Koni Suspension Components
 

I got antsy waiting for Koni coilovers, so I decided to email Koni personally. For those of you waiting on Koni products like me, this is great news. :thumbup:

I've always run Koni products on my car, whether it's on the track or on the road. I can't wait to see what they will be coming out with!

Dale

The last I heard, for just shocks, Koni will start with an insert (you will have to gut the stock housings), then bring a full replacement to market after all the tooling gets ramped up. I've done inserts before, and they aren't too bad.

I personally hate inserts, but Koni makes some great dampers. Konis (or Bilstein Sports) with Ground Controls should be a great setup once they are all available.

I bet it is going to be an insert for the front, and a bolt in for the rear.

I ran this exact setup on my D Street Prepared 2002 VW GTI and won just about every autocross I entered by a good second or two. I'm considering a similar setup for this car as the control arms look like they could take a 20mm-30mm drop.

Ground Control has a kit almost ready to go using Koni Race shocks. Once I have it, I'll post info and pictures :)

Yeah the GC setup uses an insert into their own strut housing for the front. Koni hasn't made a true strut replacement for Subarus for a long time since the volume wasn't there but lots of folks use their inserts and they aren't hard to install. Maybe with Toyota on board they will make a true front strut replacement. Finding some takeoff struts isn't too hard but an added expense.

Turn In Concepts will be testing these soon with our RCE Yellow springs. Very excited.

I run Koni Yellows on my MINI and love them.

- Andrew

In talking with Koni, they have told us that Koni engineers in holland only want to do a "cut n gut" style damper on the front because of all the brackets on the factory damper. No talks on doing a 100% straight replacement. The rear should a direct bolt in.

Hopefully they play well with stock springrates for us RTR/CS guys

Yup, not bad if you dont ever want to re-use your stock fronts again.....kind of a pain though.

Lame! You would like to think that with the potential numbers from the FR-S alone, they would be more forward thinking than that....

They are generally built and valved for the stock springs since they assume that's what you'll be using. Getting them revalved is not all that expensive either if you want something custom. I know a number of vendors are working with Koni on setups including Sam Strano who has CS/RTR in mind.

Whatever KONI comes out with for the FRZ / BRZ will be top notch as they always are.

I had inserts on my 2006 WRX wagon, they work well, the whole process of using a pipe cutter to do it was a PITA

I already bought a set of fronts from a coil over installer so I could have a set to put the pipe cutter to.

the GC kit I PM'd you on, using koni race shocks is an altogether different setup right? no cut n gut there right, or is THAT what we are talking about?

No Cut N Gut, In fact your stock Strut and shock assemblies will not even be disassembled

awesome...and on board!

Spoke with Koni at SEMA.

They confirmed this will NOT be an insert but a full dampener replacement.

:)

:happyanim:

That's awesome news!

- drew

I've been working with Koni on this... Koni Holland and Koni NA tend to go back and forth a bit. Koni NA wants a full strut, Holland wanted an insert because making all the brackets can be a big of a problem at times. I've been through this a lot with the Mustang stuff and issues with outsourced brackets being hard for Koni Holland to get.

I haven't spoken to Lee for a few weeks, it seems someone saw him @ SEMA. I hope it is a complete strut, but whatever it is I'm sure the valving will be on the money as it usually is.

Koni has my OEM stuff there in Kentucky to use to compare things. Koni NA knew I had them off the car (I saw Lee Grimes @ SCCA Solo Nationals) and he asked if they could borrow them for measurements, fitting, etc. Being that I'm a big Koni fan myself, I was happy to do it to help the process.

Anyway, when they're ready I'm sure you'll sell lots and lots of spam about it, and I'll have to advertise it too. In the end I can offer two things that most can't. Experience with Autocross (winning experience) and with Koni's (since almost all my National Championships have been on their dampers).

What do we have here. . . .

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/--...r%2520koni.jpg


Koni is working with us on getting out some BRZ/FRS stuff. . . .

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-F...ar%2520dmp.jpg

The initial run of dampers from Koni will be inserts. They expect to have full replacements available late second quarter. The rear is a complete replacement.

Koni Yellows with RCE Yellow springs looks good. :thumbsup:

Myles is totally a Bilstein guy but I really like the Konis on my Mini.

TIC, are you able to get at the adjustment for the rears without removing the shocks?

- Andrew

That's fantastic that you're also testing with the RCE Yellows.

Any word on additional perch (height) adjustment and/or rebound adjustment like they have on the S2000 damper replacements?

Oh SNAP! So you're confirming there is adjustment? :party0030: :happyanim::happyanim:

Are they supporting on car adjustment for the rears? The take shock off car and remove spring to adjust concept doesn't work for me.

The adjustment for those isn't on the top like with the inserts?

And TIC what do you guys have in the front?

I'm just assuming so since it's like that on most Koni Yellows. I don't think they'll have perch adjustment circlips.

On my Mini you need to remove the shock, but do not need to remove the spring from the shock. It's on the top you just can't get to it. It is a pain but not a dealbreaker. I'm fairly sure you can get in there through the top on a Subaru but I do not know how the Koni adjuster looks for this car (i.e. if you need their big adjuster knob or whatever). I have not seen it first hand so I hope TIC can shed some light on this.

- Andrew

Just looked it up. Adjustment is on the top and should be fairly easy to get to. Worst case you'd trim a little carpet to make access easier.

Did that sound dirty to anyone else?

It would be nice if ground control just sold the lower housings for the front. Then you could buy those along with a set of konis and not have to do any cutting. Not that it's that hard and at least you don't have to do it to all four like with the old WRX.

FSD's would be awesome.

lol i was thinking the same thing

You're talking about the GC threaded shaft inserts right? The one that basically takes the stock Koni damper and adds height adjustability to it?

I just spoke with the 3 Koni reps today at SEMA - The first run WILL be Inserts only front and the shocks rear.

They are looking into a full strut up front but that will be determined in the future.

We will have something for you guys on Koni stuff and options here in the near future, hopefully maybe 4-6 weeks.

The adjustment in the rear is easy to get to. Just pull the carpet back a bit. The fronts are also pretty easy, but with the original camber plates we have we can't use the adjustment knobs. The NEW (wait till you guys see these!) camber plates allow for enough room on the nut to use the provided knobs.

There is no perch height adjustment like on some koni shocks.

They work amazingly well with the RCE yellows that we have on the car. The yellows feel pretty good on the stock dampers, but used on the konis there is a heightened level of grip. The level of control over the stock dampers when hitting large bumps is amazing.

Tony

nice KONI shocks :)

BTW what wheels are on that BRZ

18x9.5 +30 Linea Corse Le Mans

Tony, this is exactly what I was hoping to hear. Thank you.

The stock damper on the RCE Yellows are good, not great (though still better than any stock damper/lowering spring combo i've ever tried on any car). The stock dampers can't handle big bumps or quick undulations in the road. It tends to bottom out and hit the bumpstops pretty quickly; in other words a significant lack of high speed compression/bump damping. I'm hoping you can confirm the Konis improve on this and can relay back to Koni that's the one thing the stock dampers are lacking. The rebound and overall control thru high speed bumpy turns is actually above average on the stock Showa dampers.

Feels good to read that! Thank you. :)

With Konis it's going to be pretty terrific.

- Andrew

I'm still deciding on what to do with my suspension. I've run koni yellows Before and thought the adjustment would be really cool. In the end though, I adjusted it and left it. Will you guys be offering preadjusted packages?