Figured I would ask you ITR guys, the regular teg crowd seems to think the Koni Yellows are a better strut per my searches. But, I am a believer of Bilsteins. Having a set in my Evo IX MR made me a believer.

This is for my daily driver which will be lowered on comptech springs and some sort of shock/strut. I have already procured a set of ITR rear LCA's and plan on doing the ITR rear swaybar conversion.

I may use this car for HPDE and road course certification. They will not allow my S2K in driving schools here because its a convertible. Damn BMW club of Iowa. I could take it to open track days, though which is allright, I suppose.

So, anyone had real experience with the bilstein sports vs the Koni Yellows?
If I have researched correctly, the bilstein sports do not have adjustability, but as long as they can provide the appropriate dampening for a lowered spring, thats all I really care about.

Does the Koni's adjustability make it superior? I would love to see the valve and strut rod sizes of the Koni and Bilstein side by side. Bilsteins tend to have thicker strut rods and about the fastest valving in the industry.

I also seem to find a set of the bilsteins for less than 400 shipped and the Koni's are about 460 to 500 shipped.

Any advice appreciated!

Thanks!

PS - I am jealous of you ITR guys, one day I will own one. I want an unmolested low mileage ITR. Those are getting harder to find!

 

It kind of depends on what model Bilsteins you are talking. Do they make the Sport for the GS-R?? If you are talking the HD, I'd probably go for the Koni's instead. The Bilstein SP or Sports on the other hand have my vote as they come out of the box.

 

Sorry for any confusion caused - Just to clarify

1) I specifically got theITR LCA's to switch over to the type R struts. From what I know, ITR's have a fork on the stuts that bolt to the LCA while GSR's do not.

2) I specifically meant the Bilstein Sports. The HD is not recommended for lowered spring setups and is more of an OE replacement per my research.

I am trying to compare Koni Sports(Yellows) vs Bilstein Sports(also yellow)

 

I've got the bilstein shocks on my car, and they kick ***. Just when you think you've pushed them to their limits, they just smile and ask for more

 

soulrider - what springs are you using?Thanks!

 

The Bilstein SPs can handle upto 600# spring rate without revalving.

Out of the box - they are a nice damper.

Very nice on the street and excellent for occasional track use/abuse

 

Spoon springs...I'm planning on getting a bigger rear sway soon too.

 

Big Phat R - Thats excellent to know. The comptechs I have are well under!

 

I've had a set of Bilstein Sports on my first ITR and they were great on stock springs. However, most serious ITR auto-xer's use the adjustable Koni's in conjunction with the stock springs in DS.

 

I just put Bilstein sports on my car, and while I've never owned the Konis I can tell you why I chose the Bils over them.

Just about everybody I know with a modified Civic/Integra uses the Konis, and while they are very competent as far as handling goes, they have excessive impact harshness IMO for street driving, even on the softest setting. The Bils, on the other hand, are uncanny. My car has a much smoother ride with 400# GCs than my friend's car with Sportlines and Konis, despite the fact that my springs are close to twice as stiff as my friend's. Driving around town normally, the car feels almost stock. Stiffer, but not harsher. Push harder though, and they firm up and offer excellent control of suspension motions. This without any external adjustments. The result is a car the feels at home in a wide variety of situations.

I've yet to track the Bils, but from what I've heard they're very close to as good as the Konis. The Konis reportedly have a slight edge, but only when adjusted to their stiffest setting.

One more thing I perfer about the Bils is that they are of a monotube design, which dissipates heat more effeciently than twin-tube dampers like the Konis.

 

That's odd, my experiences are completely opposite that of MK ULTRA's. If you take a look at the shock dynos, the Konis are more forgiving in the low speed areas. The Bilstein's, on the other hand, are a bit more rough at the slower ends of things. CRX Lee has also mentioned that this is due to the monotube design of the Bilsteins.

Anyways, I've had both the Bilstein's and Konis, but the spring setups were different both times. When I first bought my car, it came with some crappy cut progressive springs, sitting on the Bilsteins. For such a ghetto spring setup, it rode decently. I decided to upgrade to Konis/OTS GC afterwards. The ride was much better, but that was expected.

I don't think you could go wrong either way, as they are both very competent shocks. I think the question comes down to whether or not you need adjustability?

--On a side note, the diameter of the Bilsteins is HUGE compared to the Konis. It was a MAJOR PITA to get the shocks out of the rear LCAs, they were literally sandwiched between the LCA. They are hefty!


...and read this:

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1853171

 

I have Bilsteins Sport fixed damper and GC with Eibach ITR rated ERS springs.

They are unbelievable setup for my uses. Really they are perfect for street and track use. I drive 99% road and 1% track.

What sold me on them is the huge piston and body. You benefit excellent from excellent handling of low speed impacts.

 

installed bilstein sports and spoon springs into my friends car, its a very nice combo...

the car feels great on the streets so far

 

IIRC,

stock for stock the bilsteins have slightly better initial dampening from several shock dynos i seen, but its a minor improvement over the koni's. Besides that I remember thinking both of them were very similiar in performance. bilsteins were cheaper to purchase than the konis.

konis on the other hand are adjustable, but at the end of the day, im not so sure thats a feature a lot of enthusiasts really need until they begin real racing.

a lot of comparisons were done with rebuilt konis, as several members have done it, but thats not really a fair comparison unless you want to rebuild the bilsteins also -- and after factoring in that additional cost, you're looking at two different price points.