Bilstein 5100 Shock Review - 2019 Jeep Wrangler JLU Rubicon
Posted by Sean Reyes on
Hey guys, to get you up to speed, here’s what has happened so far with this Wrangler.
The Wrangler has seen 5 different sets of shocks so far in its 50k-mile life. Here are the cliffnotes on how that has all gone up to this point.
The 3.5” Metal Cloak kit came with their Rock Sport shocks, which we didn’t have complaints about, but wanted to really dive into some of the more popular options that you guys have tons of questions about.
Shock Journey
The Fox 2.0 IFP shocks were the first shock-mod we did to the Wrangler, with no real expectations. The ride got surprisingly softer, but not squishy, which boded well for the many thousands of miles of dirt and pavement the Wrangler saw on these. We installed these on trail for an immediate before and after review.
King Shocks had to be the next upgrade, mostly due to the rivalry between these two brands. We wanted to know exactly what people loved about their King Shocks, and why there’s such a cult following. The short of it is that King Shocks continue to be one of the plushest riding shocks we’ve driven, but that’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
The driver actually wanted to put Fox back on after the first test session with the Kings, there just wasn’t the kind of control he needs for his daily driven trail rig.
The 2.0 shocks just weren’t cutting it for the type of activity the Wrangler liked to find itself in, and fortunately enough a set of Bilstein 8100 dual bypass shocks were eyeing us from across SoCal, thanks @bilstein !
The 8100s were such a solid upgrade, they made the Wrangler so much more stable on-road and allowed it to really rip off-road. Fine tuning the ride performance with the compression and rebound adjustments really allowed us to fine tune the ride quality.
We thrashed those 8100s, they saw everything, and saw plenty of high speed use to really test the bounds of the Wrangler. But since they had to be rebuilt and receive a knob update, we decided to use that time to test a couple options we always answer questions about, Bilstein 5100 and Rancho RS7MTs.
Long of the short is, the RS7MT is probably the best Rancho shock for most drivers, consistent, soft, good handling upgrade. They’re certainly better than any stock twin tube shock, but they’re no Fox 2.0.
Bilstein Meets Expectations
To be fully transparent, we kind of knew what to expect from the Bilstein 5100s.
We’ve put the 5100s on many of our own vehicles here at Shock Surplus, and Bilstein ride quality is unmistakable compared to other offerings. Bilstein just feels tighter, great handling, way less body roll, confidence inspiring.
Will they fix death wobble? No.
Will they outlast the softer riding Fox 2.0? Yes.
What does the digressive piston mean? Digressive pistons explained.
Bilstein provides tighter feel and better handling than both Rancho RS7MT and Fox 2.0 shocks. We’ve seen this time and time again across a wide range of vehicles, which is why we had expectations and are not surprised by the results.
The reason why the Bilstein 5100 handles tighter than the similar Rancho RS7MT is the digressive piston within the Bilstein.
There are tradeoffs though to tight handling and a digressive piston. You feel road chatter more, trail chatter, small bumps, and small obstacles are felt by the driver a bit more compared to a Rancho or Fox 2.0 shock.
If you’ve got more questions on what to expect from the Bilstein 5100s on your Wrangler, give us a shout on Live Chat or through email, and we can dive into your suspension needs.
