I'm considering doing a Koni yellow install myself, just wanted to know if anyone has done it lately and if you have some tips.

Then info I've found seems to all say you need to use the stock spring perches, and that you need to bang them off with a mallet or something.

Why do the konis ship with spring perches if they don't work properly? And how does the perch attach to the new shock?

I haven't seen any good info on that.

 

Also would I still need to get the bushings for the rear suspension? Or is koni now supplying that in the package?

 

it's a really easy install... my coilovers are koni yellow based and they're really easy... it's one bolt on top that holds the shock to the upper perch... donno why you'd need a mallet... i just rented a spring compressor to help since i didn't have anyone to do it with me... just take off the bolt and slide the piece off... same thing with the front. it should be for all intents and purposes a direct swapover...

 

did you need to buy separate bushings for the rear suspension install? or was that just an issue when people were mounting the R53 version to the R56?

 

Hey.... sry it took so long to get back to you... no i didn't need any bushings.... though my car's at 84000 miles and i'm in need of bushings now :P and one thing i forgot to mention... the rear spring perch has a washer in it... you'll need to bore out the washer a wee bit cuz the Koni shocks are wider in diameter than the stock shocks (the actual shaft that is...)

 

1.) just did this.

The only issue I had was I had to drill out the rear spring hat to fit over the shock shaft. Stock is 10mm the Koni is 12mm.

2.) I you get shocks for the R56 the rear shocks come with the bushings.

Other than that it was very straightforward.

 

Did you have to buy that special strut socket tool to remove the top of the strut as in the mini howto guide?

See here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ll-how-to.html

 

Most of those tools I've seen just don't fit into the strut bearing. The outside diameter is just too big, and there isn't enough material to turn it down so it would fit. Yes I own one of them...

I used an impact gun to remove the nut and I made a socket that actually works. Take a 22, or 23mm socket that does fit in the bearing, (sears fit for me) Then I had a friend machine flats at the top so I could use a 19mm crows foot and a torque wrench. (I use it for BMW's also)