I was an early USA adopter of a midnight blue S40 (manuf. 02/2000)--we have a real love/hate relationship. Right now, I hate her front struts which need replacing, but I'm getting mixed signals about the right part. Can someone tell me ASAP whether I can use the late 99 parts Bilstein VNE-4681-BE, the most of 2000 and up VNE-C019-BE or if I have to have only the rarest of the rare, late 99-early 2000, VNE-B868-BE. What are the differences, anyway? Dealer here is useless--doesn't have 'em stock and is prone to lie to try to boost service revenue. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hi AY UAX,

eEuroparts only lists the VNE-4680-BE (left), and VNE-4681-BE (right) for $117 each. Bilstein lists this model through its search function, but lists the other models (by part number) as being available as well. They do instruct the dealer to contact them before ordering, so they might be willing to answer your questions as well. Their contact info is :

AFTERMARKET & MOTORSPORTS
HEADQUARTERS - WEST
14102 Stowe Drive
Poway, CA. 92064
1-858-386-5900

AFTERMARKET & MOTORSPORTS - EAST
293 Timber Road
Mooresville, NC. 28115-7868
1-704-663-7563

Please keep us posted - I too have a 2000 V-40 and will be doing this repair soon enough.

I cant help much with p/n's but I know from experience that there were changes to the struts in june 2000.

My s40 is an early 2000 and from what I found when I purchased a set of used low miles struts from an 02 (a euro monroe product oddly) they were physically smaller and did not fit the larger springs on my earlier model year.

Two other interesting things I found are that the rears fit with no problem, and that no one I have contacted can actually ID the monroe pn to match them up to a model and year.

Hope that helps in some way, and if anyone believes my info not to be correct please let me know, and I also have a pair of front struts avail (supposedly with under 5k on them, and they look it too) for a 01 and up s40 really cheap :)

I think the difference is that in the fase2 model, the track of the frontwheels is wider then the fase1 models (see bigger front wings). This could account for the heavier springs/shocks.