| Does anyone know the best place to buy some Koni shocks in the UK? (11/99) |
| Try APB on 01270 567177. They are near Crewe so it might be a bit of a trek. I am getting Konis and Eibach springs fitted on Saturday. They took about three weeks to get the parts (they had everything but the rear shocks in stock). I believe they are more expensive than Elite though. (11/99) |
| Or any other makes just as good?? I REALLY need to get my shocks sorted cuz they are toasted. (12/99) |
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My Konis came from Elite .. best deal I could get. Shock absorbers (Koni ex Elite) 360.60 delivered Elite Paul wheels, Russell suspension, 01708 525 577 Suggest you do anti-roll bars from Moss while in there (12/99) |
| well, after waiting for 3 months for the stock to arrive, I finally had new shocks fitted on Saturday!! They were bought from elite for £360 and fitting cost an extra £147 (inc VAT). They did take ages to fit them - about 4 1/2 hours. So I was very cold and bored in their show room for most of Saturday :o( The car is a lot smoother and sharper on bends - feels a lot more stable than before (mind you, my old shocks had done about 35-40k miles!!). I haven't had chance to really throw the car around a few bends yet - it was raining on the way home on Saturday and my drive to work today was behind lots of people doing 40mph... oh well, hopefully I'll get more chance tonight..... quick question...whats the best setting?? (12/99) |
| I had Koni adjustables fitted the other week and was told to leave them for 200 miles before I adjusted them - to allow the seals to embed themselves. Fair enough - and I have left them for 500 miles or so. Went to adjust them last night to see how much difference it would make - easy enough I thought. When turning the adjustable screw, it will turn a max of 2 1/2 times. Then I had a quick look through the instructions and it says 'ATTENTION - shock absorbers can never be full adjusted'. Eh? does this mean that I can't have the shock fully adjusted to either the softest or the hardest settings? So far I've just adjusted it half way, to see what thats like, but what's the point of having the screw turn 2 1/2 times if you can't adjust it that much??? (12/99) |
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Eh? does this mean that I can't have the shock fully adjusted to either the softest or the hardest settings? Koni defines the hardest setting as one turn from soft. So far I've just adjusted it half way, to see what thats like, but what's the point of having the screw turn 2 1/2 times if you can't adjust it that much??? No point. You can e.g. put 50 PSI or so in your tyres, but why would you want that? If "half" means 1.25 turns, you have already exceeded the recommended range. I heard of people using 2.5 turns stiff (as far as it will go) having problems with leaks. I think Koni wrote their manual for a reason, but of course only sissies read stuff like that. Real men use maximum stiff .... ;-)))))) ....... Try different settings. At least I find full stiff (one turn) way too stiff for driving on normal roads even with my 60k miles Konis. I usually run full soft or up to a quarter turn towards stiff. (12/99) |
| Perhaps Koni is just pointing out good engineering practice. Never leave a valve fully up against a stop i.e. threadbound. Open or close fully then back off a tad. Obviously shut off valves are a little differnt, but one doesn't leave them fully open either. (12/99) |
| I recently had Koni shocks fitted, I know this required some drilling, all though to what I don't really know. My question is this, what would I need to have done in order to be able to re-fit stock shocks. Is it at all possible? How much would it cost? (1/00) |
| If you raise your bonnet and look at the top of the shocks on either side you will notice two knuts on bolts which mount the top of the shock to the shock tower. If you were to remove the shock you would notice that those bolts are attached to a "plate" which also holds the spring onto the shock. So it has a spring "perch" on the shock body and this plate on top to hold the spring in place. In the centre of the plate there is a hole which the shock comes through and a knut is placed on to hold the plate in place .Also in the centre is the adjustment screw for the firmness of the shock. It is here in the centre hole that drilling was required and there is now no way to refit stock shocks without purchasing a new plate. One side note after you've run the Koni's for awhile I believe you may just like them so much that stock shocks may be a thing of the past. I hope this is clear and not confusing. Suffice to say that you will not be able to refit stock shocks as the cars is now. (1/00) |
| Thanks for the info, so in order to refit stock shocks (which I still have) all I would have to do is get these plates from my local Mazda scrapper? Is it the same at the back? Just for the record I may be changing the car soon and will put the stock setup back on, I'll try and sell the barely used Konis separately. It isn't a question of me not liking the Konis, far from it. (1/00) |
| As for replacing the plates, yes, I would think that they should be easy enough to find from the scrapper. Also too the rear is virtually identical to the front with exception only in the size of the spring but the plates should be the same. They are definately built the same way and come apart the same. Also one side note: for anyone who may want the Konis, take a look at the lower portion of the shock body, if there is a nut welded on the side, According to Koni, it is supposed to work with ABS cars as well as non ABS. (1/00) |
| Replace these top visible plates as you say and the bump stop plate/rubbers... which probably could be left unreplaced (112 GBP for four from you dealer for the bump stop plat/rubbers...) (1/00) |
| As I recall, the bump stop and dust boot are one item which are also drilled a bit to fit over the the Koni shaft as well. I suppose I failed to mention it as it seemed this would become apparent once the Konis are removed however if they are damaged, they should be replaced. If these could be obtained in good condition from the scrapper they could be used as well but that most likely is not the best of plans. The only thing in re-using the original bump stops( the drilled ones) is that the opening for the shaft will be a bit larger than stock opening so my only concern is that they may not stay in the right place. Also there is the thin plastic piece that ressembles a gasket. This piece should not be left out. If you have access to a Rod's Enthusiast's shop manual there is an excellent description of fitting and removal pgs. 8:3-8:6. Also one side note:I've found with a bit of patience in removal that the ball joints do not need to separated. you do end up doing some pulling prying but no damage and it beats tearing up the ball joint. (1/00) |
| How many different versions does Koni produce for the MX-5? I always thought it was just the "yellows" allowing to lower the car (a bit). Now I have come accross a second hand MX-5 that, according to the owner, should have "normal" Konis. In order to lower the car the owner fitted different springs. Can anybody tell me about this Konis (if they really exist, may be the owner of that '5 is just wrong). (3/00) |
| I have heard rumours of 'other' Konis .. but I think this was just early ones with no ABS fittings or some of the US/Continental early ones only had 2 height settings of stock and Bilstien .. it would be a piece of cake to add the extra grooves in a lathe.... the current UK ones have 3 heights of stock, Bilstien (-7mm?) and low (-20mm?) (3/00) |
| I have 'yellow' Koni adjustables, 5 years old. They have 5 ride heights. Just fitted FM lowering springs yesterday, adjusted to highest perch on Konis which I thought was stock ride height. It seems not as the car has ended up about 3/4 inch higher than expected. Looks like I'll be doing the whole thing again in the next few days using the middle perch:-( (3/00) |
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I have just received my Koni's although have not thought about how to get them on... My ones have 3 height settings, Stock, Bilstien and a setting marked H. I know nothing about shocks but I guess that the lowest setting on the shock drops the car the most (25mm ?). What height settings do you guys suggest ? I reckon the lowest... I notice that when I received the shocks they were set to the softest setting, could not turn the adjuster any softer. What should this be set to when they go on the car ? I guess there is some margin both towards soft and hard that should be left. (4/00) |
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We use the lowest setting on our red Miata and the "Bilstein" (R- Packagge) setting on our yellow Miata, which has to deal with high curbs more often (parking). I guess there is some margin both towards soft and hard that should be left. I suggest full soft. (4/00) |
| I Have Konis on mine and I leave them on the soft setting as they tended to be a little harsh round the lanes where I live I also have the car on the lowest setting and it handles and looks great You do have to be a little more careful for speed bumps and low kerbs etc. But even my Audi grounds out now and again ! (4/00) |
| Anyone fitted yellow koni's ? Tried to do so on a friends car this week. In the box I found some white round plastic spacers, about 2mm thick and with a cutout (one for each shock) but I don't know where they're supposed to go ...anyone ? The instructions aren't clear on this ... heck they don't even talk about the dustboots ... so I left them out 'cause they were completely torn ... only afterwards I noticed that these act as bump stops too ... so I guess I'll have to get new boots then ... (6/00) |
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IIRC the white spacers site on top of the shock body, slide them down the shock shaft. Not 100% on that,,,,,, but hey I've only done the job twice on my car! The boots include the bump tops and these (the bump stops) must be replaced. The dust boots can temporarily be cut off, but leave the rubber rings that are at the top. The dust boots prevent *some* dirt getting on the shock shaft, working its way down and causing wear. (6/00) |
| Is the ride height adjustable with the dampers fitted or do you have to set it prior to fitting? I had a look at them yesterday and the adjustment looks the same as the competition bilsteins on my brothers rally car, but the dampers are easy to get to with the car raised on that, the '5 dampers look a little harder to get to. (1/01) |
| yep - you have to adjust the ride height prior to fitting. Its a plinth that you can move up or down when you don't have any spring presure on it. Then you've got the adjustable bit on the top of the shocks for the stiffness.... (1/01) |
| You'll need to adjust the Konis ride height off the car. I tried to do it on the car but couldn't compress the spring enough to release enough pressure on the spring seat to be able to remove the 'circlip' and adjust the height on the car. It doesn't take long to take the shock/spring assembly out. (1/01) |