Koni adjustable shocks and H&R sport springs

[Wah]

Hi,

Anyone have any recommendations on how firm to set the Koni adjustable dampers when paired with H&R sport springs?   Would you set the fronts and rears the same number of turns?  This would be for street use, not track. 

 

thanks

[irdave]

I've said it before, I'll say it again, set them to full soft and go for a drive.  Dial in the adjuster 1/4 or 1/2 a turn at a time and take it for the same drive again (ideally.)  Keep adding until it feels good, then add a little more to see how that feels, then back off to what feels good.  No need to go full tilt boogy, just drive it around.

 

Ok, a little more.  If you feel the car, or end, go into a compression in the road, compress (load up), then bounce back, that's not enough damping, so add 1/2 a turn and try it again, until it compresses and comes back, but doesn't over shoot.  If you hit an edge, a bump, and the car, or end, feels immediately hard and you don't feel it compress at all, that's too much, so take out 1/2 or full turn.

 

Everything varies based on spring rate, preload, bushings, wheels, tires, air pressure in the tires, outside air temperature, how old the shocks are, the individual, everything.  So really, just try it.

[M3M3]

What Dave said, except...

 

You probably have the kind that are not top adjustable.  Taking them apart to adjust is a pain.

 

For street only use, set them at soft.

For more aggressive street use, put them on the middle of the three settings.

[TobyB]

What Dave said, except at a track at 9.75 tenths, taking lap times, and then start messing

with front- to- rear offset (stiffer in front) and rake and all the time keep an eye on

your wheel travel rates but don't go too crazy- keep an eye on car balance

versus damper balance.  

Then change your springs and try again.

 

t

 

[d.hitchcock]

I had to get Koni struts when a Bilstein went south. So with Bilstein sports on the rear, I wondered what setting for the Koni SA struts (not top adjustable, sadly).

Jeff Ireland recommended about 2/3rds stiffness, and that's what I ran with. (IE St. II springs)

The car handles fantastically well for autoX and track duty.

[mattnahangi]

Does anyone know what they are set at from Koni? Rookie mistake and I assumed I could adjust them once installed but later figured out that’s not the case...

[Jimmy]

In my experience Koni ships them at full soft, but someone who has handled many sets of them may have something different to say.

 

As far as setting, there is no one "correct" setting, that's why they're adjustable in the first place. Besides spring stiffness, your dampers have to contend with controlling the motion of your wheel and tire package, the combined weight of which varies immensely, then there's the weight of whichever brake setup you have etc. Big heavy wheels with big heavy brake kits need more damping than skinny little stock 13s.

 

When I get around to installing mine, which may be next winter at this rate,  I'm going to set the fronts at exactly half and the rears at slightly more than exactly half and drive it to see what I think. 

 

Cheers.

[irdave]

What I said, except that apparently I keep forgetting that there are shocks that are adjustable that aren't easily adjustable...

Edited January 26, 2021 by irdave

[Wah]

Thanks... yes, as far as I know, they have to be removed to be adjusted, so doing 1/2 turns and testing really isn't realistic for me.   Does anyone know how may full turns it takes to go from full soft to full stiff?  

[TobyB]

On the yellows, it's 1 3/4 turns or so from full solid to full soft.

 

Or is that 2 3/4?  I forget.  I always record it in 'clicks from hard'.

 

You can easily tell when you adjust it- spin it one way, then spin it the other.

 

The only adjustable I ever used that was not externally adjustable was the

Koni Red, a non- gas shock that you compress fully to adjust.

Is that how yours are?

 

t

 

[Wah]

17 minutes ago, TobyB said:

On the yellows, it's 1 3/4 turns or so from full solid to full soft.

 

Or is that 2 3/4?  I forget.  I always record it in 'clicks from hard'.

 

You can easily tell when you adjust it- spin it one way, then spin it the other.

 

The only adjustable I ever used that was not externally adjustable was the

Koni Red, a non- gas shock that you compress fully to adjust.

Is that how yours are?

 

t

 

Yes, for the front struts, you use an Allen key to turn the end of the shaft while fully compressed.  For the rear shocks, you remove the internal bump stop, then compress fully and turn.  I'll probably just set them at 50% and call it a day.  I was just wondering what other people with Koni/H&R springs used to reduce the chance I will need to pull them again to adjust them since I understand dampening needs to be somewhat matched with spring rates. 

[Wah]

Just for future reference...

 

The front struts turn 2 and a half turns from full soft to full firm.  I set them at 1.5 turns starting from full soft.

 

The rear shocks turn 2 and a quarter turns from full soft to full firm.  I tried to set them both at 1.5 turns from soft but they felt completely different.  I discovered that one of them is defective because it doesn't really feel any different when I adjust them. Ugh. 

[D Seattle]

15 hours ago, Wah said:

Does anyone know how may full turns it takes to go from full soft to full stiff?  

 

Thats what she said...

 

 

Sorry.  This string was begging for that.

[TobyB]

22 hours ago, Wah said:

Just for future reference...

 

The front struts turn 2 and a half turns from full soft to full firm.  I set them at 1.5 turns starting from full soft.

 

The rear shocks turn 2 and a quarter turns from full soft to full firm.  I tried to set them both at 1.5 turns from soft but they felt completely different.  I discovered that one of them is defective because it doesn't really feel any different when I adjust them. Ugh. 

Make sure it's engaging- I remember having a heck of a time with the reds.

 

And yes, my recent experience with Koni has been less than 100%.

They will warranty it out, but it takes a while if you're not willing to

do a paid up- front exchange.  If they DO that, keep poking at them-

otherwise, they seem to 'forget' that they were waiting for Koni EU to

'okay' the replacement and refund your money.

 

t

 

[Wah]

1 hour ago, TobyB said:

Make sure it's engaging- I remember having a heck of a time with the reds.

 

And yes, my recent experience with Koni has been less than 100%.

They will warranty it out, but it takes a while if you're not willing to

do a paid up- front exchange.  If they DO that, keep poking at them-

otherwise, they seem to 'forget' that they were waiting for Koni EU to

'okay' the replacement and refund your money.

 

t

 

It was definitely engaging because I was turning it 2 and a quarter turns, lock to lock.  I spoke with Koni this morning about it and my experience was also less than 100%.  He basically told me that I can not tell by compressing and extending it by hand if the adjustment was doing anything (even though on the working shock, it is obvious there is more resistance when I turned it to full firm).  I don't know, I'm no expert...  but why do three shocks behave differently from that one?