Penske? Koni? Ohlins?
01-03-2007, 12:19 AM
#1
Safety Car
Thread Starter
Penske? Koni? Ohlins?
Okay, gurus of suspension... expound upon the virtues of these brands.
Penske 8100
Koni 2812
Ohlins
Please help me flesh out the pros/cons. :-) The above shocks all seem to be in the $750-$850 range, per shock.
Somebody said a new Koni inverted shock was in the pipeline, but I haven't found details yet. (Not the FSD thing.) Not sure of pricing.
Somehow this is making me look more closely at the Bilstein Sports at $300/set with a $65 revalve/rebuild cost.
Penske 8100
- Accepts coil-over hardware
- User servicable (Difficulty? N2 charge? Oil change?)
- Rebuild interval? 5000mi?
Koni 2812
- Accepts coil-over hardware ?
- Must be shipped off to be revalved/rebuilt
- Digressive valving
- Rebuild interval? 8000mi?
Ohlins
- Must be shipped off to be revalved/rebuilt ($100/shock)
- Must be shipped off once a year for an oil change (?)
- Rebuild interval? 12000mi?
Please help me flesh out the pros/cons. :-) The above shocks all seem to be in the $750-$850 range, per shock.
Somebody said a new Koni inverted shock was in the pipeline, but I haven't found details yet. (Not the FSD thing.) Not sure of pricing.
Somehow this is making me look more closely at the Bilstein Sports at $300/set with a $65 revalve/rebuild cost.
01-03-2007, 08:45 AM
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The first question I would have is: What race series are you preparing to compete in, as the shocks you name are all pure racing shocks, which price at something like $750-1000 per shock.
The next is why you would want to go coil-overs on a Corvette, when the manufacturer has gone to a lot of trouble to give you lightweight, space-efficient transverse leafs that are great for lateral control. Plus, the body shock mounts must be able to accept spring loading if you do coil-overs, and perhaps they are for a lightweight race car.
KONI 2812s are user-rebuildable, if you know what you're doing and have the test equipment to verify the changes. Valving is wide-open, depending on what you are looking for. That's one of the advantages of racing shocks - pretty much any valving you want can be obtained.
As racing shocks, warranties are out the window. KONI was supplier of the ACR Viper shocks and we expected reasonable life out of these, but, really, why would you even ask long-tern durability questions on racing shocks?
The next is why you would want to go coil-overs on a Corvette, when the manufacturer has gone to a lot of trouble to give you lightweight, space-efficient transverse leafs that are great for lateral control. Plus, the body shock mounts must be able to accept spring loading if you do coil-overs, and perhaps they are for a lightweight race car.
KONI 2812s are user-rebuildable, if you know what you're doing and have the test equipment to verify the changes. Valving is wide-open, depending on what you are looking for. That's one of the advantages of racing shocks - pretty much any valving you want can be obtained.
As racing shocks, warranties are out the window. KONI was supplier of the ACR Viper shocks and we expected reasonable life out of these, but, really, why would you even ask long-tern durability questions on racing shocks?
01-03-2007, 08:51 AM
#6
Team Owner
Penske or Bilstein.
I stepped up and bought the Penske coilovers.
http://performance.accuratetechnolog...products_id=11
I stepped up and bought the Penske coilovers.
http://performance.accuratetechnolog...products_id=11
01-03-2007, 09:19 AM
#7
All of the choices should be able to go a season without a rebuild/refresh, or something like 5k-10k street miles. All of the shocks can meet most any valving or coliover configuration you need.
Penske's have my vote, mostly because there are more shops that rebuild and revalve them, and all parts are built and stocked in NA. Have run 8100's 5 seasons on 2 rebuilds, the first 2 with street miles thrown in.
Koni's are nice because of no external reservoirs, but not sure how accessible the adjusters (on the shaft end) are in a C5 application.
No direct experience with Ohlins on our cars.
Penske's have my vote, mostly because there are more shops that rebuild and revalve them, and all parts are built and stocked in NA. Have run 8100's 5 seasons on 2 rebuilds, the first 2 with street miles thrown in.
Koni's are nice because of no external reservoirs, but not sure how accessible the adjusters (on the shaft end) are in a C5 application.
No direct experience with Ohlins on our cars.
01-03-2007, 10:15 AM
#8
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All of the choices should be able to go a season without a rebuild/refresh, or something like 5k-10k street miles. All of the shocks can meet most any valving or coliover configuration you need.
Penske's have my vote, mostly because there are more shops that rebuild and revalve them, and all parts are built and stocked in NA. Have run 8100's 5 seasons on 2 rebuilds, the first 2 with street miles thrown in.
Koni's are nice because of no external reservoirs, but not sure how accessible the adjusters (on the shaft end) are in a C5 application.
No direct experience with Ohlins on our cars.
Penske's have my vote, mostly because there are more shops that rebuild and revalve them, and all parts are built and stocked in NA. Have run 8100's 5 seasons on 2 rebuilds, the first 2 with street miles thrown in.
Koni's are nice because of no external reservoirs, but not sure how accessible the adjusters (on the shaft end) are in a C5 application.
No direct experience with Ohlins on our cars.
totally, and I would like to add Moton to your list. Lance Knupp won the T-1 Runoffs with them. They also make a Club Sport that is less $$ than the ones Lance used, and still very very good. I used Ohlins on my bikes and loved them, but I have never driven a car with them. I personally have Penske 8100's on my street C6Z and my race car. All of your list can be fine choices, depending on how they are set up.
Last edited by ghoffman; 01-03-2007 at 10:28 AM.
01-03-2007, 11:15 AM
#9
Race Director
I must say, while I've used Penskes, and they are a good shock, their customer service is horrible. They sent my first set 2" too short, and told me I didn't need a special tool to fill them with Nitrogen; WRONG! They didn't even send the manual until I called them back.
If you have a good dealer that can service them for you, Penske is fine. I went through HRP on my second set, and they were far superior to working directly with Penske.
I'd suggest either going with a cheap set of adjustables, or the PFADT setup from what I've seen of it.
If you have a good dealer that can service them for you, Penske is fine. I went through HRP on my second set, and they were far superior to working directly with Penske.
I'd suggest either going with a cheap set of adjustables, or the PFADT setup from what I've seen of it.
01-03-2007, 12:11 PM
#10
Safety Car
Thread Starter
They're all between $700-$850 per shock, except the non-adjustable Bilsteins that are about $79 per shock. ATI has the Penskes. Performance Shocks at Infineon Raceway is working on an Ohlins set up. Pro Parts USA (and others) do the Konis.
01-03-2007, 12:14 PM
#11
Safety Car
Thread Starter
The next is why you would want to go coil-overs on a Corvette, when the manufacturer has gone to a lot of trouble to give you lightweight, space-efficient transverse leafs that are great for lateral control. Plus, the body shock mounts must be able to accept spring loading if you do coil-overs, and perhaps they are for a lightweight race car.
KONI 2812s are user-rebuildable, if you know what you're doing and have the test equipment to verify the changes. Valving is wide-open, depending on what you are looking for. That's one of the advantages of racing shocks - pretty much any valving you want can be obtained.
As racing shocks, warranties are out the window. KONI was supplier of the ACR Viper shocks and we expected reasonable life out of these, but, really, why would you even ask long-tern durability questions on racing shocks?
01-03-2007, 12:24 PM
#12
Safety Car
Thread Starter
I would like to add Moton to your list. Lance Knupp won the T-1 Runoffs with them. They also make a Club Sport that is less $$ than the ones Lance used, and still very very good. I used Ohlins on my bikes and loved them, but I have never driven a car with them. I personally have Penske 8100's on my street C6Z and my race car. All of your list can be fine choices, depending on how they are set up.
Like I said, part of this thread is me trying to figure out just how often a street+track+autox daily fun car would have to put the car on jackstands for a few days and throw even more money after the upfront costs on these shocks... especially when the rebuild quotes from Koni/Ohlins are $100/shock which would cover a rebuild (and potential revalve!) on the Bilstein Sports.
Being resource constrained (ie. cheap... er... budget minded) this is a huge factor. I'll admit I'm used to my RX-7s where 30-series Konis were about $700/set so not seeing a "low-end" adjustable to choose from is the big reason I'm looking larger and trying to learn more about these other shocks.
01-03-2007, 12:26 PM
#13
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01-03-2007, 01:00 PM
#14
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OK, I'm starting to understand more about your vehicle needs.
You don't have to go to the race shocks to find Corvette adjustables at a reasonable cost. The new C5/C6 KONI Sports might fit your needs. They are monotube, inverted bodies and have adjustable rebound through windows you can access while they are on the car. These are coming soon (first qtr 2007) and will have a street price of something like $700-750 a car set.
You don't have to go to the race shocks to find Corvette adjustables at a reasonable cost. The new C5/C6 KONI Sports might fit your needs. They are monotube, inverted bodies and have adjustable rebound through windows you can access while they are on the car. These are coming soon (first qtr 2007) and will have a street price of something like $700-750 a car set.
01-03-2007, 02:08 PM
#19
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You don't have to go to the race shocks to find Corvette adjustables at a reasonable cost. The new C5/C6 KONI Sports might fit your needs. They are monotube, inverted bodies and have adjustable rebound through windows you can access while they are on the car. These are coming soon (first qtr 2007) and will have a street price of something like $700-750 a car set.
01-03-2007, 02:44 PM
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In talking to our racing guys, there is yet another KONI option, the 3011double-adjustable (comp/reb) shock series which would work on your car. Yes, it has a sweep adjuster and its pretty sensitive, but I don't know how it compares to your RX-7, since I don't know what you have on it. The 3011s would run about $450 a shock.
