Reply With QuoteIts not that the shock itself seizes, its that some of the collars are not coated to be protected from the elements. Basically if not used, after awhile they rust and are almost glued together so you cant raise or lower the car.
I've heard from a couple people that adjustable shocks tend to seize and lock up after extensive use. There are many more moving parts in an adjustable shock and was told to stay away from them. Just wondering if anybody else has heard of this problem.
Its not that the shock itself seizes, its that some of the collars are not coated to be protected from the elements. Basically if not used, after awhile they rust and are almost glued together so you cant raise or lower the car.
On adjustable dampering shocks such as the KONI's if adjusted to full stiff under high loads the shim stacks can actually form a hydrostatic lock and the shock will get stuck or bind in one position.
This is what happened to my KONI's on the front of my car, one shock blew a seal the other broke the adjusting rod and the shock eventually broke in half at the top of the shock body because of the flexing and side loads with the broken internals it eventually flared the threads and broke. the only thing that kept it in the car was the weight of the car on the spring and strut.
For Koni's anyway you should never run them at full stiff. If you want to run them at "full stiff" then adjust them from full soft to full stiff and back them off a 8th of a turn at least.
Also if you are playing with your adjustment, index it from the softest setting, do not turn it to full hard to index or determine your setting and then adjust it, this can cause the shims to bind also.
You are exactly correct about this. But this goes for any adjustable shock that uses needle valves.Originally posted by ColinCivicSiR
Also if you are playing with your adjustment, index it from the softest setting, do not turn it to full hard to index or determine your setting and then adjust it, this can cause the shims to bind also.
You must first set it to 0 (softest) basically resetting it, before you set it your desired setting.
As a rule of thumb, you should never run any adjustable shock at its lowest or highest setting.
thanks a lot; good info guys.
hey since we're talking about adjustable shocks here, which one do you guys prefer? AGX KYB adjustables or Koni's? and why? I just got some AGX's so I'm wondering...thanks
AGX's are out? cool. I've heard that Koni's are very harsh for street cars, but if you don't mind the stiffness, which I don't, then I guess Koni's are good. I was leaning more towards Tokico, haven't heard anything bad about 'em.
ah crap, sorry I don't have an EP. I meant, like past experiences...I dont know if they're out for the EP's yet.
Between the Tok and KYB, i like the KYB's better. They use better pistons and thicker seals which makes them last longer. There are also more KYB dealers around just in case you ever do encounter a problem.
The koni's on the other hand, i believe are a little better than the KYB's. But just as Suk02si has writtten above, they may be to harsh for many on the street. They are also almost twice the price of the KYB's as well.
cool. thanks for the info, I feel even better about my purchase now.
Why not run at full soft? What is wrong with that?
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