Bilstein HD or Belstein comfort???

[420benz]

Just put new Bello 15'' whells with new Bridgestone 15" Turanza LS-h tires. Noticed both front shocks were leaking and would like to replace them.How much of a diffrence in the ride will i get using the HD's verses the [comfort]. I do not want a hard ride!

[stevebfl]

You answered your own question, get the comforts. Its a misnomer to call the heavy duty, heavy duty. They will last no longer if that is what heavy duty means. What they should be called is heavy ride or hard ride.

[psfred]

Use comforts, the HD will probably be too hard for you. I put HDs on the Volvo, and regret it, it rides pretty rough.

If you want stiffer handling, use the HDs, but you will definitely sacrifice ride quality.

Peter

[TimFreeh]

I agree with psfred - I replaced my shocks with HD's, it handles very well but the the ride quality is bad. In retrospect I'd have gone with comforts.

[deanyel]

I tried HDs once - very clunky. Cornering was noticeable better but I concluded it wasn't worth it.

[DangerMouse]

While this may not apply to your situation, I actually *prefer* the Bilstein HD shocks on both my car and the wife's Audi. I suspect that my preference remains the same for Comforts vs. HD given any vehicle with similar mass.

Last year, I made the mistake of going with HD on the front of my E420 and Comforts on the rear. The car is noticeably more stable at highway speeds if something (or someone) is loading the rear shocks. Planning to swap out those horrid shocks for HD's in the rear shortly.

The Audi came with Boge TG shock absorbers from the factory, only had 90k miles on them when I purchased the vehicle. Mechanic who specializes in Audis commented that they were in perfect condition. Car seemed to bounce along imperfections on the highway, and was a horrible ride by my standards. Replaced with HD's recently and the resulting ride is firm, much more controlled.

Both my wife and I are used to motoring in W. Europe, so it may come down to personal preference.

-DM

[420benz]

Thanks for all the help,i well go with the Comforts.

[86560SEL]

I would not recommend "heavy duty" or performance struts/shocks on any car, unless you wanted super sports car handling. All of them are much too firm for everyday driving in my opinion. The previous owner of my 1990 Lexus LS400 (which is supposed to have a cloud soft ride) had installed KYB-GR2 (heavy duty) struts on the rear of my car just before I bought it. Granted, it had good handling, but the ride was very harsh. Needless to say, I had them replaced with OEM Toyota struts, now the ride is soft and cushy, but still well controlled and handling is still very acceptable.

I have heard too many bad stories about heavy duty shocks/struts of any brand, as far as ride quality is concerned. Even a Cadillac or Lincoln can have a harsh ride, given it has the wrong shock/strut installed on it.