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.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Waste of time. Just put them on and go.

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

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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

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?

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'85 300D Turbo - CA Version

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

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Scott
1982 Mercedes 240D, 4 speed, 275,000
1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S (70,000)
1987 Porsche 911 Coupe 109,000 (sold)
1998 Mercedes E300 TurboDiesel 147,000 (sold)
1985 Mercedes 300D 227,000 (totaled by inattentive driver with no insurance!)
1997 Mercedes E300 Diesel 236,000 (sold)
1995 Ducati 900SS (sold)
1987 VW Jetta GLI 157,000 (sold)
1986 Camaro 125,000 (sold - P.O.S.)
1977 Corvette L82 125,000 (sold)
1965 Pontiac GTO 15,000 restored (sold)

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

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

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.

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Chris
64 190D R.I.P.
80 240D W/617 engine -for sale
82 240D -for sale

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.

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83 SD

84 CD

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. Unless maybe he got a good deal on Sach's...

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200