Thanks

 

Anyone with a real store front, a phone lines, and the cost of advertising and general overhead costs can't readily compete with "ebay" places.

What I'd like to point out as I have in the past, is that you don't see the ebayers here to help. You don't see them paying to support this site, or others like it. I'm sure each and every one of you have a job, and that there is someone else out there willing to do it for less money. Nobody likes when the are replaced because someone is cheaper, but yet that is what is happening here when it's all about the price and the price only. Bear that in mind when you are making a purchase.

On to the dampers. I prefer the Koni's over the D-specs, and have had a few customers run both and everyone that I've heard back from prefers the Koni's. I made a post a while back that I took some flack over from a customer who actually took the time to compare and contrast his findings with both shocks and no other changes, and it was favorable to the Koni's. I will say that I sell D-specs, and they are certainly improved parts from older Tokico's. Prior to Koni's being available I myself used them. But I've also changed to Koni's, and prefer them.

The biggest reason is the way the two adjust. D-specs do compression and rebound together, but those things have different jobs and just because you change one doesn't mean you want to change the other. The result is that when you turn them down the car can ride very, very softly. That's fine if that's what you want, but most folks buying these cars aren't usually looking for a Town-car ride, but want a Sports/GT car. And as the spring rate goes up/spring travel is lessened you need more rebound control. Turn that up and the compression damping goes up too. And compression damping is what works on unsprung weight. Unsprung weight is what it is, and does not change. You just want good compression damping, not too much, not too little. With the D-specs that's always a compromise vs. rebound wants.

The Koni's don't adjust the compression damping, they are rebound only. That means you don't have to settle for something less than you might want. It's why the man in the thread found the car todrive better then the D-specs. He needed more rebound control, but to get it before the compression when with it, that is no longer the case after changing to the Koni's.

Look at it this way, any time you are tuning something you don't want to take broad swipes. If you did an engine tune and wanted more timing but could only get it along with more fuel and no choice, would that be the best solution? Tokico opted to try and be all things to all people, and market the shocks accordingly. What's funny is that Koni's too have a very wide range of damping (about a 100% change, sometimes more in damping level), but just not on compression. In the past when double adjustables were made (older Stang's, Camaro's) the adjustments are split so you don't get the "you can't have one without the other" thing. And what's more is that personally I never found a need for the compression damping on those. I own sets of DA's, and do not use them....