Anyone have Koni STR.T Shocks/struts?

S

skullsroad

Member
:
Mazda 2
I've had mine on for a few weeks and the rears already lost pressure. I was driving to work and felt like I was leaning back in my seat. Turns out the rear of my car was sagging. Popped those suckers out and yep, the piston stays compressed after being pushed in.

I'm a little peeved because Koni sent me my return authorization info today and they expect me to pay for shipping. Honestly, f*ck that. I shouldn't have to pay a dime more than I already have. I sent them an email with the same tone but different wording (obviously) so we'll see what happens.

Anyone else running these dampers? Maybe I should have coughed up the extra dough and went with Corksports. I just expected more from Koni, budget STR.T or not.
 
Sorry to hear that.. I'm surprised because Koni is quite popular brand. Hope it works out. Let them know you're posting the way they handle it on a forum.
 
I have a full set on mine for about 2 months so far and no issues. Maybe you just got a faulty lot? Sucks that its only been that long and that had to happen
 
Well here is their reply:

In the rare instance that KONI pays return shipping cost of a shock under warranty, it is in the case at which a damper is new unused and uninstalled. Once a shocks has been installed “warrantor will not pay the cost of the installation of the new or repaired shock absorbers, and the cost of postage and return shipping cost shall be prepaid by the original purchaser.” As listed in the KONI Warranty Policy here http://www.koni-na.com/warranty.cfm .
 
So basically they gave themself a loop hole out. That sucks. When I was looking for a suspension setup I did thought about the Koni STR.T with racing beat springs but that setup would of cost me around $700. I decided to cough up the extra $$ for the bilstein coil over and just keep it at max high which is a 1.15 drop.
 
You realize twin tube shocks don't necessarily push back out right? It depends on a lot of things, primarily drag from the seals especially on brand new shocks.

And shocks don't raise the car at all, they provide so little force that they will not affect ride height.

I have 2 brand new Koni 8610-1436RACE struts I'm building for the front of my 2, neither extend on their own. You must manually pull them back out. Its basically impossible by hand when set to full stiff :lol:


http://www.koni.com/car-racing/technology/faq/

If you can push the shock all the way down and it has resistance the whole way, and if you pull it back up and it has resistance the whole way back up, its pretty likely not bad, at least its full of oil.

Lee Grimes from Koni says you're better off licking a shock to tell if its bad than by testing anything by hand.
 
Last edited:
I've read that some shocks don't push back but every twin tube I've ever owned definitely pushed back out. Also, I'm basing everything off my comparison with the stock units. The stock shocks rocket back up while the Koni shocks have not moved after pushing them down days ago. I'll probably put them back in and give em another go before sending them back. It's easy enough. But it really bugs me that they make the rear end of my car sag. I installed Corksport springs on the stock struts/shocks and drove like that for a few months. Koni had a sale on the STR.Ts so I picked em up and installed them like a month later (when I had time). At that time there was no ride height issues. Then then car started to feel weird as I described above. Koni gave me a month to send em in so I guess I'll report back after I re-install them.

Lee Grimes sounds kind of pompous. I pulled a shock off a friends car that had zero pressure. I found out by testing it with my hands, not by how it tasted.
 
Last edited:
skullsroad said:
I've read that some shocks don't push back but every twin tube I've ever owned definitely pushed back out. Also, I'm basing everything off my comparison with the stock units. The stock shocks rocket back up while the Koni shocks have not moved after pushing them down days ago. I'll probably put them back in and give em another go before sending them back. It's easy enough. But it really bugs me that they make the rear end of my car sag. I installed Corksport springs on the stock struts/shocks and drove like that for a few months. Koni had a sale on the STR.Ts so I picked em up and installed them like a month later (when I had time). At that time there was no ride height issues. Then then car started to feel weird as I described above. Koni gave me a month to send em in so I guess I'll report back after I re-install them.

Lee Grimes sounds kind of pompous. I pulled a shock off a friends car that had zero pressure. I found out by testing it with my hands, not by how it tasted.
Click to expand...

First off, I'm not saying your shocks AREN'T bad, just that sagging is not caused by shocks, you can remove them entirely and your ride height will not change any appreciable amount. Only exception being big $$$ shocks that you can adjust the gas pressure, running 300+psi will add some artificial spring rate, this is done in "stock" class auto-x because springs cannot be changed. Leaning back when accelerating might be a shock issue, but physically sagging sitting still is not.

Secondly, reread what I said... Having zero pressure absolutely means your shocks are bad, either fluid loss or the valve shim stacks are broken/fawked up badly. That's about the only useful thing you can check by hand(as you saw with your friend's car).

The licking the shocks joke is about judging if they're bad from not extending or by trying to judge one shock vs another. You can't physically push/pull the shock fast enough to even cover all of the low speed valving, let alone get into the high speed valving when shim stacks start opening up to bleed off pressure assuming they're digressive.

What springs? Stock?

Did you install bump stops?

What about bushings in the rear... Shock bushings upper and lower? Did you torque the shock lower bolt at ride height? Or in the air with suspension drooping?

I do this crap every day, I'm trying to help you out as it would suck to send them off and they dyno fine.

If there is a circle track or performance store nearby, see if you can get the shocks and/or springs dyno'd to see if there are any problems.
 
I appreciate all the help and sorry for coming across as ignorant and/or hostile. I won't be able to work on the car until Sunday so I'll take what you've said into consideration.

Springs are Corksport.

Bumpstops are stock.

I haven't changed any bushings in the rear suspension. I don't know what you mean by upper and lower bushings unless you're asking if I've changed the rear top mount and the bushing in the shock then the answer is no.

Everything was torqued in the air. I can't access the bolt with a lowered car on the ground.

I'm ruling out an issue with the springs because I don't have any issues with the stock stuff installed.
 
Torquing the lower shock bushings in the air means the lower bushings are twisted at ride height, adding binding and inconsistency.

What are your hub center to wheel well measurements?


By stock stuff you mean stock shocks with CS lowering springs right?


You should technically be able to remove the shocks entirely and you'll have the same ride height so I don't see the shocks being the problem.

Out of curiosity... Are the shock bodies(Koni and OEM) identical? As in the bumps will hit at the same travel length?
 
Not all koni's are pressurized. My Civic I had back in the day I had koni yellow and the rear were not pressurized so they would not rise if released (shaft force is the techinical term for this). Also as flatlander said unless somehow your shocks are binding somehow they will not effect the ride height at all. I don't know how they could bind though.
 
Ok, I've been driving on the Konis for two days now and here is what I noticed.

They creak and squeak...a lot. When I dropped the car with the jack there was a very pronounced creaking sound. When I drive there is a constant squeaking, even over small imperfections on the road. Could that be the sound of binding? Like, the valves are rubbing up against the inside shock tube? If I rock the car back and forth with the hand brake on I can watch the shock compress and hear the noise.

Here is a quick low-res video just for the sake of hearing it.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/csmcglaughlin/R6jz5U

When I got gas today the rear of the car was so low I couldn't get my fingers in the fender gap. When I got home the gap was bigger but it doesn't look the same as when I install the stock shocks.

The ride seemed harsher driving over a bridge with a lot of expansion joints. I was getting bounced around in my seat.

Yes, by stock stuff I mean stock shocks with CS springs.

When I get the Konis out today I'll take a look at travel length.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just finished re-installing the stock shocks. This may or may not mean anything but when I compress a Koni by hand I can force it all the way down with my arm. The stock shock requires me to lean on it with my body weight. One of the Konis starts to come back up but it stops after a few inches. Pulling it out requires some force and is fairly quiet. The other Koni doesn't come back up at all unless I pull it. And when I do it squeaks until about midway up the tube then it REALLY squeaks. I feel a lot of vibration too.

The shock bodies are identical in length both standing and compressed. If you meant how much travel I have with each shock installed, I did not measure it.

The squeaking alone is enough to drive me crazy so I'll be sending them back. Love to get more input if you got it, though.

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
Could be bent. Could have been side loaded from torquing the bushings at bottom while raised up... Though honestly I've never seen it cause damage, just premature bushing wear and increased NVH.
 
yea, I highly doupt that was the reason. Some shocks the lower mount is a flange so there is only 1 way to orient the bottom mount. Front shocks for corvettes, and all 4 for the solstice and sky are that way.
 
I bought a set of the Str.t's on sale last spring with the intention of using them with the stock springs for my winter set up since the stock rear shocks are so noisy in cold weather. I just pulled them out of the box to switch over the dust cover and bump stop and discovered the body and shaft are larger in diameter than the stock units. The dust cover won't work at all and the bump stop is really tight on the shaft. Do I dare run without a dust cover in snow and salt? Should I ream the bump stop so it can move a little more freely on the shaft? Suggestions greatly appreciated.
 
I wouldn't worry about the bump stop. You should be able to get a universal dust cover, they are available from multiple sources (try summit, rock auto, jc whitney, etc).
 
The bump stop will stay put the first time it gets hit so it shouldn't matter.

I wouldn't worry about the dust cover too much. Find one if it makes you happy.

FWIW I took all dust boots off of my Jeep because they actually collect tons of mud/dirt/doodoo butter and holds it on the shaft when it comes to offroading and stuff. It was driven in snow and stuff yearly and never had problems. The dust seals on shocks/struts are pretty damn good at keeping stuff out. Should be an external wiper seal plus an internal seal that holds the fluid in I'm pretty sure(or both functions are built into a single seal).


They saw some pretty cruddy conditions:
JfR2qoz.jpg
 
Alright, so I got my new rears tonight. I'll install them tomorrow morning before work.

Some things I noticed. They don't come back out and they're easier to push down than the stock shocks. So I was wrong to think either of those traits were cause for alarm. The new ones go down smooth and pull back out smooth. No squeaks and creaks like the set I sent back.
 
Please log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

I
Rear dampers (shocks): Mazda5 (2nd gen) vs. Mazdaspeed3
Replies
6
Views
2K
IamFODI
I
T
    • Like
CorkSport springs with Bilstein shocks - *installation note*
2
Replies
36
Views
4K
AL Cx5
A
N
Initial Review of KONIS Shocks/Struts
Replies
14
Views
10K
ColtX-5
C

Latest posts

Back