Hey I am currently in the market for new shocks and struts and there is such a variety for our cars it's making it somewhat difficult to select just one. So any opinions on the Bilsteins or the Koni's? Price is not a problem, purely a performance question. Also open to any better suggestions, thanks a bunch!

 

Both are a great shock/strut combo.

Id just pick one and run it. Koni is $$ isnt an option

 

My experience with Bilstein are in C4 Corvettes (when new) in both regular and Z51 models. As well as my wife's Blazer.

I know the Blazer isn't an apple to apple's comparison. They do last a long time though.

In the Corvettes, they're a great shock. I'm the same way as you are. Both the Bilstein and Koni are nice units. Can't go wrong with either.

I went Koni yellows for the GTA though. And I haven't looked back since. I'm normally a person who doesn't like variable/adjustable/whatever settings. Because it tends to be a one setting is right and 10,000 settings are wrong. I prefer hydraulic lifters over solid lifters too.

But with the Koni suspension, the adjustability really is nice to have. Speed bumps causing too much bounce? (coming down on the Y-pipe) Turn the **** up a bit. Upping the rebound setting makes the car more fun to drive. Everything is a bit crisper. Driving the car every day? Maybe you want to leave it on full soft. Or just barely turned up a bit.

The Konis are a great daily driver setup as far as I'm concerned. (stock height springs on my car). I set the rears on full soft (0 clicks) and run the fronts anywhere from full soft to one full turn from full soft. I'm probably going to leave it on a 1/2 turn from full soft for the next while. Backs are staying on full soft indefinitely.

The front adjustment has about 2.25 turns from full soft to full hard. When I tried upping it from full soft to 1 full turn just for the heck of it, the car had as much performance difference as it did going from stock 20 year old suspension to the Konis in the first place. Car was REALLY responsive. But a little too much for the bumpy concrete roads that Houston has. Hence why I went back to full soft at the moment. Going to try the half turn in the next few days.

The rear has 4 click settings (0, 1, 2, 3 clicks)
0 = full soft
1 = 20%
2 = 50%
3 = 100%

Some people here run them on 1. Most run 0. Very few run it on 2.

Regardless, I'd say go for the Koni and install front and rear on full soft for a month to get used to it. Price? They're worth every penny. Performance? Unless you want to get into $1500 struts and shocks (I don't), the Koni Yellows are the ones to get.

 

For what it's worth, before I bought the Konis, I debated going Bilstein because I was under the impression that the Bilsteins were a maximum performance street shock, while the Koni Yellows were more of a stiff riding race shock. And I even debated going for the Koni Red as a middle ground between the two. (I don't autocross)

But after getting the Yellow, I was 100% glad that I bought them.

 

I went the Bilstein route on my 1988 GTA and couldn't be happier. In comparison to the stock shocks the ride and handling is amazing. I was worried that the ride would be worse than the stock GTA shocks but it was the opposite. Very high quality & highly recommend.

 

I have 1 with koni yellows all round, 1 with reds, 1 with bilstein HDs the last one is bone stock low mile. The Koni yellows are the stiffest of them all, they handle beautifully. The reds are soft to rather stiff depending on how you adjust them before installing (instructions says adjustment not recommended, it's for compensating wear especially on the rebound...I never read the instructions LOL)

The bilsteins are a good bit softer than the yellows. Ride is about the same as the reds. The bilsteins do have a nice dust boot and a much much thicker shaft

 

Which ones do you like the best and which ones do you recommend to people?

 

Thank you everyone for your input, I have decided to go for the Koni's due to a combination of your testimonies as well as Twin_Turbo's assertion of the fact that they are the stiffest in comparison of the three. Thanks.

 

The yellows and on a budget the reds. The reds are a great shock, I have used them on a lot of cars, never a problem.

 

for a street car anything decent works, a lot of people are happy with the bilsteins. For anything serious- Yellows, hands down (unless you want to find someone to revalve the bilsteins, again good quality and worth the effort, but they're just not valved as well as the Koni's)

 

I run Koni Reds out back for 10 years now with no problem and run the KYB AGX's in front for 8 years with no issues.

 

For the Koni's in the rear is it better to get the 4th gen or 3rd gen version?