I added bilstein rear shocks today, and I notice they were about a bit smaller then my old oem shocks...

I didnt see much change of height in the rear end, but I did feel the change big time..


Did it drop the rear end ? If it did, how much? I don't think it did, looks the same to me..

The old shocks had about 100k...

And how many miles will these new bilstein last?

 

Shock absorbers themselves do not effect the vehicles ride height, so by changing out your rear shocks it did not lower your car any seeing how you still have the same springs installed.

You are probably noticing things are a little more tighter/crisper with the new shocks because you just replaced the old, worn and tired ones.

Shock absorber life depends primarily on the roads over which you drive. They might fail almost immediately, at say 5,000 miles, or might last well into the 60,000 to 80,000 mile range.

The average manufacturer suggested replacement time is between 20,000 and 30,000 miles I believe... I just replace them when needed.

 

Correct however a shock can lower a car if the physical length of the shock is shorter(shortened mount or body) Maybe he accidently got some 'sport' ones?

 

errr, joeb1983 is more right. Shocks don't exhibit any force at rest, so they won't affect static ride height (they can affect dynamic ride height though!).

Unless you mean that the replacement shock in full extension is shorter than the static ride height... in which case you have major problems and probably a pretty un-driveable car.

 

^ Correct... The shock would have to be so significantly shorter in length in relation to the oem that in order to get it to fit, the spring/suspension would have to be compressed past the point than it would be on static drop. Then installed and then released. The shock at that point would be rendered useless and would act more as a spring compressor/limit strap. I would also agree that this would be pretty dangerous as well.

In this instance he is referring to the rears which we all know has a coil spring bucket incorporated in the lower control arm. The rears actually have dedicated shock absorbers as opposed to the fronts that are a MacPherson strut configuration.

With that being said, I can only wrap my head around this idea mainly to entertain myself, but it is in regards to the front suspension and dealing with a strut vs a shock. If in fact a faulty assembled replacement strut or a strut from another platform that would work had a spring perch attached/positioned lower on the strut body than oem, it would effect ride height. In this scenario it would bemuch like lowering the spring perch on a coil over setup.