bars. If you want to keep your car a nice driving street vehicle, Bilstien HDs might be a better fit.

If you do go in for a shock change, be careful of the slippery slope. Many a well intentioned 911 owner has dug in with the intention of only replacing one suspension component, and found themselves dumping $2k into suspension before they knew what happened. I tried to keep my footing on the slope and failed miserably. Just a word to the wise.

[Parenn911]

IMO, get new shocks from shox.com. I prefer Bilsteins. Most people go with either the HD's or sports, or a mix of them. Let me know if you need a hand replacing the shocks.

[michael lang]

Chris

I can see exactly what you meant when you said I could go mad, pull my hair out, & end up replacing everything in my car's suspension. I'm trying very hard not to fall into that trap. Kinda hard though especially when one's intention is to hold on to the car for a long time!

Mike

[Jim Richards]

Originally Posted by michael lang

Chris

I can see exactly what you meant when you said I could go mad, pull my hair out, & end up replacing everything in my car's suspension. I'm trying very hard not to fall into that trap. Kinda hard though especially when one's intention is to hold on to the car for a long time!

Mike

Mike, if your intention is to keep you car for a long time, a suspension refresh on your already 17 year old car is actually a smart idea. After doing this, you'll be good for another 15 or so years.

[Jazzbass]

Originally Posted by michael lang

I'm trying very hard not to fall into that trap. Kinda hard though especially when one's intention is to hold on to the car for a long time!

Yeah, also hard when hanging around this group. I thought my stock, 18yr old 911 was perfect until I meet these guys. Then the tires were too small, the ride height was too high, the headlights were ugly, and the suspension was too soft.

[michael lang]

Jim

The sad thing is that most of the wear that my car's suspension components have is from just being parked. I definitely plan on learning
to "drive my car like I stole it". The guy I purchased my car from barely put 800 miles on the car in the year that he had it. The reason he told me he was selling it was because he had a 997 on order and there was no more room in his 9 car garage. This was the one he was least attached to. When I got to his house, he infact had a very full 9 carage with 11 cars in it (2 parking lifts). What a problem to have!!

Mike

[OldTee]

Rule one. Always do the rears first.

this sets you up to do the fronts.

Rule two. Always start on the fronts on a Sunday afternoon when you have an important business meeting on Monday morning and the P-car is your only mode of transportation. Guaranteed to invoke stress needed to grow and prosper.