Thinking of ordering some Bilsteins? Might want to do it now...

My E28 needs new rear shocks, the old Bilstein Sports are tired and one is blown. I was going to wait for my tax check to arrive but then this e-mail from Bimmerworld showed up today:

Looks like I'm ordering a set of Bilstein HDs for the front of the E38 right away...  Just discovered yesterday that one of the original (151k mile) front struts is starting to leak a little so I'm going to need to swap them soon.  It's already got fresh Bilstein HDs in the rear though. 

Interestingly, a little research shows a similar notice being put out by a few vendors at the end of 2017 stating a 20-40% increase. 

Thats a bit unsurprising given the current situation with tariffs. 

They held out as longer than I thought they would however.

I was thinking about swapping out the Sports in my 2002 for a set of HDs, but unfortunately Bilstein availability has been lousy lately, and the fronts aren't available. So now I'm stuck either just buying the rears and hoping the fronts become available soon, or giving up and buying a set of Konis.

Wow. One time in my life that I make a fortuitous purchase. These literally arrived from RockAuto on Monday.

Seen one way, this is a nice psa to customers planning a purchase. Seen another, this is a cheap ploy to boost slow winter season sales. And help clear out old inventory.

Are all shocks going up 15-20% in price suddenly? If so why? If not, how does Bilstein think that will work out for them vs the rest of the shock market?

"Color me suspicious" is all I'm trying to say.

Robbie said:

Seen one way, this is a nice psa to customers planning a purchase. Seen another, this is a cheap ploy to boost slow winter season sales. And help clear out old inventory.

Are all shocks going up 15-20% in price suddenly? If so why? If not, how does Bilstein think that will work out for them vs the rest of the shock market?

"Color me suspicious" is all I'm trying to say.

Could be a matter of imported vs. locally made shocks...considering the steel tarriffs, if the Bilsteins are made in the US (some quick Googling says they make some in Ohio) that could explain it.

So is Bilstein putting the word out and it is getting passed along by vendors? Or did something leak out?

I would think if Bilstein is making it known then they would also provide the reason why so people aren't left to speculate.

Hopefully this thread gets revived in a couple weeks and we see if it actually happened or not...

That's interesting. I'm not exactly happy with Bilstein for other reasons. I ordered a set of Sports for my E30 back in November and I am still waiting for the 2 rears to arrive.

GameboyRMH said:

Robbie said:

Seen one way, this is a nice psa to customers planning a purchase. Seen another, this is a cheap ploy to boost slow winter season sales. And help clear out old inventory.

Are all shocks going up 15-20% in price suddenly? If so why? If not, how does Bilstein think that will work out for them vs the rest of the shock market?

"Color me suspicious" is all I'm trying to say.

Could be a matter of imported vs. locally made shocks...considering the steel tarriffs, if the Bilsteins are made in the US (some quick Googling says they make some in Ohio) that could explain it.

Pretty much.

The steel and aluminum tariffs last year didn't raise the cost of foreign produced metals to US levels, it raised them way above US made price levels. US manufacturers responded by raising their prices to just below the cost of foreign sourced metals. That caused an across the board rise in metal prices, just now US manufacturers have a better margin. That was the entire idea behind the tariffs.

It's pretty common to announce an across the board hike in prices. Consumers have a tendency to feel slighted when they're planning on buying something then it suddenly costs 20% more with no warning. Putting it out there accelerates their timeline and causes a short term demand spike, potentially at the cost a more even sales trend, but customers tend to be semi reasonable if they know it was coming.

Bilstein warned their dealers there was a price increase coming. Some dealers decided to give their customers a heads up because customers don’t like big price increases without some warning. 

Konis are going up slightly this year, but it’s something like 5%. They’ve actually dropped in price over the past few years. 

I get all my Billies for the rally car from FCP Euro, which gives lifetime replacement warranty on them. So, hopefully won't be affected until I buy some other new project car :)