Bilstein 5100 shocks or in fact ANY Bilstein shock

For people running the Bilstein 5100 shocks or in fact ANY bilstein shock what shape are they in after a few winters ?

I bought mine new 2 years ago for my 2002 Tacoma installed and they got sprayed with various rust inhibitors along with the rest of the truck. I checked them today and VERY DISAPPOINTED all the special coating that they claim to last 250h of continuous salt spray has failed me. The stickers are still on the shocks but the coating is gone. Wtf I thought I was buying a good shock ?

And I am not shitting you I was about to pull the trigger and get a set for my 007 taco pro

The email i sent to Essex this morning explaining my issue

To who it may concern

I purchased a set of new lift shocks from your company invoice # INV-#### on January 6 2017 for a 2002 Toyota Tacoma v6 4x4 access cab.

They were INSTALLED on May 21 2017 with 231561 km on the truck

While doing some maintenance this weekend I noticed that the shocks are heavily rusted and the special coating that you guys advertise is no longer there. The Bilstein stickers that are on the shocks outlasted the special coating.

My truck has 250378 km on it now, so the shocks were on for a total of 18817 km and total of 17 months of being on the truck.

I paid a total of $354.26 for a PREMIUM shock not to have it look like this after less then 20 000 km and less then 2 years.

I have attached pictures for your review and look forward to your response

Thank you

Jon Grimes

 

"LIMITED LIFETIME WARRANTY. BILSTEIN warrants to the original retail purchaser that, for the life of each gas pressure shock, this product shall be free from defects in material and workmanship. Proof of purchase is required to process warranty".I found this from google search so they might warranty it.

 

The warranty was a deciding factor in buying this brand of shock i just hope that it works. I will update this when i get a response from http://www.bilsteincanada.com/

Essex Distributors

 

Good luck man

 

250h of continuous salt spray is about 10.5 days.

It might matter how many days it was salt driven and sat salt encrusted. Betting it greatly exceeds 250h.

It will be interesting to see their response.

 

Response from Essex Distributors

Hello Jon:

I am CC'ing Bilstein USA on this email as the warranty does not cover
plating. Your best bet is to follow up with them.

 

Warranty may not cover plating but state you believe the material is defected which resulted in premature corrosion.

 

Hi Again Jon:

Here is the answer that I got from Bilstein.

Hello Warren,



Can you please respond to your customer here? Please see link for info
on finish.



https://www.bilstein.com/us/en/technology-and-knowledge/warranty/

 

Guess i am out of luck .......

 

Mine look worse than that. It's the reality of living somewhere where salt is on the roads. Skid plate, tow package, control arms, etc. Come off every few years for sandblast and paint.

As you can see on your own truck, it is not a defect in the shock since everything else has rust on it.

 

Bilstein warranty is highly overrated.

You take the shock(s) off, you pay to ship them to Bilstein for examination. They will take 2 weeks to decide whether there is an actual defect issue (rarely) or they’ll reply to you with a denial of warranty coverage due to outside conditions that caused it to fail. Then they give you an option to have your broken shock(s) returned to you (at your cost, again).. or they’ll pro-rate a new replacement shock at MSRP plus shipping and handling.

It’s a waste of time and money.

Buy a new set, consider them to be worth what you pay.

 

This was my thought as well.

 

east coast salt man. my 5100s still look like new after 1 winter but we also don't use salt over here.

 

Hi all. I'm looking at a 2008 DCLB with 140,000 at 18.5k. Looks pretty rust free except for the shocks.

Should I be worried here?