Highest Mileage Ohlins R/T

Who's got the highest mileage set of Ohlins R/T on here, and how long did you go before it needed to be rebuilt? I'm curious what's the typical rebuild interval because the Ohlins distributor here told me a rebuild is not necessary if it isn't leaking.

I'll start - 52k kms (32.5k miles), 5+ years, no rebuild.

I’m really curious to see where this thread goes. The main thing that’s kept me from swapping to coilovers is I’m driving 15-20k miles a year and the coilover rebuild frequency touted by the manufacturers make it unattractive to switch over because I’d be rebuilding them every 2 years.

And I’ve often wondered what needs to be rebuilt. It’s not like there are gears or anything side them, just oil and valving/shims. If the seals aren’t leaking what are they rebuilding?

Biginboca wrote

I'm really curious to see where this thread goes. The main thing that's kept me from swapping to coilovers is I'm driving 15-20k miles a year and the coilover rebuild frequency touted by the manufacturers make it unattractive to switch over because I'd be rebuilding them every 2 years.

And I've often wondered what needs to be rebuilt. It's not like there are gears or anything side them, just oil and valving/shims. If the seals aren't leaking what are they rebuilding?

Every 2 years isn't bad. I've ran some high end ast shit coilovers that cost like 6k (on a track m3) that saw like 2k miles of street driving a year. Needed a rebuild every year. If your getting 50k out of coilovers before a rebuild it's pretty great

I've been on Ohlins R/T since 2014, which is just shy of 30K miles. Just had my car on the lift and I didn't see any leaks or notice any degradation in performance…sub'd to see where this goes.

Anyone else? I can't be having the highest mileage Ohlins out there lol... 😅

Curious to hear people's experiences because I think ohlins needing a rebuild every 40k is way blown out of proportion. All shocks begin to lose performance over time so I don't see how these are different. They may have tighter tolerances, generally used on sports cars and high end cars that don't see a lot of mileage and are just designed to a high standard so they recommend more frequent service intervals...

I have like 8k on mine so not much help here otherwise!

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=815753

I just learned the Öhlins currently on my car were installed in early 2013 (~9 years ago), at roughly ~35k-40k miles. I just reached 85k miles yesterday, meaning the Öhlins (and Vorshlag camber plates) likely have 40-50,000 miles. Zero leaks, or oxidation. Slight clunking sound in the front over bumps, attributing this to the nearly 10 year old camber plates.

When I have the time I may send to 3DM for a rebuild/revalve with fresh springs, hardware, camber plates, shock mounts, etc.

50k miles (80k kms) is fantastic! I remember when I bought the Ohlins there was a lot of FUD about them needing frequent rebuilds. Glad to see that's not the case under real world usage.

Redd wrote

50k miles (80k kms) is fantastic! I remember when I bought the Ohlins there was a lot of FUD about them needing frequent rebuilds. Glad to see that's not the case under real world usage.

I think Ohlins rebuild schedules are if you want your dampers at 100% all the time. I imagine the everyday joe won't notice 10% degradation that gradually move over the course of 20-30k mileage.

I bought the Ohlins R&T in 2017 in used condition with 15k mls on it.
Installed it and drove another 35k mls on it.

My M3 had a couple of upgrades during the winter (Millway camber plates, solid rear frame bushings, lower control arm bushings etc).
When everything was ripped apart, I thought it was time for a service and the R&T was sent to Ohlins Germany near Nürburgring for a service:thumbsup:

The rebuild interval for Ohlins is 20-30k miles.

You may not notice the degradation in performance but it is definitely there. What I noticed is a slightly bouncier ride and it is rougher over rough roads than new. The rebuild interval is heavily influenced by road conditions. If you drive rough roads a lot, it'll wear out faster.

I changed to KW V3 as the rebuild interval is much longer (60K miles) and lifetime warranty rebuilds. Public roads are very bad in California. Some highways are like the surface of the moon with people flying down these roads at 80mph.

Z K wrote

I changed to KW V3 as the rebuild interval is much longer (60K miles) and lifetime warranty rebuilds. Public roads are very bad in California. Some highways are like the surface of the moon with people flying down these roads at 80mph.

That's a damn good deal. Unfortunately we don't have a KW rebuild facility in my country.

35k miles in less than 2 years here. Obviously not the highest mileage here, but might be a contender for the highest mileage accumulation rate!

Installed in fall 2020 and driven on COVID roads year-round since then. Quite punishing. Not sure if this was the experience everywhere, but our municipalities had no money to spare and/or didn't want to spend it during the normal road repair season in 2020 because the lockdowns had just hit. So, we rolled into winter with already bad roads, which the winter obviously made worse. Then it took another year for road repairs to start the process of catching up. We are only just now starting to approach normal.

Can't really tell how the dampers are holding up vs. new. Maybe a bit softer? IDK. All I can say is that there are no leaks and I'm not noticing any excess bouncing.

One thing I wish this kit had is longer front damper cartridges with longer and more progressive bump stops. Bump stop hits are LOUD (especially with monoball camber plates and front thrust arms) and too frequent on the bigger-than-usual heaves and dips around here.

Biginboca wrote

I’m really curious to see where this thread goes. The main thing that’s kept me from swapping to coilovers is I’m driving 15-20k miles a year and the coilover rebuild frequency touted by the manufacturers make it unattractive to switch over because I’d be rebuilding them every 2 years.

See my post above.

Also, FCP Euro now sells Öhlins, so if you buy from them and they do wear out, all you're responsible for is labor and return shipping.

Biginboca wrote

And I’ve often wondered what needs to be rebuilt. It’s not like there are gears or anything side them, just oil and valving/shims. If the seals aren’t leaking what are they rebuilding?

AFAIK there are internal gaskets on the pistons that can wear, and the oil can break down.

IamFODI wrote

See my post above.

Also, FCP Euro now sells Öhlins, so if you buy from them and they do wear out, all you're responsible for is labor and return shipping.

That is good to know! Thanks

Reviving this thread because it appears I may have beat this by a long shot with my 1M running the M3 kit. They were installed at 38k miles in January of 2013, and the car is now at 209k miles with no documented rebuilds. I have extensive history and documents on this car, including pictures from 2021 (194k) of the torn dust boots which are obviously even worse now.

They came out because the front left strut was sticking, but none of them are leaking. These dampers are proper.

ab987 wrote

Reviving this thread because it appears I may have beat this by a long shot with my 1M running the M3 kit. They were installed at 38k miles in January of 2013, and the car is now at 209k miles with no documented rebuilds. I have extensive history and documents on this car, including pictures from 2021 (194k) of the torn dust boots which are obviously even worse now.

They came out because the front left strut was sticking, but none of them are leaking. These dampers are proper.

Damn! Thanks for sharing this. What are your driving conditions like? How many clicks do you run the Ohlins?

Redd wrote

Damn! Thanks for sharing this. What are your driving conditions like? How many clicks do you run the Ohlins?

They were set to 15 clicks on both front and rear. The car had about 7 years of daily 100-200 mile commutes in Texas, then lived in the northeast for about 5 years commuting year-round. I only recently bought the car, but I think these certainly have at least 100k, if not the full 170k on them without a rebuild.

I can snap some pictures tonight, I'm trying to get in contact with Ohlins to see if they are rebuildable or maybe an R&D piece.

As promised, here's what a 170k mile Ohlins R&T looks like (I don't know why these are so large):

This is incredible. Thanks for sharing. Makes me love mine more and more.

Although there weren't any leaks, they clearly were due for servicing. Which is expected of any strut, but usually leaks are associated with wear. The fact these are bone dry with that much mileage is a testament to their quality.

Interesting that the fronts are inverted. My clubsports are not. I quite liked inverted struts on my 05 STi, until they started clunking but that was a KYB specific problem.

spammysammich wrote

Interesting that the fronts are inverted. My clubsports are not. I quite liked inverted struts on my 05 STi, until they started clunking but that was a KYB specific problem.

Neither are MCS. Bilstein and Ohlins are off the top of my head, and yea clunking unrelated to that.