zep
Part of things
Posts: 199
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Hello all,
I'm a new poster long long time reader of the magazine / forum lurker. (You may remember my website oldschool.co.nz being featured a while back now!!)
Anyway, I'm building up an Isuzu Gemini Coupe (very similar to a Kadett C Coupe) and am currently undecided as to what shocks to put in her. I've come down to two, Spax adjustables and Koni Yellows but just can't decide. The Konis are £10 more than the Spax each - is this telling me that the Konis are superior?
What do you guys think?
Cheers Leon
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Last Edit: Mar 10, 2006 0:12:01 GMT by zep
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Hello Leon!! Nice to see you drop by this way Not sure about the Koni Vs. Spax question (I'm going with coil over kit on original struts myself), but I'm sure someone will offer you some advice
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They both work pretty well and obviously a dramatic improvement over original. How are you building the car? Lowered,race rep,rally standard looking. If they are both fully adjustable then performance should be similar from both. I have never done a back to back comparison on the same car but have used both on different cars and couldnt fault the quality of either. Just to through a spanner in the works have you considered bilsteins as they work well on chevettes/kadettes etc.. ;D
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The Dolly club always complains about Spax shockers adjustments siezing - thinking about this it's not such a problem, because how often do you adjust it - I'm sure it's just a case of through lack of use etc...worth considering though..
Gaz are good too ;D
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slater
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,390
Club RR Member Number: 78
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are the konis adustible on the car? some konis require you to remove them from the car to make adustments but this may just be the red ones. Its a pain in the !
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zep
Part of things
Posts: 199
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I was looking into Bilsteins, but couldn't find them for the rear. If anyone has a catalouge, that'd be cool. The car is going to be setup (low!) for street and track, maybe take it down the strip a few times.
I remember now that my mate had Koni yellows in his escort and they had to be removed to adjust, rather annoying.
So I'm thinking the Spax for now, unless I find the right part numbers and cost of Bilsteins (can't be cheap!!)...
Cheers
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MWF
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,945
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I really recomend the Koni adjustables. Most fitments can be had in top adjustable form.
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Mr K
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,993
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spax: ive got spax adjusterbles on the back of the kitten, they seem pretty good, and don't get me wrong they are alot better than the originals, but they don't seem that great quality compared to others - but they where reduced to £10 a pair in halfrauds!!! (kitten rears = mini fronts), Also, the standard spax bushes they use in the eyelet type damper fixings suck.
Koni: i second what slater said, adjustment can involve taking off the car. we had a set on a scimitar that where shot after only 10000 - 20000miles, and they always seem abit cheapy compared to other makes, but that is my only experiance.
Avo: got a pair of coil overs on the front of the kitten, and dads running a set on his car too, propblem free, easy to adjust, extremely well made... and come with poly bushes in them as standard.
in my opinion i would definatly check out AVO, a small company but with great customer care and know there bananas.
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MWF
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,945
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I had a set of Koni's on my Sierra. Due to the turret design the rears couldn't be top adjustable. On these all you had to do was un-do the bottom bolt and twist the shock. Took very little time. When you consider you shouldn't have to adjust shocks much I don't think it's that great a problem.
Having had and tried a few different suspension setups I feel quite strongly that Koni offer some of the best road going shocks. Their design is unique and the shocks do a great job of maintaining normal ride comfort but still stiffending up quickly when needed. They also supply shocks for OEM fitment within the automotive industry and work with the likes of Lotus.
I've heard one too many bad things about Spax, from poor quality of customer service to low quality manufacturing defects.
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Having had and tried a few different suspension setups I feel quite strongly that Koni offer some of the best road going shocks. Their design is unique and the shocks do a great job of maintaining normal ride comfort but still stiffending up quickly when needed. They also supply shocks for OEM fitment within the automotive industry and work with the likes of Lotus. This is true the Lotus Elise and Exige used to be fitted with Konis as standard and they are also the first part that most owners remove. I ditched mine for bilsteins after about 3 months. The Elise konis have a useful life of about 10,000 miles before they start leaking and makeing the dreaded knocking noise. I've used both konis and spax on Minis in the past. the Konis gave the best ride and the spax gave the best handling at the expense of comfort.
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ill go with minestrone on this one , the koni,s on my last mk2 golf gave a great ride and good handling. they were second hand too and where good condition. top adjustable too. i had spax on my 66 minx and it handled like it was on rails but nearly broke my spine.
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"quote hairnet"
I'm not paying nine pound for a pi$$!
[/quote]
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bryn
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,913
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Interesting to see what everybody thinks, it really does come down to personal experience I guess. I'd go Spax for the record, only because I've seen them being made and had no problems with them on my vehicles either. They've changed everything in the last three years, so ignore any made before that time due to quality and design issues.
Oh and they're named after a village near my house where the original company started up, Spaxton.
All of the companies mentioned will be able to supply you with something suitable, so it might be an idea to speak with somebody who's got a similar motor to yours, or as close as you can get and speak to them.
Suspension is a big thing to get right, it boils down to your driving needs, be honest with yourself. Good luck ;D
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Volvo, Buggy, Discovery and an old tractor.
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MWF
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,945
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Suspension is a big thing to get right, it boils down to your driving needs, be honest with yourself. That is such an important point. So many people stick track style suspension on road cars, it's just not worth it.
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Shortcut
Posted a lot
I won't be there when you cross the road, so always use the Green Cross Code.
Posts: 3,037
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The Zs has Koni yellows on the front and they seem good. They replaced a set of genuine PTS tarmac struts (made by LEDA I think) and are noticably softer, I'd prefer the leda's tbh but I need the cash to get them redone. The have to be demounted to adjust too, which is a pain, though they're on full already. Have a set of 4 spax adjustables on my old 131 sport and they were absolutely great. So in summary Koni good, spax maybe slightly better, Leda best. This is a track set up though.
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This space available to rent. Reach literally dozens of people. Cheap rates!
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slater
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,390
Club RR Member Number: 78
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Have you considered GAZ shocks? (if they are avalible) they are by far the best bang for you buck of all the companys. Their shocks are as good as AVOs but cost the same as konis!
Spax are over rated imo, and konis are down right 'budget' not as good as the rest but cheaper!
I have a set of konis for the front of the fiesta that were supposadly 'top adustible' what they don't tell you is that the shock needs to be fully compressed to adust them! which of course is impossible when they are on the car. Considering selling them on again to be honest, wasent impressed.
The mini has GAZ which are faultless they were the cheapest adustible i could get yet that have the most adustment (36point) are billett aluminium as opposed to steel like koni/spax and they are rebuildable which spax/koni are not.
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My new car has Leda's on it. Are these any good?
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Shortcut
Posted a lot
I won't be there when you cross the road, so always use the Green Cross Code.
Posts: 3,037
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Leda are good cos they are rebuildable. When they start to go just ship them off to the factory for a quick refurb.
Just to throw another name into the ring. The rears on the ZS are DeCarbon. no probs with them so far!
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Last Edit: Mar 8, 2006 16:48:04 GMT by Shortcut
This space available to rent. Reach literally dozens of people. Cheap rates!
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MWF
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,945
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Friend of mine had one of his Leda's replaced and was -very- impressed
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If the difference is only 10 quid then have the Konis. IMO They're better but usually much more expensive which means Spax (which are good) are usually better value.
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zep
Part of things
Posts: 199
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Hrm, this is getting all the much harder to decide. I'll be buying them off the net from somewhere over your end of the world, so I guess I can take what ever is on offer. I'll have a look around for the AVO and GAZ shocks, and see if they make them to suit kadetts.
I would talk to other people, but I don't think anyone over here has done something like this. In Aussie no one seems to have adjustables and all the Kadett sites, well, they're in German (which I don't speak!). I guess I'm just going to have to jump in a do it!
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