jwest
Full Access Member
That's interesting. I can't say if they changed their methods, or bent the truth, or somewhere in between. I called because I had seen some resellers claiming they used Bilstein and others making no mention of it, so I didn't know if that was optional or bs or what. They told me the bag was Continental and the other components were sourced from Bilstein - marketing speak being what it is, for all I know they rebuild stock units by replacing one seal, and order that seal from Bilstein. Or maybe it really is a whole new one. There was no marking in/on the body to speak of aside from Arnott's own part number sticker. The airbag was clearly marked with Continental every few inches.
As far as performance it's hard to say - they rode way better than factory, but that was possibly worn-out factory. At the very least a leaky air spring, not sure what condition the shock was in. Roughly 70k miles at the time.
Who knows what is reliable or not. I have the full front strut directly from Bilstein and one grew a crack in the rubber top cap near where the damper rod comes through. The crack is roughly 1/8" away from the damper rod gasket rings. Annoying as hell. Have temporarily fixed it with O-rings and permatex gasket maker goo. No slow leak for 10 days now over 200 miles.