Koni Reds vs. FSD's

[SilverSquirrel]

Thanks. Are the special active rears a monotube or twintube for this car?
Rears for now. Fronts seem ok. Plus more of a pita.

 

[Wilkins]

I ran Bilsteins + Tiggy springs on the back of my GSW for nearly a year before gearing up to install the fronts. I thought they were a nice improvement over stock, got rid of any real need for a rear sway bar. I would not call the rear Bilsteins harsh on the mk6 Wagon. With a stock front there was some dive and pitching, only noticeable if you knew it was there.

My Bilsteins fronts are definitely firm and hit hard at low speed over frost cracks but that might be a result of the S3 bushings and heavy duty strut mounts I put in when I changed the struts. If I have a reason to pull the front bearings off again I will probably swap out the strut mounts for stock. Corners really nicely though and apart from the thump over abrupt bumps they are generally compliant and I have no complaints.

 

[SilverSquirrel]

I ran Bilsteins + Tiggy springs on the back of my GSW for nearly a year before gearing up to install the fronts. I thought they were a nice improvement over stock, got rid of any real need for a rear sway bar. I would not call the rear Bilsteins harsh on the mk6 Wagon. With a stock front there was some dive and pitching, only noticeable if you knew it was there.

My Bilsteins fronts are definitely firm and hit hard at low speed over frost cracks but that might be a result of the S3 bushings and heavy duty strut mounts I put in when I changed the struts. If I have a reason to pull the front bearings off again I will probably swap out the strut mounts for stock. Corners really nicely though and apart from the thump over abrupt bumps they are generally compliant and I have no complaints.

Thanks Wilkins, for the reply. I have been down the Bilstein rabbit hole and back, with my 06 audi A3 3.2 awd. Wifes car goes on family road trips, commutes, and all of that. Need comfy. Just ordered the special actives and a whole pile of fluids and filters for the tdi sportwagen.

Before the A3, I daily drove a 1990 Audi 20v Coupe Quattro. The first thing I did when I bought that car, which was 10 yrs old at the time, was install Bilstein HDs with the stock springs. My friend Mr. D. Shine suggested them. He did much of the work on that car. The ride and handling were both excellent. comfortable, cornered on rails, and amazing in the snow with blizzaks. The HDs were still going strong after almost 100k more miles when I sold the CQ.
So when i bought my A3 with 54K mi, and a bit soft around the corners, the first thing I did was install a new set of HDs. The MKV application. Big mistake. Horrible bucking ride, harsh on the bumps. Just not happy magic.
I put up with them for a year. Then I went to the Koni Yellows. had lots of fun with the knobs. super comfy on soft setting, nasty on firm, medium setting ride was OK, but the car just didnt feel right. Unsettled. Wallowy in the hard corners.. So I went back to a fresh set of the Stock Sachs struts and shocks. After a year or two of that, I was getting the bug again, so I sent my HDs out to Cali for custom revalving. Back to amazing cornering and track worthy grip for sure, but it got annoying when hitting small bumps, and the parcel shelf would go flying. The valving was great during the hot summer months. smooth, confident, etc. but when winter came, things got harsh and ugly, ride wise. After another year, put the stock Sachs back in. My back couldnt take the harshness. I could use those in the Sportwagen, but I need to keep my wife happy, for the obvious usual reasons.

Oh, and I have the S3 or RS3 whichever is the solid rubber one, control arm bushings. Absolutely great.
Had 034 upper strut mounts at one point. Another warm climate mod. great around here in the summer, but bone rattlers in cold weather. I dont remember if they were with the konis or the Bilsteins. Now on OEM TT MK2 mounts. perfect year round.

 

[Curious Chris]

I love my Koni Yellow with MoGolf spring upgrade.

 

[SilverSquirrel]

Probably OK to do Special Actives in the rear only, but it would be much better to replace all 4. Of course you could replace the fronts later.

Thanks. Ordered from idparts.

 

[SilverSquirrel]

Holy crap you guys are fast. UPS just showed up. Now i have to work on the car this weekend

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Well, we're close to you.

 

[SilverSquirrel]

Well, we're close to you.

Too bad for me you guys are on the wrong side of Boston.. it would be much too tempting to bring the tdi in and keep my fingernails clean

 

[Wilkins]

The MKV application. Big mistake. Horrible bucking ride, harsh on the bumps.

Oh, and I have the S3 or RS3 whichever is the solid rubber one, control arm bushings. Absolutely great.
Had 034 upper strut mounts at one point. Another warm climate mod. great around here in the summer, but bone rattlers in cold weather. I dont remember if they were with the konis or the Bilsteins. Now on OEM TT MK2 mounts. perfect year round.

Silversquirrel my understanding is that Bilstein revised the valving in the MK V/ VI B6 shocks after a couple of years to increase compliance. Mine are firm but not harsh except for the crash at low speeds on expansion crack type irregularities. On old lumpy roads without cracks the ride is quite compliant. I’m blaming the upper mounts for now and will have to see what happens when it gets cold, really cold!! I doubt the control arm bushings affect the ride very much, they didn’t when I installed them in my MK IV

 

[itsmejerry]

I just found this thread so I thought I'd chime in.



I ordered my Special Actives from ID Parts this past week after bending a few front suspension parts in an unfortunate run-in with a curb in the rain in one of my 2015 Passats (94,000 miles). Even though the strut wasn't damaged, it was time for replacement, as evident by driving my "other" 2015 Passat with 5500 miles on it, which felt lots tighter and less saggy on curves with a car full of passengers. With the suspension being repaired, and taken apart, it only made sense to do it now.



To be honest, I was pretty happy with the factory set up, so I almost ordered a set of VW OEM Shocks and struts for all 4 corners so my Uber/Lyft-mobile would feel like the family car I drive sparingly. The last thing I wanted to do was mess up a pretty decent feeling car with some overly stiff aftermarket struts that some 18 year old tuner/ricer thinks is cool on his Honda.



Cutting to the chase, I picked up my car yesterday and was surprised and amazed by how much the stock suspension can be improved by the Special Actives. Gone was the "dippy" feeling in curves, and even more amazing was how the Special Actives absorbed the Expansion Joints between concrete sections of a really beat up interstate in Birmingham.



Imagine a car that has better handling, but not while sacrificing ride comfort. In fact, the ride is actually smoother. A (weird but accurate) comparison would be like having a REALLY Hard/Firm mattress, with a Pillow Top on it. You get an amazing level of firm support, but also the rough edges are smoothed out, so you don't notice the imperfections in the road.



If you're on the fence about using the Active Reds, don't be. These are probably the best combination of of comfort and control that I've ever felt.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Koni brought us three 3 series BMWs in the summer: One with stock suspension, one with Special Actives, one with Koni Yellows. The back to back driving was enlightening. BMW stock suspension is both harsh and floaty, and transmits the hardness of the run-flat tires. Special Actives took all that away. They're going in my 335d in the Spring.

 

[Matt-98AHU]

Koni brought us three 3 series BMWs in the summer: One with stock suspension, one with Special Actives, one with Koni Yellows. The back to back driving was enlightening. BMW stock suspension is both harsh and floaty, and transmits the hardness of the run-flat tires. Special Actives took all that away. They're going in my 335d in the Spring.

What was your impression of the yellows vs. special actives?

The comparison would also vary greatly depending on where exactly the yellows were adjusted to as well... Would be interesting to know where they set them for the comparo.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Yellows were as expected compared to Special Actives: Firmer on small bumps, transmit a bit more harshness to the cabin, but cornered flatter than the Special Actives. They installed the Yellows on the soft setting, as they come out of the box. So they could be firmed up significantly. For a quasi-luxury car like the 3 series, the Special Actives would be a better choice, in my opinion. I was also a bit taken aback by how big that car is. Wide.

 

[mejpassat]

Is there much difference between the FSD and Special actives?
I have theFSD's along with an h&r rear sway bar on my 2015 passat.
Handles great but at low speeds on the unmaintained cali roads it can be stiff.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I doubt there's much difference. I've considered putting Special Actives in my Wagon since I drove it for several years with FSDs (It has Reds in it now). I thought FSDs could get harsh at times in my '12 Golf, but I never had that impression in the Wagon. It's amazing to me how different a damper can fell in one car compared to another.

 

[SilverSquirrel]

Is there much difference between the FSD and Special actives?
I have theFSD's along with an h&r rear sway bar on my 2015 passat.
Handles great but at low speeds on the unmaintained cali roads it can be stiff.

A stiffer Rsb will make cornering seem flatter, but ride quality suffers on bad roads. Also, as posted earlier in this long thread Fsds dont like to be lowered, Due to the bump stops confusing the special valve that controls damping. I am assumins same with the special actives. What springs?


On my heavy A3 vr6 awd, with bilsteins and h&r rsb for awd, the car cornered lika an old 911. Rode like one, too. Even w/awd was scary in the wet and snow. Im back to stock rsb and shocks now.

Special actives are going on the sportwagen when i find the time, and the wife isnt commuting, will updated when i do.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

mejpassat, where are you in CA? If you're in the north I think you will experience some harshness on any Euro suspension on the broken concrete roads up there. In SoCal roads are better (at least I think they are) and the Passat with FSDs should ride fine.

 

[Hwycruiser]

So do you now recommend for a Golf Mk4 the Actives or the Reds? Also how would you compare them to the Bilstein Touring?

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I think either would be great. I think the Special Actives may ride a bit firmer on the Golf than on the heavier Jetta or NB. The MKIV suspension is pretty primitive, and any Koni, but especially the Special Actives, will make it ride and handle like a more sophisticated setup. I think the comparison to TCs is night and day. I find Billy TCs harsh on the MKIV, but still without great control. I've never liked them, although a lot of owners do.

 

[SilverSquirrel]

I installed the rear special actives in my wifes 2013 tdi sportwagen today. At 116k, the rear oem sachs were dead for sure. No gas pressure in either one. Bottom coil of one spring broken off. New oem rear springs and mounts. I added some audi TT upper spring seats for an extra quarter inch. Total, the rear sits 1.25 inches higher after a test drive, with the fresh suspension.

I must say, these thing are super comfortable. No harshness at all. If anything, on the soft side. First impression is very good. I think we will have to go for the fronts as well.

 

[graeme20]

Cant' say enough about the Active Specials. Replaced my Koni Streets on my 03 wagon with the actives a few months back & absolutely love the ride. Feels slightly less firm than the Streets - way more comfortable on bumps, and seems to corner just as well.

 

[Bobo4255]

Stoked to see this thread alive and well. My wallet is wincing, but my '03 Golf has gone a long time without any significant expenditure . . . I've got the suplex lift springs + Koni Active Specials inbound for all 4 corners to replace my broken springs and essentially trashed OEM mk4 suspension (204k miles).

A year ago I tackled ball joints, sway bar and lower control arm TT bushings, so fingers crossed I come out of the shop standing a whole heck of a lot taller and handling like a totally different car!

 

[SilverSquirrel]

Im noticing that the koni special actives for mkv amd mk6 have several part numbers availabe, in addition to the sportwagen application from idparts. This would be for different weight ranges.
Tiguan, audi A3, golf, and others. Might be worth lookin into for my A3. The sportwagen app might be too soft for the A3Q

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Im noticing that the koni special actives for mkv amd mk6 have several part numbers availabe, in addition to the sportwagen application from idparts. This would be for different weight ranges.
Tiguan, audi A3, golf, and others. Might be worth lookin into for my A3. The sportwagen app might be too soft for the A3Q

The part numbers you see for Special Actives are for MKIV (all), MKV and VI, including Sedan (IRS) and Sportwagen, and MKVII (all). No wagon-specific rears, no rears for beam axle MKVI Jetta Sedan or Beetle. So it's pretty simple. No weight range variation. I don't know of any aftermarket damper maker who does that. If your A3 is the '06 in your signature, you'd get the ones or MKV/VI.

 

[RIP TDI]

Peter, any word on when the MK VII rears (twist beam) might be coming in to regular stock? I hope that is still the expectation.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Still going to happen, I honestly don't recall when. If I had to guess I would expect during the first quarter. I'll ask after the first of the year. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[SilverSquirrel]

From koni na application lookup: rears, special active:

2010 passat cc, golf R rear koni sa pn 8045 1085

2013 jsw, golf 6, 8045 1084.

09-16 tiggy fwd and awd 8045 1228

08 R32 8045 1083

06-13 Audi A3 fwd and awd 8045 1226

Would love to see rebound and compression dynos compared.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Only one of those vehicles is a diesel. I was, of course, only reporting on diesel applications.

 

[SilverSquirrel]

Of course. And they are great in TDI Wagon!

 

[Bobo4255]

Terrific

Stoked to see this thread alive and well. My wallet is wincing, but my '03 Golf has gone a long time without any significant expenditure . . . I've got the suplex lift springs + Koni Active Specials inbound for all 4 corners to replace my broken springs and essentially trashed OEM mk4 suspension (204k miles).

A year ago I tackled ball joints, sway bar and lower control arm TT bushings, so fingers crossed I come out of the shop standing a whole heck of a lot taller and handling like a totally different car!

And it is FANTASTIC:
- 27.75" or so in the front, 28" height in the rear from the center of the tire to the highest point in the wheel arch. Which is probably 2ish" greater than my old broke-down-busted suspension ride height, minimum.
- In RI we have a variety of professionally prepared road surfaces, from heavy right shoulder "drainage" holes, full-on cold patch washboard, to standard smooth concrete with expansion joints . . . now I can't pretend to compare to stock or Koni Reds, but the Koni Active product that I now have is definitely firm, but does a great job on anything I drive on locally.
- My wallet's feelings are not significantly hurt