Koni Yellows with TRD lowering springs

[morrisonmagic]

So I am now a proud owner of a 2015 FRS Base and do about 5-6 track events a year all around California. I am 47 and have been using the Koni setup on 5 different cars, currently a 128i and have found these to be simply the best of all worlds for the money. I have another car currently with KW variant 3's with chassis braces, upgraded bushings, and a ton more. Why do I mention all of these things? To let you know I have a good base of knowledge in the following review:

The Koni Yellow top adjustable dampening Strut on this car is about perfect for daily driving and track. Matched with the spring rates of the TRD lowering springs the ride quality is at least as good as stock but more planted on uneven road surfaces. I am running AD08 R's in a 17x45 225 on front and rear with new Enki PF01 wheels in 17x7.5 45mm offset. I have also upgraded the sway bars to the TRD bars in front and rear to keep the balance of the car. I am getting zero understeer with this setup an a nice linear drift with a tiny bit of oversteer. The adjustment of the Koni's is very important that you don't over dampen them. I think the perfect setup is one turn from full soft in the rear and one and a half from full soft on the front.

Unless you are going to spend a few thousand dollars on Olins I would highly recommen this setup for track day enthusiast and performance oriented drivers. Great daily driving comfort, it would be hard to improve on this set up. Neil at the Racers Line in Concord did the install for me and he was amazed at how well this setup felt. I would highly recommend him to anyone looking for work on their car in the Bay Area.

[Carlysh]

Nice info man i am planning t run them in the future since i have swift spring brz spec waiting for installing

[sroby]

Hey partner I too am interested in the Koni dampers. Did they finally come out with the front ones that are direct replacement. Or if not what do you have to do to make them work. Who gave you the best pricing, and can you give me the part numbers you installed. Best regards Steve

[morrisonmagic]

Originally Posted by sroby

Hey partner I too am interested in the Koni dampers. Did they finally come out with the front ones that are direct replacement. Or if not what do you have to do to make them work. Who gave you the best pricing, and can you give me the part numbers you installed. Best regards Steve

I just bought them from Tire Rack. They are on Sale. Make sure to by the more expensive ones not the inserts. They are significantly better. No fitmwnt problems at all but you will need a set of Suburu camber bolts if you want to adjust camber in the front. I would reach out to Neil at Racers Line in Concord CA. He can let you know what camber bolt kit works with them.

Just remember you don't want to have a drop of more than an inch and a quarter with Koni's The TRD springs drop an inch and an eighth and the spring rate works very well with the dampening.

• front Left
• Housing: Strut Housing
• Externally Adjustable
• Manufacturer Part #: 8741-1560LSPORT

• Front Right
• Housing: Strut Housing
• Externally Adjustable
• Manufacturer Part #: 8741-1560RSPORT

• Rear
• Housing: Shock Housing
• Externally Adjustable
• Manufacturer Part #: 8041-1416SPORT

[sroby]

Thanks so much partner, I have the info I am ordering them if they are open. Best regards Steve

[morrisonmagic]

Originally Posted by sroby

Thanks so much partner, I have the info I am ordering them if they are open. Best regards Steve

If you haven't already upgraded your sway bars the TRD set is very well made and a very nice complete setup with bracket supports. Most importantly I feel they maintain what I feel is a really good balance of the car. You will find however nothing beats a good set of tires. I have tried them all and the Yokohama AD08 R's are the best tire I have ever used. They have amazing grip. They cut 3 seconds off my lap time at Sonoma where I ran Pilot Super Sports before. One of the best things about them is they also run almost a full size larger than other tires in Thread width. The 225 is 8.9 inches wide.

[sroby]

I have indeed I went with the hotchis adjustable bars. Thx Steve

[OB18C1Z]

I have this setup as well but I haven't installed it yet. The stuff actually just came in today. Is the car so low with the TRD springs that it is difficult to go over speed bumps? From the pictures the fender gaps look good and the car does not seem overly slammed. However, I drive a ton and I don't want to have to think constantly about bottoming out.

Thanks

[morrisonmagic]

Originally Posted by OB18C1Z

I have this setup as well but I haven't installed it yet. The stuff actually just came in today. Is the car so low with the TRD springs that it is difficult to go over speed bumps? From the pictures the fender gaps look good and the car does not seem overly slammed. However, I drive a ton and I don't want to have to think constantly about bottoming out.

Thanks

You will have Zero clearance issues on speed bumps. It leaves about 1+ inch wheel gap. The drop is exactly 1 1/8 inch. I have the driveway from hell and have no problem getting in and out. That all being said exit driveways and any other exits with caution. No need to find out by scraping that you did it wrong. I really think you will love this setup.

[OB18C1Z]

Originally Posted by morrisonmagic

You will have Zero clearance issues on speed bumps. It leaves about 1+ inch wheel gap. The drop is exactly 1 1/8 inch. I have the driveway from hell and have no problem getting in and out. That all being said exit driveways and any other exits with caution. No need to find out by scraping that you did it wrong. I really think you will love this setup.

Awesome, thanks for the info. Hopefully I can get time to install this stuff soon.

[omoulton]

Thanks for the great review. I'm curious if you did the install yourself? If you did would you mind a couple of off line questions? Thanks.

[JazzleSAURUS]

WRT Rideheight: I run the Swift springs on '13 struts and the height is excellent.

I plan on swapping my '15 Struts onto these springs as my understanding is they've got a bit more dampening, and eventually going with some Koni's.
@Carlysh let me know how the Swifts and Koni's feel, as I intend to go that route!

[Jonsey]

Originally Posted by JazzleSAURUS

WRT Rideheight: I run the Swift springs on '13 struts and the height is excellent.

I plan on swapping my '15 Struts onto these springs as my understanding is they've got a bit more dampening, and eventually going with some Koni's.
@Carlysh let me know how the Swifts and Koni's feel, as I intend to go that route!

I have run the Swift Spec Rs and Konis on my car for two years now. They are incredible in the track. Every time someone new rides in my car they always compliment the on track handling. The ride is pretty stiff on the street, my wife doesn't particularly care for it, but it doesn't bother me much. It would be nice to have coilovers simply for clearance purposes, but otherwise I don't think I would see much improvement in handling unless I went to something much more expensive. I track on the same track w/ the GSpeed guys and our fastest lap times were within a tenth of each other with very similar mods except they were on Tarmac 2s.

[JazzleSAURUS]

Awesome feedback, thanks @Jonsey.

I'm used to stiff uncomfortable cars on the street. I daily'd my full built Forester XT for 4 years with coils, most of the bushings swapped with poly, big bars, etc, so the BRZ with swifts and a few bushings is like a cadillac as far as I'm concerned!! If I need to soften it up, I'm sure I can dial the Koni's back enough to get closer to the stock struts for street, and crank them up when I go to the autox or hit the local track.