Matt Sheppard

There are Green struts for 944's and there are yellow struts, what is the difference? Anybody compared Koni yellows to the two different Bilsteins on a 944? Opinions?

I understand that Bilsteins are high pressure gas shocks and Koni's are low pressure, beyond that, I'm not sure which design is a better performer or lasts the longest.

Are most high-end shock/struts (Leda, Moton, JRZ, JIC, ect.) low or high pressure?

User 41221

The Green struts are the Turbo Cup variety, and are extremely nice if you DE your car. The yellow inserts are their "street" hi performance strut, and are very nice for a street/DE type car. I have the yellows on my 86 951 and love em. In my opinion, the yellow Bilsteins and the Koni adjustables are about the same, performance wise, and the Greens are a step beyond the Konis.

Regards,

P944forScott

PO put Bilsteins on my car, I like the way my car handles but have no comparison to the Koni's

Skip

Get Monroes!

DangerIsland

If I remember correctly, Skip isn't too keep on the bilsteins, and maybe his thoughts are coming out in a little bit of sarcasm there <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

dave120

My brother's 84 has the Bilsteins with stock springs and my S2 has the Koni Yellows sport struts (not inserts) and Weltmeister 200# springs up front. Personally I think his setup is better.

Although it may be because he has the weltmeister sway bars vs my 968 m030 bars, I don't know. But his car stick better and is actually a softer ride as well. The adjustability of the Konis is nice, but the Bilsteins seem to be setup pretty well right out of the box anyways.

Skip

Jus'playin

No opinions, just the fax...

Koni Sport are twin-tube low pressure gas adjustable in the rebound stroke only. Low pressure gas is chosen over high pressure gas because it more closely represents the environment in which a Koni Sport equipped vehicle will be used (street, autoX, novice/intermediate track use). The damper speeds are paramount to this match of function and design. Koni does also produce high pressure gas monotube, but for racing use only.

The advantage of rebound adjustment, and sometimes even bump, is that the shock can be dynamically tuned for the use - and also add the comfort of changing spring rates without necessarily changing valving. Damper life can also be extended through adjustability, though that is not a primary concern. Damping rates, especially during the rebound phase, have everything to do with roadholding ability. Through the variances of tracks, climate, and drivers this adjustability is very useful.

Oh, and Konis have a lifetime warranty.

Skip

Tremelune

Dang, I forget the codes for Bilsteins. I thought yellow was race track stuff, white was street stuff, and green was in the middle.

I gots greens. They nice and stiff. I like 'em, but I have no reference.

Matt Sheppard

Dave 120

Is your bro. running greens or yellows?

Larry Parker

Bilsteins are better parts than Konis hands down!!

I have tested almost every shock on the planet and konis can very as much as 20% shock to shock
and thats a fact I have dyno sheets to prove it!!

High pressure-low pressure has very very little effect on the ride of the car unless the shock rod is very large, then large amounts of gas will effectively add spring rate.

I run between 120-180psi gas in our dampers and
bilsteins can have as much as 300psi but the bilstein rod is but a small 11mm while are rod is a 25mm unit but them again its apples to oranges.....mono tube-twin tube

I have run penskes, motons, jrz, ohlins, koni,
bilstein, kyb, advance design and others on the dyno and have found many to have very small adjustment ranges and to be less than impressive.

So if you want to know what someone who designs/builds motorsport shocks for a living
thinks about koni vs bilstein.

Go with the bilsteins!!

<a href="http://morissdampers.com/images/pldynoall.jpg" target="_blank">http://morissdampers.com/images/pldynoall.jpg</a>

take a peek at the dyno chart and look at the range of konis vs others

I would rather have a non-adjustable repeatable shock than one that rarely matchs part to part.

I have spoke to many racers that used to run konis and told me that they would buy 2 or 3 sets at a time so they could dyno the whole lot to find a pair that matched.

So save some money or get good parts?
your choice.

User 41221

Forgive me if I am wrong, but I could swear my Bilstiens came with a lifetime warranty. Also, a clarification on the Bilstein colors, the Turbo Cup strut housings were green, the Bilstein Heavy Duty (HD) struts are yellow, and the Bilstein Sport (SP) inserts are green. The HD's are more performance oriented than the SP's.

For my money, the Bilsteins are better than the Konis, but opinions do vary...

Regards,

Danno

Bilstein also changed the model names of their shocks recently, which may be part of the confusion. They've also come out with adjustable shocks now too.

For street use and occasional track, I would assert that very few people would be able to pick out the difference between Bilsteins and Konis in a double-blind test.

FWIW, I've got Koni Sport adjustable inserts in the front of my car with Bilstein Sports (green) in the rear.

Sami951

SemiOT, but.. how unmanageable would the Bilstein turbo cup shocks be on a street car? Could they be valved differently to allow one to use lighter spring rates? And finally, does linear/tender dual spring configuration help streetability at all?

rsrdan

sami951 Go with the Bilstein Firehawk struts.They are yellow,and are valved differently than the turbo cup.They run $350each and are designed to use lighter springs 250-300lb.I ran them for a while than had them re valved stiffer to run 350lb springs.The ride is not harsh at all,like some people claim.I love the feedback from them.Bilstein rules!!

dave120

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Matt Sheppard:
<strong>Dave 120

Is your bro. running greens or yellows?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">They're the green ones