I know that the general consensus will be to use Bilstien.....but it would be interesting to hear owners' preferences. I am particularly interested in hearing from 123 owners who have chosen the OE "comfort" Bilstiens, vs. the "heavy duty" Bilstiens.

(Please specify your model)

I put in Bilstien Comforts, and I am very satisfied, but I have always been curious about the ride with the HD version.

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1984 300TD Wagon, 407,800 mi (current daily driver)
1985 300DT Sedan, 330,000 mi (gone to that great autobahn in the sky)

Heavy Duty Bilsteins. Car 1977 300D. Made a MAJOR difference in ride and handling.

I can't benchmark against the Bilstein comforts, but the ride with the HD"s is just stiff enough,,,,perfect.

JCD

To what I know, the Mercedes OEM spec shock (the kind that comes in the blue and white box) is a HD Bilsein by other means. So I would suppose if you want a factory shock its the same as a HD Bilstein. You may save if you buy through Bilstein and not the dealer but Mercedes parts come with a 1 year gurantee on parts and workmanship. Don't know if the OEM shock has this. Just got new shocks about 5k ago and I must say it did wonders for the car.

What are the telltale signs that one needs new schocks?

Great question.

On my sold 1985 300CD, I often wondered if I needed new shocks. It didn't keep bouncing when I tested the shocks, and they were so covered in road grime that I couldn't tell if they were original. I didn't have any records when I bought the car.

Craig

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1994 E420, Pearl Black/Black. 2.82 rear diff., AMG front spoiler, painted lower half. SOLD

1972 & 1974 BMW 2002tii's.

The shop that serviced my 1983 W123 said that Boge was just as good as Bilstein, and were the shock that Mercedes uses. I bought that load of ----. As it turns out, the shocks the Mercedes dealership would have sold me were Bilsteins, and at about $50.00 (Canadian $) less than the Bilsteins offered by all of the aftermarker shops would have charged.
The Bilsteins offered by the aftermarket shops for big bux were yellow with light blue rubber covers. The Bilsteins offered by the dealership were black. I wonder what the differences were?

While the Boge shocks offer a reasonable and comfortable ride, they are mushy and there is still more body roll than I would have liked.
I should have bought the heavy duty replacement Bilsteins thru the Benz dealership, as they were only $10. more than the Boge.

What about Koni's? Has anyone tried them?

I've tryed the Monroes and the Bilsteins from MB.

The OEM Bilsteins from Mercedes are the best, the Monroes had a pretty sorry mounting setup (one nut on the top instead of the MB way of 2 nuts) thats actually how I got a replacement pair from Monroe, their damn nut poped off when I hit a pothole.

The Bilsteins also don't make any noises and came with the bolt on the bottom (on the Monroes your suppose to reuse the old bolts)

Currently I have Monroes on hte back and Bilsteins on the front, when I rebuild the rear suspension I'll be replacing the Monroes with Bilsteins

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2005 Audi A4 1.8T CVT -Silver/Black "Siegfried"

1982 300D - Silver/Blue "Ralph" -For Sale:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?p=852260

1989 VW Diesel Jetta Blue/Blue "Bodo" RIP

I think everyone is being kind of harsh on the Boges. I replaced my shocks with Boges and I'm totally happy with them. Especially when you consider that you are replacing old, worn out shocks, you will be shocked at the difference no matter which brand you buy. I bought the Boges since they were 1/2 the price of Bilsteins and because I read that Boges were a little softer, which I prefer.

Greg
'84 300D

I've never used Boges (I might have on the Jetta) but I know that in the back of my 300D the Monroes are pretty darn soft

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2005 Audi A4 1.8T CVT -Silver/Black "Siegfried"

1982 300D - Silver/Blue "Ralph" -For Sale:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?p=852260

1989 VW Diesel Jetta Blue/Blue "Bodo" RIP

I had Monroe's in my 80 300D and they were pretty good. I wasn't really into handling then and the car was non-turbo so not getting killed in traffic was a higher-priority then handling.

I have Bilstein HD's in my 96 Lincoln Town Car. Oh my stars they are hard. I wanted to stiffen it to try to make the TC handle better, but they're too stiff (like hurt the bones in your neck when going over bumps stiff). They've softened a bit in a few thousand miles to an acceptable tightness.

My 126's always had crappy shocks. I had never gotten around to changing them (and didn't want to spend the dough on the self-leveling ones on the 560).

I value comfort more then cornering, so I'd probably do Bilstein C's first (comfort), and stock Boge as my second choice in the SDL I'm looking at. I hit it a little in the "D", but consider it more of a cruiser then a sporty sedan.

If I had a C280, on the other hand, I'd totally do Bil HD's--that car would handle like a madman.

I think one has to consider their driving style first (how much hard cornering do you like to do and have a chance to do) and then pick your shock from there.

I think Koni's are good, but never owned a set. They seem to be more of an autocross or racing shock, with the adjustables, so I personally don't think I'd buy them for my daily driver. If you did autocross your daily driver, Koni adjustables would be the bomb, so you could have soft ride daily, and hard shocks when you're 'crossin.

My experiment on my TC has proven to me that shocks don't make up as much of the suspension picture as I thought. I think I would have been better off with Bil HD's in the front, stock shocks in the rear, and then larger swaybars. The TC is huge though, YMMV.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

-m

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Now:
2018 Tesla Model X
1999 S500 Grand Edition 164k
1992 300D 2.5 Turbo 287k
2005 E320 4MATIC wagon
1991 Alfa Romeo 164L 99k (sleeping for a while)

Then: 96 Lincoln TC, 93 Lincoln TC, 87 560 SEL, 87 300 SDL, 80 300D, 89 560 SEC

First off, testing shock absorbers by bouncing the car and counting the rebound cycles (like on an old Detroit land yacht) doesn’t work for our cars.

Secondly, Boge makes a very high quality product – they were standard in many Porsche 911s. The quality is very good, however certain individuals may not like the valving on them (or others) for any given application.

Certain things should be clarified – Transitional roll (like in a slalom course) will be suppressed (somewhat) by a firmer shock, but shock absorbers do not control roll in steady state cornering; that is a function of spring rate & anti-roll bar stiffness.

I believe (I may be mistaken however) that *most* of the OEM Bilsteins are what are commonly referred to as the ‘comfort’ version. Some cars had OEM Heavy Duty units due to the higher spring rates required when there was a *large* difference in weight on U.S. models VS. European models. The Heavy Duty versions are not nearly as stiff as the Sport versions (Stay away from the Sport versions unless you have changed springs to a higher rate, unless you really like ‘freeway hop”). The main difference between all of them is primarily in the rebound valving.

As far as Koni’s go… Well they are also a good product, and the adjustability is a plus, but they are a bit out of place on a Mercedes, unless you’re autocrossing it. And Moron-os…ugh, excuse me, I meant Monroes: I’m sure that they will keep your wheels from flailing about, but reserve them for a clapped out Taurus or the equivalent (please).

RTH

Bilsteins = stiff.

BOGE = soft(er)

Had BOGE shocks on my '83 300D, didn't like the ride. Too soft. I sold the car but would have eventually replaced them with Bilsteins had I kept it.

Put four new BOGE shocks on my '70 280SE and am happy with the outcome. A big car like that should ride a little softer than the midsize MBs.

Put new Bilsteins on my '80 300SD (since sold), and loved the ride. It's all a matter of preference. Both companies make very high quality products. BOGE makes the hydropneumatic shocks on the 6.9. Those are not fun to replace, and at $761 each, not cheap either!

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Regards,
Aaron

For all you guys/gals who are thinking about replacing shocks and are therefore reading this line.......its worth the trouble and expense. My '85 300CD is in great shape and I didn't really think it needed shocks but replaced them anyway (with standard bilsteins) in a fit of spending. Found out, to my surprise, that the impact was significant. Tighter over bumps and more solid feel in general.

Best single thing I have done for my car in terms of improving quality of driving.

Nic
300CD @ 147k miles