Geneqco

Which were the Konis you had before... were they the 28 series? How did you find them on the street or was it a track only car?

future

Hi Bret - I've never driven our cars fitted with the 3012 kit but they look extremely nice and look like they could easily be fitted with helper springs. You say they are reletivly cheap so can I ask what you pay for these over in the US?

I'm running Escourt Cups (very outdated by todays standards) and Beni is running KW Var.3 which are simply excellent but I'd like to go something a little different even though I can get a great price on the Var.3's.

The 3012's look as good as a set of Penske's and these are serious money!

333pg333

Mark, why would you go something different to the V3's? Especially if you can get them for a great price. I assume you have an agency for them as you're offering them for sale? I just think for a road/DE car they seem to be perfect.

333pg333

Hmm, I'd be interested in what you're friend bought and had problems with. KWs are made with stainless componentry for exactly that reason. Non-corrosive. Very few people seem to have tried KWs in the US so that seems a bit odd to me. Anyway I don't want to sound like I represent KW. Just a happy customer is all. I'm sure you'll be happy with what you get.

Phil R

I dont know all the details but this was second hand info from a friend of mine about another friend. my old roommate had v2 kws and really liked them and had no issues as far as I know.

how much track driving do you do? days a year/month
do you run data acc? are they consistent lap after lap? or do they overheat on the track like most street shocks do
spring rate options? progressive springs?
type of spring?
who are the US vendors with a kit for the 951?
adjustability? is it both rebound and compression?
what type of shock it it? oil gas both ?
what is the warranty? does track use void it?
can i have them serviced local or do i need to send back to uk or where ever they are from.

these are someone the questions I would ask the vendor but if you know the answers to some or all then great. please speak up.
I'll look into it some more but like I said, my experience is limited to what I've seen and owned and its pretty hard to go wrong with koni. If i wanted to spend 4grand I would be looking at ohlin, koni, and moton jrz. but Ive heard of people having problems unless they have them rebuilt often. dont know if its true but I'm very good friends with at least 5 moton owners but at this point no way can i spend that much.

I need something consistent and reliable that can deal with street and track driving. both conditions are brutal but in totally different ways.

I need to read more about the 3012 but from what I can tell it looks very similar to the racing shocks I had on my old car. I beat the hell out of that suspension with 700/800R springs and it held up magnificantly. pounded relentlessly over bad city streets in the winter then worked out on the track all season. anyway i need to find out the part number but they were top of the line costing about 4000 back in 2000 but I paid much less when i purchised them used.

Geneqco

Sounds like they may well have been the 28 series. Were they adjustable for both bump and rebound without removal?

How did you find them on the bad city streets with such high spring rates?

The 28 series are a later design - like an evolution of the 3012 series from what I understand, hence the similarity. The main differences seem to be that the bump adjustment on the 3012 is not quite as simple as the 28 series and the for the 28 series, the adjustment is more biased to the low speed shock movements.

333pg333

All I am saying is that they offer you the best of both worlds with their valving and are a great product straight out of the box. I'm sure that the Konis would be excellent also and you raise some very valid concerns re the service / warranty side of things. You would have to look into that yourself as I have no idea what is offered to you guys in the US. If you are at all interested I would contact a Lister nearer to you known as DVC. He put them in after a fair bit of research and is very happy.

CP944T

Phil R bought those previously mentioned konis from me. I found them to be very very solid. They were my first adjustable shock and I found them to be quite easy to adjust. Rebound was up top, like the koni yellows, and bump was on the side of the shock body, simply turned by a flathead screwdriver with noticeable clicks, 12 in all. It was great, tighten them up nicely for a track session, turn them back down for the ride home. Also, the were much lighter than anything else I've had w/ their alum. bodies. They were used on a b5 chassis A4 w/ 700f/800r springs and were tolerable on our crappy streets. Valving seemed very good.

I may lean toward the KW v3's, but have a ton of time to do research as I'm nowhere near to a significant susp purchase at the moment.

tconn

I've had Koni 3012's for 3 years now. They are are holding up fine. The handling of the car improved greatly after install.
Adjustment was easy, but I don't adjust them every weekend either.

mj951

tconn,
I see you have also rebuilt your m030's up front into double adjustables, have you found this change to be useful in getting the car setup properly? Like many on this thread I am planning for the 3012's next winter with t-bar delete and a rebuild on the fronts, also m030, but cannot decide if it is worth the extra $'s to rebuild them as double adjustables. Thoughts, comments...spring rates?
Thanks.

Phil R

yes I would think its very worth the extra $. I drove a friends car with the double adjustable konis and the car felt way better then mine. when you convert them to double adjustable you are basically getting a totally different shock back. I believe the internals would be good match for the 3012s.

Paragon seems to recommend rebuilding the fronts to double adjustable when adding the 3012s in the rear. the one issue is time. it will likely take koni 5 or so weeks to return shocks during peak season so waiting till winter is a good idea. the other option is a company called True Choice. they do work for lots of big name race teams and will likely have a faster turn around time.

mj951

Thanks Phil. Yeah I have contacted both Koni and True Choice for estimates, definitely a winter project given their schedules and doing a T-bar delete. I'm sure any rebuild will offer the feel of a totally different suspension as like most mine are going on 19 years and just over 100,000 miles. The advantage/disadvantage with the double adjustables is more variables to work through and understand the effects of, but thats half the fun...I hope.

tconn

The upgrade to double adjustable front struts is well worth
the extra cost.
My car feels completely different than it did before the mods.
I'm running 375# front springs and 475# rear springs.

mj951

Thanks tconn, would you consider those spring rates streetable?

tconn

I think it's fine on our roads. They are fairly smooth.
The suspension feels more complient than it did before.
You'll have to consider the condition of the roads you drive.

I was in Ma. a while back before I upgraded the suspension,
the stock suspension was to stiff for those roads!