im pretty upset now...due to the fact that after 4 months and about 1 and a half of the months i wasnt driving the car..my front drivers side shock is blown......
i spent 400 on these shocks brand new because of all the great reviews ive heard of how they can handle agressive drops. my car is low..but not crazy low. its barely tucking up front and the back isnt tucking at all it has a 1 finger gap..

when i dropped my car before i got the koni's...the same exact shock blew....so im thinking that maybe theres something wrong with my suspension?? i havent had an alignment since ive dropped it and have bad tire wear..but im getting an alignment in a week when i get new tires..


my first question is... what do you think caused the shock to blow?
i had the front of my car on jackstands for about a month but i didnt think that would cause one to blow???? or does it haveto do with my alignment or something in my suspension thats messed up?

my second question is ..i hear koni backs up their shocks with a lifetime warranty and i bought these brand new.. so how do i go about getting a new shock?

 

http://www.koni-na.com/warranty.cfm

 

^^wow this is gonna be a pain in the ***.
has anyone else on here done this??? and would they not give me a new shock if my car is dropped????

 

also when i bought the car and when i went to get the eibach sportlines on stock shocks. i was told the same shock was blown. so it was replaced with a brand new stock shock... that same shock blew...now the koni did.
so any clue to what could be messed up? uca??

 

What are the bump stops like?

 

what where ur settings?

 

Not trying to tread jack, but like what jxhxb said I thought these were lifetime warranty? I purchased mine online and they stated lifetime warranty and now it changed to limited warranty?

 

KONI Limited Warranty
Passenger Car, Light Truck & SUV

KONI, Inc, warrants all new KONI shock absorbers to the original retail purchaser against defects in material and workmanship, excluding mounting rubbers, washers and bushings, when used under normal operating conditions for as long as such purchaser owns the vehicle on which the KONI shock absorbers were originally installed.

Still Lifetime, and every warranty has limitations. These seem fair to me.

To OP. I imagine if they knew your car was lowered they may give you grief, so I wouldn't volunteer it.

Also, if you blow every shock you install on just that one corner you definitely have a problem. I wouldn't think alignment would do that... Has your car ever been hit?

 

as far as i know the car hasnt been hit. i carfaxedd it over a year ago before i bought it and the only thing that was said was driver side pillar. and i was missing that pillar panel inside so im guessing that they went to a dealer or something like that to just find a panel. everything else is clean. its a 92 civic dx hatchback by the way.

ill check on the bumpstops later on and ill let you know

 

they'd be able to tell, regardless.

koni seems pretty fair and reasonable on their warranty claims and repairs. contact koni, tell them its faulty and im sure theyll take care of you.

any warranty claim process is going to be a hassle. except maybe sears craftsman tools...

btw, everytime you lower your car, you need an alignment. thats why your tires wore out. dont wait next time. but i dont think it had anything to do with why the shock blew out.

and just curious, how do you know it "blew"? and what springs?

 

i have eibach sportline springs. and every other time the shock has blown when i go arond corners it sounds like something metal is clanking so i used to think it was my exhaust... then i changed the stock shock when i dropped it..and it was all smooth until about 3-4 months later...and it made the same wierd noise again and liquid was all over the shock. then i switched to the konis and they felt pretty good and most of hte time were on almost full stiff. when i got the car back from doign the swap... i heard the noise again and i checked my shocks..

i put them on soft and i pushed the car down on the shock i thought was blown..and it made a creaky noise...and when i pushed down all the other shocks by pushing the car down..no noise was made at all.

 

i wont have a clue if somethings wrong...so tomorrow im gonna try and take some pics and post them on here...and maybe theres something visible with the wheel off that would be a problem??


is there anything common you could think of that would cause a shock to blow? ive never bottomed out these shocks ever to my knowledge. never.

 

Do you have all bumpstops in place? Are they trimmed if you're lowered? No to either of those questions could be at least part of the issue.

There is ALOT of stuff that Carfax doesn't reveal. My car has been in the bodyshop a few times for minor stuff, and one time to replace my driver side door that was caved in by an F150. Carfax doesn't show ANY of that for my car.

Now I can say that my Koni warranty experience was pretty smooth back when I first got my shocks. When I first opened the box for the front shocks, I noticed the plastic protector cap over the top adjustor tab was not on one of the shocks, and when I tried to adjust it the first time with the adjustment ****, the tab broke right off. I went ahead and installed that shock, then contacted Koni NA, and they sent another shock out immediately. I installed the new one, sent the broken one back, and that was the end of it. However that was an obvious factory packaging error (tab was probably damaged/weakened during shipping). With your shocks being on for a few months, I can't really say.

I would just call up Koni and discuss it with them. When I called them they were quite helpful.

 

If there is oil all over your shock than I can say it's probably blown but if it's just making squeaking noises then join the club!

One corner of my car squeaks like all hell but I think it's just the insulators rubbing against the spring or the rubber bushing at the top of the strut assembly (under the hood) is loose or bad and needs to be reinstalled or replaced.

I wont find out about my issue for another couple of weeks when I can get a lift.

 

well its loud when im just driving...and when i roll over the bumps in the middle of the road my drivers side is harsh when i hit them and the left side goes over smoother. ill take pictures. i dont think theres liquid all over but i havent looked because i havent had much time but i will definately post pictures and things..but somethings gotta be up if its happend 3 times.....
ill call koni but i don thave any shock to put on for the meantime. if they could send me a shock then i send one back thatd be perfect but if not it will be a complete pain to leave my car