- You know, when we look at a suspension companies
there's usually ones that have really weird names
and any single time that there's one
with a really weird name we just assume
that it's been existing for like 200,000 years
because it seems like the old school
suspension companies were a suspension company
before cars were a thing.
Which is a little weird.
So we were gonna talk about something that wasn't
so old and dated but we figured since all of you guys
in the comments have been asking us for this
specific shock supplier power house
we thought we would talk about it
which is none other than
Bilstein shocks
Or Bil-steen, or Bil-stine
depending on how you want to pronounce it.
There's like six German people that watch our videos
that are gonna correct us in the comments
so go right down there, type it in, good luck
let's get in to it.
Bilstein was founded in Altenvoerde
in 1873 by a man named August
you guessed it, Bilstein.
Back in the day there weren't really a whole lot
of cars running around in Germany in 1873
so instead the company started off by making
metal window finishings and furnishings
and gaskets and stuff.
They made stuff for windows.
But in short, they really just were a company
that was trying to get involved in anything
that could really make them money.
The difference was that August had a way with just
getting involved with everything possible.
But besides just getting involved in everything,
August would acquire and manage as many
patents as he possibly could
considering he was in the late 1800.
Now it wasn't called Bilstein back in the day
because for window and metal fitting
and things like that, Bilstein was just not one
you wanted to use.
So instead he decided to shorten up his name
and he called it Audi which is short for
obviously, his name.
It didn't take long for him to realize that
really metal window fittings weren't like
a good way to make a million dollars
so instead he decided to change with the market.
The company was doing so well that besides
all the patents they were accumulating,
August Bilstein just continued to acquire as much
resources as possible.
They got so much involved that they ended up
purchasing an iron mill factory so that they
could have the metal needed to make really
whatever the hell that they wanted
because they just had the money to do so.
In fact it's considered that August's foundation
of the Bilstein company was pretty much because
of the amount of things he required almost 150 years ago
on today's date to pretty much establish the company
to do whatever they wanted.
It wasn't until Hans came back from America,
which if you didn't know is August's son,
to decide that he also wanted to get involved
in the Bilstein company name.
The one thing that was happening in America
that wasn't happening in Germany, though,
was there was a lot of nickel and chrome plating
going on that was going to take
over the market by storm.
And Bil-steen, Bil-Stine, Bill whatever, Bill Cosby
[Loud Music]
said, well why don't we do that?
So the nickel and chrome plating business
started to move because Bilstein wanted to make products
so they got all the stuff that they needed
from the mills, they got all the innovations
and patents that they needed and
they started making stuff.
Really they didn't really make anything
but they made it.
Does that make sense?
They made stuff. What did they make?
We don't know, because they just made everything
it was like the Walmart of the automotive scene.
Partnering with the company called LHF
which has a long German name
but I was gonna try and memorize it but I
couldn't figure it out for the life of me.
Bilstein started to make automotive accessories
for the booming car industry.
Now back in the day really the biggest one
that Bilstein could get involved in
that involved chrome plating
which would might be something you can guess
was front bumpers.
It was one of the biggest things
that the company could get involved in
but on top of that there was a lot of internal
pieces and things like that
that the Bilstein company could then
actually chrome plate, sell back to manufacturers
and make a little bit of money.
But because they had such a strangle-hold
on everything from the metal to the end result
Bilstein was able to do very well for themselves
in fact it put them in such a good position
that it allowed them to continuously grow
enter into the Americas, enter into different countries,
and just make products for anybody that wanted them.
In 1928, Bilstein was making car jacks and other
sort of floor jacks and things like that
for cars because nobody else was
doing it at the time and for the next 30 years
the company just continued to produce products
that people wanted.
Then the early '50s came around
and well Bilstein ran into a conundrum.
A problem if you will. An issue at hand.
They had a situation that needed to be resolved.
They had a problem with no solution. Wow.
See there was a man named Professor Bourcier de Carbon.
He wanted to see if there was a way to
isolate vibrations of an automobile
better than what was currently existing at the time.
See back in the day pretty much what existed
was a very fundamental fork-style shock absorber
and besides other competitors trying to solve the problem,
the professor really didn't know who to go to.
That was until he heard of Bilstein
and they were trying to get involved in the
automotive suspension business as well.
They didn't know how to figure it out.
All they knew was that they had a lot of money
a lot of time
and they were gonna figure out how to make
a product that was better than
pretty much anything else out there.
So a few years pass and Bilstein finally
introduced a product that would revolutionize
what a suspension system ultimately consisted of
back in the late '50s.
And Bilstein was like
[German Accent] We can do that because we are German.
Do Germans do this? Or is this Italians?
These guys spent an enormous amount of time
on producing this product until they came up with
the first gas pressured mono-tube shock absorber
which was absolutely revolutionary at the time.
It was so good that they a-- they were [spits]
and with partnering with Mercedes-Benz
convinced people that this was the future
and it was the best way to go.
The company was one of the first to practice
this specific product
and because they were
and because Mercedes hopped on board right away
it gave them the foundation they needed to become
one of the biggest shock absorber companies in the world.
Everything that Bilstein was touching
once you got into the '60s and '70s
meant that it was just a good car.
That same shock would go into the Monte Carlo Rally
clipped on a Mercedes-Benz and they won.
It was the first time out of pretty much
any story we've ever told about a suspension company
going into a race event and actually winning
that Bilstein won the competition on their first try.
Shortly after that, everything associated with
Mercedes-Benz, AMG and S-classes
and anything that Bilstein could get involved in
they were doing really well.
And from there the Bilstein name never left motorsport.
You had names like Dale Earnheardt, Ivan Stewart,
Klaus Ludwig, Sterling Marlin and nobody else
because I couldn't remember any of the names.
They were doing so well that Bilstein just became
the name that was synonymous with the suspension
that you put on the racetrack.
And if there were any more reason to brag about
your company, they were first, second, and third place
at the Nürburgring 24-hour ring for placing
with Bilstein shocks.
In fact, all AMG Mercedes are equipped
with the Bilstein shocks, if necessary for the vehicle.
And over half of the vehicles that participate
in the DTM Motorsport are equipped with
some form of Bilstein product.
By the late 1980s they partnered with
Thyssenkrupp technologies until they were
wholly invested by 2005.
That's a really fancy way of saying
that they got acquired by another company
until they were ultimately purchased out.
But they're still allowed to do what they do
because they do it really well.
Bilstein's success came from just
an era of continuous growth and
essentially having a really good foundation
from a company and a man and his son
that really wanted the company to thrive
and Bilstein, even though I'm likely
pronouncing it incorrectly
is a company that most people are associated with
it's a brand that a lot of people know
and a lot of people love.
At the same time it's one of those companies
that will likely see well past my very short life
and probably will be here until, like ever.
So if you're interested in Bilstein products
check out Fitmentindustries.com
we have our programmers AKA nerds in the background
that they're gonna plug into the website
so we can actually get you guys
the products that you need.
That was a joke, please don't get mad at me
if you're a programmer and you're watching this video.
But if you're looking at wheels, tires or suspension,
airlift out there too, feel free to hit up
fitmentindustries.com, we have all of it there.
And don't forget to subscribe.
My name is Alex from Fitment Industries.
You thought we were doing a giveaway
and we actually are.
I want you guys to drop a comment on
what suspension you're running in your car
and we'll just pick some random lucky winner
on next episode of this
which is tire history for next week.
But I'm Alex from Fitment Industries
and we'll see you later. Peace.