Thoughts: MM Bilstein coil kit to MM Koni kit

[tt335ci03cobra]

I'm replacing my 12 year old MM factory shock/strut coilover kit which is running stock 03 bilsteins (14 years old) with MM's single adjustable Koni yellow coil over kit.

I was running 350# springs all around before, with an iron block, then a 5.4 etc (heavy stuff).

Now it's an aluminum cammer block, mm kmember now so the fronts about 150# lighter, trufiber hood, etc.

Anyways, I'll run 350's front and 550's rear now.

 

[tt335ci03cobra]

Anybody run the Koni single adjustable MM cool kit with similar spring rates to what I specced? How have you liked it so far?

I'm excited to see what this does for the car.

Please chime in with any input or thoughts. I almost ordered sport bilsteins to keep the current coil kit I had, but liked the adjustable factor of the Koni and heard good things about them overall.

 

[tt335ci03cobra]

Coil*, specked*.

 

[03 DSG Snake]

375/575 with Bilstein S1 here. I was thinking of switching to Koninas well, but MM talked me out of it. I might still have the email somewhere.

 

[tt335ci03cobra]

That's a really great setup. Good decision going with the 375/575 combo. I really considered 425/625 or 400/600 with level 2 bilsteins, and 375/575s with s1's too. The roads are just very rough up here in the Rocky Mountains. I like canyon drives and it's a stupid how bad the mountain roads get. 5-10 years almost destroys them...

Stiffer setups make for a far better track car. I opted for the softer but still appropriate setup I could do for the car since cruising and mild street driving are what I do 80-90% of the time. I plan to hit the drag strip a few times as well so loosening the shocks/struts will be nice for that.

If I could get out to our local circuit more than once every year or two, I'd have gone a good bit more aggressive with the combo.

 

[01yellercobra]

How do your cars ride? You guys are running much stiffer springs than I am. I'm running 300/475.

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[tt335ci03cobra]

Mine wasn't too bud until the shocks wore out. It's much harsher now than it has ever been. High speed stability is poorer as well. It's pretty drastic what worn shocks do to a car...

I'll report back soon when my new setup is in. I ended up getting 375 front/ 550 rears with the Koni single adjustables.

Almost went 350/550 but said f it, I'm still young haha. It'll be a little stiffer but hey, I'm 27, not 47 so it'll be nice to see what extra stick these offer vs worn 350# fronts

 

[tt335ci03cobra]

300/475 is a great setup for a street car. Especially with bumpy roads. Best I could describe that would be to say they are great grand touring rates. You'll enjoy the car a lot with that combo in various driving scenarios, back roads, etc. they'll be faster around a bumpy track like seabring or street circuits like long beach.

375/550 that I went wit is much harsher, and will be slower on bumpy areas/hop much more. That said, it's faster on smooth roads and has more composure at very high speed.

If I had a fun bolt on street car, I'd go about what you have. I had 350's all around when I had a fun bolt on car.

 

[01yellercobra]

I'm quite happy with the spring rates. I tell people it rides about the same as it did with the H&R Race springs, but with more control. And I'm lower than I was with the H&R's. I went for a cruise with a buddy a couple weeks ago through some canyons and the car felt like I was hardly pushing it. I just like learning about other peoples' set ups.

 

[2DXTRM]

Im running 350/550 with my Cobra (IRS swapped 95), with the single adjustable KONIs. No complaints in ride quality, a little stiff for some, but just nice for me. The Konis are adjusted aprox 1-1.5 turns in from full soft on all 4 corners.

Just an FYI: One thing to be aware of is, if you are using a bigger rear sway bar (Eibach) with coilovers, you need to run a shorter spring. 7 inch long instead of 8 inch long springs.
The lower spring perch on the coilover with the longer spring will hit the sway bar if you are trying to lower the car more than a 3 finger gap (2 if you have fat fingers) between the tire and fender, and makes all kinds of racket when going over bumpy roads.

 

[tt335ci03cobra]

2dxtm^ thanks for the input!

So it's finally all going in this week, been super busy...

I ended up changing to 375/575 iirc, I've had the coils for a while and forget the rates.

I'll probably run them at 3/4 stiff on the street. With the aluminum block, mm suspension, ftbr rear, and light wheels, I'm pretty excited to get these on and see how it feels.

I need to have a custom front sway bar built next. We ran into clearance issues with my turbo system so I gotta have a bar fabricated with extensions.

 

[tt335ci03cobra]

1000 miles in, these are far exceeding my expection. Ride quality is excellent, grip is better, handling is much more telepathic and communicative, and braking is in a word, revolutionary.

Everyone who's been in my previous combos and now in this combo is very impressed. The car feels like a mid level throroughbred instead of a tuner car. It feels like it could have been an aggressive factory specced car, similar to a cobra r or amg black series. Its refined and usable, and just approaches too firm but never quite crosses that threshold.

 

[94slowbra1]

Nice. Glad you are enjoying them. I have been very impressed by my MM/bilstein set up. Sounds like you pixked the perfect set up for your driving habits

 

[Paul Delapenha]

Hi guys....I recently went with MM setup with koni....I was wondering if you guys had your cars corner balance? How low did you guys go? And would it be necessary to do a 4 wheel alignment once going coilovers?

 

[01yellercobra]

Hi guys....I recently went with MM setup with koni....I was wondering if you guys had your cars corner balance? How low did you guys go? And would it be necessary to do a 4 wheel alignment once going coilovers?

I was low when I first did mine. I was originally on H&R Race springs and I was lower than that. But while it looked good it was a pain to drive. Right now I'm about a 2 finger gap all around.

Any time you pull the suspension apart it's a good idea to get an alignment. Especially when changing ride height.

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[Paul Delapenha]

hey...can you guys tell me how did you set your shock damping setting at? at the moment mine are all set to soft

 

[99 KOBRA]

450/575 with Bilstein Sports

 

[01yellercobra]

hey...can you guys tell me how did you set your shock damping setting at? at the moment mine are all set to soft

That's probably going to be a trial and error thing. Each person is different. I'd stiffen it a couple clicks and see how it feels then go from there.

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