SACHS-BOGE VS BILSTEIN SHOCKS
 

Need to go on & purchase my rear shocks. Opinions on Sachs-Boge or Bilstein
would be appreciated.

Interested in handling & a pretty smooth ride.

I note Bilstein offers 12 mth / 12,000 warr. While Sachs is offering Liftetime warranty.

Running Monroes on the front, less than 4000 miles on them.

Any thoughts appreciated.

I'd go with the cheapest,and heavy duty.Meyele is carrying Shocks now.

Lots of good info in this thread:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/ml-gl-g-wagen-r-class-unimog-sprinter/53524-ml320-shock-replacement-installation-help-needed.html

Putting an old coil spring on a new shock is not trivial. Read about my experience starting on page 6 of the linked thread.

Taking the upper nuts off is tedious but not difficult. Remove the inner fenders and sit on a 5 gallon bucket and take your time.

Thanks for the 2 x replies above.

I plan on letting a professional do this. I leave this vehicle at a home I have
in Mexico, so labor is cheap. Bet the MB dealer here gets no more than
15 - 20 USD per hour. Not sure but I will advise once I know for sure.

I will check out Meyle as well now that I am aware they are available.

* Sunedog, I do not speak very much Spanish so are there any key points
concerning the springs switch over etc that I should know. I can at least
hang around and watch closely to be sure they do it right.

Thanks again

Please go read my posting on Page 6 of the thread I linked above. Yes, there are things your mechanic should know if he's never done the swap with these type of springs before. The central issue is the diameter of the coils is so large the hooks from most spring compressors don’t fit in between them. There is a completely different type of spring compressor which is recommended for this application, but it was not available for rental locally and it was very expensive to buy (over $300 if memory serves).

Monroe is for buicks, lincolns, cadillacs, and other land-yachts where ride comfort is #1 and handling is irrelevant.

Bilstein HD's are of a FAR better construction than the Bilstein TC's. You don't want the TC's. The HD's are very high quality and will last many years. They are also very slightly more firm than OEM, giving you better high speed stability and sharper cornering.

I believe Sachs/Boge is OEM. I'm not that impressed with them, they don't seem to last nearly as long as the Bilstein HD's.

You want all FOUR of your shock absorbers to have the correct valving for compression and rebound. Mixing brands is a bad idea unless you have the compression and rebound numbers for both brands and can verify that they are identical. Compression and rebound specs can vary wildly between brands and between models, and mixing them can result in a car that handles quite bizarrely.