WTF Bilstein
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No leakage, appears to be from heat. Shocks are relatively new - less than 6000 miles and one year.
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I agree. Definitely think it's worth calling Bilstein to discuss.
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In your first pic, is it just a melted boot or is that damage to the actual body as well?
I have never felt any other shocks but I will say i have felt my old 5100s get hot on the body, presumably from dampening. I will mention tho with that, my boots always came with a small zip tie that would help affix the boot to the body itsself. It appears you are missing those ties, which would expose the boot to the intentionally designed heat dissipating body, ultimately creating a hot spot on the rubber. The boot should only cover the exposed piston to reduce road grime from sticking and sucking dirt through the O-ring.
I have never felt any other shocks but I will say i have felt my old 5100s get hot on the body, presumably from dampening. I will mention tho with that, my boots always came with a small zip tie that would help affix the boot to the body itsself. It appears you are missing those ties, which would expose the boot to the intentionally designed heat dissipating body, ultimately creating a hot spot on the rubber. The boot should only cover the exposed piston to reduce road grime from sticking and sucking dirt through the O-ring.
The pic with shock on truck is the first time it happened. It does look worse than it is, fooled me the first time too. The black is actually part of the boot. It went back to vendor for warranty (long story). The other pic is what I removed from the two shocks currently on the truck. I'm not concerned about warranty, I was just curious if anyone else has experienced this. I can't see replacing them if it's going to be an ongoing issue. The zip ties are/were there. One I just clipped off (boot was already destroyed) and the other two went missing after a period of time as the boot disintegrated. As it stands now about 50% of the original boot is still intact. Just seems an odd issue for shocks I presumed were "top'o the line."
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There was another melted Bilstein shock posted on here not too long ago.
Agree. I find it odd they don't manufacture for heat dissipation instead build so it is retained. Easy solution, unless I'm missing something would be to just make the boots about half the size there are now.
With the experience I had on the first "failure" like this, their customer service seems to have changed - for the worse. I was dealing with a vendor through Amazon and he had me send it back to Bilstein, on my dime. Then I waited and waited. Finally, tired of the wait, I went through Amazon for a refund. I have no idea what transpired between the vendor and Bilstein after that point.
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Plausible - but thats an Amazon issue not Bilstein. Amazon is basically a shopping mall with a bunch of different suppliers, which is a fantastic thing. In a case where youll need warranty work, Amazon basically becomes nothing more than the shipping source who has an internet marketing team. They'll send it back to the business you bought it from and that business has to deal with the manufacturer so it adds a lot of hands to the pot.
Oh, I know. In this case I actually sent it back directly to Bilstein per vendor's instructions. Contacted vendor numerous times only to hear he hadn't heard anything. Amazon was really not in the loop until I contacted them frustrated with the waiting.
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Many years ago I drove an F350 work truck servicing TV/FM broadcast sites on the west coast. That truck would melt shock boots like that, and found one of the front wheels (they were steel) had a pretty significant bend to it, so it rolled down the highway a bit like an egg would. I kept telling the shop supervisor at my company the truck drove like crap, he said "run it" so I did.
Might check for wheel vibration, tire balance, etc... I remember that work truck of mine going through about 3 sets of front shocks in the time I worked at that place.
Might check for wheel vibration, tire balance, etc... I remember that work truck of mine going through about 3 sets of front shocks in the time I worked at that place.
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I agree that it is worth taking a look at the front end however what are the chances that the problem exists on both sides??
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