Koni Special Active

[mkeiser]

Originally Posted by Fishee

Grave digging a little here.

My factory M Sport struts and shocks are feeling pretty tired.
Time to replace / upgrade.

I have no intent of lowering the car, and want to retain the factory M Sport springs. I also, do not want to lift the car either, ride height is perfect.

Since I don't track the car, and it's used as a weekend toy, primarily on rough city streets - I'm looking for something that offers enhanced performance and comfort over the factory sachs.

I have experience with Bilstein sport (what they used to call the B6/B8).
I found them to be pretty harsh, combined with lowering springs - also, they actually lifted the car a bit. I do not want to alter the ride height.

I have no experience with Koni - though the Special Active seems to be a decent choice, at least by marketing language.

Looking for some opinions on the Koni SA vs. Bilstein B8.
SA with factory M Sport springs... a decent way to go to improve comfort while retaining or improving performance?

FYI - I don't winter drive, and I put on about 2000mi/3500km per year.

I'm debating the same thing right now on my near 100k m sport suspension... Leaning towards Koni as well since mine is mainly a DD

[ResinThirteen]

For whatever it’s worth, I debated the exact same thing, and decided the OE M-Sport suspension was perfect for me in every way, and lasted 13+ years, so I went with OEM replacements.

I did get all the rest of the parts at the same time, though: caps, mounts, perches, etc.

[mkeiser]

Originally Posted by ResinThirteen

For whatever it’s worth, I debated the exact same thing, and decided the OE M-Sport suspension was perfect for me in every way, and lasted 13+ years, so I went with OEM replacements.

I did get all the rest of the parts at the same time, though: caps, mounts, perches, etc.

I was thinking about it more last night and ended up pretty much doing the same. As much as I want to get more into auto-x / track stuff, I am commuting most the time and have no big complaints with the OE m-sport stuff currently on the car.

Went with Bilstein B4 Touring along with all new miscellaneous stuff like you said.

[Fishee]

So, having second thoughts about the Konis.
Performance wise, seems to fit the bill.
I'm reading some worrying stories about corrosion...

Has this been anyone's experience?

I don't winter drive, and worst case, I can clear coat them before they go on the car, and apply fluid film regularly. Bilsteins on previous cars did suffer from some corrosion, but nothing like this.

[blue135]

Not seen anything like that on my Konis. But then again, I don't recall having seen any salt piles here, or heard of salt being applied around here.

[Fishee]

Originally Posted by blue135

Not seen anything like that on my Konis. But then again, I don't recall having seen any salt piles here, or heard of salt being applied around here.

They're still performing ok? No leaks?

[blue135]

Unchanged performance since they went in a couple of years ago.

[slowbutsure]

Originally Posted by Cavpilot2k

I have Koni Yellows and have no problem adjusting fronts (have tightened them up twice since installation) with stock bracing.

As for rears: I just did plenty of research on the most popular setting and set them before installation. Haven't found any reason to want to adjust them now.

Hello. What settings to the rears would that be? Looking to install mine for daily driving settings. Thx

[cblock406]

I wanted to bump this for anyone else contemplating going with this strut/shock combo.

I recently finished a suspension overhaul on my 2013 128i. I used the factory sport springs with the Special Actives, along with M3 LCA's and M3 tension struts.

I'm coming off of a 100k mile, tired factory suspension, so it's not surprising I feel an improvement.

I've put a couple hundred miles on them now and, so far, am very satisfied. It's gotten rid of the bounciness I was experiencing over small bumps and rough patches of road. I also haven't noticed any increase to NVH, even with adding the stiffer bushings from the M3 parts. If anything, it may have improved; I can actually feel the dampers working and soaking up the road.

I haven't gotten to do any aggressive HPDE style driving yet, but with the suspension changes, the car feels much more planted.

I'll post an update after I have some more seat time and give the dampers some time to break in. Cheers!

[MAMSport]

Hello! I started this thread years ago, so I guess it is only appropriate that I update my experience with the Special Actives. I am in Massachusetts and DD the car, so it is exposed to wintry road conditions. I try to counter the salt/brine effects with regular car washes including undercarriage.

This past winter, I needed to replace both struts as they started to make clunking noises over rough road surfaces. They had about 60k miles of driving on them.

The prior winter, I needed to replace one rear shock as it was extremely noise over any surface irregularity. That shock had about 54k miles on it. When it was removed, the entire top of the shock fell out. Yes, the entire top of the shock tube rusted out, and if tipped upside down, the shock tube would literally fall out.

Yes, Koni did warranty the parts. I paid up front for replacements (I think it was at 50% off their normal retail) and had to send back the removed units for inspection. Plus, I had to pay to have the R&R of the replacement units as well as replacing the top mounts (and rear dust boot) while they were off.

Koni credited me fairly promptly. I have no issues with the warranty replacement process other than needing to pay for the replacement up front and waiting until they checked the returned parts for the warranty claim. And, they did process this reasonable quickly (within one billing cycle of my credit card).

But, the idea of the warranty is really not to need to replace the part. It was fairly expensive to have the single rear replaced (over $250 plus dust boot at an indy with a shop rate of $185/hr) and more on the front struts (both at the same time) which included an alignment.

I am not sure whether I would try Bilsteins on my next strut/shock upgrade. I had to replace a Koni Yellow (SA, I think) rear shock that blew out on an E46 M3 years ago as well. I have had Bilsteins on my E30 M3 for a lot more years (no winters and less miles during summers, granted) without any issues. My indy shop says they have had issues with Koni products over the years and less with Bilsteins.

Hope this is helpful or useful information!