Prep new shocks a day before installing them?
 

Heard that you should stand new shocks up (vertically) for a day to get air bubbles out? Is this something any seasoned mechanic would do?

I've never heard that before.....I just took mine out of the box, slapped them on, and its been great since. :D

Waste of time. Just put them on and go. :)

Never heard of that. Sounds like an Old Husband's Tale.

Isn't it that if it has air bubbles, it's a bad shock, and if not, and there were air bubbles, how is it going to bleed out by just letting it stand vertically without opening up the system?

Won't they be vertical anyway once they're on your car?

Mine went right from the UPS truck to the car. If Bilstein wanted you to stand them up they would have told you.:D

Never heard of it before and it's not necessary. Shocks are built of a chamber that contains a specific weight & quantity of oil, the rod you see on the end of the shock is connected to a flat plunger that seals the chamber into two halves, that plunger has a certain size hole cut in it that allows that oil to flow thru it at a certain rate, thus creating a dampened movement. any air that got sloshed under the plunger would either be gone by time you're done installing or be pushed up top with the first movement.

I can specifically recall installing shock absorbers which came with instructions that called for inverting the shock and "exercising" it several times to bleed trapped air. I don't claim to fully understand the concept, but I am absolutely sure that the instructions recommended the procedure. I suspect that the objective is to move air from the primary to the secondary chamber.

Here is some info from the Autozone website:

http://www1.autozone.com/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/04/e5/a9/0900823d8004e5a9/repairInfoPages.htm

Bilstein's don't have those instructions. Perhaps autozoo is covering their back side while dealing with EVERY car ever made.
I as well have not had any problems with installing straight out of the box.

Assumes facts not in evidence. No where does the OP indicate that he/she is installing a particular brand of shock absorber.

I remember a damper coming with instructions to place it the right way up, and excercise it through about half a dozen full cycles to expel air before fitting. I can't remember the damper type or brand, but, as it costs nowt, and takes all of 2 minutes of time, I do this with every new damper I install.

Its a MB, so they ought to be.:D;) Unless maybe he got a good deal on Sach's...