Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 14:50:00 -0700
Reply-To: "Steven X. Schwenk" <sxs@SCHWENK-LAW.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: "Steven X. Schwenk" <sxs@SCHWENK-LAW.COM>
Subject: Re: Source for Koni shocks in BC?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
As a standard, every day shock, they're fine, and the price is great.
But from a performance standpoint, they are second-rate. I am not
talking about jumping over creeks, but just in terms of how they handle
and work on the vehicle in moderate off-road conditions. They don't
work that great. The dampening/vaulving/pressue are not very well tuned
to the vehicle or to eachother or to the front suspension.
steve
Shawn Wright wrote:
> On 4 Jun 98 at 13:28, Steven X. Schwenk wrote:
>
> > KYB's use cheaper materials and an inferior design. Mine seem to
> make a
> > noise when they top out. Also, the dampening is not good...they try
> to
> > compensate by using too much gas pressure. As a result, the shocks
> are
> > not very responsive and consequently additional load/work is
> transfered
> > to the front suspension, thus throwing the whole system a little
> askew.
> > This is why you can buy them for $25 each down here. Wholesale I
> think
> > they're about $12-15. They're a cheap shock painted up and charged
> with
> > gas to give the appearance of being a performance product when they
> are
> > not.
> >
> > steve
>
> That's a pretty strong criticism for what seems to be considered a
> decent shock
> in the VW (auto) performance club (albeit not as good as Koni). Euro
> Car has
> always talked of them in the same terms as Boge, and a notch below
> Koni/Bilstein in performance and price, or at least that was my
> impression.
>
> Are you saying that KYBs are just not up to the kind of torture a
> heavy beast
> like a Westy throws at them? The problem is I kind of told BowWow to
> get me a
> set of KYBs, but if they are really junk, I'd rather know now. I am
> really
> afraid to deal with US mail order, mainly because of customs and duty,
> not the
> dealers themselves. I figure I can probably double the US cost by the
> time I
> get it here, which means about $55-60 each for KYB - BowWow can get
> them for
> $60 CDN. BowWow swears they have no complaints with KYB, and will
> honour the
> lifetime warranty.
>
> Should I hold off and try to find Koni or Boge? I've never even seen a
> price
> for either of these in the US or Canada... Help!!
>
> ========================
> Shawn Wright
> Computer Systems Manager
> Shawnigan Lake School
> 250-743-6240
> swright@sls.bc.ca
|