[illmatik]

I'm adjusting my new Koni Yellow Adjustables before I install them on the rear.

Right off the bat, when I've got them both at full soft, one rebounds almost 3 times as fast as the other. I took the one that rebounds fastest and put at at full firm and it still rebounds faster than the one at full soft.

Am I going crazy? I understand that the rears adjust counter clockwise for soft... I put them both at the same setting and it's a world's difference.

I understand that there could be a difference in the two shocks... but having to adjust them at polar opposites to get them even close to matching? What's the deal?

 

[illmatik]

Another thing, the one that rebounds faster than the other... when I set it at 100% stiff.. it still comes out fast unlike the other one which barely even comes out at full stiff. I understand the latter is normal which is why people never set them at full stiff.

Is the shock that rebounds faster faulty?

 

[nightkrawler]

mine are the same way but not to that extreme. i paid less attention to the turns and focused getting both rods to come up out of the body when compressed at the same speed. also according to koni you can run them at full firm. these are really low pressure gas struts, imo they could use some more compression damping. anyway call koni and ask them about the issue, they are very knowledgeable and will be able to get you sorted.

 

[illmatik]

Well I've been running on these shocks for about a week now. I set both of them at about a 1/4th turn from soft.

I feel like something isn't quite right with my rear end. Feels like one side is stiffer than the other resulting in a sort of a wobble when I'm over harsh or uneven roads. I'm definitely concerned that one of the shocks was defective. Reading through another forum topic, another gentleman with the same problem seemed to have his replaced by Koni under warranty: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/testing-konis-by-hand/51038/page1/

I left Koni a voicemail. Huge bummer that there's a good chance the shock will need to come out and I'll need another alignment... but after spending all this time and money it needs to be right.

Anyone ever seen something like this with a brand new shock? I'll be sure to keep you guys posted with my updates.

 

[userX]

Wait for some more knowledgeable guys to verify, but I don't think you'll need another alignment if you're just replacing the rears, depending on how you swap them. If you do loosen up the swing arm at the carrier, be sure to make some accurate alignment marks on the cam bolt and I'd think you'd be good to go. Though it certainly does suck to have to pull those guys again, but at least it's fresh in your head.

 

[nightkrawler]

you don't need another alignment and don't touch the bolt on the swing arm when you remove the strut, no need to. remove the upper control arm, just make sure when you re-install it you torque the bolt on it with the suspension loaded. there is a video on youtube of a guy with a failed koni strut, he has it in a vise and shows how easy it can be compressed compared to the other side. Koni rear shock issue - YouTube

 

[illmatik]

Well I spoke with someone at Koni and they agreed there is probably something wrong with the shock. What concerned him the most was that it rebounded quickly although set at full firm. Filling out warranty paperwork now.

What a pain.

 

[ard]

Any update on this issue? I just installed a set and cannot get a decent ride. THREE installs and removals with adjustment. Finally I am of the opinion that the rebound does not change- even on full soft they are very stiff. Far stiffer than the stock units, and far stiffer than the compression.

The car is un drivable, lots of harshness.

Ill talk to Koni this week

 

[lightwerkz]

Did you compress shock piston ALL THE WAY in and then make an adjustment?

BTW, not good to set on extreme ends.

These will be stiffer than the stock units, did you expect them to be softer?

 

[userX]

As lightwerkz said, they have to be absolutely bottomed for the adjustment notch to catch and it took me a few tries to figure it out. You can watch the rod rebound speed after adjustment to verify you're doing it correctly. I put the rod just below the threads in a bench vice to change the settings on mine according to the Dinan recommendations. Ride is flawless. Sorry to hear about having to pull them that many times, hope you left the interior apart.

 

[Dking078]

The KONIS should be at equal rebound when at equal turns (maybe a bit of +/-) but not to your extreme.

I had a similar problem when I was installing my rear shocks. One was set at 3/4 from soft and the other close to it. Keep in mind i did all adjusting long before installing. After a playing around with it trying to get them equal, all of a sudden 1 shock went super firm for no reason. Literally next to 0 movement. It was as if the shock got stuck on full firm. Adjusting it to full firm or soft made little to no difference.
Strangely enough the other shock failed soon after I started talking with KONI, so i just sent in both.

Since the were practically brand new, I sent them off to KONI USA and they ended up warranting them under failed adjusting mechanism. They warrantied both shocks and I slapped em at 3/4, eye balled it, stuck em in never to touch again and knocked on wood.

 

[ard]

Thanks for the quick feedback.

Yes, they were FULLLLLLLYYYY compressed to make the adjustment. Two of us working on it. Adult doubled over, with tip of rod on a block of wood, half body weight on shoct to hold it down Vicegrips on end to affect the adjustment. We did it 3-4 times to start to get the feel, understand the range, etc. Almost no difference in handling (bone jarring at times) between 1/8 from full soft up to 1.25 turns. We spend a lot of time trying to get a sense of the compression vs rebound, and they just never felt right.

Yes, I left the interior apart. I expected ONE 'go round' to dial it in...)

Hey, good news is that I can get two shocks out and back in, in about 1.5 hours. Including loading the suspension and tightening under load....

Project was: Subframe bushes (4) diff bushes (3) diff seals (input plus 2 outputs), new CV joint, new center bearing, new guibo, trans + motor mounts, integral links, both control arms, sway bushes, ball joints, shocks (plus all shock parts (rubber, top bearing)

Funny- Raced down to the alignment place yesterday afternoon after buttoning it up for the 2nd time- trying to get there before they closed at 4PM (a full service tire shop) and I was clearly the dirtiest guy in the building! Easy.



Ive seen some other "koni issues" posts elsewhere.... really pisses me off.

thx again

A

 

[nightkrawler]

went through the same kind of issues with mine, thats why i went to bilsteins. the compression is not adjustable so you only have rebound to work with. the adjusting mechanism is just a bad design, period. not made to keep messing with. my advice is set them right in the middle and leave them alone. or get them so they both extend a close to the same speed as possible. imo the compression damping is way lacking on these. imo these just cant handle lowering springs that.

 

[ard]

T After a playing around with it trying to get them equal, all of a sudden 1 shock went super firm for no reason. Literally next to 0 movement. It was as if the shock got stuck on full firm. Adjusting it to full firm or soft made little to no difference.
.

I think this may be what is going on. When they were new, they would extend on their own. I cycled the adjustment to the extremes (being very careful not to force anything) so understand the range and check settings....and now they are rock hard on rebound. They will not 'self' extend, must be pulled.

Sigh. I'll remove when I get home Wednesday. A local shop offered to check them out to see if I am doing something wrong... Tempted to order a replacement set just in case, cost me some shipping if I am wrong but saves a week... hmmm.

 

[nightkrawler]

if they won't extend then you have them stuck on full firm. fyi looking at the strut in its installed position(rod pointing up) they adjust opposite from the fronts. i don't remember which way the fronts go, iirc turn right to go firmer, don't remember? the rears are opposite though. do yourself a favor, sell the konis and get some bilsteins. konis aren't on sale anymore so they're like around $1k, the bilsteins can be had for a hair under $600. i got the sports and imo the ride and stance is perfect. the konis compression damping also is awful.

 

[blackxs]

I'm experiencing similar failures on adjustable Koni Yellows on another car of mine. I thought it was just the set I had but after reading this, think I'll go with Bilsteins for replacements. Good thread - thanks guys.

 

[illmatik]

Any update on this issue? I just installed a set and cannot get a decent ride. THREE installs and removals with adjustment. Finally I am of the opinion that the rebound does not change- even on full soft they are very stiff. Far stiffer than the stock units, and far stiffer than the compression.

The car is un drivable, lots of harshness.

Ill talk to Koni this week

Sorry to hear about your troubles man, I do know how you feel.

As for my situation, it still leaves me scratching my head. I called Koni and described to them my issues in detail. Same as yours... the adjuster seemed to minimally adjust the rebound if at all. When this shock was set at full stiff, it still came out as fast as the other one set at full soft.

Weeks later I got the replacement and pulled out the bum shock... only now it was different. The problem with adjustment seemed to have fixed itself. Setting it at full stiff it barely rebounded, as is normal. It definitely did not do this before it went in.

I did note, and had a few other people confirm that this weird shock didn't take as much effort to compress as the other shocks. I sent it back to Koni hoping they would still honor the warranty and this was the message I got:

Adjuster worked fine. Bump setting was found to be slightly out of spec. Accepted due to that.

My car handles pretty good now... but I've fixed a handful of other things so I'm really not sure how much the weird Koni contributed to my problems, if at all. Hope this helps and good luck with getting your issues sorted out!

 

[ard]

Well, put the brand new koni yellows on a shock dyno.

Compression on one was 1/3 of the other. Rebound at full soft and hard was matched. (Thanks to a local suspension manufacturer )

So defective out of the box. FML

$60 to expedite them back to Koni ...I am asking for a 'matched and tested pair' returned to me. I need this car on the road, now down two sets of wheels....



They were skeptical on the phone- something between 'it must be you, it must be your car, you arent adjusting it right' ....to 'what do you expect these are sport dampers'. When I said Ground Control tested them, that got some attention. Then they quibbled over values and test methods (specifically the compression rate) but I pointed out "It doesnt matter what compression speed they use, you CANNOT have one at a third of the other and they meet spec!!!!" the response "yeah, I guess so"

I'll update this as it resolves..

 

[CSBM5]

Lucky you have GC nearby to test them! Crazy poor quality control from brand new Konis.

 

[nightkrawler]

guys, koni's $uck, their customer support $ucks, end of story. i've had the same problems with them as everyone else. they are not a aggressive well built sport damper, the are as koni support describes them "a low pressure gas shock". i'd go with monroes before koni again. you want a shock that is going to perform and outlast the car itself, get some bilsteins. god look at the size of the rod on the front bilstein, its huge! internal bump stops, just a well made shock and quite affordable. my rear billys are over 10yrs old and have prob close to a 100k on them and they perform like new. the 10yr old billy had twice as much if not more compression damping than the out of box koni. fyi the bump stop not fitting issue on the konis is fixable, you need iirc bump stops from a non sport e39.