FRS Koni GTS install comments

[blueovalz]

Just received my Koni GTS shocks, and wanted to share thoughts on them:

Background: Have a '15 FRS with Koni inserts that were lowered in the strut tubes (only 1") so that I'd have the same usable shock travel vs the OEM ride height on my lowered FRS, but to my surprise, the Koni inserts only lasted about 90K miles. Due to the oil leaking out of the inserts, I was starting to drag the front end whenever I'd leave parking lots, so in raising the front end a little to gain some additional clearance, I realized the problem was the dampers (oil everywhere), and not the ride height. Because Koni no longer makes the inserts, my Ground Control coilover assembly was no longer useable, so I purchased the GTS struts as a replacement for the entire strut assembly.

Install: Install was pretty straight-forward. All top-hat parts are replaced by the attached Koni camber plate. Everything else was truly "bolt on" in that no modifications were needed with this being a direct replacement for the OEM struts. That doesn't happen very often with aftermarket performance parts. My ride height was not changed (still running 24.9" front/25.5" rear on the wheel arch height above ground) for this install, but to obtain that value, I did have to raise the Koni spring perches up by two turns from the original "as received" setting. I run camber bolts on my front, which left the car at -1.8º with a neutral camber plate setting. This allowed the Koni camber plates to pick up the slack to a final value of -2.8º camber at full inboard adjustment of the plates (These values are my street values, don't degrade the tires unevenly across the tread, and the ride height prevents 99% of any dragging on the front).

Things I didn't like, or felt should be redesigned by Koni:
1) Lower spring perch locking screw. This should be a pinch-bolt design rather than a grub screw that tights against the soft threads of the threaded tube. The current design promotes distortion of the threads if the perch is ever lowered down below where the grub screw made contact with the threads.
2) The most aggravating thing about the install was the Koni instructions concerning ride height. Koni makes it clear that if the user doesn't have the proper ride height range set in, they will not honor warranty. The problem is all of their diagrams on how to measure the operating range limits omit any values. So the assumption for me was that one must measure the extended length, and then subtract the stroke, to determine were the full bump limit is, mark this compressed limit on the strut rod, then lower the car onto the suspension to determine if the user is within the range required. It would be nice if Koni were to put some actual values from the various measuring points, into the instructions, rather that simply saying in a table "x value is .....", and if you exceed this, good luck on any warranty.
3) A lot of others gripe about the plastic handle for the dampening adjustment, but Koni has had these for decades, and the handle is fine, just don't be stupid about turning is past the limits of the shock screw.

What I liked about the swap:
1) Extremely simple installation. I think it took more time to jack the car up and back down, and to set the camber bolts back to the original setting, then it took to swap the struts out.
2) Ride quality is fantastic again (on the front only, because I haven't swapped the rears out yet). No more dragging coming out of parking lots (or doing it a 2 mph to keep it off the ground, even at the same ride height I had before.
3) Optimistic that these will have the same Koni quality that I experienced on cars I built back in the '80s and beyond. But things change, so crossing my fingers.
4) The 2.25" ID springs allow slightly more clearance between the tire sidewall than my previous 2.5" ID springs prior to this install. For those that don't have a perfectly offset wheel, that can make a difference. BTW, a plug for APEX wheels 42mm offset, 17x9" wheels (with 245 wide tires). A perfect fit, and it uses the FRS center caps.

Things I might change further down the road: Spring rate, maybe. Koni advertises these to be 350/400 lb/in springs (F/R). I had 275 lb springs on the front prior to this change, so will put a few miles on this before deciding on if a rate change is desired. As of this writing, the damping appears to be well matched to the supplied springs, so Koni didn't go crazy with a overly stiff spring. That was a big concern when I looked at other aftermarket coilover kits.

[NoHaveMSG]

May be a good idea to source some tipped grub screws if it didn’t come with them. Less risk of damaging threads and I find they don’t back off as easy.