Koni Active Struts and Shocks vs. Steeda Pro Active Shocks and Struts

[boolian]

Sounds pretty good; just what I’m looking for.

All cars in Australia come with PP2 setup which is great for performance but not so much daily driving so I’m probably going to go with Koni because theres no local supply of steeda stuff here that I can find and I’d rather deal with local businesses if there’s any issues.

Hopefully won’t regret that decision :/

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[GT 550]

Hey Alec, great to see it worked out and you're happy. Nothing better than a mod that works from the get go.

@boolian I did the same here with Koni Adaptives, for the same reason. Very happy with the outcome but had to get the rears redone as the tech used a rattle gun on the top nut despite being told 10 times not to. Maybe it was 20. Amazing how many shops 'know boats' but don't know no to do this. Hope you don't have the same experience.

 

[boolian]

Hey Alec, great to see it worked out and you're happy. Nothing better than a mod that works from the get go.

@boolian I did the same here with Koni Adaptives, for the same reason. Very happy with the outcome but had to get the rears redone as the tech used a rattle gun on the top nut despite being told 10 times not to. Maybe it was 20. Amazing how many shops 'know boats' but don't know no to do this. Hope you don't have the same experience.

Argh, fingers crossed! When you say "redone", does that mean reinstalled or replaced?

Glad you were happy with the result; that's encouraging,

Who did you get the shocks through?

 

[Mach 307]

Hey Alec, great to see it worked out and you're happy. Nothing better than a mod that works from the get go.

@boolian I did the same here with Koni Adaptives, for the same reason. Very happy with the outcome but had to get the rears redone as the tech used a rattle gun on the top nut despite being told 10 times not to. Maybe it was 20. Amazing how many shops 'know boats' but don't know no to do this. Hope you don't have the same experience.

Just curious, how were you able to tell they used a rattle gun on them?

 

[Mach 307]

Hey Alec, great to see it worked out and you're happy. Nothing better than a mod that works from the get go.

@boolian I did the same here with Koni Adaptives, for the same reason. Very happy with the outcome but had to get the rears redone as the tech used a rattle gun on the top nut despite being told 10 times not to. Maybe it was 20. Amazing how many shops 'know boats' but don't know no to do this. Hope you don't have the same experience.

Also yes, they’ve sorta worked out… it’s back at the shop right now because of the mounts being replaced and now the rears are making some noise as well 3 weeks later, sure it’s just a retorque issue now that all is settled. I gave them the Steeda instructions to begin with and again now, and it’s a highly recognized shop so hoping all goes well.

 

[GT 550]

Just curious, how were you able to tell they used a rattle gun on them?

Impact marks on the top nut and also the fact that the foot valve fell off. Koni told me it's a tell tale sign when the foot valve is detached hence why the instructions are explicit

 

[boolian]

@GT 550 Just curious, is your car on lowered or stock springs?

 

[Mach 307]

Impact marks on the top nut and also the fact that the foot valve fell off. Koni told me it's a tell tale sign when the foot valve is detached hence why the instructions are explicit

Were you able to tell from ride quality as well?

 

[GT 550]

Argh, fingers crossed! When you say "redone", does that mean reinstalled or replaced?
Who did you get the shocks through?

Sent away to be repaired. I did the re-install because I didn't want to take the risk again.

Top Performance in Melb.

@GT 550 Just curious, is your car on lowered or stock springs?

Lowered on BMR min drop (763?)

Were you able to tell from ride quality as well?

Didn't really get to try it, heard the knocking driving out of the shop and knew it was a damper.

 

[boolian]

Lowered on BMR min drop (763?)

Yeah, nice.
I think I'm just going to stick with stock springs an see how it goes for now; can't be arsed dealing with more scraping in driveways and car park curbs... it's bad enough at stock height. I think I've gotten old

 

[GT 550]

Or matured like a good wine. I reckon the stock springs are arguably a better compromise for some of the crap roads we have to deal with. If you want a nice surprise do the rears first and enjoy rear dampers with some actual rebound, amazing what a difference it makes. You might not even want to do the fronts.

 

[Mach 307]

Got the car back yesterday after a little fiasco. I brought the shop new top hats to install from Ford Performance and had put the soft rubber part with the bearings in the front passenger seat and the metal top hats in the rear seat. Upon originally going to pickup the car, the shop had installed the new bearings, but reused the old metal top hats as they didn’t see the new ones in the rear seat that were in a closed package. The bearings were the issue anyhow not the top hats, but I wanted things done right and so they kept the car, took apart the suspension again and reassembled now with the new bearings and top hats. I now hear no sound anymore when turning the wheel back and forth to full lock like I did before. I mean, I have heard a pop like twice when full locking to the left specifically, but I’m assuming this is due to settling as I haven’t driven on the setup hardly at all since I got it back this time around (60 miles). The bearings on the old top hats were BAD. I had my friend who’s a technician examine the car when I got it home this time around after the top hat replacement and he said all looks well and is seated correctly so I’m not too worried about the popping sound I heard. I still hear some noise (what I think people describe as groaning? idk) when angling into steep driveways and stuff, but I’m assuming this is normal on a lowered car due to the change in geometry. We’ll see, I’m starting to think some noise is normal with aftermarket suspension parts. I’m sort of a perfectionist and while I love this setups feel, when I have the funds eventually I may call it quits on aftermarket stuff and go Ford Performance track installed by the dealer to avoid any sort of BS. I will say though I’m happy with the look and ride of the car overall and don’t have the energy or funds to keep chasing any small nitpicky sound issues, so I’m going to enjoy it, barring someone tells me anything I’m experiencing sounds dangerous or detrimental (which I doubt due to ride quality feeling normal and not having sound during normal driving conditions over bumps etc).

 

[S550HPP]

I'm with you I will only use Ford dampers from now on. Perfectly quiet and smooth with great handling thanks to bigger sway bars. I wasted at least 14 hrs in shop doing suspension chasing stuff. As soon as went to FORD PP1 dampers all is good and ride and handling is best for my use.

 

[Mach 307]

I'm with you I will only use Ford dampers from now on. Perfectly quiet and smooth with great handling thanks to bigger sway bars. I wasted at least 14 hrs in shop doing suspension chasing stuff. As soon as went to FORD PP1 dampers all is good and ride and handling is best for my use.

I will swap to Ford as soon as I have the funds, I don’t think my shop is the issue because they work on a ton of cars much more expensive and less forgiving than mine (Barrett Jackson/Classics worth 100’s of thousands).

 

[S550HPP]

I will swap to Ford as soon as I have the funds, I don’t think my shop is the issue because they work on a ton of cars much more expensive and less forgiving than mine (Barrett Jackson/Classics worth 100’s of thousands).

IMO there is an install or hardware issue there should not be any noises even if you dropped 1.5 in with no bump steer kit. I had my friends shop install my Koni struts because had no time any time walk in that 8000 sq.ft bldg there's at least $20M cars there incl his own $5M.

Mechanic was a hack.

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