Koni sale starts today

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jamal
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Koni sale starts today

Post by jamal »

Hey everyone, Koni has an annual sale on their shocks that starts today 3/1/13. The catalog only lists them for the Impreza RS and newer cars, but if you have newer shocks from a wrx or whatever they will work, and you might be able to put them into older shocks. The konis are inserts that go into the shock housings, and the only way I can guarantee they will work on a 1st gen legacy is to put them in struts from a 98-01 GC RS.

For a pair of 1351 and 1352 yellows it's 710 plus shipping. For some reason they are more expensive than the shocks for an 02+ impreza..

I also can get the parts for non-Subarus.
mike-tracy
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Re: Koni sale starts today

Post by mike-tracy »

In your opinion would it be worth it to source 2nd gen impreza wagon struts for this upgrade (to get the inserts for less), or would the handling be less than what you consider ideal? Assuming I didnt already have any applicable struts. Additionally, is there something special about the 98-01 RS struts, or would any 98-01 impreza (excluding the obs) ones be fine?
1992 Legacy SS 5mt, build in progress
Josh Colombo wrote: Mon Jan 14, 2002 10:23 am Wait....I'm confused now.
kimokalihi
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Re: Koni sale starts today

Post by kimokalihi »

Are these significantly better than hyb gr2 excels? And in what way? $710 is a fortune for some shocks.
jamal
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Re: Koni sale starts today

Post by jamal »

mike-tracy wrote:In your opinion would it be worth it to source 2nd gen impreza wagon struts for this upgrade (to get the inserts for less), or would the handling be less than what you consider ideal? Assuming I didnt already have any applicable struts. Additionally, is there something special about the 98-01 RS struts, or would any 98-01 impreza (excluding the obs) ones be fine?
Yeah the issue with 2nd gen stuff is the geometry is slightly different, even for the wagon. Firstly that means a lack of negative camber so you need extra bolts or to slot the struts or something to get back in a good spot. Doing that isn't really a big deal though. The bigger problem in my opinion is that the rear struts want to be at a slightly different angle, so there is a bending force that can cause stiction, or even damage the valving in the shock.

I just checked the koni catalog and it actually lists them as fitting all 94-99 Imprezas with OEM KYBs. So that's kind of a weird range of years, and I know that Subaru used Showa and some other shock maker I can't think of at the moment.

I would not be surprised if that set, or the set for an 02-03 wrx can be made to work in the stock struts, but obviously I have to err on the side of caution.
Last edited by jamal on Sat Mar 02, 2013 8:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
jamal
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Re: Koni sale starts today

Post by jamal »

kimokalihi wrote:Are these significantly better than hyb gr2 excels? And in what way? $710 is a fortune for some shocks.
Way better, and adjustable.

$700 is really not that much for a good damper, and IMO these are a pretty good deal even at full retail. Although I am used to dealing with the race stuff that costs way way more. The 3-way JRZs on the race car I used to work on retail for 8500. For just the shocks.

If I could do it over again, I would have gone with konis over my sti shocks. I really don't like them that much anymore and plan to replace them with a set of RCE T2s. I barely drive my car though and would rather spend that on bikes and skis and stuff.
kimokalihi
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Re: Koni sale starts today

Post by kimokalihi »

Thanks for the info. Didn't know they were adjustable. That's definitely useful. I'm glad my teins are adjustable. The settings they were on when I got them were way too loose and the car oscillated for days. How did you learn so much about suspension? I see you've worked with racecars so I'm guessing that's how.
jamal
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Re: Koni sale starts today

Post by jamal »

Yeah, and these actually only adjust rebound where bump damping is fixed. This can be good or bad, but generally it's a good thing because the rebound has a better effect on how the car handles and feels, while bump doesn't need to change as much unless you have fine control of the low speed (and that means you need a really expensive triple adjustable damper).

Well I was always interested in this stuff so it was a hobby for a long time. Reading stuff on the internet, then reading books on chassis setup, then engineering books on vehicle dynamics, plus some jobs at shops. At one place I worked for about a year all we did was car preparation and chassis setup. Mostly it was just doing alignments and corner balancing and installing suspension parts but we also spent a lot of time at the track. Then I was crew chief for a pretty fast time attack car for awhile.

Now I just hang out in montana and ski and ride bikes and try to sell the occasional car part on the internet. Thinking about getting a real job or going to school again.
Last edited by jamal on Sun Mar 03, 2013 10:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.
kimokalihi
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Re: Koni sale starts today

Post by kimokalihi »

Haha nice. I love to snowboard but its too expensive at $60+ a ticket and 6 hours of fuel and food and beer.
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