Rear Bilstein 5100 shock boot problem

just installed my rear bilstein 5100 shocks and everything went off without a hitch. My question is, how do you fix the boot, it's basically all crumbled together. Any ideas would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

 

Also, if it’s twisted it could cause it to crumple weird

 

They used to ship with a zip tie IIRC. If the bellows are smashed and not nice and accordion’d.. that’s not a problem.

Zip tie was to hold the boot to the base.

 

Just remove it. Not gonna hurt anything.

 

Won't the seals crack and leak with no boot?

 

Take it off and throw it away as all it will do is trap moisture.

 

Slide the bottom of the boot down

 

So your saying as long as the bottom of the boot is secure? The top of my boot is not attached. Thanks

 

If it’s not crumbled together it will pull apart when the suspension is fully extended.

 

I had same issue. I was able to rotate the top of the boot which helped. If it gets rotated/twisted when you install the shock it can do that (get crumpled instead of accordion). I think mine got stretched though because it gets pushed up into the top mount when I drive and I have to pull it back down (cause I hate how it looks). The other side doesn’t do that.

 

Installed my 5100s over the weekend and noticed the same thing: bunched at the top on the driver's side but not on the passenger side. Still need to check if the boot is twisted or maybe I inadvertently slid the bottom up during install.

 

I had the same problem until I used a couple of worm gear hose clamps to secure the boots to the shock bodies.