I'm gonna get a lot of grief from this, but my flame suit is on and ready. Replaced all 4 blown shocks on my W126 with lifetime Gabriel VST Ultra gas shocks from AutoZone. $19.99 apiece - total was around $86. Installed them in 3 hours start to finish (easy job).

The car handled like a sailboat on the open seas before replacing the shocks. Now it is like a new car, no kidding. Very tight and controlled. I took it on a winding road with lots of potholes and a 55mph speed limit afterwards, and the transformation is nothing short of breathtaking. If you own a cheap daily driver and are tough enough to take the certain bashing you are bound to get from the Bilstein loyalists here, I highly recommend these $19.99 shocks. I paid $800 for the car and it is my daily driver - to date I have only about $1100 in the car total (including the purchase price). So I couldn't see dropping $325+ for the Bilsteins. And I figured if I was willing to do $130 for the KYBs then why not just go all the way to the bottom and pick Gabriel? I have used Gabriels in my VW and W114 in the past with excellent results despite what others here may say.

Comparing against my W124 with Bilstein Comforts... well that isn't really fair since they are completely different cars. The W124 is downright athletic and sticks to the road with excellent feel. The 380SE with the Gabriels, however, are quite close in handling to the 560SEL with the ALS in the rear and Bilstein comforts up front - I kid you not. The Gabriels may lean a little more in very hard turns compared to the Bilstein/ALS setup, but I think that may be more a function of the ALS. They ride a little softer too, but again the ALS may have something to do with that.

I know you get what you pay for, and I struggle to understand how a company can turn a profit selling shocks for $19.99. The only thing I can think of is that the Gabriels may not be as durable or long-lived. But the lifetime warranty makes up for that in my book, since labor to install these things is almost nonexistant.

Interesting observation, when I removed the old shocks they did not have any oil leaks and were actually harder to compress than the new Gabriels. So I believe the bench compression test can be misleading. Rebound of the shock (as opposed to compression) may have more to do with ride control and handling.

A couple pics of the car:

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08 W251 R350
97 W210 E320
91 W124 300E
86 W126 560SEL
85 W126 380SE Silver
85 W126 380SE Cranberry
79 W123 250
78 W123 280E
75 W114 280