I think that is a win for sam. I'm having my koni's installed on the 16th, so i'll chime back here with the results.

 

I have the d-specs and I like them just fine. The warrantly issue is brought up a lot, but how many failures have there been? I certainly don't hear folks complaining about it on the internet.

 

And all it takes is one failure to cost you. And while the D-spes work decently the level of composure the Koni's give is better. In short you have better impact harshness quality at better control settings. D-specs can ride well, but you tend to have to run the damping softer relative to the Koni's to get it.

And back to the warranty: http://forums.bradbarnett.net/showth...warranty+sucks

Notice who *started* the thread. Notice in total 3 shops + others had the same experience.

And for the record, just to prove I'm not lyin'.... A man here bought D-specs today, and I sold them him without hassle. He's done his reading, he understands my concerns and also that I think D-specs are decent if you are willing to give up a little composure and take a touch more of a risk on durability for a cost savings.

 

One more thing. I'm not saying that anyone with D-specs should hate them. I know a lot "like them just fine". But what's the comparison? If you drove stock V-6 for years and someone plopped you in a stock GT, you'd probably like it just fine to and wonder why folks spend money modding them.

All about perspective and it's very hard to get unbiased opinions from folks that haven't seen both sides of the fence. That's not to say anyone is lying, or crazy, or full of crap. It's just a simple matter of fact that if you are used to something bad, something decent seems great. If you then compare something premium to decent, then decent seems not so hot. It happens to us all. I used to think the Monsoon Stereo in my Camaro was killer.... until I got my Mustang and the Shaker 500 blows it away.

 

Where is the best place to buy the Koni's and how much should i pay to have them installed? Are there any precautions with installing them or setting them up?

Thanks.

 

Hey Sam -

Just stop selling the To-cheap-o's and take the decision away from the masses.

 

Here's my concern. How well do the d-specs and konis handle very rough roads every day? I'm talking about the road I live down (dirt) which is full of ripples, holes, bumps you name it. It's rather bumpy. I don't want to spend a ton of money on something that will wear out just as quick as OE shocks due to being beat on. I know the mustang is not meant for off roading so don't give me that line. But we live where we live. The road I live down is 2 miles long BTW.

The warrenty on the konis sounds like a great thing, but the problem is if I wore them out and needed new ones, what do I do for who knows how long until Koni sends me new ones? The way I see it, the car would be down for quite some time and this is my DD.

This is why I've had the mindset of just keep putting on cheap OE shocks/struts since they'll get wore out faster than most people wear them anyway. Plus I have no beef with the OE parts TBH.

 

I'll say this. Koni is the BEST with warranty I've ever dealt with. *if* you need a warrant, and if the shock is in stock @ Koni it'd be days. Hell, if you tell you them can't have the car laid up you might even be able to work out a core-charge type arrangement where they send you a new one for until the old one goes back.

These are all if's. Koni's for this car have proven very durable. And Tokico's warranty for all their parts sucks. It's a no brainer.

And fwiw, I drive 20 miles round trip every day down a road that has more undulations than most can imagine. It's one of the best damper testing roads around, period. If anyone from the area ever stops by, I can prove it.

 

That sounds very promising and I'm feeling better about Konis. Before the price shocked me (no pun intended ) because I was not used to shocks costing that much in the past. Before I didn't know very much about cars and stuff and just got the cheapest not thinking much about it. Of course I had a V6 stang back then too. Although that car could handle rough roads better than my GT. I get bounced around A LOT more in my GT. But on the REAL road my GT handles a million times better.

I would love to see your rough road you talk about and see how it compares to mine. I swear if someone wanted to test durability of any kind of vehicle, my road would be the one to use. LOL! This is like Jeep territory. Maybe I'll take a video of me driving down it. I think most will not believe I put this car though that kind of abuse.

The part about it that sucks the most is it being dirt, my car is dirty all the time. I spend waaay too much time at the car wash several times a week. I can't wait to move.

Anyway, I think you just convinced me about buying the Konis. Not now b/c I recently made some large purchases and my credit cards are still glowing hot. But in the next few months when I do suspension work, I'll add Konis to the mix. I was thinking about D-Specs with the same reasoning timothyrw was saying. But after what I hear about Tokico's warranty issues and Koni's quality I think I'll go Koni.

Or maybe Rancho...LOL!

 

Koni has 2 authorized rebuild centers in the U.S, one essentially on either coast.

Koni is known for their quality and service.

No a lot of To-cheap-O's on race cars........

To-cheap-O has a mismarketed reputation for the D-Specs on the S197. So many have been sold because they came out oh- 3 years before the Koni's did, and were the only adjustables on the market.