I am about to invest a little more money in my 80 300D honey. I am looking to replace the shocks and was wondering if there were any comments on the KYB, Boge or Bilstein shocks as far as ride and handling (what else). KYB are the cheapest at $42 and the others are $63 each from Fastlane. Doubt if I will be able to beat these prices, if so please share.
I appreciate any experience with these you would like to share also are they any special tricks to replacing these on this 80 300D.
Thanks

herbct01,

Try a search on the subject as it is an often discussed topic. In general I believe the shock of choice is the Bilstein, and then there are debates on the benefits of the Heavy Duty version vs. the standard one. If you do the work yourself, I would suggest "rewarding" yourself with the Bilsteins. Good luck, Jim

__________________
Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)

On eBay you can find Bilstein which I strongly recommend for approx. $50 each. My biggest problem was removing the lower screws. I broke one head using the regular wrench. My friend mechanic broke 2 screws using a pneumatic wrench. Only one screw was successfully removed. We finally had to use a torch to remove the remaining parts of the broken screws. Good luck.

romansek
---------------
83 300D 219K
81 300d 139K

mercedes source.com will sell you a pair for about $100.00 plus shipping. I have bought three sets recently. They even include a 10mm 12 point socket with the front shocks, instructions and a pair of gloves!