[only1harry]

Your rears are adjustable from the top? Everything I have been reading here in my searches says the regular Koni Yellows (Sports) for the REAR (not front) need to be taken off the car to be adjusted... unless you get the Dinan Konis for the rear which can be adjusted without taking them off.

Who did you order yours from? Who cut them 1"? Could be it you have shortened custom Konis?

[Nonecure]

Sorry, I did not notice you were talking about the rear.

Truechoice will cut them down to any drop you want. You can send them your struts or buy struts from them. This will drop the front without effecting the spring rate and strut travel. The anti-sway bar mount ended up perfect, so no adjustable end links needed. I think between 1/2" - 1" is the best range with the Eibach springs.

https://www.truechoicekoniracingservices.com/

The picture shows the stock, Koni, and Bilstein lined up based on the mounting location. It's clear to see the 1" drop.

[only1harry]

Nice. Yep I am very familiar with Truechoice. I sent my Yellows to them for a revalve (race valving) about 9-10 years ago, but they only lasted 6-7 months before they started leaking, so I have been avoiding Truechoice since. The only reason I sent them to Truechoice was because it was only a 2 week turnaround time and Koni was 2 months.

Harry

[Nonecure]

Hopefully they have gotten better in the past 9-10 years. TC Kline Racing recommended Truechoice to me, and I got the modified Koni's in about 1 week. I am really happy with how they perform, but I will be pissed if they start leaking in 6 months. They have been around for a long time, so I would think they would hold up.

[tonyjcchen]

eibachs or h&rs? any of you have tried both before?

[Nonecure]

No, the spring rates on the Eiback's was closer to stock and that is what I wanted.

[Bours]

Can someone review the kw v1 for x drive

[only1harry]

Originally Posted by Nonecure

Hopefully they have gotten better in the past 9-10 years. TC Kline Racing recommended Truechoice to me, and I got the modified Koni's in about 1 week. I am really happy with how they perform, but I will be pissed if they start leaking in 6 months. They have been around for a long time, so I would think they would hold up.

Did TrueChoice only shorten your Konis, or did they also customize the valving? If they did not touch the valving you should be OK.

When I sent mine out to Koni after they failed prematurely from a poor job done by Truechoice, Koni told me that Truechoice has high turnover and they are constantly training new people. They told me they were sending out someone again to train Truechoice because of the many complaints they got about them. That was in '05-06 but I am sure this happens in waves and comes and goes as knowledgeable people leave. If yours break down the road, your best bet is to send them to Koni and put up with the longer turnaround times. I slept better at night knowing that because I used to auto-x (my Integra) a lot back then with some weekends at the track. The custom race valving that Koni did (SPSS3 they called it) compared to Truechoice was night and day different. My car handled a lot better when I got the shocks back from Koni as compared when I got them back from Truechoice The ride was also amazingly comfortable even with 600lb Fr. / 750lb rear springs. The car was completely flat in the corners and steering was super-responsive. My car felt like a go-kart, and 140mph felt like a walk in the park the car was so stable (with Falken Azenis). Changing lanes quickly at 120-140mph was effortless and confident. I am pretty sure my next mod for my 335 will be high-end off the shelf Konis, probably double-adjustable, or custom valved Konis. Most of the National and Divisional level autocross champs in Stock classes had high end or custom Konis with factory springs (cause they couldn't upgrade springs in a Stock class) and their cars handled almost as well as cars with very expensive coilovers in the Street-Prepared classes. But I am talking $2K-$4K for shocks alone. You really get what you pay for, and it does make a huge difference. When I drove a stock Integra with $2,800 double-adjustable Konis that came in with the 2nd fastest time of the day one time (in D Stock!), it was so planted and flat in the corners, it felt like it had high spring rate coilovers and bigger sway bars. All he had was the pricey Konis on the car. I couldn't go fast enough in the corners to lose any traction - it was that good and balanced. Real good shocks makes a huge difference.

Harry

[Nonecure]

They only cut mine down 1", no change in valving. Does Koni cut down struts?

[only1harry]

Yes, at least they used to. Koni will do pretty much everything you ask them to. They have a custom shop to custom valve your Konis, cut them, etc.

The thing is for Koni Yellows to work well they need a good amount of suspension travel, and should not be compressed much with the wheels on the ground. You should tell Koni that you need your Koni Sports/Yellows to have additional internal travel so they don't bottom out with your lowering springs and ride height. That is why most Konis fail. They bottom out internally, or you ride your bump stops and have a crappy ride. They can also fail because the spring rates do not match the valving of the Yellows, but that's more common with high spring rates or coilovers. Off the shelf Konis can usually handle up to 400lbs "reliably" sort of speak.

You still need to understand that the Yellows are still performance/sports shocks and will never last as long as the factory shocks when driven daily on the street. Once you realize that and accept that you might have to replace 1 or all of them, or restore them every 2-3 years give or take, then all will be well in your world

Harry

[CLRBLND]

Do the H&R springs fit both rwd and xdrive?

[only1harry]

I believe H&R makes the Sportline for both RWD and xDrive, but the springs might be different OD or part#. But H&R drops the car more than Eibach Prokit. I would not use H&R for DD. You will be riding the bumpstops all the time.

[BigHoncho]

So Harry,
what is you recommendation for a daily driver that does not want to change shocks every 2-3 years?

I've considered Koni, but want to have a long lasting solution.

[only1harry]

You can enjoy the Koni Sport for more than 2-3 years if most of your driving is done on the highway and not so bad roads. If you do a lot of town/city or a good mix of both city/hwy driving, I would get the non-adj. Konis as others here have done. I think 1 e90 owner has posted that he has 60K or 70K on their Koni FSD (non-adj). You won't see too many (if any) posting that about their Koni Sports. Bilstein HD (non-adj.) - maybe.

If I get 3yrs out of the Koni Sports I 'd be happy. It doesn't cost a lot to replace 1 or all 4, as compared to many other common repairs we face such as OFHG, water pump, coil packs, fuel pump, cracked valve cover/gasket (+labor), etc. The shocks are the heart of the suspension and what makes our cars exciting and fun to drive. I would spend $900-1,000K (w/labor) every 3yrs to have decent handlng and keep liking the car. Think of it as replacing all the fluids every 3yrs and brakes for 1 axle only...

Harry

[BigHoncho]

It's fine to change shocks once in a lifetime of the car, but not every 2 or 3 years. As you said there are many other common repairs, so I don't need the car to be more often/longer in the shop as necessary. It's not only the material, but xdrive suspension is always labor intensiv, thats what drives the costs.

However, it would be interesting to know how long Koni FSD or Bilstein B6 or B8 typically last. On the FSDs I think it depends on the shocks, as they are not made for lowering. Bilstein had a lot of quality issues in the past years, due to the upside-down construction (there is much talk about that on german boards).

My first choice would be what Alpina is using in their B3 or B3S. Their xdrive Version ist slightly lowered and far more comfortable. I'm not sure whether they use the stock shocks out of the BMW factory (made by Sachs) or 3rd party (Bilstein). They use different springs for sure and a couple of other things (bushings of the 335d, etc) – does anybody know part numbers in detail?

[AWD Addict]

Originally Posted by BigHoncho

So Harry,
what is you recommendation for a daily driver that does not want to change shocks every 2-3 years?

I've considered Koni, but want to have a long lasting solution.

Bilstein has a lifetime warranty.

[AWD Addict]

Originally Posted by BigHoncho

It's fine to change shocks once in a lifetime of the car, but not every 2 or 3 years.

Almost all major suspension companies will tell you the useful live of a strut/shock is 25k - 50k miles at MOST.

Most people don't realize how much extra they're spending in brakes once they've let their suspension go to crap, and the loss of appropriate balancing and steering in emergency situations.

Obviously, "lifetime" of a car can mean a lot of things, but if it means 100,000, you should have replaced your struts/shocks at least once, more likely twice.

[ucdbiendog]

when you guys lower with the eibach and koni/bilstein, what alignment specs do you use?

[Nonecure]

I used factory specs. When you lower your car, the camber will go negative and they should be able get them on the borderline of spec. Yes they will be slightly more negative, but nothing extreme like what an autocross guy would setup. There is a bolt on the tophat that can be removed if you need more adjustment on the camber.

The Bilstein's felt like they did not have enough rebound dampening for me, but others have liked them. This is my first set on this car, but my other car I had to replace them after 100k. I don't see that as an issue at all, just general maintenance.

[AWD Addict]

They should be able to dial the camber back to close to spec. Mine landed a bit on the negative side, but not a lot. I'm on Bilstein Sports and Eibach.

[AWD Addict]

It's kind of silly this poll misses one of the more popular non-coilover setups.

Someone should add Eibach/Bilstein.

[only1harry]

Are you talking about the B12 kit? Yes that should be included.