I had an issue with a broken perch on my Koni yellow with skunk2 coilovers...I'm driving and hit a decent pothole and heard something rubbing. As I hit a dip in the road I suddenly hear my tire being eaten up by my fender. Limped it back home and found that my Koni perch's inside machined groove was bent up and the circlip was no longer a circle. Called Koni and talked to someone on the tech team.

Mr. Paul on the tech team blamed it on my skunk2 coilovers. CRXLee on here (Lee Grimes) even posted that they see accords and Preludes with this problem due to the car's weight, and they usually send out new circlips and perches. But nope, since I don't have original receipt and I didn't buy them new they can't do anything about it.

to Koni from me

Here's the post from CRXLee circa 2005 when someone else had the same issue...

Anyone else have issues with the perch failing? I'm not the only person this has happened to and the "customer service" I received was pretty bad, the guy didn't offer to sell me a new perch, didn't try to resolve anything. After I explained everything he just said I ran too high of a spring rate and it's my fault, and that Koni won't cover anything because I'm not the original purchaser of these shocks. I also called CRXLee and left a message, didn't hear back from him yet

 

I believe that the warranty is only for the original purchaser, so expecting them to warranty used parts is, more or less, asking for a favor.

You had the Koni spring perch on top of the circlip, and the sleeve on top of that? I think that is what Koni says to never do. You should be running the sleeve directly on the circlip, and the sleeve should correctly capture the circlip to prevent it from deforming like that. The sleeve doesn't place the force on the same location that a spring on the perch would, which is what leads to failure.

Of course, all of this is from memory, and my memory sucks, so I could be wrong.

 

A: you can't use skunk2 sleeves without adapters on koni sports, only the koni str.t
B: the warranty is only for the original buyer

 

Yes I have the perch on the circlip, then sleeves over that. Sleeve will not catch on the circlip directly, I think that's only on Koni-specific GC sleeves? My skunk2 sleeves don't have the machined groove to fit it.

Racebum you mean like these?

https://honda-tech.com/forums/suspension-brakes-54/not-write-up-write-up-skunk2-konis-2592526/

A guy in there said he used the adapters and they failed as well. And talked to the same guy as me, "Paul" who offered no help

I understand the warranty thing, but I thought this was a design flaw as a quick google search found several other people with this problem, and even crxlee admitted that he's seen a few each year which means I'm not the only person this has happened to

 

I don't see where Koni is at fault at all here. The lifetime warranty is for the original purchaser only, and you should never use coilover sleeves with the OE-style spring perches on Koni shocks.

I received my Koni shocks with one broken adjuster tab, and they immediately shipped me a new shock to replace it.

Koni North America gets a big from me. Don't knock their customer service when you really have no claim with them to begin with.

 

And that could be a cause of failure.

The Koni supplied spring perch needs to have any force from the spring applied around the edge, where a stock spring would sit, to force the circlip down and inward.

A threaded sleeve on the perch usually places the force on the center, directly above the circlip, putting all of the force in a direct downward direction.

GC Koni specific sleeves do catch the circlip, yes.

Koni also sells sleeves that go directly over the circlip. They use 2.25" springs though, and use an adapter for 2.5" springs.

Skunk2 sleeves require their adapter for proper use on a Koni Sport shock. Notice that the linked thread specifically states that failure to use the adapter will void the Koni warranty (not sure how true that actually is, but it supports my point).

If Koni is saying you misused the part, you might need to accept that. You can always try to buy new circlips and then sell the shocks.

Anyway, please don't think I'm trying to place any blame here, or give any input on "right and wrong". I'm trying to throw out information in case it is useful.

 

Thanks for the info, I had no idea about the adapter kit until I made this thread. The person however was talking about my skunk2 coilovers having too stiff spring rates, which I didn't think was the reason for this failure because others have ran these on Preludes with Koni yellows with no issues.

I'll be buying a set of those adapter plates in that case, not Koni's fault here. My apologies to Koni, I'm editing the thread title so anyone searching doesn't get the wrong idea

 

sounds like you have it figured out and that's basically it. the koni str.t can use standard slip overs but the sports can not. the sport is really designed for use with either standard springs or the special ground controls made for them. even with the adapters the diameter is off when using the skunk2 which doesn't seem like the most secure way to run a setup

 

did not know that.... hmm... maybe i should get a set of gc collars now?