Hey Mike-----I think my poor writing indeed seems confusing regarding the Bilstein shocks---sorry about that! What I was referring to was the sloopy feel of my steering box which seems to be "loose" giving me the high seas feeling. For the most part I'd say the Bilstein's simply highlight other deficiencies in my ever evolving suspension upgrade.

Since then I had the front coil springs replaced which was a huge and immediate improvement---the E250 had 245K miles at the time. Along with ball joints tie rod ends and drag link were also replaced due age/mileage. The larger Hellwig sway bar was added soon after I acquired this van in 2008. At this point the only steering part not yet changed in the steering box------that will come sometime soon I'm sure.

So in short I'd do the Bilsteins again without hesistation for a number of reasons. They did as expected, their quality is just insanely good and the lifetime warranty ain't too shabby either. Yeah they do have a sticker shock of sorts but a one time cost of $325 trumps a few out-of-warranty replacements of the "cheaper" types.

Once again I'll agree with Mark that detectable movement tends to signal ball joint wear, replacement to follow ASAP. IIRC the E350's seem to wear out more quickly but not sure why especially at your 96K mileage. Perhaps Ford's supplier and the lack of a grease fitting coupled with the higher capacity of the E350 all contribute---my E250 went just about 225K miles before ball joint replacement. Of course this is also a good time to thoroughly check the entire steering system parts for wear and replace as needed.

HTH