I had posted shortly after installing a full set of Koni FSD shocks last November. I found them to be excellent for both dynamic and steady state cornering as well as superb over large dips and bumps. My concern back then was the overly stiff behaviour over short, sharp, closely spaced bumps. Then the real winter came along...

This "bad" stiffness was made worse when the temperatures dropped. At minus 20C, I really disliked the ride. My wife, who suffers from periodic lower back pain, was quite vocal about her discomfort bouncing over the ridges in the snow crossing intersections etc. It was truly quite tiresome.

In my opinion, Koni's claims of adaptive damping are valid ONLY at temperatures well above freezing. I re-read their technical description more closely and discovered the the frequency sensitive damping ONLY applies to the rebound stroke of the FSD damper. This means there is NO change in damper compression stroke response... ever. An FSD is always stiff on compression, which seems counter-intuitive to me when one wishes to have a comfortable ride over short sharp "high frequency" bumps.

I was almost at the point of removing the FSDs and chucking in some Monroe Sensa-Tracs!

Now that an early spring is upon us and the snow and ice has disappeared, and the frost-swollen asphalt joints are diminished, I like the FSDs all over again. I really hope they just soften up a bit before next winter!

So, my current recommendation about Koni FSDs would be even more cautionary for those of you in a cold winter climate. Knowing what I know now, I'd simply buy Monroe Sensa-tracs when they are on sale for less than 1/2 the price of the FSDs and count on changing them sooner. I'm done with high-end shocks. Our roads are too crappy and the winter is too cold for performance shocks all year round.

Reg (old f*rt version, signing off)


posted by 216.81...

• Koni FSD Update, after a cold winter (Hint, too stiff), RegQ, Mon, 5 Apr 2010 21:51:49 <-- Viewing This Message
  • Wanna trade?, B Millar , Mon, 5 Apr 2010 22:12:21
    • Ouch! Talk about a slammed ride!, RegQ, Tue, 6 Apr 2010 12:15:02
    • Too far!, LesH, Tue, 6 Apr 2010 08:07:38
      • It all depends on what you're looking for, Noel, Wed, 7 Apr 2010 13:07:05
      • Re: Too far!, James, Tue, 6 Apr 2010 17:51:07
      • Might try that Les..., RegQ, Tue, 6 Apr 2010 12:16:55
        • Re: Might try that Les..., LesH, Tue, 6 Apr 2010 12:18:02
      • Monroe's....LesH, Mark from Toronto, Tue, 6 Apr 2010 10:07:40
        • Re: Monroe's....LesH, LesH, Tue, 6 Apr 2010 10:45:48

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