Gents,
I received my ground control coilovers today and am about to paint (currently down to bare metal) Bilstein shocks that were on the car when I purchased it. I am trying to save some money on my build but I do not want to put a part back on my car that will detract to the many hundreds of $$ on new parts I have purchased. One of the shocks springsmfrom fully compressed to decompressed (top) consistently quicker than the other. One is 3.7 seconds to do this and the other averages 4.5 seconds. Is this significant. They have been sitting on my work bench and the first time I compressed one it stayed down and didn't decompressed. After a couple compressions it started to spring back,regularly like the other. I just want to know what's going on before I paint, assemble, and then install the schocks and coilovers. Any insight is much appreciated.

Take / send them to someone who can put them on a shock dyno. Then you'll know for sure.

I say go new because your already there and why do something twice ..time is money to Good luck

When I search for 914 Bilstien there appears to be two models. One is the B6 HD sport and the other is less money. Is there an appreciable difference between the two? There are Bilstein yellow shocks for $123 a piece.

I cant say what the difference may be! the B6HD dont ring a bell either but the color yellow sure does ..find what fits your needs .. maybe someone will chime in about the # B6 HD might be stock! I dont know

Before you get new ones, try compressing the slower shock about 10 times. By doing this you "heat" it up and may free up what is slowing it down. Then I would check them against each other.

I am running the yellows.

As with most of these type questions...it begs a question. What is your intended use of the car? Hot rod, A/X, road race, DD, etc? If you are not driving at 150 mph + (or even if you were) I wouldn't be too worried about that delta in shock performance. The difference in rebound will NOT be distinguishable from your seat. I drove, unbeknownst to me back in December with TWO blown front shocks. The only car faster than mine (by 1/2 second) was an Ex-IMSA Daytona 24-hour Cup Car. It took the shocks 45 seconds to return HALFWAY...

You will be fine.

Tony

I sent a 40year old NOS set to Elephant and they rebuilt them both as one was not sealing correctly. On return they sent me a dyno report. The elephant spring kit looks amazing.

What Mark says,if they have been lying on their side,stand them up for a while them move them in and out.
You should have good resistance moving in and out if not they may require a rebuild.

Thanks for the response. They have been laying on their sides for quite some time. They take considerable effort to compress all the way down (I can't distinguish if there is a difference between the two when comparing force needed). The only comparable was the difference in time it took them to decompress. Under a load I don't know if this would be distinguishable in either driver feel or performance. I did cycle both struts numerous times and they responded as above. Another question? Some state they run "yellows" but are there a couple of yellows that have performance differences? When I check 914 bilstein shocks on eBay it "appears" to me that there are a couple different yellows. Also, the car will be utilized by me as a seasonal weekend type driver but has all the goodies (Rich914 911 caliper and Boxter brake setup) reinforcement plates, etc if I or future purchaser desired to track it. Oh hell, it only would be ANOTHER $280 Sunk in to this $uc&ing project.

The shock is literally a spring damper. The suspension is a system of components just like the engine. Change the cam and it is a different motor....not necessarily "better".

If it is a DD....you won't notice it. There are way more important components that will make a bigger impact.

If you start to talk about shock dyno's and progressive valving ...now you are getting into some money.