Wanted to share my finding on KYB Shocks Vs Koni Classic Adjustable Shocks. I have a 1969 427 Corvette.550# front springs, Stock front and Rear Sway Bars. I was running KYB Gas A Just shocks for about a year and a half. I just switched to Koni Classic Adjustable Shocks. The cars rides and handles MUCH better with the Koni's

Some findings:

• The KYB Shocks are very stiff on compression. You can test this by manually tring to compress them with your hands. They are really stiff and KYB notes them as High Pressure Gas Shocks, and it is apparent. What this stiff compression does is make the car very sensitive to sharp bumps or numerous sharp bumps in a row. When braking hard on uneven surfaces, the wheels hope and skip.
• The KYB shocks have almost NO rebound damping. This could be seen when mashing the gas on the Car. The front would rise up significantly. There was also a feeling of the car "floating" over dips in the road.
• The Koni Classic Adjustables were set to "3" in the rear and "4" in the front.
• The Koni being "Softer" on the initial compression allows the individual wheel to react quicker to bumps, better keeping the tire in contact with the pavement.
• The Koni superior dampening eliminated that "Floating" feeling over dips in the road.
• The front end rising under heavy acceleration is also gone.

The car feels and drives much better with the Koni's

 

Interesting to be certain. and how do they compare to the Bilstiens? A.C. delco's? and others? which ones work better with which springs?
Inquiring minds want to know.

 

Personally, I can't comment on Bilstien, Delco or Monroe Shocks on a C3 Corvette. I've only had experience with KYB and now Koni's on my car. I've only been running 550 front and 7 leaf rear metal spring. Sway Bars and springs are all part of the F41 HD Suspension package.

 

I have been using the KYB gas shocks on my 1968 C3 with it's 427. I too have the same front and rear springs as my car started life as an L71. I installed the KYB's early on with the C3 and the ride is HARSH to say the least. I tell people you can tell heads or tails on a coin when you run over it.

I have been thinking of upgrading but don't need to punish the kidneys anymore. I replaced all the bushings when I first bought the Corvette so the Polyurethane bushings make it even worse and they like to squeak. My car doesn't have any body roll when cornering hard so my suspension seems to be holding up. I had been thinking of trying the Bilstien Shocks once and see what they do to my Corvette.

Who makes the best shock that won't require a kidney belt when driving? These KYB's are headed for a recycle pile.... They are 25 years old or more. It IS time.

 

When I put new springs on my 79 Bilstein shocks were on back order and I was in a time crunch so they recommended QA1 shocks. They didn't have them in stock and QA1 was out of stock. VBP said don't worry stay close to your phone. In less than an hour QA1 called ,asked what I'd done to the car and how I used it. They made them that day and overnight shipped them. VBP ate the shipping. . Needless to say I'm a QA1 fan. And I miss VBP.

 

I went from KYB gas adjust to Bilstein to Koni I think 3 way adjustable. Koni was a pain to change settings because you had to remove one end and rotate. About that time QA-1 came out with the dual adjust for the rears and I only used the Koni for a very short period of time. It seemed to me that the koni rear just didn't quite have the setting I wanted out of the three choices, but much better than the previous two non adjustables.

 

How's everything healing up GKULL? Or are you good to go.

 

Great shock discussion!
The OP was dead-on on all points.

I ran the Koni Classic single adjustables on my pro-solo car for many years.
The Compression setting is the one that controls the ride (think initial impact). It is fixed on the Konis. And the rate is not too bad, so they are decently comfortable. As they are intended to be adjustable from everything from a stock rate to occassional race duty. They are set for slightly stiffer than stock springs. So they will feel a little firmer on a stock spring and just about right on something 30% stiffer. Like say 450-550s. There is also a Sport model available for many cars, but not old GMs. Those are not really intended to be stock street shocks, so the compression valving is set much stiffer and you must have stiffer springs and they will still ride very firm. Not too comfortable.

Konis single adjustment works on the rebound only. They have lots of racing experience. They say 80% of your handling improvement comes from getting the rebound setting correct. It controls the rate of weight transfer from right to left. Adjusting it makes the car react more smoothly than adjusting the compression, which can be very sudden. On stiff springs you must increase the rebound valving or the spring takes over and you can get the dreaded pogo bounce effect. Try some soft stock shocks on some stiff springs sometime just for fun! And yes the Konis must be un-hooked at one end, and then fully compressed and then rotated to change the setting. I liked to soften them up a setting or two for rainy days or the long ride home, and that part was very annoying. I believe there were 3-1/2? turns of adjustment or so, and as many as 7+ settings? didn't I just count the half-turns? but it has been a while. I actually spent a hour on the track with Dean Dodge of Koni, he drove my car and helped me tune it. I certainly picked up a lot from him. That was extremely educational.

This time around I am opting for the easier-to-adjust QA-1s because they have an easy to reach **** on the side. Getting old I guess. LOL! But it is said they adjust both compression and rebound at the same time. So I guess I will just have to set the compression where it rides decent and hope the rebound is strong enough to make it handle as well as I want. And then the question is will that work for a composite rear? I suppose I could always send them in to have the compression re-valved if the balance is not right for my combo. I had to do that on my Konis after I tripled the spring rates, and then they worked well again. I was hoping not to have to go all the way to double adjust shocks, but we will just have to see. That's always another option. That would be a faster, although more expensive, way of getting the compression tuned in for the custom springs and ride, and the rebound tuned in for the best handling without ruining the ride you just optimized.

 

Been using KYBs since the 80s they never go bad but you gotta like a firm ride. They arent "smart" say like koni, edelbrock bilstein etc.

 

I'm great. Hard to PM using cell phone flying around. Thanks for asking

 

So, how about QA-1 vs Ridetech? I have been running the Bilstiens for over a decade and am considering switching.

550# front coils. Custom VBP 400# fiberglass rear. Front FE7 bar, factory big bock rear bar. Car is just a fun street car.

 

I considered the konis, even bought a set, but didn't even mount them. They were hard to adjust even off the car. The hassle of needing to pull one end to adjust on the car was a further. So I bought the QA single adjustables. Excellent ride from them and so much nicer to not have to pull one end to adjust them. Range of adjustment is from floating caddy to bone jarring. And resetting being easy means I don't hesitate to fine tune for the mood l'm in.

 

The AC Delco's on my 72 were past their prime and the Monroe's a good upgrade. Stock suspension with aftermarket sway bars.

However the current Bilstein's are much better than the Monroe's. VBP Plus suspension.

 

I have no experience with the Ridetech. However their spec sheet says they are rebound adjustable, just like the Konis.
However being a much newer design they have an adjustment ****, and it looks like it easy to reach on a C2/C3. I like the rebound only adjustment, as I am used to it. You can find a comfortable ride street setting, and then quickly and easily increase it a few clicks for some tighter handling, and vice versa.

So whether you are going to like them or not depends on what their compression valving is like, since it is fixed.
By listening to their marketing info, like the Konis, the compression valving seems to be biased to providing a smooth street ride, ie: not too harsh. Their spring packages seem to support this as well, their Hyperco front springs are dual rate, but start at 480#. The rear composite uses the Hyperco 200# composite, which honestly, seems to be one of the only composites that gives the correct ride height. (Since they literally use the original GM molds for the stock 80-82 spring). The shocks are Fox built, a lot of experience there, so I would rate this system an A+ for a street car. But if you vary your spring rates too far away from what the shocks are designed for, you may not like the results.

So on your combo, with a 400# rear spring, which is about double what they designed the shocks for, I would give them a call and see what they say. Maybe they can supply a custom valved model if the stock one won't cut it, and it might, or it might not, but that is quite a bit of difference. Too soft of a shock, with a stiff spring, will pogo. Now you can tighten the rebound to stop that. But it still means it is going to move less inches than designed on compression, and the shock may not have strong enough valving to dampen it. So I would think if it is valved correctly in one direction, and not in the other, it may have a funny "hop". on a bump and not be as smooth as you would like. There is definately a much wider latitude on fine-tuning the compression valving vs the rebound however, as far as ride quality. So I would ask them, or Fox.

On the QA-1s, as I already mentioned, it will depend on the designed-in split between the compression and the rebound, since their **** adjusts both. I have never tried to fine-tune a composite spring before, so I do not know if a composite, and a steel spring can use the same split ratio, or not. The Bilstein data says at least one of the valving rates needs to change, between steel vs composite, but is it one? or both?. I do not know of anyone who has evaluated both springs with a good shock, not yet anyway.

Keep us posted!

 

I have no experience with the Ridetech. However their spec sheet says they are rebound adjustable, just like the Konis.
However being a much newer design they have an adjustment ****, and it looks like it easy to reach on a C2/C3. I like the rebound only adjustment, as I am used to it. You can find a comfortable ride street setting, and then quickly and easily increase it a few clicks for some tighter handling, and vice versa.

So whether you are going to like them or not depends on what their compression valving is like, since it is fixed.
By listening to their marketing info, like the Konis, the compression valving seems to be biased to providing a smooth street ride, ie: not too harsh. Their spring packages seem to support this as well, their Hyperco front springs are dual rate, but start at 480#. The rear composite uses the Hyperco 200# composite, which honestly, seems to be one of the only composites that gives the correct ride height. (Since they literally use the original GM molds for the stock 80-82 spring). The shocks are Fox built, a lot of experience there, so I would rate this system an A+ for a street car. But if you vary your spring rates too far away from what the shocks are designed for, you may not like the results.

So on your combo, with a 400# rear spring, which is about double what they designed the shocks for, I would give them a call and see what they say. Maybe they can supply a custom valved model if the stock one won't cut it, and it might, or it might not, but that is quite a bit of difference. Too soft of a shock, with a stiff spring, will pogo. Now you can tighten the rebound to stop that. But it still means it is going to move less inches than designed on compression, and the shock may not have strong enough valving to dampen it. So I would think if it is valved correctly in one direction, and not in the other, it may have a funny "hop". on a bump and not be as smooth as you would like. There is definately a much wider latitude on fine-tuning the compression valving vs the rebound however, as far as ride quality. So I would ask them, or Fox.

On the QA-1s, as I already mentioned, it will depend on the designed-in split between the compression and the rebound, since their **** adjusts both. I have never tried to fine-tune a composite spring before, so I do not know if a composite, and a steel spring can use the same split ratio, or not. The Bilstein data says at least one of the valving rates needs to change, between steel vs composite, but is it one? or both?. I do not know of anyone who has evaluated both springs with a good shock, not yet anyway.

Keep us posted!

 

Great post. Thanks for the info. Lots to absorb.