FWIW, bingo2 (the guy who put up post #2 here) had this to say in a e-mail the other day.
"Sam,
The new Koni STR.T dampers have been installed and I’m very pleased with them. Almost all of the harshness from the rear of the car is gone and the ride over various road conditions is much better than the stock dampers, all this and still firm and controlled. Reaction to sharp edged road irregularities and drop off type situations (uneven expansion joints and poor road repair for example) is much improved as well. The stuttering and dancing of the rear of the car induced by continuous small ruts is virtually non-existent now and I’m getting some feedback from the suspension now, something I welcome, probably due to different bushing material and the HD strut mounts. Cornering on the canyon roads is very good at moderate speeds and roll is very well controlled although still present and there is less dive under moderately hard breaking. I believe this was a worthwhile modification to the car."
Thank you Ken (bingo2) for sending me that message and allowing me to repost it.
I have some others like that as well, like this one that was posted to a few other forums:
"Hi All,
I had a set of new Koni STR.T Tuned Performance dampers installed about 500 miles ago, and I thought I'd share about my experience so far.
I bought them from Sam Strano (
www.stranoparts.com). I've read a lot of suspension posts by him around the forums, and decided to go with my stock springs and these Orange Konis to start my suspension mods. They're a lot less expensive than the Koni Yellow Sports, and Sam and others have said they're like the yellows turned all the way down. I don't want to lower my car, don't want to be adjusting my dampers on my daily driver, and wanted a better ride for my hard charging driving style.
First of all, I have to give a big "Thank you!" to Sam Strano. He provided the best customer service I have received from any business in a long, long time. I had an appointment with my performance shop for installation set, and Sam went out of his way to help me get the parts on-time.
My performance shop owner, Glen Strzelecki of G&S Mustang in Riverside, said the install of the Konis went well with no problems. (Glen was referred to me by a forum reader, and his work is first class. He also installed my 3.73 FRPP gears and CHE control arms.)
When I left Glen's shop after the install, the ride and handling improvement was immediate and significant. These Koni Oranges are WAY BETTER than the stock dampers. The ride is very tight, composed, predictable, and now, when I'm tracking an on-ramp curve hard at 70mph and the back end is lightening up and I pass over a small bump the rear end stays stuck to the ground... no more unpredictable sideways hop and side-to-side wallowing mid-corner!
At lower cruising speeds on normal to mildly bumpy roads the ride is much, much less harse than the stock dampers.
For those of you looking for a much better damper with no need for adjusting who would feel better spending ~$450 instead of ~$800 for Koni quality and performance, I highly recommend the Koni STR.T for the S197."
When you see responses like that, I think it's pretty clear how the dampers work. Now, I make no bones about the fact the STR.T's are not Sports, and in fact I like the firmer rebound damping, but then I know I like more than the average guy from my autocrossing. If you want a competent, reliable damper that is fixes the issues stock dampers have, and does so while being able to control mild lowering springs, and doing it with a real, honest to god warranty then STR.T's are, IMHO a great move.
Koni Str.t or Steeda Pro Action dampers
