Koni's on a 850 Wagon

beigg · Post by **beigg** » 22 Sep 2013, 09:25

I am currently fed up with stock prematuring, easy to obtain aftermarket short lasting, as well as no name never reliable brand struts. Koni (106781) has my attention but are on back log. Anyone running them?

Keeping my current springs and not going to extremes, what are your thoughts, opinions, comments, suggestions, lets discuss! Worst I can do is just read the response with no action taking place.

Air ride was a thought, but just dont have the time to invest into that and I would like to keep on using my current springs. I have 2" drop springs that I had produced locally (before knowing about the aftermarket drop springs) which increased the firmness by about 25% over stock.

Currently I am in the slow process of making a set of shocks that are tailored to what I feel I'd want for my driving pleasures. Shocks will be 2" shorter than OEM, .25" wider body, same fitment. However, if there's something already out there that I overlooked, please let me know as it would save me time and probably money.

Post by **northernlights** » 22 Sep 2013, 15:05

I have front Koni Yellow's on my 94 Turbo sedan, and I think they are outstanding. I did replace everything else up front at the same time, so your results may vary. I currently have about 15k miles on them in the past year.

I drove around for about 10000 miles with them at 'full soft' and they helped handling tremendously. I set them 1/2 turn down about 5k miles ago and not only did handling improve, but I swear my front tires are wearing a bit slower.

The only thing I didn't like about the Konis is the small size of the top hex one must hold in order to torque the strut rod nut to the strut retainer. It's easy to mangle it if you follow the recomended torque specs. Koni publishes 80 N*m (59 ft*lb) while stock Volvo is 70 N*m (52 ft*lb), both of which are very high for the little hex. Make sure you have good tools to hold it steady!

Post by **matthew1** » 22 Sep 2013, 15:14

Springs and struts time to buy koni bilstein eibach that may help. I still have stock HD (~130k miles) w/ iPD blue springs, so no firsthand advice from me.

beigg · Post by **beigg** » 18 Nov 2013, 08:17

Like to update this thread:

Ordered the Koni's and have tried a few settings so far. Ended up at full tilt +++ and am a fan of it a long with a set of modified rancho ranger shocks. I have it where I want it and hope to have the longevity too!

Post by **northernlights** » 27 Jan 2015, 11:15

northernlights wrote:I have front Koni Yellow's on my 94 Turbo sedan, and I think they are outstanding. I did replace everything else up front at the same time, so your results may vary. I currently have about 15k miles on them in the past year.

I drove around for about 10000 miles with them at 'full soft' and they helped handling tremendously. I set them 1/2 turn down about 5k miles ago and not only did handling improve, but I swear my front tires are wearing a bit slower.

Here's a little information on Koni Yellows with respect to life.

I now have 40k on them in a little over two years. I am now up to 1 1/2 turns to have (maybe) the same 'subjective' handling as the original 1/2 turn after 10k miles. The roads around here are pretty crappy, so maybe they are being beat to death more than the Holland-based Koni engineers expect!

The wear is gradual though. I have been slowly increasing the preload whenever the car feels like it starts either to lean a bit too much in turns, or if I bottom out on certain hard dips.

To make sure my adjustments are reasonably accurate, I'll turn them back to full soft before readjusting them firmer by adding either a 1/8 or 1/4 turn to the previous setting. That's an easy multiple because the shape of the knob provides 8 distinct reference points.

The limit on mine is two turns - that's where the adjustment ends. With that in mind....

0-10k miles - full soft
10k miles 1/2 turn
10k-40k crank 'em down as needed
40k miles 1 1/2 turn

Projecting out, it looks like at about 55k it will be time to start thinking about a new set.

beigg · Post by **beigg** » 30 Aug 2015, 18:01

So far I'm riding problem free in the strut/shock world. LCA/BJ's are another story. Potholes munch the balljoints up in no time.
About 30K on these struts and shocks, hoping to get another 30-40K.

Post by **matthew1** » 30 Aug 2015, 18:50

Thanks for the update, beigg. Good to hear the Konis are holding up. There have been a couple Koni + Volvo P80 posts lately in case you missed them: https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... hp?t=71371 and https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... p?p=377188 (oops you're on that one)