Koni Coilover Kit Install and Review..... (Long)
05-24-2003, 05:04 PM
#1
AudiWorld Super User
Thread Starter
Koni Coilover Kit Install and Review..... (Long)
<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/45523/koni_and_ssr.jpg"></center><p>
Koni Coilover kit Review..
I just got and installed the new Koni Coil-over kit for my 02 A4 (thanks to a great deal from a friend at Koni).
The following is my impression.
Koni is long known in racing circles as a premier maker of racing shocks. Many 'Touring' type racecars use shocks with adjustable spring perches to adjust ride height and the corner balance of the car (Usually called 'coil-overs'). Koni recently came out with a compete set for the 02-03 A4 using threaded shocks with aluminum spring plates in the front, and aluminum threaded spring jacks in the rear to adjust the height. The springs are progressive, meaning that the more you compress them, the stiffer they get which allows for a reasonably soft ride until you start pushing the car. The front shocks appear to be high pressure gas, and the rears simply oil. I'm not sure of the impact of this, or why they would mix types.
Hits:
- Koni name, Koni yellow shocks
Misses and Why you should care:
- Kit, threads on the shock tops etc. were dirty. Plating on front shocks absent from the hole where oil is put into the shocks. Why does this matter? Sloppy manufacturing process control. I wonder what gunk is INSIDE the shocks?
- Springs are not race springs, but just regular street springs. Race springs are smaller, lighter, inexpensive, and you get get them in any spring rate you want in 25lb increments (and can get from all sorts of places if you want to experiment). They are also much more accurate in spring rate than street style springs due to uniform construction.
- Springs are not flat ground. Spring sits crooked on the perch, making it extremely difficult to adjust due to the side loads. Puts additional side load on the shock rod and seal inhibiting smooth movement and increasing wear. Adjusting the height causes the squared off end of the spring to dig into the spring perch and tear it up as you adjust it. Having to adjust the perch when on the car tears it up, ruining the look that you paid for in the first place.
- Springs appear to be painted, not powder coated. Will quickly chip and rust, and don't look as nice as do powder coated springs (like Eibach)
- Springs are pre-loaded. Extremely difficult to adjust installed in the car due to spring pressure. Others with main springs and spring 'tenders' are easy to adjust with suspension at full droop). Rears difficult to install or remove without an expensive ($700) spring compressor (cheapie tools won't fit). The only alternative is to take the suspension apart which takes more time and makes it very likely you will need an alignment when you are done.
- Adjusters are dangerous to use with provided tool, and barely possible in any case. Notch style tool easily slips (if you can move it at all, even with slobbering the provided grease all over) making it very likely you will injure yourself or your car (I had to get another tool). The spring perch gets all cut up from use of the tool. Pin type wrenchs hold much better and reduce chances of injury.
- Rear adjustable spring perches are on the bottom of the spring. On the 02 and up A4, the adjuster ends up sitting in a little well. The tool (or any tool) cannot get in there, meaning you have to take the spring out every time you want to adjust the rear height unless you start with the perch at its maximum height and work down from there.
- Front shocks not painted or coated, only cadmium plating which is incomplete. The shocks will begin to rust immediately.
- Rear shocks painted not powder coated. Will chip and rust immediately. Chipped during install, and were sloppily painted.
- Shocks not adjustable as installed. This is huge - there are no external adjusters, and you must completely compress the shock to adjust it. Because the springs being there prevent this, you must complete disassemble the front suspension (basically no benefit at all). In the rear, the lower mount has to be removed, which is not too bad, but still a pain.
- Shocks not double adjustable. I'm not sure if the adjustment is compression, rebound or both at once, but if you are going to have coil-overs, they should be double adjustable so you can get the handling balance just right, and you should be able to easily adjust them on the car with little or no tools while you are in the pits, or wherever you may want to do it.
Overall:
- Rides decent, handles OK. A little stiff in jounce, yet soft in roll. Time consuming to install and a real pain to adjust (requires complete disassembly). Not (practically) possible to use by making the ride softer for street and stiffer for track. No functional value from the ride height adjustability or shock adjustability.
Difficulty rating for the 'Do it yourselfer' 1-10:
- 7. It takes the right tools, plenty of time, and patience to avoid injury to yourself or your car. Not recommended for the inexperienced.
Recommended for:
- Street posers who want to say they have 'Konis coil-overs'.
My rating 1-10:
- 4
Would I buy again knowing what I know now?:
- No. Keep shopping. Koni should be ashamed of this kit. Wasn't worth it even at the great price I got. Eibach pro kit looks like it has some potential, but I'm not sure of the quality of the shocks (I've had great experience with their springs, on and off track). Perhaps mixing non-adjustable (or better externally adjustable) Konis with Eibach springs or others parts may yield a decent set up.
Koni Coilover kit Review..
I just got and installed the new Koni Coil-over kit for my 02 A4 (thanks to a great deal from a friend at Koni).
The following is my impression.
Koni is long known in racing circles as a premier maker of racing shocks. Many 'Touring' type racecars use shocks with adjustable spring perches to adjust ride height and the corner balance of the car (Usually called 'coil-overs'). Koni recently came out with a compete set for the 02-03 A4 using threaded shocks with aluminum spring plates in the front, and aluminum threaded spring jacks in the rear to adjust the height. The springs are progressive, meaning that the more you compress them, the stiffer they get which allows for a reasonably soft ride until you start pushing the car. The front shocks appear to be high pressure gas, and the rears simply oil. I'm not sure of the impact of this, or why they would mix types.
Hits:
- Koni name, Koni yellow shocks
Misses and Why you should care:
- Kit, threads on the shock tops etc. were dirty. Plating on front shocks absent from the hole where oil is put into the shocks. Why does this matter? Sloppy manufacturing process control. I wonder what gunk is INSIDE the shocks?
- Springs are not race springs, but just regular street springs. Race springs are smaller, lighter, inexpensive, and you get get them in any spring rate you want in 25lb increments (and can get from all sorts of places if you want to experiment). They are also much more accurate in spring rate than street style springs due to uniform construction.
- Springs are not flat ground. Spring sits crooked on the perch, making it extremely difficult to adjust due to the side loads. Puts additional side load on the shock rod and seal inhibiting smooth movement and increasing wear. Adjusting the height causes the squared off end of the spring to dig into the spring perch and tear it up as you adjust it. Having to adjust the perch when on the car tears it up, ruining the look that you paid for in the first place.
- Springs appear to be painted, not powder coated. Will quickly chip and rust, and don't look as nice as do powder coated springs (like Eibach)
- Springs are pre-loaded. Extremely difficult to adjust installed in the car due to spring pressure. Others with main springs and spring 'tenders' are easy to adjust with suspension at full droop). Rears difficult to install or remove without an expensive ($700) spring compressor (cheapie tools won't fit). The only alternative is to take the suspension apart which takes more time and makes it very likely you will need an alignment when you are done.
- Adjusters are dangerous to use with provided tool, and barely possible in any case. Notch style tool easily slips (if you can move it at all, even with slobbering the provided grease all over) making it very likely you will injure yourself or your car (I had to get another tool). The spring perch gets all cut up from use of the tool. Pin type wrenchs hold much better and reduce chances of injury.
- Rear adjustable spring perches are on the bottom of the spring. On the 02 and up A4, the adjuster ends up sitting in a little well. The tool (or any tool) cannot get in there, meaning you have to take the spring out every time you want to adjust the rear height unless you start with the perch at its maximum height and work down from there.
- Front shocks not painted or coated, only cadmium plating which is incomplete. The shocks will begin to rust immediately.
- Rear shocks painted not powder coated. Will chip and rust immediately. Chipped during install, and were sloppily painted.
- Shocks not adjustable as installed. This is huge - there are no external adjusters, and you must completely compress the shock to adjust it. Because the springs being there prevent this, you must complete disassemble the front suspension (basically no benefit at all). In the rear, the lower mount has to be removed, which is not too bad, but still a pain.
- Shocks not double adjustable. I'm not sure if the adjustment is compression, rebound or both at once, but if you are going to have coil-overs, they should be double adjustable so you can get the handling balance just right, and you should be able to easily adjust them on the car with little or no tools while you are in the pits, or wherever you may want to do it.
Overall:
- Rides decent, handles OK. A little stiff in jounce, yet soft in roll. Time consuming to install and a real pain to adjust (requires complete disassembly). Not (practically) possible to use by making the ride softer for street and stiffer for track. No functional value from the ride height adjustability or shock adjustability.
Difficulty rating for the 'Do it yourselfer' 1-10:
- 7. It takes the right tools, plenty of time, and patience to avoid injury to yourself or your car. Not recommended for the inexperienced.
Recommended for:
- Street posers who want to say they have 'Konis coil-overs'.
My rating 1-10:
- 4
Would I buy again knowing what I know now?:
- No. Keep shopping. Koni should be ashamed of this kit. Wasn't worth it even at the great price I got. Eibach pro kit looks like it has some potential, but I'm not sure of the quality of the shocks (I've had great experience with their springs, on and off track). Perhaps mixing non-adjustable (or better externally adjustable) Konis with Eibach springs or others parts may yield a decent set up.
05-24-2003, 05:31 PM
#5
AudiWorld Super User
Thread Starter
Re: BTW, who's CRX is that?
I knew somebody would ask!
Its mine. It will make a Great SCCA IT/A road racer (I already have a Corolla GT-S for that though)..
Want it? I'm going to sell it since I haven't built another garage for all the toys yet.
BTW, Your A4 looks great, but why did you go through all the bother for the track? That old CRX set up for racing will simple wipe the track with you.... There is simply no replacement for light weight. I've been racing for 10 years, and like to do occasional track events in my Corolla. It is absolutely halarious when Vipers, Porsche turbos, M3's etc have to pull over and let me by (except on the front straights!). The only cars that I ever had to work for were a Moderately modified Eclipse AWD turbo, and a highly modified Last gen RX7, both with decent drivers and race tires.
Its mine. It will make a Great SCCA IT/A road racer (I already have a Corolla GT-S for that though)..
Want it? I'm going to sell it since I haven't built another garage for all the toys yet.
BTW, Your A4 looks great, but why did you go through all the bother for the track? That old CRX set up for racing will simple wipe the track with you.... There is simply no replacement for light weight. I've been racing for 10 years, and like to do occasional track events in my Corolla. It is absolutely halarious when Vipers, Porsche turbos, M3's etc have to pull over and let me by (except on the front straights!). The only cars that I ever had to work for were a Moderately modified Eclipse AWD turbo, and a highly modified Last gen RX7, both with decent drivers and race tires.
05-24-2003, 05:46 PM
#6
AudiWorld Super User
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Montreal, Canada
Posts: 18,597
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
True weight is a killer, but you would be surprised to see how this overweight car can compete....
Against smaller and lighter cars. We have some CRXs, Miatas and Type Rs in our club up here and yes they are very fast but in the hands of a good driver(not me) this car can be very close and on some courses faster. It leaves people scratching their heads. one thing about the CRX, it is very tail happy and I've seen many people loose the car when pushed to the limit.
05-24-2003, 06:05 PM
#7
AudiWorld Super User
Thread Starter
Re. weight is a killer
My buddy (works for Koni) put on a track event at Putnam Park in Ill. and let me flog his CRX around.. My Corolla is perfectly neutral at most tracks, and he sets up his CRX ultra stiff in the rear to get it to rotate (being FWD of course)... I took it for a 'spin' - Twice! Glad he wasn't looking.. would have laughed me off the track..
Actually (racign) a top car/driver, I can't run with the CRX anymore. I can hang on power, and the weight is the same, but the suspension is more advanced, the car is wider and lower... I can still finish top 5, but rarely get the top spot anymore. The Corolla is so fun to drive, and so much more durable than anything else, I just can't give it up...
How do you like your brakes? I'm going to do brakes, exhaust and a chip and probably call it good. I want to make sure that the brakes are a lot lighter than the stock ones though to improve the handling (less sprung weight for faster transitions)
Actually (racign) a top car/driver, I can't run with the CRX anymore. I can hang on power, and the weight is the same, but the suspension is more advanced, the car is wider and lower... I can still finish top 5, but rarely get the top spot anymore. The Corolla is so fun to drive, and so much more durable than anything else, I just can't give it up...
How do you like your brakes? I'm going to do brakes, exhaust and a chip and probably call it good. I want to make sure that the brakes are a lot lighter than the stock ones though to improve the handling (less sprung weight for faster transitions)
Trending Topics
05-25-2003, 12:48 AM
#10
Junior Member
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 1,865
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
some questions....koni makes bad c/o, i m considering koni yellow for staying in stock class
so do u think those are good?
how do i get them to adjust? i really gotta make a hole under the hood? coz i see its blocked by some plastic...and the rear too?
what's ur comment on those?
how do i get them to adjust? i really gotta make a hole under the hood? coz i see its blocked by some plastic...and the rear too?
what's ur comment on those?