streetglower

iTrader: (13)

Just wondering how you know when the konis are at the firmest setting or the softest setting? On the instructions, I think it said when you put the adjuster on, turning it 4 times makes it to the firmest setting, but am not sure? Someone please let me know.

fatboy

just turn it all the way towards the "firm" arrow on the ****

robbclark1

iTrader: (8)

i thought Konis were 15 way adjustable?

streetglower

iTrader: (13)

I know, but how many times do you have to turn it (360) for it to be like its full firmness?

flotsamm

iTrader: (1)

It depends on the Koni part since they vary on how much they turn. Some Koni's turn 2 times around and others turn 1.25 around for example. Either way most people start off with the softest setting and firm it up until theyre happy. Remember that the softest setting is just a tiny bit firmer then stock, then if you turn it to full firmness it'll be 2 times the stock setting. When I adjust mine, I usually turn it to full soft then turn it evenly by counting the bumps on the **** using a reference point on the car.

streetglower

iTrader: (13)

when I turned mine, they keep turning, They arent on the car yet, does it make a difference when they are on the car. Or does it stop turning.

keepin_it_clean

iTrader: (1)

Mine do stop turning. They do about 2 full rotations from soft to firm, i have my fronts .75 turn away from full firm and my rears 1-1.25 turns away from full firm, with my gc coilovers this gives a nice ride...

blacksheep

That's just the piston rod turning inside the shock body. It'll turn forever

Don't keep messing with them till they're installed on the car

civicfreak84

for these koni adjustable shocks do you need to alter the suspension inorder to install

flotsamm

iTrader: (1)

You have to cut the top of the front strut off. Read this:

http://www.hondatuningmagazine.com/t...ht_suspension/

Its not hard to do if your mechanically inclined and have a good set of tools.

01EXtc

iTrader: (3)

I just turned the **** until it stopped, and it DOES stop. was i not supposed to do that?

robbclark1

iTrader: (8)

I suggest NOT. Setting it at full hard or full soft is NOT recommended.

HondaSales

iTrader: (5)

thanks for the link. i just ordered my konis so that will be very usefull

HondaSales

iTrader: (5)

why not? help me out because i don't know much about suspension work

robbclark1

iTrader: (8)

Gosh she is brilliant...i say marry her!

It is just a recommendation. I mean you can drive around with them set at full hard or soft, but it is suggested that you don't. Same reason you don't drive around with tires pumped up to 40lbs or tires down to 20lbs. You can still drive with tires like that, but it is not recommended.

flotsamm

iTrader: (1)

From my understanding you can drive at either setting since thats what their designed for. Full soft is just a tiny bit firmer then stock. Full firmness is suppose to be about two times the firmness of stock. You'd probably never use full firmness unless your at a track with a smooth surface. But you should be able to run full soft all day long without any problems.

01EXtc

iTrader: (3)

wow, i had drove on them all the way stiff. should i turn them back about a half turn?

flotsamm

iTrader: (1)

No, you can drive on them like that all you want. Thats what theyre designed for. Perhaps call Koni and ask them their opinion.

robbclark1

iTrader: (8)

yeah i agree with flotsamm. Call koni and ask.

My understanding is that you never set coils or shocks on full hard for everyday driving for extended periods of time. Again, it is just a recommendation...stop worrying about it.

this is what it says on their site
Q: What is the best adjustment setting for my shocks?

A: There is no single best adjustment setting for your KONIs because every driver has different preferences for comfort, performance, performance modifications and roads to drive on. For most vehicles, we suggest that new KONIs be installed in the full soft position. (the standard setting right out of the box) to take advantage of the balance of ride comfort and handling designed by the KONI ride development engineers. If the car has performance upgrades (springs, wheel/tire packages, etc.) or the driver wants the car a bit more aggressive, most people find the optimum setting in the 1/2 to one full turn from the full soft range. Over the extended life of the damper or if the driver wants a specific firm handling characteristic, the dampers can be adjusted up higher. Very rarely will KONI ever need to be adjusted to the full firm setting.

Other companies suggest not putting them on full soft/hard.

streetglower

iTrader: (13)

I thought the same thing, I would think that since they made them adjustable, you could have them on any setting.

01EXtc

iTrader: (3)

ill be damned, ill be honest, with the 3 sets that ive had i always thought that having them on the stiffest setting was the best. i learned something new. THANK YOU 7THGENCIVIC.COM !!

streetglower

iTrader: (13)

why do you have 3 sets?

Zzyzx

Also you can tune the Transitional handling chariteristics by adjustsing the shocks differently front to back... so you can tune out the cars tenedncy to understeer on corner entry and oversteer on corner exit and so on.

Entry Oversteer - Decrease the rebound of rear shocks. Increase the bump of front shocks.

Entry Understeer- Increase the rebound of rear shocks, Decrease teh bump fo front shocks

Exit Understeer - Increase rebound of front shocks. Decrease bump of rear shocks.

Exit Oversteer - Decrease rebound of front shocks. Increase bump of rear shocks.


I beleive with konis and 99% of other adjustible shocks that you can only adjust the Bump settings, as Rebound is set by the factory. If you are so lucky to have shocks that are double adjustible then you will beable to adjust both bump and rebound.

blacksheep

the konis are single adjustable, but I believe the single adjustment affects both bump and rebound.

there's really only one "right" setting for shocks and it depends on your springs. Stiff springs need stiff shocks and vice versa cause the shock has to control the spring's specific rebound frequency.

For example you should set them full soft to work with stock springs, maybe 1/4 hard to work with Eibach Pro-Kits and maybe 2/3 to 1/2 hard to work with Sportlines. That's about where ours are set to.

Leaving the shocks full soft with the sportlines actually rides a lot WORSE than 1/2 way hard cause they're too soft to control the spring's rebound after a bump. Mess around with them and see what works with your springs and what you like best. That's the beauty of buying adjustable shocks - it's a learning experience.

Zzyzx

On further reaserch I find I was wrong, apparently Koni yellows allow for Rebound adjustment(only) Rather then bump. Sorry my bad..

Racers (Real ones) use the bump and rebound settings for fine tuning the transitional chariteristics of the car. So I dissagree with your asumption that there is only one right setting for shocks (per spring rate) Its my understanding that Koni Yellows are good at controlling springs up to 550 LB/In. past that, they wont last long. You can also Have Konis re-built and re-valved to run higher spring rates but even then they are only good to about 750 LB/In.

Example of how to adjust shocks for a road course

Example of how to adjust shocks for Drag racing

Not that both of these set ups are describing the process with Double adjustible shocks, wityh koni yellows you can only do the rebound adjustments.

01EXtc

iTrader: (3)

look at my sig....the SI had konis, the 02 had konis and my 04 has konis

streetglower

iTrader: (13)

why so many civics?

flotsamm

iTrader: (1)

I got to thinking about what Zzyzx said about Koni's and emailed Koni to see what they had to say. I remember there being a reason why Koni Yellows are only rebound adjustable, though I couldnt find the page. Anyways, here's what Gordon from Koni said..



Flotsamm,

This is actually the second www.7thgencivic.com I've been referred to today. The first one, of which I'm sure I'll be quoted on soon, has to deal with the diameter differences that Honda has used on the cars.

Anyways...

>" Racers (Real ones) use the bump and rebound settings for fine tuning the transitional chariteristics of the car.

That's correct. The bump (compression) and rebound settings may need to change depending on course conditions, spring rates being used, etc.

>So I dissagree with your asumption that there is only one right setting for shocks (per spring rate)

Well, with the off-the-shelf Konis, you're only adjusting rebound. Compression is fixed but is more aggressive than the factory struts. Depending on the type of ride you're looking for, there will be a best rebound setting you use on the street or on track. I typically keep there bound a little softer on the street than when I race just so I can live with the car everyday. YMMV.

As a rule of thumb, compression is controlling the unsprung weight of the car. This will mostly affect the initial turn-in and building tire temps faster. In the example off of our website that was linked, what they're saying, in so many words or less, is that you make the compression as firm as you can until the largest bump on track upsets the car ("walks" or "side-hops" on a rough turn). Since compression is largely a finer tuning aid than the rebound, we normally do not make it adjustable.

Rebound will yield the biggest gains in handling. It is handing the sprung weight of the car and will help in controlling how the body of the car moves around (body roll, brake dive, etc.). The setting will need to change depending on the spring rates being used (higher spring rate = more rebound needed).

As noted by Zzyzx in the thread, you can use the rebound and compression as a tuning aid for over or understeer.

>Its my understanding that Koni Yellows are good at controlling springs up to 550 LB/In. past that, they wont last long.

It depends on the driver and they're setup. Will it last long? Maybe depending on what the driver likes. If the insert off the shelf can't be set to his/her liking, then we can revalve it to work with the rates their running.

>You can also Have Konis re-built and re-valved to run higher spring rates but even then they are only good to about 750 LB/In."

Yes, they can be rebuilt. No, there isn't a spring rate ceiling of 750 lb/in. We've made valving for spring rates of over 1000 lb/in. using smaller piston dampers for Integras racing in IT and the Honda challenge. 750 lb/in. or more would not be a problem with an insert revalved.

That said, we can also take a factory housing and convert it into a double adjustable if the customer is looking to go that route. This would run $645 per strut or $550 per strut if the customer has already installed a coilover sleeve. We require a housing to be provided by the customer for the conversion. We can not convert an insert to a double adjustable. Also, if they want a shorter housing, we can do this at the same time. If you have any more questions, please let me know.

Thanks.

Gordon


FWIW

Zzyzx

^^ Exelent Find!! About the 550 and 750 spring rates, that comes from other Autocrossers who have used Koni Yellows for quite some times (The thread can be found here)

Nice to see some one is willing to do a little reasearch.

flotsamm

iTrader: (1)

Thats probably my fault when I pasted his reply.. its suppose to be "the rebound" instead of "there bound".