Bilstein shocks

[lamontagne]

I'm about to order a set of Bilstein 5100 (adjustable) shocks for my 2005 Frontier CC LE. My current stockers are blown out front and rear so new shocks are needed. I would like to lift the truck just a tad so the 5100's with the adjustable front struts sounds like a great way to kill two birds with one stone. I already have Nismo wheels and 265/75-16 Revo's, so the added 1.5-2in would fit and work well.

Does anyone here have real world experience with these shocks?

 

[davidshourd]

They work great. I had a set briefly with some 4x4parts.com lift coils on them and they seemed fine. the coils were stiff as garbage, but the shocks seemed decent. you may want to call Greg at PRG (google it) and talk to him about what you are looking for exactly. he has a ton of info and may be able to get you set up with exactly what you are looking for. good luck man, and take some before and after pics.

 

[mcm4090]

I never had them but Shock warehouse has the best price on them.

http://www.shockwarehouse.com/

 

[davidshourd]

not to thread jack, but I jut installed some 5125's in the back, and they make a differene. I guess my pont is a little upgrade like that can be worth it.

 

[lamontagne]

I never had them but Shock warehouse has the best price on them.

http://www.shockwarehouse.com/

They may have the lowest advertised price, but they dont have any in stock to ship! I tried to order shocks for those folks before. They advertised all orders would ship in 48 hrs, 5 days after my order was placed they updated my order to status to back ordered, no ETA.

I canceled my order after being strung along for 15 days with no delivery date.

I will never do business with them again.

 

[AZ-Ted]

Shocks are manufactured in batches. It is difficult to gauge the amount of demand for a given time period, so sometimes you have to wait.

Don't order from PRG if you can't wait on delivery. They are a very small shop that sells highly customized products, and almost nothing is in stock. That being said, they sell some of the most ************ parts for your Nissan truck in the country. So, if you are willing to wait for quality stuff, PRG Products is the place to buy suspension stuff from.

 

[lamontagne]

Shocks are manufactured in batches. It is difficult to gauge the amount of demand for a given time period, so sometimes you have to wait.

Don't order from PRG if you can't wait on delivery. They are a very small shop that sells highly customized products, and almost nothing is in stock. That being said, they sell some of the most ************ parts for your Nissan truck in the country. So, if you are willing to wait for quality stuff, PRG Products is the place to buy suspension stuff from.

I have spoken with PRG (about 2.5 lift spindles) and I have nothing but good things to say. But unlike shockwharehouse, PRG doesn't advertise they have items in stock and ready to ship when they really dont.


Moving on....anyone have any trouble or tips installing the 5100 front shocks?

 

[Hootowl]

Hi All,
post deleted as probable spam

Sounds to me like a telephone call to Bilstein technical support could be real useful for you. Since you're wanting to set your suspension up for drag racing, this is a specialized application that could benefit from some non-typical shock valving. In fact, if your getting extreme in drag racing then there are some specialized shock absorber manufacturers that are worth looking at. Someplace like Summit Racing could have some interesting products for you.

Generally for drag racing with a rear wheel drive vehicle, a real stiff shock that is valved to resist compression is good for the rear. The front is completely radical in that you want a shock valving that will have very little resistance to extension and high resistance to compression. What this combines to do is to keep the rear suspension flat while allowing the front suspension to pop up and stay high. This combination shifts the center of gravity of the vehicle to the rear when you come off of the line, which gives greater traction since more weight is on the rear wheels.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program... :wings:

 

[lamontagne]

I don't care who you are, that right there is funny! :hehe:


Back to topic though, I ordered a set of Bilstein 5100 for the front from RuggedRocks. Of course they are on backorder, but Steven was upfront about the back order and gave a realistic timeframe for delivery. For that, he will get my business now and in the future.

 

[adrenaline503]

I was thinking about getting a set for my D22 since I tend to carry some ungoldly loads of mulch and such. Are they "stiffer" or just heavier duty?

 

[Hootowl]

I was thinking about getting a set for my D22 since I tend to carry some ungoldly loads of mulch and such. Are they "stiffer" or just heavier duty?

You would probably consider them stiffer. Beyond that though, shocks in the premium catagory (and I consider Bilstein as the entry to this level) are smarter so to speak. They are more adept at adapting to varying conditions of road, trail and load and performing well. One thing I really like Bilsteins for is the way they tame rear suspension wiggle when pulling a trailer.

How often are you loading your truck heavy? Occational homeowner hauling or routine as a working truck? If the heavy hauling is occational, your OEM suspension is probably okay. If your truck is a working vehicle and hauls a load routinely then a rear suspension upgrade could be warrented. That is probably off topic for this threed though.

 

[lamontagne]

All right! I got my Bilsteins in yesterday, WOO HOO! They appear to be very well made.

Now I have another question, will Old Man Emu (OME607) light/medium coils work well on the 5100 shock?

I know that the 5100's increase ride hieght by adding preload to the coils, so I'm thinking the OME light/medium coil would be a better choise than the heavy coils due to the added preload.

Oh, and I will be setting the 5100's at 1.5in lift.

Any one have thoughts or experience with this?