The Project Pad

Hello all .

So I am building a mk2 jetta ahu TDI and I currently have bilstien sports in it with mk3 shine racing vr6 springs front and rear with a shine rear bar and a stock front bar (I left the front bar in because the TDI weighs more then my current aba ) . the car is being build as a weekend/ rally/ pikes peak hill climb car . I was going to have the Billy's revalved to 22/100 . my question is are koni yellows on full stiffness comparable to the revlaved sports ? I'm wondering this because I don't wanna drive 2000 miles to pikes peak from Boston on 22 over 100 billys.... Kinda funny I TDIed the mk2 for the mpgs and now its become my fun car and my urs4 is my daily.

I don't know what 22/100 means in Bilstein-speak, but the Koni yellows on full stiff should not be able to match re-valved Billies if they are valved for stiff springs.

22/100 is what a bilstien person said over the phone . its the highest revalve they said you can run in their shocks while still keeping the shocks cool enough to run on public roads for a daily .

Go for the KONI struts if they are adjustable…I've had them on my 91 200 and my 95 S6 and adjustabilty is a good thing.

The problem is that the konis on full hard will not perform anywhere near the re-valved Bilsteins! I would go with the custom valving. Adjustability isn't worth anything when all of the adjustable range is too low.

Or run the double adjustable konis and skip the revalve.

That works too.

loxxrider wrote:The problem is that the konis on full hard will not perform anywhere near the re-valved Bilsteins! I would go with the custom valving. Adjustability isn't worth anything when all of the adjustable range is too low.

You mean: The KONI's will not wear out as fast as the Billies and have the gland nut issues either and you save yourself $250 for the revalve/shipping with the billies and that basically comes with the KONI's….!!!!

Maybe some people need to check their spring rates to get a better sense of what they are running….Too low of spring rate = the strut may not be able to "keep up" with the spring rate etc.

I went from a 350# spring to a 380# in the front and the ride is way better….just that 30# bump made all the difference. The whole time I thought it was the KONI's sucking ass….NOPE!!!!...it was my springs!!

the options:

Koni = adjustabity = soft or firm…just turn the knob
Bilsteins = Revalve is extra cost + it may or may not be the kind of settings you are looking for = revalve again = more $$

A20V200 wrote:

loxxrider wrote:The problem is that the konis on full hard will not perform anywhere near the re-valved Bilsteins! I would go with the custom valving. Adjustability isn't worth anything when all of the adjustable range is too low.

You mean: The KONI's will not wear out as fast as the Billies and have the gland nut issues either and you save yourself $250 for the revalve/shipping with the billies and that basically comes with the KONI's….!!!!

Maybe some people need to check their spring rates to get a better sense of what they are running….Too low of spring rate = the strut may not be able to "keep up" with the spring rate etc.

I went from a 350# spring to a 380# in the front and the ride is way better….just that 30# bump made all the difference. The whole time I thought it was the KONI's sucking ass….NOPE!!!!...it was my springs!!

the options:

Koni = adjustabity = soft or firm…just turn the knob
Bilsteins = Revalve is extra cost + it may or may not be the kind of settings you are looking for = revalve again = more $$

Your reasoning is not well founded here. The reason Bilsteins blow out so fast on uprated springs is because the damping ratio is too low for the spring rate. They are made for 250-350 lb*in springs MAX, not 500. We are running them WAY out of their operating range! When re-valved, they perform as they should and do on a properly-matched setup. The thing is, almost noone is running them re-valved and those who are have nothing to complain about.

The Konis will blow out just as fast with the kind of spring rates we're talking about. TRUST ME, either one will need re-valved when you run springs that are capable of making these cars handle well at all, large or small chassis. They are both fine for regular sport lowering springs from H&R and the like, but those springs are not very high rate. They are in the 250-350 lb*in range the sport struts are made for. The Konis do not have anywhere near the adjustability required to hold up to a 400 or 500 lb*in spring. It is simply outside the operating limits of the damper.

This is not a Koni vs Bilstein debate. The real debate is Koni sport/Bilstein sport vs. re-valved or race versions of Koni or Bilstein struts.

There should be no need for multiple re-valves to get it right. Spring/mass/damper systems are not that difficult to optimize when given the proper inputs, especially when you're a company who is solely in the business of designing these things. If I can do it, Bilstein can! I'm not supporting them over Koni at all. I've had plenty of issues with that company in the past, but there is no reason they shouldn't be able to accomplish this without a problem. Koni will sell you a universal race strut which is not tailored to the particular application. They should be adjustable enough to cover the spectrum of possibilities in the racing world, but as I have found with their sport struts, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution.

Ohlins ftw :-P