# Replacing Shocks Soon



## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

My Cruze has been exhibiting symptoms of shock wear for about 10,000 miles now. Depending on your driving conditions, after about 40,000-50,000 miles, the OEM shocks don't do as good a job of damping shocks and the frequency of bottoming out increases. The suspension simply crashes through when you hit a pothole or large bump.

In our cars, we don't quite notice it when the suspension bottoms out because the rubber stop absorbs most of the force and transfers it into the cabin, but if you know what to watch out for, you can tell when this starts happening, and the end result is typically compromised road stability, especially while cornering over uneven roads.

Since we drive economy cars, the suspension is tuned accordingly for comfort, so it's not surprising that the shock damping is a bit on the soft side. It's also a reason I'm uncomfortable with the concept of lowered springs on already soft shock absorbers. Sure, you might have a lower center of gravity and less body roll, but that doesn't mean your car actually handles better over a wide range of road surfaces.

I debated Eibachs for a week but concluded there's no way I could use those without a stiffer shock absorber, and Bilstein B8s, designed for lowering springs, were simply out of my budget, as would be the Bilstein B12 kit. Anyone who knows how I modify my car knows I'll either do it right or not do it at all.

As a result, I ordered my Bilstein B6 HD shocks today from Jerry at BNR. The Bilstein B6 is a significantly firmer shock designed for an OEM ride height that will turn a loose comfort-tuned suspension into a taut performance-tuned one. They're 2x as expensive as OEM replacement shocks, but will significantly improve suspension and handling performance without sacrificing deflection capability. 

A tutorial and review will come as soon as they're installed.

Understanding BILSTEIN's Product Line

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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Part numbers are:

Front Left: 35-171669
Front Right: 35-171676
Rear: 24-171687



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## pgthe1 (Mar 14, 2016)

I'm running Bilstein B8sp with my eibach's. It's night and day from the factory LTZ-RS stuff. I do need to reinstall my stock coils for a bit, as I've have been using my Cruze for work while my company car is getting fixed. Hopefully the B8sp work ok with stock coils.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Ordered new Monroe strut mounts for the front and rear. The rears actually look pretty solid and may not even need to be done, but I'll evaluate when I pull them off. Also ordered a strut tool from rockauto as well as a couple new bellows. 

Still waiting for the Bilsteins to arrive. 

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## pgthe1 (Mar 14, 2016)

I'll watching for your review on the B6 HD Struts on stock coils. As I post earlier I have/had the B8sp on Eibachs... I had to reinstall the Stock coils on my B8sp struts a few days ago for work driving. I thought I loved the Eibachs and B8 setup, the stock LTZ RS coils and B8 ride even better are exactly the same ride height. I sure it has to due with the strut mount a little lower on the B8 from the stock strut. I was however looking for the stock ride hight.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

pgthe1 said:


> I'll watching for your review on the B6 HD Struts on stock coils. As I post earlier I have/had the B8sp on Eibachs... I had to reinstall the Stock coils on my B8sp struts a few days ago for work driving. I thought I loved the Eibachs and B8 setup, the stock LTZ RS coils and B8 ride even better are exactly the same ride height. I sure it has to due with the strut mount a little lower on the B8 from the stock strut. I was however looking for the stock ride hight.


They lowered the spring perch on the 2012+ models and used a longer spring. I can find the Vin cutoff if you want to see what it is. You'll have to purchase springs from a newer year of your car to get true stock ride height back. 

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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

XtremeRevolution said:


> They lowered the spring perch on the 2012+ models and used a longer spring. I can find the Vin cutoff if you want to see what it is. You'll have to purchase springs from a newer year of your car to get true stock ride height back.
> 
> Sent from my BlackBerry PRIV using Tapatalk


This. It was that thing you posted the other day off line when I asked if C in the last 8 was for 2012 Model Year.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

I've thought a few times about shock replacement on my diesel, but at 193K miles, I can't really tell that there's any degradation to the way the car handles. I wonder if they are significantly different.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

diesel said:


> I've thought a few times about shock replacement on my diesel, but at 193K miles, I can't really tell that there's any degradation to the way the car handles. I wonder if they are significantly different.


Easiest way is to go drive a new or nearly new CTD. It will feel different, I guarantee it. 

My issue was that on big bumps on the highway, the suspension dampers simply couldn't keep up and I was slamming the jounce bumper. As it is, we only have 3.5" of suspension travel with the eco springs and the jounce bumper makes up 2.5" of that. Most people don't notice it happening because the jounce bumper takes most of the shock, but if you know what to look for, you can feel the car relying on that jounce bumper far more often than it should. You'll also notice more pitch during braking.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

XtremeRevolution said:


> Easiest way is to go drive a new or nearly new CTD. It will feel different, I guarantee it.
> 
> My issue was that on big bumps on the highway, the suspension dampers simply couldn't keep up and I was slamming the jounce bumper. As it is, we only have 3.5" of suspension travel with the eco springs and the jounce bumper makes up 2.5" of that. Most people don't notice it happening because the jounce bumper takes most of the shock, but if you know what to look for, you can feel the car relying on that jounce bumper far more often than it should. You'll also notice more pitch during braking.


Thanks. I will have to find another one to drive back to back with mine.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

One month later, a package arrives from Germany. 



























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## winks79 (Dec 20, 2013)

Nice little helper you have there. Enjoy him, they grow up fast. Had some really good times with my kids at that age, then the next thing I know they are 15 and 18 at the snap of a finger.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

I'm glad to hear they sell the B6s for the the Cruze - I hadn't been able to find if they did or not prior to this. I replaced the original (1981) shocks on my Camaro with B6s - pretty sure the springs are shot now, but those B6s should be ready to handle once the rest of the car is.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

I was reading the instructions for the front shocks and the instructions say "do not reuse original bump stop, as the BILSTEIN- strut has an integrated bump stop (see sketch). In the sketch, it actually does show a bump stop inside the shock assembly itself. 

That's awesome.


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## 1988gmc355 (Jul 20, 2016)

Sub'd to this. So far mine is good, but I only have 78K so far and the first 68K seemed to be very easy miles


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

So these are full strut assemblies for the front, not like the Konis on the Cobalt where you have to hack off half of your stock strut to "complete" it?

So I notice on Tire Rack there are B6 Performance and B6 Performance Plus. Any idea the difference?


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

I'll add this to the tutorial, but wanted to follow up here for the record. 

My Cruze is a 2012 model year, manufactured November 2011. This is very important to note because in December 2012, the production lined stopped for 2 weeks in order to correct a shock design flaw that caused the shock to be noisy. The result was a longer spring and therefore a lower spring perch on the shock itself. I had the shocks replaced by the dealer twice; once to fix the issue, and the second time to fix the fact that the first shocks raised my ride height. 

My current strut (driver side) is part number 13354009, and the Bilsteins will be direct replacements for those shocks.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

MP81 said:


> So these are full strut assemblies for the front, not like the Konis on the Cobalt where you have to hack off half of your stock strut to "complete" it?
> 
> So I notice on Tire Rack there are B6 Performance and B6 Performance Plus. Any idea the difference?


Are you sure Tire Rack has anything for our cars? Last I checked last month, they had only rear shocks. 

These are full strut assemblies, 100% complete. No modification necessary. Just pull off the springs, put them on the new shocks, put new mounts on, and you're good to go. They have mounts for the sway bar end links and even the fuel line bracket built in just like OEM.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

XtremeRevolution said:


> Are you sure Tire Rack has anything for our cars? Last I checked last month, they had only rear shocks.
> 
> These are full strut assemblies, 100% complete. No modification necessary. Just pull off the springs, put them on the new shocks, put new mounts on, and you're good to go. They have mounts for the sway bar end links and even the fuel line bracket built in just like OEM.


Yes, I just looked (hence my post). The part numbers you posted are listed as the "Performance" B6s.

Suspension Products for 2014 Chevrolet Cruze Turbo Diesel

And perfect - when it comes time to replace, or I feel like an upgrade (while maintaining ride height), pretty sure I will be going with these.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

MP81 said:


> Yes, I just looked (hence my post). The part numbers you posted are listed as the "Performance" B6s.
> 
> Suspension Products for 2014 Chevrolet Cruze Turbo Diesel
> 
> And perfect - when it comes time to replace, or I feel like an upgrade (while maintaining ride height), pretty sure I will be going with these.


Sorry, I forgot to respond to that part of it. 

Performance refers to B6 HD. Performance Plus refers to the B8 shocks, which are designed to be used with lowered springs.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

XtremeRevolution said:


> Sorry, I forgot to respond to that part of it.
> 
> Performance refers to B6 HD. Performance Plus refers to the B8 shocks, which are designed to be used with lowered springs.


Ahh, ok, so they just have them listed wrong. Both are listed under the B6 name. Makes more sense that way.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Got them installed. Check out the shaft diameter on the Bilstien shock!










Not so big on the rear. Stock is 12mm and Bilstein is 14mm. 










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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Ride height remained the same up front but gained a slight bit in the rear, which i actually wanted since I have the sound system back there adding some weight. 










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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

I believe unequivocally that Bilstein is a superior product. But with all of the engineering effort to loose mere grams of weight I'd be seriously curious to know the weight difference between Bilstein and stock. 

As well, I'm uncertain what portion of the strut's mass is deemed unsprung weight.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Tomko said:


> I believe unequivocally that Bilstein is a superior product. But with all of the engineering effort to loose mere grams of weight I'd be seriously curious to know the weight difference between Bilstein and stock.
> 
> As well, I'm uncertain what portion of the strut's mass is deemed unsprung weight.


They are a tad bit heavier on the front, but not by a lot, and the rear is even more minor. 

By comparison, the OE wheel/tire package weighs 36.8 pounds apiece, while the LTZ wheel/tire package weighs 51 pounds apiece. The difference in weight between these two shocks was not more than a few pounds. I didn't get a chance to weigh them unfortunately.


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## cruze01 (Mar 25, 2011)

Hows the ride? Does it handle any better?


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## brian v (Dec 25, 2011)

Now you get to clock all of those bushings .

Yep put IT on the ground and torque the bushing bolts !


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## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

XtremeRevolution said:


> Got them installed. Check out the shaft diameter on the Bilstien shock!


Hey! This is a public forum you know!:growup:


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Once you go Bilstein, you never go back. 

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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

cruze01 said:


> Hows the ride? Does it handle any better?


I'll write up a review for these in the next few days. 

In a word though? Amazing.


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