Not happy with FSD's, what should I try next? Koni Yellow, Bilstein or BC?

[Steve00]

My stock shocks blew out at 35,000 miles and I upgraded to Koni FSD's (4040s). I have been running them for about 20,000 miles now. Ride wise they are great. Really comfortable. I do have 2 issues with them though....

1. They are a bit soft for my taste... I would like to firm up the car.
2. My cars stance has changed for the worse. The front sits high, and the rear sits low. I did some research after installing them and saw that they tend to raise the fronts, but why the rear of my car sits low I have no idea. I do have a 12" sub and hidden hitch installed, but together they are probably ~40lbs, not enough to make my car sag the way it does. I will post a pic tomorrow to show how my car is sitting.

So I am looking to upgrade one final time...

1. Koni Yellow - Hopefully stance would be corrected as I have seen no reports bout Koni yellow altering stance. I could also firm the car up a bit, and stock springs would retain some comfort. I could also run a mild lowering spring with these if i decided to...

2. Bilsteins - Read a lot of good reviews on these... however they are pricey. I am finding it hard to justify the high cost for shocks... might as well get coil overs. Where should I look to get the best price on these?

3. BC coil overs... these are the same price as a spring + shock combo. I know they lose travel vs stock suspeison, but how much travel is really lost? Will they ride somewhat comfortably on a soft setting? I am not going for ultimate performance so dont need KW V3's... just something that looks good and has performance atleast on par to stock.

Thanks for your input!

 

[irnbru83]

Only place I've found the Bilsteins in stock is on tirerack. I don't know if $244 ea for the front and $133 ea for the back is good or not. I asked that same question in another thread on here.

 

[CnoTataymo]

AWR Bilsteins. I had them on with stock springs and Cobb springs. They rode great.

 

[Russm]

I put the Yellows on with the stock springs at 70 K and rides great and still shows the same ride height, I do beleive that the stock springs are starting to sag just a little because I carry 200-300 Lb of paint and equipment in my car all the time. Going to go with the Eibach or Mazdaspeed springs shortly to stiffen up the rear

 

[BigDaddyMS3]

FSD 4040s

I have the 4040s too. The 4045s which are the revised dampers from Koni that are 20% stiffer in rebound were on back order too long for me. I had a slight 1/2" rise in the front suspension after installation with the 4040s along with the FatCat bump stops. After 5,000 miles the dampers have settled to 1/4" rise over OEM height. This is adequate for me. I also have the original wheels and new Hankook tires.

My mechanic said that if the ride height bothers me we could modify the knuckle on the front struts to drop the front end to match the OEM height. The LCAs are strong enough to support this mod.

My contact at Koni says that Eibach springs are the only allowable springs for use with the FSDs, but don't know why others are not. This seems like a hassle to me.

You may want to try these options instead of spending money on damper replacement, springs and damper replacement and/or coil overs.

 

[MS3 GT]

have u try apx sensen shocks(mazda 5)? they r pretty good considering $150 for full set(no spring).

 

[Steve00]

Here is how my car sits...



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I suppose you could modify the "notch" on the shock where the front shock fits into the lower control arm to drop the front of the car, but I'm not sure how safe that is from a structural point of view..

 

[H3br3w_Ham3r]

BCs don't ride soft enough for daily driving.... ever lol. I had them for like 10k and never thought anything of it. Now I'm back on Koni yellows and I would never go back to BCs for daily driving again.

 

[speed3 britz]

I found that if you go to bilsteinshocks.com, they are much cheaper than most places and free shipping. Set of 4 Bilstein Sport or Heavy duty shocks (Right, left, and rear) totals around $740 with free shipping... about the same as Koni's

 

[5port]

Koni 4045s

Steve00

I have the Koni 4045s installed and my car is sitting level. In the beginning the front was high about 1/2" but over time the ride height has settled and the car now sits level about 3K miles after install. Could be the 4045s are stiffer in the rear...enough to make a diff. I'd say the single best improvement I've made to my MS3.