koni shock settings? stiffer in rear? - Honda Prelude Forum

sk515 · 01-16-2002, 04:59 PM

hey i forgot but are you supposed to set the rear shocks stiffer? or the same as the front? and what happens when the rear is stiffer? if i was also to get a rear sway bar what would that do?

HRC · 01-16-2002, 05:20 PM

stiffen up the rears will give you a little oversteer(good thing, generally) and by adding just a rear bar, more oversteer. i have this setup on my car.

jc836 · 01-16-2002, 05:23 PM

Stock sway bar-hm. Try 3/4 turn front and 1/2 turn rear to begin with. If you use a Neuspeed Rear Sway Bar (25mm)I would increase the front to 1 full turn and 3/4 turn in the rear. Can't give you precise settings, but that is where I'm at. One of the good things about these shocks is that you can adjust based on track conditions, tires and your style of driving.

DYI01 · 01-16-2002, 07:48 PM

i have my front and rear at 1/4 turn from FULL STIFF, i might turn it to full stiff again. I also have the ST rear sway bar, and taking exit ramps at high speed the car just feels like it wants to rotate to easily, too much oversteer. I think i am going to take out the ST rear bar one day.

eM^x · 01-16-2002, 07:54 PM

can anybody tell me what the default setting on the Koni Yellows is? I had mine installed but never bothered to adjust the settings. So they're on whatever setting they were on from the factory

2kPreludeSH · 01-16-2002, 09:22 PM

I don'r race my Lude so I have mine set on the softest both in the front and in the rear.

Pork Chop · 01-16-2002, 11:09 PM

Koni recommends not setting them at full stiff.

The range is not proportional for the front and rear. If I recall, my fronts had 2 turns from full soft to full stiff and the rears had 2.5. After I had them custom-valved, the range went to 2.5 front and 2 in the rear.

When I had my regular set, I had them set at 1 turn from full soft for everyday use and cranked them up for autoX. My custom-valved set is so ridiculously firm that I leave them at full soft for everyday use.

eM^x: I don't think there's a default setting. It's set at whatever the knob happened to be left at from the factory.

DYI01 · 01-16-2002, 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Pork Chop
Koni recommends not setting them at full stiff.

The range is not proportional for the front and rear. If I recall, my fronts had 2 turns from full soft to full stiff and the rears had 2.5. After I had them custom-valved, the range went to 2.5 front and 2 in the rear.

When I had my regular set, I had them set at 1 turn from full soft for everyday use and cranked them up for autoX. My custom-valved set is so ridiculously firm that I leave them at full soft for everyday use.

eM^x: I don't think there's a default setting. It's set at whatever the knob happened to be left at from the factory.

were they revalved to be stiffer bound and rebound, or just bound, or just rebound? I am thinking about getting my shocks revalved. How much did it cost you and how long did it take to have it done? Thanks

Pork Chop · 01-17-2002, 12:28 AM

They're still single-adjustable (a lot higher rebound), but they cranked up the compression too. The high-speed compression was set a little bit stiffer, but it was the low-speed compression that I was more interested in, so that's a lot stiffer than normal.

Brief info on high/low compression: when I say high/low speed, that's the speed of the shock piston. High-speed compression occurs when you go over small bumps. Low-speed compression occurs when you crank the steering wheel quickly and the car leans toward one side. For autoX, high-speed compression is not so important (can hurt more than help, since excessively high rates will cause the car to be too bouncy over uneven surfaces). Low-speed compression is responsible for turn-in and transitional response. You want it high enough that it helps turn-in, but not so high that it makes the car really uncomfortable.

I had my shocks done at ProPartsWest aka Tripoint Engineering in CA. After parts/labor/shipping, it came out to $600. Koni-NA in Kentucky was considerably cheaper (~$100 less). Their turnaround time was 5 weeks compared to ProParts' 2 weeks. Since I was in a hurry, I went with ProParts (not to mention they're a lot closer).

I might be selling mine in the near future. It depends on whether or not I decide to autoX the Prelude this year.

Darth Luder · 01-17-2002, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by eM^x
can anybody tell me what the default setting on the Koni Yellows is? I had mine installed but never bothered to adjust the settings. So they're on whatever setting they were on from the factory

There are no set settings as they come fully Unstiff from the factory.

I have mine set at 1.5 front and 1.75-2 rear. This gives me a nice setup for a little more oversteer.

sk515 · 01-17-2002, 12:38 PM

ok... can you guys help me? how do you guys make sure that everyting is even... the rears are easy.. but what about the fronts? they arent aligned like the rears..

HRC · 01-17-2002, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sk515
ok... can you guys help me? how do you guys make sure that everyting is even... the rears are easy.. but what about the fronts? they arent aligned like the rears..

what do you need help with? what do you mean about the rears?

sk515 · 01-17-2002, 12:46 PM

ok for the rears.. they start off aligned. and if you set them full stiff they are also aligned... so its easy to tell if they are at the same stiffness.

for the front. they dont start off aligned... and if i set them at full stiff they also arent aligned... meaning the little tabs are pointing in the same direction.... whats an easy way to make sure the fronts are the same?

HRC · 01-17-2002, 12:51 PM

just turn the fronts all the way soft and then start dialing them in equally. for example, front left, turn one full turn from soft using the arrow as a marker, then just do the same for the other side.

Darth Luder · 01-18-2002, 06:26 AM

Yeah, I always turn mine full soft, look at where the nob is and when it goes back to that is 1 turn and then you can count off others in 1/4 turns. Also, dont run your rears or fronts full stiff as you will more than likely blow them out and have to rebuild them which is $$.