I don't know, for some reason I honestly haven't felt that the koni yellows we had on wifey's itr were that great. They didn't really seem to dampen enough - even with stock springs. And they felt like they would bottom out on the lower circlip setting when going over mild bumps in the road, driveways, potholes, uneven expansion joints, etc.

I was going to try the higher perch setting, but ended up getting one hell of a good deal on a kg/mm "high performance suspension system" which is a package deal that consists of kg/mm spec shocks (made by tokico) and matched springs.
This has a 1 finger or less gap all around and honestly feels sooo much better than the koni + stock itr springs. THANKS cjames25!

Now perhaps the koni shocks need to be rebuilt or something, so I'm not saying that all koni's are terrible - just the ones that we have.

I just don't know - there's so much hype about the koni shocks and ground control springs.

I have even recommended this combo to friends. But when we went to put them on the car it's a bunch of random alterations you have to make to the tophats and dust sleeves, etc. And there's a shitload or weird washers and crap all over the place. :/ And there isn't any ability to adjust height without actually affecting preload.

Now I have to admit that I'm a bit of a 'jdm' fan in many respects.
I have a set of apexi N1 coilovers on my autox hatch, and also some tein s-tech springs mated to stock itr shocks on my itr. And to me, they both felt like they handle better and have a better dampening quality than the koni yellow shocks. I have to add this kg/mm setup to the list of suspensions that are all around better also. In fact, another friend simply had bilstein off the shelf shocks mated with itr springs and that also felt better.

I'd like to get some better shocks for my itr, but I'm scared to send these off to be revalved if there's even a slim chance that they'll feel like they do now when they come back to me. They literally making you feel like your dashboard is going to fall into your lap from even a 1" change in pavement height. KABOOM.

Can someone please convince me that revalved koni's are worth the $ / time / trouble ?

As I said, perhaps there is something wrong with the particular koni's that I have - which would hopefully be remedied with a revalve.....?

 

http://farnorthracing.com/autocross_secrets6.html

 

i've enjoyed my bilstien hd with stock springs as opposed to koni yellow's with stock springs, for daily driving.

perfectly dampened for street driving

 

either something was wrong with them OR your springs were so soft that no shock could control body movement. overdamped does feel a lot like underdamped only slower. i can't think of a better shock under $1000. i've used yellows on a mustang, corvette and now the integra. loved on all 3 and trust me, it takes a LOT to like how a mustang handles.

btw: the far north link above is a great read ! does penske even make honda shocks? you see those things on almost every serious road racing corvette

 

I don't have problems with my shocks, and I'm on the middle perch in the front, and lower perch in the rear. I did have issues when I was using the lowest perch in the front with S-Tech springs. I couldn't keep the front end from bottoming out onto my tires under hard braking and cornering. I'm running 450/550 Ground Controls on it now though.

 

With springs of 400lb/in or less, I greatly prefer the Bilstein Sports. For a little higher rates I'd go with the OTS Koni's, for a lot higher I'd go with real Koni's

 

Forgive my ignorance, but what are kg/mm shocks? Is that just a fancy way of saying "japanese" since they use kg/mm instead of lb/in (even though its easy to convert one to the other)?

 

Yes of course you will bottom out more when using OEM springs on the lower perches. This brings the bump-stop about a half-inch closer to the shock body. Stiffer springs would have solved this...

 

kg/mm is a company, aka KGMSports.

 

 

I've never had the Koni shocks on the car, but Bilsteins and H&R (Sport?) springs worked well on my first ITR.

However, the lightly used Mugen Lowdowns were as you discribed above wrt. the yellows (esp. in the front w/ seemingly bottoming early in the stroke). I disliked those so much I literally gave them away ...

Then it was on to some PIC 12/14 (?), which I got a deal on thanks to a Honda Challenge discount coupon from Chris F (thanks again).

Now/presently on a set of Moton 3-ways with 1000 lb front and 1200 rear springs, and it is totally streetable even sitting in Sparco Evo L seats, while still making the curbs on the up-hill esses at VIR seem like they were barely there.

I haven't even started messing with the settings yet (all still set in the middle settings), with a Mugen front bar and ASR 32 mm rear set at medium.

 

That was probably it. I didn't originally install them, and I'm surprised they come with a "lower perch" setting since it slams the car so low and adversely affects handling... Especially since these shocks are listed as oem replacements? :/ Perhaps I'll send an email to crx Lee.

I'm still wondering how the kg/mm setup is able to have such a low ride height AND dampen so well.....

Since I have a set of tein s-tech springs and these koni yellows, can anybody tell me what the ride height and handling is like with such a setup?

 

S Techs are garbage for anything beyond just regular driving. I tracked on Koni Yellows and S Techs and it was horrible compared to the same shocks with GCs.

 

S techs are really soft aren't they?

I was looking at some for the TL but changed my mind.

 

So the concensus is that Koni Yellows on stock springs will actually hurt the handling?

 

That's completely wrong, as a I believe all D stock AutoXers are running Koni Yellows with stock springs, and the ITR is highly competitive in that class.

 

Highly competitive is an understatement. The R has DOMINATED D-stock since 98 with stock springs, Konis, and R comp tires

 

No, while I actually prefer Bilstein Sports for normal use (Koni's are a little better for autocross due to the fine tuning you can do by over/under dampening), the Koni's are perfectly fine but install them on the top perch.

For a normal use car I'd suggest what I said above. For tracking or autocrossing with stock springs you can't beat koni's for the price. Race Konis are better of course, and only "slightly" (ok not so slightly ) more, if they make them for Integras.. No idea, I don't tend to keep up with Honda stuff anymore.

 

not always but the rates change depending on the car you order them for. something like 330/275 on the dc2 which isn't half bad for a basic spring. still a little soft for as low as they sit. the h tech is 300/250 and higher. good for street driving but either is too soft for the track. some cars are really bad rate wise, the civic is one that comes to mind. light, light light weight. you would ground pound with civic s techs. i have no idea why they didn't keep the teg rates for the civic fitments.

 

When I got the s tech springs for my itr, I wanted a lowering spring that had better rates than oem (which they do). They lowered the car the amount I wanted and that fit my purpose. I was quite pleased with them. Now if the s tech springs will work on the koni yellows on the higher perch setting, I'd like to try it - if it handles as good or better than oem shocks + s tech springs. This is for a street itr.

I have coilovers on my "track" car, and those are 11k front/ 16k rear.

Thanks guys for your contributions - I never knew that putting stock springs on the lower perch setting for koni yellows would adversely affect handling. :/

I'm still wondering why they even have that lower setting, since it's "bad."

 

I know some people had good experience, but personally, I've never been impressed by OTS or even revalved Koni yellows. After everything all said and done, they aren't that cheap anymore and many alternatives out there performed better.

 

Like? open ears....


to the post above this one. S techs and yellows are a great combo. for some reason the integra is one of the few cars tein uses a sporty rate with both the h and s tech. since they have a habit of going 20-30% stiffer than stock, it appears they started with the ITR rates. the s techs are something like 330-275ish and the H 300/250 if i remember right. the h tech gives a 2 finger gap and the s is more or less flush.

 

I don't have an R, but do have Yellows on H&R sports. I like them for all around driving, and they do quite well for me with auto-x. It's fun to feel what adjustments can do for the car!!