Do shocks have a limited 'shelf life?'
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Do shocks have a limited 'shelf life?'
A friend and I both bought our R53s at about the same time, mine an '04, his an '05, both with sport suspension. At delivery he had the dealer remove his shocks and springs and replace them with JCW components. The removed parts went into a box in his garage. Twelve years later I bought them from him and then acquired the remaining parts necessary to assemble complete strut assemblies. All the parts I bought were OE or the equivalent. Last year at 155K on my original suspension components (except for PowerFlex LCAB) I installed the 'new' assemblies. I am not happy with the result. Seems harsh: curb cuts, cobble stones, etc are extremely unpleasant, unlike my memories of the car when new. So my question is: do shock absorbers degrade simply by virtue of the passage of time? Soon I will start replacing other remaining original parts - ball joints, sway bar bushings, etc. - and then get an alignment, but not if the culprit is more likely the old new parts that I used. TIA.
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