Where are you buying short Konis?

[ak-]

Interesting. Can you elaborate on why you believe koni>billies? Looking to upgrade in the near future.

Bilsteins require a new dental plan

[Roysneon]

agreed. I'll never run Bilstein again.

Personally ii wouldn't go so far as to say that but for an often street driven vehicle I'd go with Koni any day of the week. Bilsteins are much more harsh, at least in the case of the Sports on an E30.

[LJ851]

Personally ii wouldn't go so far as to say that but for an often street driven vehicle I'd go with Koni any day of the week. Bilsteins are much more harsh, at least in the case of the Sports on an E30.

Are you comparing full height bilsteins to short konis? Not really a fair comparison on a lowered car.

[Roysneon]

Are you comparing full height bilsteins to short konis? Not really a fair comparison on a lowered car.

Perhaps not, but I was not riding on the bumpstops. The car was rough with the Bilsteins/H&R Race, was rough with the Bilstein/GE coils, now it's a dream with the Konis set soft. I will say the Bilsteins were much better than stock on the H&R, and the GE sleeves were better than the H&R.

I wouldn't go so far as to say I'd never use them again (I am planning to use my old Sports with H&R OE springs) but if you're doing a coilover conversion iX Konis are the way to go, and if you're keeping oe style springs Koni SA are probably going to be better for a daily driven or dual purpose vehicle.

[sticksdaman]

Thanks for coming back to post results/findings... these things usually trail off with no real conclusive feedback.

I didnt see mention of the rear shocks. Is it safe to assume that you are also running ix konis in the rear?

[ak-]

I'm going to bother you with one more question. :p
Is the diameter of the Koni shock different up top? I'm worried they might not work with my camber plates from IE that I'm using with my Bilstein's currently.

[LJ851]

Perhaps not, but I was not riding on the bumpstops. The car was rough with the Bilsteins/H&R Race, was rough with the Bilstein/GE coils, now it's a dream with the Konis set soft. I will say the Bilsteins were much better than stock on the H&R, and the GE sleeves were better than the H&R.

I wouldn't go so far as to say I'd never use them again (I am planning to use my old Sports with H&R OE springs) but if you're doing a coilover conversion iX Konis are the way to go, and if you're keeping oe style springs Koni SA are probably going to be better for a daily driven or dual purpose vehicle.

Are you sure about that ?

I'm on h&r race and koni sa. There is less up travel (less than 2 inches) than the height of the oem bump stop. If i remember correctly, bilstein bumps are about 2.5 inches tall.

I feel like the konis on my car have too little high speed compression damping for the amount travel available. I have my bumpstops cut down to about 5/8 inch so i wont be riding on them all the time. An extra inch or two of travel (short housings) seems like it would transform my ride.

Do the ix konis have the same damping specs as the rwd units?

[Roysneon]

Thanks for coming back to post results/findings... these things usually trail off with no real conclusive feedback.

I didnt see mention of the rear shocks. Is it safe to assume that you are also running ix konis in the rear?

Rear iX Konis are likely the same as normal rwd car Konis, I see no reason they wouldn't be. For right now I'm still using the Bilstein Sports in the rear.

I'm going to bother you with one more question. :p
Is the diameter of the Koni shock different up top? I'm worried they might not work with my camber plates from IE that I'm using with my Bilstein's currently.

As in the threaded portion? Yeah it's the same afaik. I used stock mounts for both. I may go with some kind of camber plate if a good deal on them comes up as I could use some extra camber for fender lip clearance.

Are you sure about that ?

I'm on h&r race and koni sa. There is less up travel (less than 2 inches) than the height of the oem bump stop. If i remember correctly, bilstein bumps are about 2.5 inches tall.

I feel like the konis on my car have too little high speed compression damping for the amount travel available. I have my bumpstops cut down to about 5/8 inch so i wont be riding on them all the time. An extra inch or two of travel (short housings) seems like it would transform my ride.

Do the ix konis have the same damping specs as the rwd units?

Honestly, you've got me there. I guess I'm not that sure. Perhaps I was simply riding the stock length Bilsteins too low. I am hesitant to say it was the fault of the inserts as I really was not using them as they were meant to be.

For the price difference and because it's my only car I'm glad that I paid the extra for Konis for the adjustability.

I'm not 100% on the differences between the two dampers as far as spring dampening spec. but from everything I've read they're very similar, just different lengths.

[318isbmw]

Rear iX Konis are likely the same as normal rwd car Konis, I see no reason they wouldn't be. For right now I'm still using the Bilstein Sports in the rear.



As in the threaded portion? Yeah it's the same afaik. I used stock mounts for both. I may go with some kind of camber plate if a good deal on them comes up as I could use some extra camber for fender lip clearance.

I thought the konis were 14mm while the bilstein were 12mm. Bummer, I'm on e36 5 lug but debating welding on stock e30 threaded section so I can install some ix konis and go coilovers, but I've got camber plates for the e36 koni top diameter.

[Roysneon]

Well now I'm paranoid. I just jacked the suspension up until the rod was through the hole in the mount and put the nut on.

[LJ851]

Car looks wicked sexy with the new setup, BTW.

[nando]

Interesting. Can you elaborate on why you believe koni>billies? Looking to upgrade in the near future.

basically, the ride quality sucks

I don't think it's just the bump stops. I think bilstein tends to make their E30 shocks much stiffer than they really need to be. mine were definitely not bottoming out.

[digger]

i thought i read that the bilstein were valved for a spring rate way above what most are running?

[Roysneon]

Car looks wicked sexy with the new setup, BTW.

Thank you, sir. I'm hoping to get out of school next year and get a job that will let me fix it up the way it should be.

basically, the ride quality sucks

I don't think it's just the bump stops. I think bilstein tends to make their E30 shocks much stiffer than they really need to be. mine were definitely not bottoming out.

i thought i read that the bilstein were valved for a spring rate way above what most are running?

I'd say from my experience with them that this is true. I'm sure they are absolutely great for a track type car, but a typical street or street/track E30 tends to be too low and not require the stiffness of dampening that the Bilsteins have, hence most people's disappointment with them.

I don't remember the Konis costing all that much more than the Bilsteins anyway, which is the main reason people shy away from the Konis.

[Best_name_available]

IX inserts are 3" shorter. If you do indeed cut exactly 3" inches, no spacer is needed.
The cons of doing this is that you will be foreverlow. Yes, the ride is great, but not ideal if you drive the car daily for obvious reasons.
Even raised maxed out height, you will have no fender gap. This is with less stack height from camber plates, and the use of a 1" taller spring. Getting an even taller spring is still not a solution because you have now topped out the shock.


example:
IX inserts
3" chopped
7" coil
Short stacked camber plates
Collar adjusted is height pictured in the following photo.



What I'm saying is to cut 2" to 2.5" at most.

what coilover conversion is this? GC? Also what camber plates that ride height my dream, you think it would be safe with a really good skid plate?