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Koni Sport Yellow on Stock Springs

20K views 19 replies 11 participants last post by  solort 
#1 ·
Anyone running Koni sport yellows on stock springs?? If so what do you think?
 
#2 ·
I wish there was a response here but O well. I have a Mazda 3 but picked up a set of speed 3 springs for 60 bucks. I just bought the Koni Yellows and will be putting those on in conjunction with the MS3 springs I'll let you know how it goes. It should be a huge improvement from my current stock setup.
 
#3 ·
YES, and I LOVE THEM. Mine is a 2007 Speed3, 60k miles. OEM struts were completely dead.

I installed Koni Yellow Sports on stock springs 3 weeks ago and I must say that I am very very impressed. $520 delivered and wow, what an improvement. I have them set at maybe 3/4 of max firm with bald OE tires and the difference over stock suspension is significant.

Zero float. Its gone. Rebound is much more controlled with these struts. Compression is adjustable...so you chose.

Turn-in is much improved and I was surprised to notice that the rear end rotates more readily than with the stock struts. I didnt expect that.

The Yellows are very easy to install (same as OE strut). The paint issue people mention is silly...you just have to open up the receiver more to accept the new strut. I used new Mazda bumpstops (they are a new color...gray, compared to the originals which were yellowish). Forget Ground Control generic bumps stops and gorilla glue. bah!

Front adjustment is super easy. 2 seconds per side. The rears...more or less they must be removed or partially removed...which makes adjustment so inconvenient as to almost be pointless. Additionally, there are no detents, no markings...no easy way to know how far you've adjusted. You’ve gotta pay very careful attention to how many times you spin the strut and or count how long it takes for the strut piston to extend.

That being said, you cannot go wrong with these struts. Yes severe slalom-type maneuvers would be better handled with stiffer springs, but you get what you pay for and anyway stiffer springs are not as easy to live with. These are the struts the bean counters at Mazda should have put on the car.

Folks talk about Koni FSD...but FSD doesn’t offer any adjustability...you’re stuck with the factory setting.
 
#4 ·
I have been reading a lot and will be looking at koni yellows myself.

Seen to many good reviews on them.

Difference between yellows an FSD is adjustability.

Price is not that different from what I see.

A little extra to be able to adjust is to good to not pass up.

I am at 48k. Wondering when mine are going to go. Pot holes suck arse. Hit a fat one just the other day. Man it was bad and I actually tried to dodge it.
 
#7 ·
Got them on mine as well. Great improvement....and my stock rears were done by 50K. I had time so i did Koni yellows at all 4 corners, so glad I did.

Yes, sucks that rears need to be removed to adjust, but once you get it down, even that does take super long. FWIW, I set my rears to about halfway, that's what most people recpommended. Nice ride, handles good. Would be better if I had myself better set of tires (Gotta run all seasons, damn practicality...)
 
#10 ·
Got these a few months ago. Love them! The car feels much more composed and stays very flat in corners. The high speed floaty feeling went away, and the ride is still pretty comfortable. I have fronts and rears at about 75%.

The only issue I have had/am having is that the rear shocks have a bolt that came loose and began making a knocking noise over bumps. Got these both tightened and everything seemed fine but the roads where I live are garbage and there is a new clunk coming from the rear now. This may or may not be the shock but work hasn't been nice enough to me to give me time to figure this out yet.
 
#11 ·
[quote author=speed_3 link=topic=192639.msg4259652#msg4259652 date=1344852823]


The only issue I have had/am having is that the rear shocks have a bolt that came loose and began making a knocking noise over bumps. Got these both tightened and everything seemed fine but the roads where I live are garbage and there is a new clunk coming from the rear now. This may or may not be the shock but work hasn't been nice enough to me to give me time to figure this out yet.
[/quote]

Sounds like you didnt tighten things down enough....did you use a torque wrench or impact wrench?

a
 
#12 ·
[/quote]

Sounds like you didnt tighten things down enough....did you use a torque wrench or impact wrench?


[/quote]


torque wrench...i've heard of others with the same problem so not exactly sure why its happening
 
#13 ·
I did NOT use a torque wrench on the bottom bolt. I just tightened the shit out of it, and loctited it, and haven't had a problem (I did at first when I torqued it to spec).
 
#14 ·
[quote author=sumpirate link=topic=192639.msg4245500#msg4245500 date=1341102113]
Got them on mine as well. Great improvement....and my stock rears were done by 50K. I had time so i did Koni yellows at all 4 corners, so glad I did.

Yes, sucks that rears need to be removed to adjust, but once you get it down, even that does take super long. FWIW, I set my rears to about halfway, that's what most people recpommended. Nice ride, handles good. Would be better if I had myself better set of tires (Gotta run all seasons, damn practicality...)
[/quote]

Just changed my fronts to about 75%. Much tighter feel, may be touch stiff for some, but I don't mind the occasional bump.
 
#16 ·
Yeah I did notice that. But my noise may be bushing related. Won't really know for sure until I can check those bushings first.

As for the Koni's on stock MS3 springs. Much better! I really wanted the Bilsteins but was having issues finding the rears in stock anywhere due to some part numbering issues on their end. So I settled on the Koni's cause I couldn't wait for Bilstein. I am still breaking them in so a little more time will tell how I really like them.
 
#17 ·
Konis suck

I got Koni yellows to go with stock springs. Within 10K miles, one of the rears blew out. Had to buy a replacement because their "lifetime" guarantee means you must mail in the defective strut for them to determine if it is covered. If it is, they mail you a replacement. Otherwise, you're screwed. Either way, you are screwed really.
More recently, about 20K on them, another rear blew out and the front blew out. This is on daily driving, people. So I'm going with coilovers now. Screw Koni and their "lifetime" guarantee.
 
#18 ·
That sucks man! Sorry to hear about your bad luck. I did alot of research going into this so I knew what I was getting into in regards to the QC and warranty issues. I just crossed my fingers and hope I can get at least 10k out of em before I have any major issues. I've already been saving up for a set of coilovers, so hopefully these will last long enough to "bridge the gap".

Since my last post on this thread, I've broken them in quite thoroughly. My issues now are the rear of my car now has tire rubbing issues that I NEVER had before on stockers (no matter how many people I piled into my car) and the adjustability keeps going out of whack. When I installed them, I set them to "half way" per most of the reccomendations on this forum. I was appalled when I initially set them out of the box, because 4 turns on each shock does not equal the same stiffness on each shock! So I set them individually (not per the number of turns). When I began having rubbing issues on the rear about 1k later, I pulled them back out to tighten them up a little and was shocked by how far out of my initial adjustment they were. Passenger side was way soft and drivers side was super stiff. Readjusted them again and reinstalled them. On a whim, I pulled the fronts and the same problem there too.

As it is now, my rears are set pretty stiff and I'm still having rubbing issues though not as bad as before but the ride quality has suffered dramatically because of it. I don't want to even mess with the fronts anymore cause that's a PITA altogether.

At this point, the only positive feedback, that I can offer is that the handling is improved over stock on factory springs BUT, this IMO comes at a high price. Looking back, I wish I'd held out for the Bilsteins.
 
#19 ·
Understood about saving for coilovers. I was forced to do the same thing - bridge the gap in my pocketbook with the Konis till I could get coilovers. Hindsight - I'd suck it up and get coilovers from the start. I just bought BC Coilovers for less than $1,000.
P.S. Part of my original decision back then to go with Konis was to stay in D-Stock in autocross (no change to the springs), so now I must go into a different class in autocross. But for the daily driving scene, it will be worth it.
 
#20 · (Edited)
I have Koni FSD struts on my 04 Mazda3S on stock springs (as well as degassed custom valved double adjustable struts for the front and degassed single adjustable rears before the FSDs). The FSD is a great riding quiet performance strut that automatically stiffens when needed while the Yellows are MUCH stiffer and can shake you up on the street but boy will the car stay flat. For just racing, Koni Yellows are the best choice. Contact Lee Grimes with Koni NA and he will custom valve you a set based on your car and spring rates and what you want it to do. But if your car is a daily driver and an occasional autocross, I like the FSDs.

Degassing the Yellow will legally lower the car and it will handle better.
 
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