exx1976

Ok, scratch that.. On further review, on Eibach's site, these parts are only listed for coupes.. So, I guess I should have mentioned that, I didn't realize there was a difference.


Any new recommendations now knowing that I have a 'vert??

jayel579

Just look around at what you like, read up on reviews and opinions and form your own opinion. Personally I believe race proven is the way to go. Bilstein is proven by design and Koni has an entire racing series. Hence why I prefer Koni's or Bilstein's.

Really when it comes down to it, for most cars that will never see an auto-x or track day, it really doesn't matter what dampener you have on the car and for most people that fit into this category whatever they bought or have been told to buy first is typically what they're loyal too.

BoidMorphs

Not sure if the link will bring you right to the correct page at their site but what do you think of this combination? I like the Vogtland springs but are these the same "yellow" Konis? Seems like a great price for both combined. http://www.hotpart.com/index.php?p=show&id=178

sonnier

Yes. "Yellow" Konis are Sports.

Sam Strano

I'm not really sure how to put this, so I guess I'll just say it. If you are having trouble deciding, or would like some actual technical insight from someone who not only has used both, but understands both and can compare and contrast them, call me.

There are details that I discuss that can and do play into the decision. We can also discuss other shocks if you'd like. There is also some information regarding availability and build details of some dampers that is not public knowledge at this time that I would be happy to discuss with potential customers. I am not at liberty to discuss these details publicly in a forum.

I've won with D-specs, I've won with Koni's. I sell both, but also other dampers as well. I can back up the product with support and proven results. I can explain the differences and would be happy to do so. No, we are not the cheapest in town...but the pricing is fair and I don't think you'll find the same kind of knowledge and support from the low-ballers.

I wouldn't touch the Eibach's with a 30 foot pole (the springs aren't my favorites, the dampers really aren't). Mono-tube vs. twin-tube is a moot point really. There are sucky mono's, and great twin's (and vice-versa).

F1Fan

Hi exx1976,

From a design point of view if you could get a Bilstein damper valved perfectlyfor your applicationa Bilstein damper is hard to beat. I've used Bilsteins for many years and when I had easy (free)access to the Bilstein race shop for revalve work this was theway togo. But in the real world Bilstein charges a lot of money for a revalve and rebuild and that gets very expensive very quickly so I use Koni Sports for street applications and Koni Race dampers fortrack applications.

The Koni Sport dampers are seriousdampers designed for lowered cars with higher spring rates. The Bilstein Sport line dampers are designed along the same ideas and the Bilstein HD dampers are designed as a super high quality O.E. type damper with valving designed for comfortable ride motions and a slight handling improvement. The Bilsten HD dampers are NOT designed for use on lowered cars and are NOT valved with high-performance damping curves but comfort and ride.

If you wantthe best performance dampers on the marketandplan to keep the car foreverKoniSport adjustablesmay make sense money and durability wise. If you are after improved comfort or don't want to mess with tuning the dampersBilstein HD dampers are the winners hands down as long as the springs you use are notin the stiff catagory and do not excessively (1") lower the car.If you want a damper set that can do anything from the drag strip to a road course the Tokico D-Specs are hard to beat due to the newly found very high quality, Steeda's track development and their amazingly low price.

Then along camea 2005 S197GT April '05 which turned out to bemy first new American car ever in my 53 years. I'vemostly owned, driven andworked on German sports and GT cars but after driving the S197GT I really wantedone. But as soon as I got it and had to drive it daily I found all sorts of handling, steering and ride issues with the car. So I started to do what I doanddid some back ofa napkin and cardboard sketch engineering while lying under the chassis of my new car for several hours for day on end.

Front and rear damping rates, front and rear spring rates, steering geometry, front roll center, front ride height (CG),front control arm location, front roll rate,rear axle location lateral, rear axle linear,rear axle alignment (centering), rear roll rate, rear axlesteer and IC issues. These were my issues in order of importantce to me and what I think the car needed to be all it could be.So I called up my friends at Koni and foundthere were no dampers planed for at least a year for the S197 chassis, hmmm. Next I called up my friends at Bilstein and they said they planed to releasean HD damper set in 12-18months and maybe a Sport damper depending on sales volume of the new car, uh-oh my plans were looking pretty bad as the first order of business was to get dampers that were not so out of wack as the stock Ford units.

So then I called up Steeda and asked about dampers, hey they are the biggest and according to them, thebest mass market Mustang suspension andhandling company on the planet. I figured if anybody would have any ironsin the fire they would. Well guess what? I was told after many, many people bounced me from one place to another within Steedathere was something on the Steeda track testing right now. So I waited a few more weeks and kept in touch with my new contacts at Steeda as the development folks got closer and closer to the right valving curves for both bump and rebound AND the range that would be needed to fill the role of a Tokico D-Spec damper. The Japanese use to like to make inferior products to send to us here in the land ofBig Mac's and keep the very best for themselvesas somesort of a mean joke for bombing the begeezus outof a couple of their cities. This is still the case with many consumer electronics items. O.K.they had a point but the truth is that the second world war for Japan was about expanding Japan's reach and access tonatural resources which if you don't know are very limitedwhen you are living on a chain of volcanic islandsand rocks pushed up from the bottom of thesea.Anyway after months of begging and pleading I got a call from a Steeda engineer in July that there is a set of Tokico D-Specs with the finalized Steeda valving sitting in the SoCal Tokico offices for me. Yeah!

I didn't give them a chance to change their mind and hung up and ran out and picked them up that day. Here werethefirst S197 chassis dampers designed specifically for performance applications and I had a set in myhands. The only problem that was making me nervous was the factthatI had never had a good experince with a Tokico damper, never as in EVER. At the distrbutor I was involved with (we carried Bilstein, Koni and Tokico) the retun rate was so highwe had litterally tonsof themat any given time waiting for disposal. The return racks for Bilstein and Koni was just large enough for one or two complete sets of dampers and they were usually empty.Tokico dampers were the cheapest made lowest quality dampers on the market at the time. But of course we didn't get the good stuff that was restricted to domestic market only in Japan! That all changed with the D-Specs for the S197 chassis. D-Specs have been heavily promoted and Tokico is righfull proud of the design andquality they have put into this line of adjustable performance dampers. I've beat them up pretty hard and they are bone dry, as good or better than any Koni and much better than a typical Bilstein which tend to weep at the seals.The piston rods and chromeis still completely flawless and showno signs of wear, amazing build quality IMO. Or I just could have gotten lucky but I don't think so as nobody as posted that their D-Specs had failed ot starte leaking that I have seen. Of course the fact that Tokico makes the O.E. S197 dampers for Ford and that Steeda did the valve and damper curve development for the D-Spec line and their own pro-Action damper line (Steeda's private label dampers made by Tokico), could have hadsomething to do with it.

HTH!