New Koni Struts - ugh
 

I received my new Koni struts today ordered from MaximalPerformance.com. I was really looking forward to installing them with my new Eibach Prokits (also received yesterday) until I opened the rear strut box...

No shipping protection:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Y...photo+1-13.JPG



Lots of damage:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-j.../photo+3-7.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-X.../photo+4-6.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2.../photo+5-4.JPG



Shoddy paint job - they couldn't even finish painting one of the struts

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-8...photo+1-12.JPG



Compared to the fronts, which appeared to be packaged much better with no visible damage:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-C...photo+2-14.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-x.../photo+3-9.JPG

Needless to say, if this has ANY reflection on the quality of the shocks then I am VERY concerned. Can anyone else that purchased Koni struts shout out and let me know if they also arrived damaged? I have a track day next weekend and I really wanted to install these this weekend but now I'm second guessing the Koni decision.

Ugh!

ive read quite a few posts of people who are blowing these fairly often.

New Koni Struts - ugh
 

I was a little concerned with the chipped paint on my Koni yellows when they arrived as well, but haven't had any problems with them in the past year. You will rarely ever see the shocks after installation. As long as the seals look okay you should be fine.

Thanks. So yours arrived "new" in similar condition?

Yeah I wouldn't worry too much about the paint (although I agree they should try to paint them so that wouldn't happen).

Box.
Return.
Get Bilsteins.
Never get Konis ever again.
Live happily ever after.
The End.

Knock on wood, but the Koni Yellows I got for my Camaro a few years ago are holding up nicely, though I do remember poor shipping protection and the shoddy paint job.

.

A polar bear goes to the artic supermarket where he buys some ice cream, and when he comes back, his car won't start - there's oil all over the road - so he calls a mechanic. To save his ice cream melting, he decides to eat it and ends up devouring the lot.

So he's sitting there with an empty box of ice cream and the remains all round his mouth when the mechanic turns up. The mechanic says to the polar bear 'at first look, it looks pretty obvious to me that you've blown a seal'.

The polar bear wipes his mouth indignantly and says 'nah, it's only ice cream'.

That damaged paint is on the rubber part, and would do the same cracking immediately after install anyways.

Look's only cosmetic.

For $600-800 shock cartridges and struts depending where you purchased that is just poor quality control on Koni's end. Why would they paint the body after pressing in the bushings?

I'd install with the cosmetic blemishes, only you will know.

Thanks guys. I certainly can't complain about the price...even lower (shipped) than what @coupeae86 guestimated. Terry @ MaximalPerformance followed up with some good service but I'm going to install them anyways assuming its only cosmetic and utilize the lifetime warranty if its not.

The paint chipping on the bushing is not damage. The konis looked the same when I put them on my MS6. Never had a problem with them. Those struts really transformed the car.

I have koni yellow rears in my car as well. They arrived looking just like yours, with the same packaging as yours.

my car is Bagged, and i drive it hard, and they handle great with no issues.

because not to be too rough when turning the damping on them.


also, for anyone with Bilsteins, I wont knock the quality of the shock, however good luck EVER getting something covered under warranty. I work for a tuning shop, and getting bilstein to cover something under warranty is nearly impossible. Koni is 1 phone call and you have a strut overnighted to you.

just my 2 cents. enjoy!

If you decide to cross-ship the shock...which they charge you FULL price for one shock. Granted you should get that money back when they receive your shock for warranty, but they do take their sweet time with warranty work.