Switch from Koni to Ford Racing Dampers

[DUNDEM]

After having owned the Koni Yellow and Eibach Pro setup for a couple months now, I'm starting to agree with this more. The more I drive, the more I realize that the compression is a little on the harsh side for DD. When traveling at higher speeds and/or when the road is smooth as glass the Koni's are great - very confidence inspiring and predictable. However, daily driving over crap roads definitely exposes how stiff the Koni's really are. Speed bumps are pretty harsh too, no matter how fast I go over them. If I have anything in the trunk, I can hear it go airborne and then slam back down as the rear goes over it.

I'd be very curious to see how the Steeda Pro Actions are valved compared to the Koni's. If they have a little less compression, it might be worth it to give those a try.

I too have the same set up but on my ecoboost performance pack. I've noticed a similar trend as you and the other poster. I too am playing around with the settings I currently have it just below to two full turn stiff in the front and one and a quarter in the rear and after experiencing the same affect on speed bumps and high speed bumps I'm considering stiffening the rear to 1 3/4 to 2 full turns in the rear.

I came down from full stiff in the front which was very fun to drive at high-speed on smooth roads. Makes you want to take it to a track.

Seems like the Koni's need to be at least 1.75 front and back to get a good ride and check the hard bounce at high speed of say a deep highway dip in the road.

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[jbailer]

I too have the same set up but on my ecoboost performance pack. I've noticed a similar trend as you and the other poster. I too am playing around with the settings I currently have it just below to two full turn stiff in the front and one and a quarter in the rear and after experiencing the same affect on speed bumps and high speed bumps I'm considering stiffening the rear to 1 3/4 to 2 full turns in the rear.

I came down from full stiff in the front which was very fun to drive at high-speed on smooth roads. Makes you want to take it to a track.

Seems like the Koni's need to be at least 1.75 front and back to get a good ride and check the hard bounce at high speed of say a deep highway dip in the road.

That's very interesting. Are you saying 1.75 starting from full stiff or full soft?

I agree, I really liked the Konis at first. I had them set pretty stiff. After quite a while, I've gone to full soft front and back to try to get rid of the harsh ride. While it does feel softer, now that you guys mention it, I do think the main harshness is on the compression. While that might be adjusting along with the rebound, I don't think the 2 are balanced the best for our car. That's why I ended up at full soft. Now that I'm there, the responsiveness isn't so great so it would be nice to try what you've found to work best. Another thing that was impacting (pun intended) me before was I failed to trim the bump stops. LOL you should have seen them when I finally trimmed them. :headbonk:

 

[Bluemustang]

I'm at one full turn off full soft right now and I would describe it as tolerable. It handles very well. Still I don't think these Konis are matched very well for our car, at least not for the street.

If I had to do this all over again, I would've gone with the ford racing handling package. I'm considering swapping out my springs and shocks to Ford Racing track pack. They also have better bumpstops which are softer than ours to help absorb some of the chassis movement and maintain a comfortable ride.

I'll let you guys know if I end up going that route. My lesson learned is: suspension is very tricky. Once you start mixing and matching parts you may not like the result. The parts need to work together as one. Sure my car handles well but refinement is seriously lacking IMO and I hope with the Ford Racing stuff I will get that. They know the car and their parts are designed to work together. We'll see if it ends up working out.

 

[Joshg120]

Yeah I may end up going that route if it indeed is more compliant for everyday driving. Let us know your impressions if you make the switch

 

[DUNDEM]

That's very interesting. Are you saying 1.75 starting from full stiff or full soft?

I agree, I really liked the Konis at first. I had them set pretty stiff. After quite a while, I've gone to full soft front and back to try to get rid of the harsh ride. While it does feel softer, now that you guys mention it, I do think the main harshness is on the compression. While that might be adjusting along with the rebound, I don't think the 2 are balanced the best for our car. That's why I ended up at full soft. Now that I'm there, the responsiveness isn't so great so it would be nice to try what you've found to work best. Another thing that was impacting (pun intended) me before was I failed to trim the bump stops. LOL you should have seen them when I finally trimmed them. :headbonk:

The fronts are turns 1.8 from soft. It's stiff but tolerable for me.

I installed the bump stops that came with the Prokits. I wondered if they needed trimming but they are same or slightly shorter than the PP ones in the rear.

I seem to prefer the stiffer ride. Today Or tomorrow I'm going to set the rears to 1.75 from soft to test my theory that the rear may need to be as stiff or stiffer than the fronts.
The rears are currently 1.5 from soft.

I'll let you guys know.

 

[Bluemustang]

Yeah I may end up going that route if it indeed is more compliant for everyday driving. Let us know your impressions if you make the switch

I will do that. I'm just trying to figure out how much this all is going to cost plus installing. I think it's going to be a lot better for the car but we'll see.

 

[Bluemustang]

Also remember, all you can do is adjust the rebound to eliminate body lean. Any firmer adjustment will be detrimental and can actually cause you to lose traction.

Compression and rebound adjustment would be ideal but the Konis don't have that.

 

[Norm Peterson]

At the moment: 1 turn off full soft front + rear

I too suspect that this is way too much for most street driving.

Try dialing the fronts back to about +1/2 turn and the rears to maybe +1/4 turn and see if the ride doesn't get a whole lot better. In the lower range from full soft, small adjustments are clearly noticeable . . . don't be afraid to experiment a little from there.


Norm

 

[Bluemustang]

I too suspect that this is way too much for most street driving.

Try dialing the fronts back to about +1/2 turn and the rears to maybe +1/4 turn and see if the ride doesn't get a whole lot better. In the lower range from full soft, small adjustments are clearly noticeable . . . don't be afraid to experiment a little from there.


Norm

I think you are right Norm. But still, I think the compression ratio is still too high. I find very soft settings to be too bouncy and my theory is that it is because of the compression. I therefore feel like I have to keep it a little stiffer to stay in control.

I am in the process of changing it up. Here is what I am going to do:

Ford Racing Track Y springs
Ford Racing Shocks/Struts
Ford Racing Jounce Bumper Kit (bumpstops)
Ford Racing Toe-Knuckle Bearing Assembly

If I like it better I will most likely sell the Konis and BMR springs to someone else on the forum that is interested.

 

[09jsw]

I think you are right Norm. But still, I think the compression ratio is still too high. I find very soft settings to be too bouncy and my theory is that it is because of the compression. I therefore feel like I have to keep it a little stiffer to stay in control.

I am in the process of changing it up. Here is what I am going to do:

Ford Racing Track Y springs
Ford Racing Shocks/Struts
Ford Racing Jounce Bumper Kit (bumpstops)
Ford Racing Toe-Knuckle Bearing Assembly

If I like it better I will most likely sell the Konis and BMR springs to someone else on the forum that is interested.

You don't need the fr bumper kit of getting the track shocks from them. Do a little more searching on them and you will find all the info. I have frpp track shocks/struts with Bmr handeling springs and love the car now. I also wouldn't trade r springs for fr spring but that's just me. You also already have the toe bearing. All cars came with the pp toe rods that has the bearing.

 

[Rebellion]

You don't need the fr bumper kit of getting the track shocks from them. Do a little more searching on them and you will find all the info. I have frpp track shocks/struts with Bmr handeling springs and love the car now. I also wouldn't trade r springs for fr spring but that's just me. You also already have the toe bearing. All cars came with the pp toe rods that has the bearing.

Is it true that all GT's have the toe bearing? I've heard it only has the "supposedly upgraded" toe rod, but no the bearing.

 

[wildcatgoal]

Every single Mustang GT that I've seen has the bearing instead of a bushing and the "upgraded toe rod" that comes with the track package is exactly what is already on the car. I've heard the same from BMR and Steeda both. That is not the case for the bushing that is in the knuckle - that needs to be changed to the bearing. But if you replace your toe rods with aftermarket, those will have a bearing so you have to take out the OEM bearing. Then you can put that exact bearing in the knuckle, replacing the bushing that's there. Boom.

 

[09jsw]

Is it true that all GT's have the toe bearing? I've heard it only has the "supposedly upgraded" toe rod, but no the bearing.

Yes it's true and why I posted it. Like I said please use this forum and search all of your parts in question. Kelly Aiken of bmr even posed this in several places.you do as said above. Since you have bmr rods re use your stock bearing in stock rods and saved 70$

 

[Rebellion]

Every single Mustang GT that I've seen has the bearing instead of a bushing and the "upgraded toe rod" that comes with the track package is exactly what is already on the car. I've heard the same from BMR and Steeda both. That is not the case for the bushing that is in the knuckle - that needs to be changed to the bearing. But if you replace your toe rods with aftermarket, those will have a bearing so you have to take out the OEM bearing. Then you can put that exact bearing in the knuckle, replacing the bushing that's there. Boom.

The bushing on the knuckle side is the one that needs changing. So, you're saying that I can grab the bearing on the other side of the toe rods (if I'm replacing toe rods) and put it in the knuckle?

I didn't even know there was a bearing on the other side (closest to the center of the car)...that should be inside the toe rod, right? If that's true, I can get away without buying the 70 buck of toe knuckle bearing?

 

[BmacIL]

The bushing on the knuckle side is the one that needs changing. So, you're saying that I can grab the bearing on the other side of the toe rods (if I'm replacing toe rods) and put it in the knuckle?

I didn't even know there was a bearing on the other side (closest to the center of the car)...that should be inside the toe rod, right? If that's true, I can get away without buying the 70 buck of toe knuckle bearing?

If you're not planning on doing aftermarket toe rods, the cheapest/easiest way to get bearings on both ends of the toe link is buy the $70 FR bearings.

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