Steeda Testing with Koni - Active Suspension

[Nagare]

My friends have these on other cars, tried lowering springs and it failed to do the full work it does. Reverting it back to stock springs, the active shocks/struts now worked perfectly as intended. Also on the site, Koni states to only use stock springs and stock ride height as well. Some have ok results with some lowering combinations if they are less than 1" drop, but best match was stock ride height.

Keep in mind that those ones are the Koni branded offererings for a particular vehicle, they likely aren't going to test for compatibility with a wide range of springs.

Being that these are Steeda branded through their collaboration, I'd say they should be compatible with at least some of the different springs. If the responsiveness goes down that much outside of the stock height range, maybe theirs would be more centered around .75"-1" drop.

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[Humphammer]

I just want the shocks/struts. I’m not interested in lowering springs.

That is me as well. I just want something that gives a more compliant ride without losing all the good handling characteristics. It can be done.....BMW and Audi have done it for years. There is no reason Ford can not build a great handling car that does not jar your teeth out over every imperfection in the road. It's their one failing in an otherwise great car. IMO

 

[Norm Peterson]

Keep in mind that those ones are the Koni branded offererings for a particular vehicle, they likely aren't going to test for compatibility with a wide range of springs.

Being that these are Steeda branded through their collaboration, I'd say they should be compatible with at least some of the different springs. If the responsiveness goes down that much outside of the stock height range, maybe theirs would be more centered around .75"-1" drop.

Mostly guessing here, but I think it's more a matter of spring rate than ride height. Ride height sensitivity would be 'position-sensitive' damping, which has been tried before by other damper mfrs (and which brings inherent disadvantages all its own).

Koni's description of their frequency-selective damping very specifically mentions ±1Hz as being the frequency range for handling - which I'm assuming isn't going to be identical for all makes/models of cars. What that tells me that the further away from whatever handling frequency Koni chose for the S550 you take it with firmer springs, the less effective they're likely to be within such a modified car's handling frequencies. This could even be completely independent of the maximum amount of low speed damping available, because what FSD affects is the transition in damping between the handling range at the low-frequency end and the ride harshness range at the high-frequency end. Not the basic valvings (plural intentional).


Norm

 

[JCFoster]

Any updates?

 

[JCFoster]

Just did a quick search and found JEGS is selling just the front struts for $168 each. View attachment 350348

 

[Humphammer]

This is the reply I got from Koni just two weeks ago on March 8th.

Hello and thank you for your interest in KONI Special ACTIVE for your Mustang. Unfortunately the first production of the Mustang S550 chassis Special ACTIVEs has been slightly delayed so they have not arrived into the USA yet. Right now they are scheduled for manufacturing in Holland in Early April and we hope to have them arrive in the USA and become available in Late May or Early June.

We do appreciate your patience but I can absolutely confirm from firsthand experience that the Special ACTIVE make a very strong improvement in both the handling responsiveness and also the ride quality over imperfect road surfaces. They will be worth the wait,


Have a great weekend!


Lee Grimes

Automotive Product Manager

KONI – an ITT company

 

[BlownGP]

Just did a quick search and found JEGS is selling just the front struts for $168 each. View attachment 350348

That's pretty affordable.
It says they have them in stock?

 

[BlownGP]

This says rear

https://www.jegs.com/i/Koni/610/8245-1404/10002/-1

 

[mmarfan]

Does this mean Steeda’s version will be out at the same time?

This is the reply I got from Koni just two weeks ago on March 8th.

Hello and thank you for your interest in KONI Special ACTIVE for your Mustang. Unfortunately the first production of the Mustang S550 chassis Special ACTIVEs has been slightly delayed so they have not arrived into the USA yet. Right now they are scheduled for manufacturing in Holland in Early April and we hope to have them arrive in the USA and become available in Late May or Early June.

We do appreciate your patience but I can absolutely confirm from firsthand experience that the Special ACTIVE make a very strong improvement in both the handling responsiveness and also the ride quality over imperfect road surfaces. They will be worth the wait,


Have a great weekend!


Lee Grimes

Automotive Product Manager

KONI – an ITT company

 

[bl4d3runn3r]

Hopefully they will work with the stress progressive springs.

 

[GT 550]

So Jegs is selling them but Koni says they won't be available until May/June? The only thing I can see that might explain it is that the Jegs listing is for 'Active' whereas the email from Koni refers to 'Special Active'. Otherwise it doesn't make sense or I'm missing something.

@Humphammer would you possibly be able to go back to Lee Grimes @Koni please and ask if these dampers will work optimally with cars that have higher spring rates or have been lowered, or if they've been developed for stock springs only. If so would that be for PP or base GT? Happy to do so myself but he seems happy to respond to you and would probably refer me to the Australian distributor.

 

[SteedaTech]

Does this mean Steeda’s version will be out at the same time?

Steeda’s version will be available at the same time. Our version is calibrated more for the handling enthusiast with outstanding ride quality!
Thank you,
Steeda Tech

 

[mmarfan]

Steeda’s version will be available at the same time. Our version is calibrated more for the handling enthusiast with outstanding ride quality!
Thank you,
Steeda Tech

Will your version use lowering springs?

 

[Nagare]

Will your version use lowering springs?

Handling enthusiasts don't use stock height or spring rate ;) Although some people go for minimum drop springs, most options don't bring the improvement at stock height.

 

[Humphammer]

So Jegs is selling them but Koni says they won't be available until May/June? The only thing I can see that might explain it is that the Jegs listing is for 'Active' whereas the email from Koni refers to 'Special Active'. Otherwise it doesn't make sense or I'm missing something.

@Humphammer would you possibly be able to go back to Lee Grimes @Koni please and ask if these dampers will work optimally with cars that have higher spring rates or have been lowered, or if they've been developed for stock springs only. If so would that be for PP or base GT? Happy to do so myself but he seems happy to respond to you and would probably refer me to the Australian distributor.

I don't have an answer for why JEGS supposedly has them, but the Koni's have been developed for the PP and base with stock springs only. There are so many combinations of lowered springs Koni would have a hard time developing them to work with all. If you want the Koni Active to work well with lowered springs I would suggest going with Steeda. I am mostly interested in improved ride quality and will opt for the Koni's when they become available.

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