You guys stink, now your making me want to buy the STR.T'S too.

 

Slippery slope.... No shock will be the same @ 150k miles as it was new. The cheaper the shock, the less well it's build (hence the reason it's cheaper). Further, most folks don't know this, Koni's rebound adjuster started back in the day as a wear adjustment. As the shock wore and lost rebound damping, you could add more to it. Since the advent of better materials, rubber, oil, and parts (pistons, valves, etc) they don't "wear" like that and folks usually use it as a tuning tool.....

Stock shocks.... well, suck. They are build to a price and are a compromise from the word go. Ford doesn't care if they go forever, out of warranty is fine. And much like brakes, dampers are often considered a "wear item". Tokico does make Ford OEM stuff... to Ford spec not to Tokico spec. As much as I'm not a Tokico Fan-boi overall I find those better than stock.

Quality and performance are directly linked here. A shock that loses performance isn't very good quality. And a poor quality shock can't offer good performance--at least not for very long.

 

So much for free trade agreements...

 

Free trade isn't so free...

 

Bummer.. on back order till mid november-ish.

Car will be asleep by then.
Guess the install will have to wait till the spring.

 

Enough time to save up for all four corners!

 

hahah, good point.
I was thinking that.

I'll get the others in February

 

At the risk of being flamed...

There are always compromises with aftermarket shocks/struts, even Konis. It depends on what you're doing with the car and what you want to do with it. You can build the best handling Mustang in the world, but I guarantee you ride quality is going to take a hit on bad roads. At the same time, the stock shocks/struts are fine for the street but have serious limitations.

I'm riding with Koni Sports in Southern California. They're passable on a decent road, but they're not so great on a road with any imperfections. Even with the adjustments, your choice is between overly bouncy and overly stiff. There is a sweet spot, but when you hit a bump or an expansion joint in the road, you're going to feel it. Koni SRT's are Koni Sports on full soft. But, full soft just means more bounciness. It does not necessarily mean better ride quality.

For what it's worth, I very much like my best friend's stock Bullitt. I've also test-driven used Bullitts with 13K-15K miles and the ride quality is a lot better than my car. I don't think the 2005-2009 stock shocks/struts are that great, but the Bullitt ones seem decent, and they were carried over to the 2010's and 2011's (for the most part).

But then, I use my Mustang as a daily driver. I drive on a freeway which Hyundai simulates in its test track. I might be more tolerant of the bumpy ride if the Mustang were my weekend racer, but it's not. And after a 1-2 hour commute each way, it gets real old, real fast.

Reliability-wise, I think Konis are probably the best of all the aftermarket possibilities. At the same time, if a Ford OEM shock/strut breaks, you're really only looking at $45-$75 for a replacement depending on whether it's a shock versus a strut.

Bottom line, you can't get everything you want. Anything you buy, you're going to have to make a compromise...either in handling prowess that you're probably never going to use unless you visit the track, or in overall ride comfort.

 

You simply haven't found the sweet spot... The fact you can go from too bouncy to too stiff tells you that just right is in there. The issue you're having is very unique, and it's a frequency problem on those slabs. I have no idea how much or little you are adjusting the shocks, and if you are doing both ends at once, etc. But 1/4 turn on a Koni Sport is a tangible change in damping force. And you might only need to change one end, a little bit to get things 'in sync'. There is reason folks use that road to test, it's one of the worst around, period. We aren't talking about a road with any imperfections, but one that might as well be a bombed out goat trail. And you might get dialed in for that, but then what happens on better, more normal roads? At least you have the choice with adjustables.

 

Right now, I'm running the Konis at 1 1/2 turns from full soft in front and 1 turn from full soft in the rear. I started experimenting at full soft, but thought the car was too bouncy. What I mean by that is that the vehicle felt like it was literally riding on the springs. Bumps and imperfections in the road not only made the car go up and down, but also felt like it swayed slightly from side-to-side as well. It certainly wasn't a harsh feeling, but it didn't feel right, and certainly not planted. As a result, I started adjusting the settings by 1/4 turn and comparing the results.

At one point, I was at 1 3/4 turn in front and 1 1/4 turn in the rear, and that was too stiff. What I mean by that is that the "bounciness" was gone, and on smooth roads the car felt very planted, but now, as soon as I hit a bump or expansion joint, it was "BANG!", and it would be a harsh bump. Drive down a road with lots of bumps or expansion joints, and it would be a constant up/down ride. I dropped both settings by a 1/4 turn, then by another 1/4 turn to 3/4 from full soft in the rear and 1 1/4 turn in front. It felt bouncy again. So, now I'm at my current settings, which seem to me to be the best I've found so far, but which are nowhere near perfect or even acceptable.

What I like about the stock Bullitt is the way that the vehicle seems to drive down the road, and yet soak up the bumps and imperfections. It's hard to describe, but to me, it feels like when you drive it, you know the bumps are there, but they don't seem to upset the car because it feels like there's some sort of cushion between the wheels and the road. I don't feel that with the Konis. My car feels a little too attached to the road.

Now, I'm on 18" wheels and my tire pressure is 32-33 PSI, so I know that's not an issue. At the same time, my OEM BFGoodrich tires are wearing out (though their not by any means bald yet), and I'm getting new Pirelli P-Zero All Seasons at the end of the week, so that may make a huge difference.

To be honest, and this may be an impossible request, what I'd like to know is if there's a setting on the Konis which is the best to "simulate" the feel and ability of Ford's OEM shocks/struts. At least if I have some sort of baseline, then I can experiment from there and figure out what the best setting for me and for the roads I drive on.

 

No, there is no setting that matches Ford's damping. Bullitt shocks have less control than other GT shocks (tuned for ride, not handling). Full soft is as close as you'll get. But then you say it's bouncy which I take to mean it's floaty. Clearly you prefer more damping vs. less. I think you have the front and rear out of whack. Have you tried say closer to full soft at both ends? How about 1/4, or 1/2, or 3/4 turn on the rear? Did you change the fronts too?

Yes, Koni Sports are more aggressive, they aren't "ride" shocks. Though most find them much better where impact harshness is an issue. But it could be that they are "too much" for your given example. If that's the case, you always have the stock shocks to fall back on if that's your choice. But the Sports aren't super stiff @ full soft... though I don't think it's a stiffness issue, but a frequency one. If it were stiffness alone you'd have these down at full soft, and you don't. I think your front to rear suspension frequency is out of whack.

 

You've always said that but GT owners say the reverse in numerous threads across forums, and even Ford's Randle himself said differently. GT owners say theirs are softer, bouncier, and less road confidence than Bullitt dampers.

 

I have over 160K on my 05' GT & all shocks & struts still perform well, no leaks. I drive very hard & live in the greater NYC tri-state area with some of the worst roads in the US.

 

I had a 2007 GT I bought new and drove for maybe 3k miles before I put my Koni's on it. I also drive a lot of stock cars before we work on them to show the difference before/after. Also my girlfriend at the time had a V-6 with all GT suspension (even my OEM dampers) on it. I drove it back to back with a 2009 Bullitt on the road I live on (within 15 minutes of each other). Neither were exactly what I'd call planted, but the Bullitt was all over the place. I was not confident @ 45 mph in one section that curves and has up and down undulations that I was fine in Marcy's car @ 65mph--and my car I could easily run @ 90 (with one hand on the wheel).

Semantics really. There might well be places in a damping range that X shock is "stiffer" then Y shock. But that's not always a good thing, and it might be relevant. I can tell you, without a doubt in my mind, if I had to take OEM dampers I'd run stock GT stuff over Bullitt dampers any day based on that drive in 3500 mile '09 Bullitt.

And, fwiw GT stock stuff is stiffer on compression than Koni's are, that doesn't make them better, just harder riding. What you want is not to stiff compression, and excellent rebound damping. The Bullitt shocks lacked all kinds of rebound damping.

 

They will likely never leak, that doesn't mean they aren't bad. If you were to change them you'd be amazed at the difference. Hell, it's hugely noticeable on cars that make the swap with 1000 miles on them, let alone 160k.

 

So why would Ford engineers do that? The Bullitt was presented as an improved handling & performing GT including some FRPP & KR perks. Why wouldn't they at least use GT dampers if they are in fact better?? I respect your opinion but that makes no sense to me. Even the rags liked Bullitt handling over GT.

However, some later Bullitt owners reported having incorrect springs. There were threads comparing spring codes that showed some discrepancies in later 08's & some 09's.


I am definitely not 'all over the road' nor 'bouncy' on two lane twisties here in the Cascades to the Pacific. So I've always been confused over your dissing the B over the GT. And yes, I remember you saying you are a damper snob. LOL

 

Why do they do anything odd? And you can't believe everything you read. The bullitt was better riding over sharper shorter bumps, but also squishier. Remember this is the car that was to have all this special upgraded suspension, and the springs and bars are nothing but stock GT stuff. The 2001 Bullitt was to have all kinds of trick stuff, most of which never came true either. The new GT with Brembos--there was info out there that Ford released saying that it was to have twin piston rear brakes (it doesn't, but folks still wanted to argue because something said that was the case).

Better is relative to what the particular goals are. I know some Ford Engineers personally, and it's pretty funny to hear some of their stories. You can't always look for reason because often the goals are not equal. I know of a case with engine cals in 5.4 trucks that a new tune picked up huge mileage and fixed all kinds of gear hunting issues over the calibration that was released and in production trucks for 3 years. Why would they let something that performed worse and got worse mileage out when they *knew* there was a better tune? I don't know, but that's what happened.

Edited to add: the Bullitt was IMHO soft feeling and it moved around too much when driven briskly (not even at the limit). It is better over sharper bumps in terms of impact harshness and that's a complaint many have. But stock dampers are built to a price and you can't really get good rebound damping and good impact damping in the same shock until you spend some money---money they don't want to spend. It if makes you feel any better I'm not knocking the Bullitt, just the dampers on them. And I don't love the shocks that came on my 2011 Brembo car either. Better than usual, but still the car was more composed with better dampers. And if you ask anyone, anyone who's changed from OEM shock to a quality aftermarket you'll find the same feeling.

 

Gotcha. And I don't take it personal about B or anything lke that because I know you don't like most any stock shocks, and your comments come from your experience and many wins. So I listen.
Yet I'm very pleased with the handling, know how to set the car up for the turn where I have total confidence & pretty neutral steer (under power) - though I don't hang it out on the very edge either. I drive to live and these lousy Oregon roads have no shoulder and often either a ditch on one side and a cliff on the other. LOL Added to which I have read that many others (ameteurs like me) felt better handling compared to stock GT like I said, so that's why I thought I'd comment.
Believe me I'd love to have a set of Sports & a Fays. Perhaps funds will free up in the future and you'll be the guy.

 

Hey Sam, question for you, though may be outside your realm:

Got a used 2006 Audi S4 for the winter months and for the wife during the summer, and I think the shocks need replacing -- car has 93k miles on it, obviously mostly highway to be on that quick, and it's otherwise in great shape. Ride is a bit too rough, not absorbing impacts well.

Spoke to someone at a local Audi shop, and he said the control arm joints go bad before the shocks ever due on that car. Believe Monroe makes the OEMs?? Also said he has an A4 with 200k miles on the OEM shocks.
That surprised me, I've never heard of not replacing the shocks after 75k miles or so. But maybe these OEMs are amazingly durable?? Just seems odd to me.

 

If you are pleased then that's great.... no reason to mod something that *you* are ok with. Many folks don't mod their cars at all, and that suits them--fine.

Again, I can't think of anyone who doesn't find the car to be more solid, stable, and actually feel smaller when better dampers are used. If that's not something that you care to change that's a-okay.

I am shock picky, in the same way I'm picky about most things I care about. I want the car to work the way makes me happy, that means a shock change as my feelings, and most people's feeling about what they dislike about these cars stock are that they aren't crisp and feel sort of disconnected. Again, if that isn't your finding, then that's not a problem. Though I will add this. I find that many people don't think the car can be made better and tend to settle for what they think is good enough. That's valid too, for them... not for me.