jakers

I am haveing koni coilovers installed on my car friday at Clark's suspension. Is there anything I should mention to him? How do you adjust the damping, and what's the recommended setting. All the instructions that came with the kit are not english.

MileHighA4

I just have got mine to where I want them after 3 weeks. I recommend setting the back to full soft, and the front to one stiffer than full soft. I'd tell you the best I can, but instead call koni @ 1-800-423-3623(I think) to ask them about adjusting dampening on the struts. You need coil compressers to adjust the front height later on, but the back you can do without them. warning***-when adjusting the koni's, threading the thread up 1/2" does not raise the car/wheelwell 1/2", it is different on the front and back. It just takes some time to get good at. But once you get it (I wouldn't corner weight, I'd just ride height adjust if you do mostly street driving) they ride great, and will out perform many other much much more expensive cars down a curvy mountain road. I would know . If you have any other questions, let me know.
Brannan.

JWG

1. Optional Perch Washers: I would get the optional plastic spring perch washers that Koni makes available for free as they prevent creaking between the steel spring and the red aluminum perch. Contact Gordon Benson at Koni gbenson@koni-na.com.

2. Height: take a black sharpie marker and mark-off 325 & 355 mm from the bottom screw hole on the front shock threads and 95 & 125 mm on the rear shock threads so that your installer does not need to guess about where the recommended settings lie.

3. Dampening: the front and rear shocks have approximately 900-1000 degrees of turn (about 2.5 to 3 turns) in them for dampening. To determine which way is loose and tight, just go to the extremes. At zero, the shock will move with relative ease; at 900+, I could not budge them, even with a vice and tools. Gordon advised me that zero constitutes the soft setting, 180-270 a medium to medium hard setting, and more than 360 degrees will make the ride too harsh for street use (though some AW's say that they like the fully harsh setting 900+, I can only imagine that they will soon break their subframes as it takes many hundreds of PSI to move the shock at that extreme dampening and that force gets transfered through the frame of the car). I went 180 degrees on both my front and rear shocks. I have little body roll and enjoy the added control taking corners at speed, yet my wife can still sleep in the back seat--I do not think that she notices the firmer ride, because it does not feel harsh on the small bumps and dips. The Konis allow for excellent road-feel at the wheel.

4. New Nuts (and Bolts): Whatever your budget, any intelligent life on the plant would advise that you get new nylon-lock nuts wherever you took one off. The nylon may not hold over the life-time of second high-stress tightening. If you have the extra cash, also get new bolts. Finally, remember that the bolt heads always face the rear end of the car and the nuts face the front end of the car, no matter the wheel.

5. If you have any questions contact Gordon at Koni, he helped me a lot.