hey fellas this one is of interest to those of you with Bilstein Coilover kits on your 997TT... Over the last year or so we've talked to many shops and all of them have seen failures with the provided bilstein drop links. We've been installing similar kits on other AWD cars for over 6 years without one single failure but some point last year Bilstein decided to change the design of their drop links (perhaps due to cost?) and they are now a weak point. The plastic insert eventually pops out and comes apart.

The come apart like so:



You can see Bilstein's older design as used on PSS9 kits from the past. Notice the end itself is a different design and much akin to OEM. With those we never had problems (ever). Funnily enough the PSS10 kits have now also reverted back to the old design again (thankfully).

Here's a picture showing the drop link design of "old" (that used to work and looks like OEM as well) vs the "new" which just isn't up to snuff:


Either way we brought this to RSS' attention (as they had also seen failures like this) and they've made a stronger (and adjustable for those sway bar kits) replacement kit. This kit is now available and I'd suggest checking your front drop links out.

Here's what the folks at RSS made for us (cheers lads):


Here's the orientation of them in case you are wondering (from bilstein's instructions):


For those of you with "noise" in the front area of your suspension go ahead and check to see if the drop links have failed. There's always hope that Bilstein will revert back to the older/OEM-style design that they used to use which never failed (indeed they did this on the PSS10 after enough complaints) but until then here's what you might end up needing:
http://www.sharkwerks.com/products.php?pid=244

 

Thanks Alex. Those broken Bilstein drop links sure do look familiar.

I received my new RSS drop links today. It is great for all of us that SharkWerks (Alex, Dan and James) worked with RSS (Bryan) to come up with a proper solution so quickly. The new drop links look like exactly what we all have been hoping for - no more recycled 996TT designs. Thanks for the install diagram too. I sincerely appreciate all that SharkWerks has done for me and my 997TT.