Last winter, I had both of my rear struts fail. The seals had broken and leaked some/all of the fluid. I had them replaced under the Koni warranty.

Now, it looks like the rears are in the same situation.

I live in Minnesota, so as a daily driver, I have to traverse rough, pothole filled, roads. Oh, and cold temps.

Any ideas or thoughts on the FSDs? Would another warranty replacement be worth the hassle? Would Bilstein Sports perform any better under these conditions? Something else?

I just want my suspension to work.

 

I had a failed front FSD strut and know of other FSD failures, I don’t think your environment was to blame. I have Bilstein SPs now and they are superior on many levels, however, they are not a lounge chair cushy ride, but not buckboard like either.

 

I'm guessing the warranty replacement I received in the spring, are simply a bad rebuild. The issue lies with how many of these rebuilds do I have to go through before I get a set that works.

How do coilovers compare to FSDs or Bilstein Sports on ride quality? My car is a daily driver, so that has to come into the equation to some degree.

Where did you get your Bilstein's?

 

I purchased my Bilsteins from an e-bay vendor.

The base advantage to coilovers is their height adjustability, if they have damping controls, they can be tailored to suit your ride quality preferences. If used in a performance-demanding environment, their adjustability (and wide range of spring rate choices) can provide greater benefits.

 

FWIW, my FSDs have not hiccuped in >30,000. Roads maybe not AS bad as yours, but my car is also a DD, and we certainly have our share of crappy streets, even though there is no harsh winter. I think maybe you have just been unlucky, or the Koni dealer is messing with you by giving you rebuilds instead of new? Koni replaced one of my front struts at a deeply discounted price after an accident destroyed it. No problem at all. Maybe you should contact Koni directly?

 

fwiw, I had a problem with the rear Bilstein Sports blowing over the winters when I lived in NY. This first happened to me on an old VW I had back in the 80s and again in the late 90s when I used Bilstein Sports on my BMW. On the BMW, they blew 2 consecutive winters.

During that same time frame I used Koni Sport adjustables on the VW and never again had an issue and pretty much used Koni sports on all of my cars and never had issues.

I have never used the FSD though so that might be different. The Koni Sports are a twin tube shock design where the Bilsteins are a mono tube design. I understand that the twin tube is a bit more resilient to street driving.

 

Here's my plan. I'm going to see if KONI will replace my FSDs with a set of Yellows. If so, I'll pick up a set of the Dinan springs. Even if KONI doesn't offer to switch to Yellows, I may simply buy a set, and the Dinan springs. Two local shops said they have never had problems with the KONI Yellows.

Interestingly enough, one of the shops said that some of the racing snowmobiles they've worked on had FSDs. They failed all the time. Switched to the Yellows and had no further problems.

Thoughts?

 

Just a guess, but if you like the ride on the FSD's, you probably won't like the Yellows - even on full soft, they will ride much harsher, particularly over the small road irregularities, and will excite a lot more interior plastic noises.

 

I luv my yellows.

 

I talked with KONI today. They said they have a new/different rear shock now for the FSDs. The rear pair would be covered under their warranty. I can also switch to Sports. At a minimum, the rear would fall under warranty.

I also talked to DINAN. They said to get KONI to swap out all four corners for Sports. Then I can get the springs and the DINAN modified bump stops, and would have their suspension kit. He also recommended fixed camber plates, theirs of course.

Any thoughts on adding the camber plates? Thoughts about the DINAN camber plates?

 

interesting. did koni say how recent the update for the rear is?

imho, additional negative front camber = good! the dinan camber plates reuse the oem strut mount. I'm running ireland fixed plates (more negative camber than dinan) which have strut mounts from a heavier car (3 series).

the dinan setup was favorably reviewed in roundel.

 

They didn't say specifically. Just that it was after my last warranty replace; spring 2008.

 

Is it necessary to replace the rear upper and lower mounting bolts every time the rear suspension is replaced?

 

If you don't replace them at least clean the threads and apply anti-seize. I spent the better part of last weekend dealing with stuck/rusted/sheared suspension bolts doing a strut change.

 

Are you running stock springs with your FSDs?

I've heard the FSD are designed for stock, or close to stock spring heights.
I.E. FSDs on lowering springs = bad juju, blown shocks, etc.

 

I find it odd people are saying your not supposed to use lowering springs with the FSD system but Koni has been quoted saying that its ok AND their site even states to use the eibach springs with them. I also found they sell their own lowering spring as well but do not mention pairing them with the FSD system. very strange.


http://www.koni-na.com/cat_search.cf...=38&submit.y=3



FSD Shocks

KONl`s latest technology accomplishes the task that has eluded most shock makers until now - great handling + excellent ride quality:

• > Excellent ride quality on all road surfaces
  > Available for most newer cars - more coming
  > Pair with Eibach springs for 1"-1.5" lowering
  > Gold metallic finish shocks
  > Dark metallic gray springs in kits
  > Less expensive than electronic systems
  > Lifetime Warranty
  
  Drive the car you love every day.

 

Mostly the anecdotal evidence around here has been that moderate lowering (e.g. JCW or TSW springs - about 1") seems to work fine with the FSDs... most reports of issues have been with more aggressive lowering in the 2" range...

 

Does anyone know what the collar on the rear strut is for. i just got a pair of FSD from someone and theres a silver collar you can remove. it sits right above the lower purch for the spring

 

If it's what I'm thinking about, it IS the spring perch... which is removable, and slides down against a smaller "stop" on the strut body.

 

the spring purch is on the bottom and this piece is above it which i can remove. i did find it weird seeing the perch on an angle as i remember the other strut purch being straight. the ring is tappered

anyone have pictures of the setup

 

Do you see the part you're talking about here?


The silver rings up near the top of the rear struts are the lower perches... they slide down and rest on the fixed rings around the strut....

 

yep....i just got home and took a hammer and knocked the purch loose.

i slide the tappered collar down onto the circlip and then put the purch onto that which i figured was the right way before seeing your pic which i ty for. does the purch just rest there loosly until the spring puts pressure onto it???

i dont get why he had the purch laying on the circlip which i cant see working without it sliding passed that clip and ruining the purch once the weight of the vehicle goes on it. he had the tappered ring sitting above the purch. no damage seen to the purch. smh

now all i need to know is what bump stops to use. i think i even cut my fronts with the stock struts and h sport springs which also uses their own style bump stop in the rear if i remember or maybe vise versa.

 

Yep.. the perch just rattle around until the spring sits on it.

I'm using my OEM bumpstops. with no problems. Used the at full height with my stock springs, cut one bump off with the TSW springs.

 

In that link, if you click on the FSD button, it says very directly "FSD kit must be used with stock height suspension." In the forums when someone has talked directly with Koni representatives, they consistently advised to use stock height for MINI. I think the mention of Eibach was a generic description of the FSD product. Koni does have FSD/Eibach kits for other cars (e.g. VW) but not MINI.

 

FSD issue solved!! Finished installing the DINAN Stage 3 suspension today. KONI warranty replacement on FSDs to Sports. Added DINAN springs and fixed camber plates. Already have a 22mm rear sway bar.

Only had time for a quick run around the neighborhood, but a very nice upgrade from the FSDs with stock springs. Of course its not hard to improve on a suspension with a blown rear shock AND front strut. Two years in a row for me on blown FSDs, I won't be going back. That's too bad, as they make a very nice first impression.

So I am now sitting on DINAN Stage 3 suspension. Just need an alignment (Monday). The car actually lowered quite a bit. I have winter 16" steel with 195/55R16s, and I can just get my hand between the top of the tire and the wheel well. I sure hope that doesn't present any issue for my 17" summers with 215/45R17s. Even though the back looks lower than the front (two hands), the still looks level.

Now back to happy motoring!!