performance package vs koni shocks and struts

[fightermatt]

I've been looking for info on lowering my 2016 GT, and have found a lot of great info on springs. Some members here have posted awesome info on drops, spring rates and opinions on springs. I have pretty much decided on the spring I would like to use but I have read conflicting information on the dampers. I had konis on my s197 with k springs and loved that combo for my daily driver mustang. My question is which dampers are better, the performance package, or konis? One member said the konis worked well with the vogtland springs and another said they were terrible, use the pp dampers. Any kind of help or info is greatly appreciated.

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[BmacIL]

I've been looking for info on lowering my 2016 GT, and have found a lot of great info on springs. Some members here have posted awesome info on drops, spring rates and opinions on springs. I have pretty much decided on the spring I would like to use but I have read conflicting information on the dampers. I had konis on my s197 with k springs and loved that combo for my daily driver mustang. My question is which dampers are better, the performance package, or konis? One member said the konis worked well with the vogtland springs and another said they were terrible, use the pp dampers. Any kind of help or info is greatly appreciated.

With anything stiffer than the PP springs, I would go with a more capable damper.

What springs are you looking at and what are your goals for the car?

 

[fightermatt]

With anything stiffer than the PP springs, I would go with a more capable damper.

What springs are you looking at and what are your goals for the car?

I like the vogtland sport plus the most so far, but I may still change my mind. My goal is to lower the car, and improve the handling, but not go full race car. It's a daily driver but I would like to do a track day once in awhile if I can. I agree about a more capable damper but as I said, in one of the discussions I was reading, someone said they found the pp to be more capable than the konis; so now I'm not sure which damper to use.

 

[BmacIL]

I like the vogtland sport plus the most so far, but I may still change my mind. My goal is to lower the car, and improve the handling, but not go full race car. It's a daily driver but I would like to do a track day once in awhile if I can. I agree about a more capable damper but as I said, in one of the discussions I was reading, someone said they found the pp to be more capable than the konis; so now I'm not sure which damper to use.

The PP rear shocks actually have a pretty significant amount of compression damping, to the point where they're actually a bit harsh. The Konis have more rebound control available and can adequately control stiffer springs. Given the rates of the springs, the PP dampers would do ok. Something like the Ford Performance Track dampers or the Steeda adjustables would be better, as they won't be as harsh as the Koni but will still have more and better control than the PP ones. I prefer the way a good monotube drives, for DD and road course use, so I'd lean to the FP Track.

 

[fightermatt]

The PP rear shocks actually have a pretty significant amount of compression damping, to the point where they're actually a bit harsh. The Konis have more rebound control available and can adequately control stiffer springs. Given the rates of the springs, the PP dampers would do ok. Something like the Ford Performance Track dampers or the Steeda adjustables would be better, as they won't be as harsh as the Koni but will still have more and better control than the PP ones. I prefer the way a good monotube drives, for DD and road course use, so I'd lean to the FP Track.

I will look into the track dampers, thanks

 

[NightmareMoon]

I really like the Konis with stock PP dampers. If you're looking at springs with near PP rates, I'd think the Konis would be great. If you're going significantly stiffer with the spring rate, then the Konis may not be the best fit. I also use the adjustment on the Koni yellows a lot to dial in stiffer settings for aggressive sport use and then dial them back to low-mid settings for daily comfort.

 

[BmacIL]

I do like the Konis too. They tend to be a tad crashy (underdamped on initial contact) compared with dampers that have more compression damping, but the handling is great. They have less than the PP ones.

 

[Bluemustang]

I would second the recommendation for FP track dampers. I had the KONIs with near stock rates, and didn't like it. Too crashy.

 

[fightermatt]

Sorry, I have never heard the term crashy, but from what y'all have said konis will provide better handling than pp dampers but will be to soft on the initial upcycle. The track dampers will work better overall.

 

[BmacIL]

Sorry, I have never heard the term crashy, but from what y'all have said konis will provide better handling than pp dampers but will be to soft on the initial upcycle. The track dampers will work better overall.

It means they don't absorb enough energy/slow the initial force from the some road inputs quite enough to me or many others, so it lets the spring compress more and get more reaction force into the car. This is particularly noticeable on pavement drop-offs, where the strong rebound/extension force resists the wheel dropping down to meet the road. Normal bumps it's not too noticeable.

I've had both the Konis (at various adjustment settings) and FP on the rear of my car and prefer the ride of the FP. The extra sharpness of handling of the Konis was nice, though.

 

[Bluemustang]

^^ I agree, the extra sharpness of the KONIs were nice.

 

[fightermatt]

Konis handle better, track dampers are more comfortable, thanks.

 

[canyon ed]

We are doing the Ford FRPP struts with BMR springs.

 

[fightermatt]

We are doing the Ford FRPP struts with BMR springs.

I think I'm going to go with less of a drop than I initially was, but I think I'm still going to use konis

 

[Allentown]

If the springs are too strong and the dampeners too weak you will get a fun up and down bounce on certain stretch of road. My raptor does this so bad in one section of columbia i swear i could get it to jump completely in the air if i had some time to play around with that stretch of road in the middle of the night some time....which is actually not fun when you are in traffic.

One of the reasons i wanted adjustables on my S550. I had a bit of doing this on the way home right after install and the first thing i did when i got home was turn the rear up an additional 1/4 turn firmer from where Steeda set it. It seems ok now. If you get it too hard the car will just jump every bump which is what my old GT500 with the SVT package did. Neither jumping every bump nor having the car spring up in the air are fun.

You want it soft enough to squat a bit over a bump, not so much that it just jumpes every hump but not so crashy that it compresses the springs and then lifts with the rebound force.

A lot of it will depend on the roads you use the most often. If you can get it where you can live with it on the worst of the roads in your area then you will be golden on all the good roads.

I have only had mine a couple days but it seems you can definitely get away with more softness in the front than you can in the rear....that may also be because i put the bushings and linkages in the rear all at the same time and the rear needs a fair amount of dampening to maintain good control over rough pavement. On smoother pavement it is race car like now.

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