New Koni struts - does no rebound after compression mean defective?

Ringo · Post by **Ringo** » 17 Jul 2016, 19:48

I pulled my front struts and I am going to replace them. When I stand them (Volvo/Sachs old struts) vertically against the ground and push down the shaft it goes down (a little too easily). One comes back up slowly and the other doesn't come back up unless helped. So they are old and worn...but does this lack of rebound mean anything? Should a strut rebound?

And now relating to then new replacements: should the new pair of shocks (Koni STR.T) rebound/rise quickly and about at the same rate? One comes up fine (takes about 10 seconds) and the other goes up very slowly about half-way and then stops.

Koni are lifetime warranty, but I don't want to even put them in the car if the slowly rebounding shaft on one of the two means one of them is defective. And I don't know whether this is a real test of anything. What do you think?

Post by **scot850** » 17 Jul 2016, 22:36

I would suggest this is a question for Koni. The fact that both struts do not act in a similar manor would suggest one is not acting as it should. I had a similar problem with a pair of Bilstein HD's (although not new). I scrapped them and replaced with new after talking to a reseller for Bilstein.

Neil.

Post by **tryingbe** » 18 Jul 2016, 05:54

Defective, yes. Call Koni.

Ringo · Post by **Ringo** » 19 Jul 2016, 00:46

Thanks, I am returning them to the place I bought them.

Post by **rguzz** » 19 Jul 2016, 05:14

Pump them repeatedly not just once or twice, after a few pumps you'll have a better idea how to compare one to the other. You may have done that already. I have set of KYB's one was weak out of the box, so new "bad ones"can happen.

Post by **oragex** » 19 Jul 2016, 05:54

Ringo wrote:I pulled my front struts and I am going to replace them. When I stand them (Volvo/Sachs old struts) vertically against the ground and push down the shaft it goes down (a little too easily). One comes back up slowly and the other doesn't come back up unless helped. So they are old and worn...but does this lack of rebound mean anything? Should a strut rebound?

Yep. that one was shot. But they are shot anyway at 100K miles. These Sachs don't leak and still rebound properly going over a pothole. Where they fail is they get stiff, and in cold weather is even stiffer to the point it feels like riding without suspension.

Ringo wrote:And now relating to then new replacements: should the new pair of shocks (Koni STR.T) rebound/rise quickly and about at the same rate? One comes up fine (takes about 10 seconds) and the other goes up very slowly about half-way and then stops.

They gave you a faulty item. They should rise quite quickly both at same speed in about 3-4 seconds. I'd even say 10 seconds is way too long, while the other is good for garbabage (or decoration given the nice color). Don't waste your time installing them, the car will be unbalanced to one side when changing lines, especially at highway speed.

Where did you get them from (seller)? Undoubtedly he is fishy.

Post by **oragex** » 19 Jul 2016, 05:55

self reply button strikes again