Read this before buying Bilstein B16 DamTronic Coilovers for your GTI/R

[popoff44]

Posting to share my experience with fellow VW enthusiasts and to ask for advice.

• A brand new set of Bilstein B16 DamTronic Coilovers purchased from BMP Tuning was installed on my 2017 Golf R MT by a professional VW/Audi mechanic at a local shop RayTeam Automotive in August of 2022.
• After 10 months and about 6,000 miles I start hearing a clunk coming from the front suspension when going over bumps, which progressively gets worse with time.
• I take the car back to RayTeam Automotive who hear the clunk on test drive, put the car up on the lift with wheels off the ground, stick a pry bar under front wheels to move them up and down as if the car was going over bumps, discover play in the driver-side damper, presumably causing the clunk.
• I initiated a warranty claim with the manufacturer via BMP Tuning, providing information about the car and a video of the issue in the process.
• After about 2 weeks a Bilstein warranty rep emailed me directly denying warranty coverage, because the coilovers were installed with aftermarket strut mounts while their instruction manual technically says to use OE parts (we used 034 Motorsport Dynamic+ Camber Mounts with a pair of fresh OE strut bearings for install). Quote from the rep: “Using aftermarket mounts is considered an alteration to our product does void the limited lifetime warranty.”
• Additionally, Bilstein rep wrote that “this style of electronically controlled damper is a crimped design which is not repairable”. When asked if a replacement damper could be purchased individually, the rep said that “these products are made and manufactured in Germany who only sells them to the rest of the world as complete kits”.

To recap:

• Higher-end professionally installed Bilstein coilovers failed after only about 6,000 miles on the car.
• Bilstein denied warranty for a nonsensical reason. Show me a car on aftermarket coilovers where the rest of the suspension remains stock…
• Per Bilstein, the faulty damper cannot be repaired or replaced without buying a whole new set, which is practically an insult to the customer no matter who is at fault.

If I’m missing something, please let me know, but for now my recommendation is to keep away from Bilstein coilovers in aftermarket applications. If you do go with those, don’t let Bilstein know you are using any other aftermarket parts in case you ever have to file a warranty claim. If you knew that already, feel free to let everyone know how smart you are in the comments

I still need to find a way to recover from this mess, so a few questions for the community:

1. I once heard B16s can actually be repaired. Does anyone have experience with that? Any recommendations for a business who could do that?
2. Despite what Bilstein says, is there perhaps a way to buy a single damper or a compatible alternative? Does anyone have the part number or know someone with a used one for sale in good condition? What would you do?
3. Other aftermarket bits in the front are as follows: SuperPro Supaloy Front Lower Control Arms, NEUSPEED 25mm Front Anti-Roll Bar, 034 Motorsport Dynamic+ Front End Links, APR 10mm wheel spacers with APR 37mm lug bolts, Neuspeed RSe10 18x8.5 / Michelin Pilot Sport 4S 235/40R18. If anyone has had issues with the same or similar setup that could have contributed to the problem, please share your experience.

Also posted on:

• Facebook VW MK7 Golf - GTI - R - MQB Group
• VWvortex

 

[krs]

Nice crusade.

Guess I’ll let everyone know how smart I am.

I used OEM top mounts and bearings with my B16’s per their recommendation, which also aligned with other requirements.

One thing to note, the B16 shock is not unique to the MQB platform, some of them can be rebuilt. The DCC ones cannot. I also knew this, just a roll of the dice I was willing to take as I didn’t want to use KW.

The vendor I bought mine from handled the warranty claim for me when I was having issues with one of my front struts, and I never dealt with Bilstein direct. Where’s BMP in all this?

Can’t speak to if you can buy a single strut. Maybe track down some of the European vendors and see if they sell them? I almost bought mine direct from a company in the UK, if I can find their info I’ll see what their site shows.

 

[Track R]

By chance was it Lisa who denied you?

Here's the damper pn: 23-273719

 

[scrllock]

I think the most common failures I've seen on Bilsteins on these cars are with aftermarket strut mounts. It's sadly not surprising that they don't warranty them.

IMO, I'd only use the rebuildable B14/B16 kits, and then only with a proper spherical bearing mount to try and reduce radial load. Haven't seen the new Evo series but Bilstein seems to be more and more anti-consumer in terms of their repairability. Damptronics as well as most new B8 shocks are "crimped" at the top of the shock body like their rep notes, and can't be opened without ruining them. I discovered this after sending a set to a local shop well known for Bilstein rebuilds.

If you don't mind swapping struts, FCP does sell these kits, but they're frequently on backorder, so YMMV.

 

[tigeo]

I'll be smart as well - have to follow the letter of the warranty if you expect warranty coverage, if you owned a company that made parts, you'd do the same or would be replacing every Tom/Dick/Harry tuner kid's crap constantly - it isn't "technically" listed that way in the install manual, it "is" listed that way. I know Bilstein has been a stickler for this in the past with some broken damper rods while running camber mounts that I've read about in the FB groups...clearly they recommend OE/OE-equivalent for a reason. Sorry man, too bad they can't just replace the single damper for you on your dime, that is the part that is unfortunate here. I'll also say I run Bilstein B8s with Eurosport camber mounts and beat the shit out of my wagon/track it without any issues...yet!

 

[popoff44]

Nice crusade.

Guess I’ll let everyone know how smart I am.

I used OEM top mounts and bearings with my B16’s per their recommendation, which also aligned with other requirements.

One thing to note, the B16 shock is not unique to the MQB platform, some of them can be rebuilt. The DCC ones cannot. I also knew this, just a roll of the dice I was willing to take as I didn’t want to use KW.

The vendor I bought mine from handled the warranty claim for me when I was having issues with one of my front struts, and I never dealt with Bilstein direct. Where’s BMP in all this?

Can’t speak to if you can buy a single strut. Maybe track down some of the European vendors and see if they sell them? I almost bought mine direct from a company in the UK, if I can find their info I’ll see what their site shows.

Thanks for sharing your experience, @krs.

Regarding BMP Tuning's role, Bilstein's warranty process is to go through the dealer you purchased from unless they are no longer in business. BMP folks have been as responsive and as helpful as they always are. In fact, after posting on Facebook, I hear from Autrey himself who is try to help find a replacement damper even though he absolutely doesn't have to.

 

[jay745]

I dont think Bilstein did anything wrong here personally.

 

[popoff44]

By chance was it Lisa who denied you?

Here's the damper pn: 23-273719

Hey @Track R. No, in my case the warranty rep was named Joseph.
Thanks a lot for the part number!

 

[popoff44]

I think the most common failures I've seen on Bilsteins on these cars are with aftermarket strut mounts. It's sadly not surprising that they don't warranty them.

IMO, I'd only use the rebuildable B14/B16 kits, and then only with a proper spherical bearing mount to try and reduce radial load. Haven't seen the new Evo series but Bilstein seems to be more and more anti-consumer in terms of their repairability. Damptronics as well as most new B8 shocks are "crimped" at the top of the shock body like their rep notes, and can't be opened without ruining them. I discovered this after sending a set to a local shop well known for Bilstein rebuilds.

If you don't mind swapping struts, FCP does sell these kits, but they're frequently on backorder, so YMMV.

Thanks for your reply, @scrllock. Live and learn... I'm not complaining about the part where I did not follow their exact instructions. Although, it would be nice if they were a little more consumer-friendly when it comes to repairs, so the learning is not as expensive Ouch!

 

[popoff44]

I'll be smart as well - have to follow the letter of the warranty if you expect warranty coverage, if you owned a company that made parts, you'd do the same or would be replacing every Tom/Dick/Harry tuner kid's crap constantly - it isn't "technically" listed that way in the install manual, it "is" listed that way. I know Bilstein has been a stickler for this in the past with some broken damper rods while running camber mounts that I've read about in the FB groups...clearly they recommend OE/OE-equivalent for a reason. Sorry man, too bad they can't just replace the single damper for you on your dime, that is the part that is unfortunate here. I'll also say I run Bilstein B8s with Eurosport camber mounts and beat the shit out of my wagon/track it without any issues...yet!

@tigeo, I don't disagree, but we all bend rules a little bit from time to time... I doubt additional 2 degrees of negative camber vs stock is enough to cause such a failure. Anyway, the worst part is being told to buy a whole new set with no option to repair or replace a single component. That's ridiculous and reason enough to avoid this particular product in my opinion.

 

[popoff44]

I dont think Bilstein did anything wrong here personally.

Thanks for chiming in, @jay745. See my reply to @tigeo immediately above. It's the lack of repairability that is the real problem.

 

[victorofhavoc]

Thanks for chiming in, @jay745. See my reply to @tigeo immediately above. It's the lack of repairability that is the real problem.

Even if it was "repairable" the cost of a single revalve/repair will get close to the cost of the whole kit. When I have any dampers rebuilt or revalved for a new spring it's typically 3-500$ per corner and the cost to replace, realign, and corner balance is additional (another 3-400$ or so if just one corner). This is not including any lift time in the shop while the car is not driveable for 3-6 weeks during the rebuild.

At this kind of cost, just buy a whole new kit... The pss10 were only like 1300$ so it's not worth it. Custom valved shocks for custom spring rates are another story. In those cases, and if you want REAL support, it's time to look at motion control, moton, or another custom builder that specifically builds to your needs and can rebuild to whatever chosen spec.

On another note, while most people make a lot of aftermarket changes to their car, if you read most fine print it will often state that parts are designed to work standalone with no other changes to the car or with other specific parts from that manufacturer. Bilstein will tell you their coils are to be used as is. If you want swaybars with their coils, they don't make that option for the golf. They do make clubsport kits with a shock/spring and swaybars, and those are often better balanced to the car than their typical coilover street kits, but hard to find. Another option from them is the clubsport coilover and that's the only one that's track rated, fully rebuildable, and designed with metal topmounts.

 

[FSTSNAL]

P

Posting to share my experience with fellow VW enthusiasts and to ask for advice.

• A brand new set of Bilstein B16 DamTronic Coilovers purchased from BMP Tuning was installed on my 2017 Golf R MT by a professional VW/Audi mechanic at a local shop RayTeam Automotive in August of 2022.
• After 10 months and about 6,000 miles I start hearing a clunk coming from the front suspension when going over bumps, which progressively gets worse with time.
• I take the car back to RayTeam Automotive who hear the clunk on test drive, put the car up on the lift with wheels off the ground, stick a pry bar under front wheels to move them up and down as if the car was going over bumps, discover play in the driver-side damper, presumably causing the clunk.
• I initiated a warranty claim with the manufacturer via BMP Tuning, providing information about the car and a video of the issue in the process.
• After about 2 weeks a Bilstein warranty rep emailed me directly denying warranty coverage, because the coilovers were installed with aftermarket strut mounts while their instruction manual technically says to use OE parts (we used 034 Motorsport Dynamic+ Camber Mounts with a pair of fresh OE strut bearings for install). Quote from the rep: “Using aftermarket mounts is considered an alteration to our product does void the limited lifetime warranty.”
• Additionally, Bilstein rep wrote that “this style of electronically controlled damper is a crimped design which is not repairable”. When asked if a replacement damper could be purchased individually, the rep said that “these products are made and manufactured in Germany who only sells them to the rest of the world as complete kits”.

To recap:

• Higher-end professionally installed Bilstein coilovers failed after only about 6,000 miles on the car.
• Bilstein denied warranty for a nonsensical reason. Show me a car on aftermarket coilovers where the rest of the suspension remains stock…
• Per Bilstein, the faulty damper cannot be repaired or replaced without buying a whole new set, which is practically an insult to the customer no matter who is at fault.

If I’m missing something, please let me know, but for now my recommendation is to keep away from Bilstein coilovers in aftermarket applications. If you do go with those, don’t let Bilstein know you are using any other aftermarket parts in case you ever have to file a warranty claim. If you knew that already, feel free to let everyone know how smart you are in the comments

I still need to find a way to recover from this mess, so a few questions for the community:

1. I once heard B16s can actually be repaired. Does anyone have experience with that? Any recommendations for a business who could do that?
2. Despite what Bilstein says, is there perhaps a way to buy a single damper or a compatible alternative? Does anyone have the part number or know someone with a used one for sale in good condition? What would you do?
3. Other aftermarket bits in the front are as follows: SuperPro Supaloy Front Lower Control Arms, NEUSPEED 25mm Front Anti-Roll Bar, 034 Motorsport Dynamic+ Front End Links, APR 10mm wheel spacers with APR 37mm lug bolts, Neuspeed RSe10 18x8.5 / Michelin Pilot Sport 4S 235/40R18. If anyone has had issues with the same or similar setup that could have contributed to the problem, please share your experience.

Also posted on:

• Facebook VW MK7 Golf - GTI - R - MQB Group
• VWvortex

PSS10 can be repaired damptronic can’t. Has to do with how each is constructed. I inquired about having a set shortened and revalved by the shop at Sonoma raceway that does this and this is what they told me.