Complaints about KONI FSD/Eibach Pro Kit

[highlandarx]

After using the search button I have only heard good things on here about this kit, with the exception of one 'ziner who felt that the FSD's were too floaty and unpredictable in handling and preferred the Koni Sport (yellows) with the Eibach Pro Kit instead. I was wondering if anyone else shared this sentiment among those of you who have tried either, or if any of you have any complaints about either.

Just want to make sure before i pull the trigger on either of these...

[mda0428]

i had the koni fsd with tein springs and loved the ride... got a great deal on some coilovers so mine are for sale. buy mine and save some money... let me know

[GA42.0T]

Put on my FSD/Eibach Pro set just last weekend and so far really like them.

For starters, the drop is perfect for me. See before/after pics here - from stock suspension (not S-line suspension).
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...Pro?highlight=

I will say I can see how some would say they're bouncy. At speed on the highway there is a bit of recoil, but I wouldn't go so far to call it a bounce. Going 70 over a bump or depression is going to cause some suspension movement. I was thinking about it last night as I was driving on the interstate. My thought was I did feel a bit of movement, but it wasn't like boing, boing, boing.... More of a down, up, and settle. My impression was that maybe the stock suspension would have just eaten that bump up whereas a sport suspension would have just slammed you and been done with it.

I'd call the FSD an OEM+ damper. The ride to me does feel tighter than the stock base suspension I had, but doesn't feel like a true performance sport suspension.

In the end, it depends on what you're going for. If you want minimal body roll, tight cornering and don't mind a jarring ride, then don't get FSD. If you want a daily driver that handles better than stock, then go for FSD.

Ultimatly, my decision points were:
- Wanted lower ride, thus needed springs or coilovers
- Didn't want to pay for quality coilovers, so that meant springs
- I've read that adding just lowering springs to stock suspension can at best cause premature wear of shocks or at worst be a shitty ride
- I didn't want a shitty ride or have to replace blown stock shocks in 1 year or whenever
- So that meant shock/spring combo
- I didn't want a rough ride. Sure, I'll take less body roll and better handling, but would compromise some handling for a good dailey driver
- From what I read, that's Koni FSD. So far, I agree

Search here and Audi Forums for reviews. I came across many that were very positive. Good luck.

[excelT4]

I agree with whoever thought they were floaty, I've been disappointed with their handling characteristics ever since I bought them. I had the sport suspension and can honestly say that it handled better than the fsd/eibach combo. It wasn't as smooth and didn't look as nice, but there was less lean and turn in seemed a lot quicker. After a couple weeks driving I knew I should have gotten the vogtland coilovers I had been looking, or at least a shock better paired with the characteristics of the springs.

Oh, and let me say that at temperatures below 15 F, it felt like i was driving a pogo stick. Some of the undulating roads around here really made it apparent. Once temperatures got back above freezing and into the 50s it got back to a normal, floaty, vague feel :)

[highlandarx]

Thank you very much for your responses. these are exactly the responses I was looking for.

I test drove the Stasis demo car that had the street sport coilovers and fell in love with the ride. It was perfect for what I wanted. But I couldn't get those because it just wouldn't be practicle. I will NEVER be tracking the car, and I honestly will never adjust the coilovers even if I had that option. I live in the northeast right now (Buffalo, NY), where corrosion is a huge issue. I have been told and also have read on here that this is a major problem for coilovers during the winter time. So, I am looking for the spring/shock combo that would be the closest to the SS coilovers, and it seems to be the koni sport/Eibach pro kit, but I wanted to look into the FSD dampers as well.

[nramsey]

Bottom line, if you want a lower ride while still maintaining very good ride comfort, the FSD/Eibach setup is great. If you're expecting a precise canyon carver or track day hero, you'll want something stiffer.

I love mine for my daily driven car that I might take down a twisty road with some verve a few times a month. Been on the car for a year and have been just what I was looking for.

[highlandarx]

Any response with people who have the KONI sport/Eibach?

[GaryMedia]

Any response with people who have the KONI sport/Eibach?

Close. I have Koni Sports with H&R springs in a '99 A6 Avant. I went through the learning curve of how a stock shock (Blauparts/Bilstein Touring Class) in the front works with both a stock spring and the stiffer/lower H&R spring. I'll do a dissertation on this later, but in my experience, the rebound damping has a huge effect on the perceived 'floatiness' and the confidence you have in the directional stability of the car. If the rebound damping is set too strong in the front, the the car can feel 'jittery' or less luxurious.

The benefits of body roll reduction from lowering the car are always evident even when the shock match or settings are wrong. Rebound damping in the rear has a very strong effect on overall ride quality and car stability with mid-turn bumps. Mild rear rebound is 'cushy for your tush' but the car can more easily get upset in the middle of a turn that has undulations. That lowers confidence.

I average more than 2500 miles per month. My driving environment is a mix of two-lane country roads in NC and VA (variety of textures and crowns), along with lots of Interstate highways (which as you know vary from pristine to almost 3rd world).

[highlandarx]

Oh, and let me say that at temperatures below 15 F, it felt like i was driving a pogo stick. Some of the undulating roads around here really made it apparent. Once temperatures got back above freezing and into the 50s it got back to a normal, floaty, vague feel :)

Does this mean the FSD dampers are not robust in the cold weather? Thats a major concern in the Northeast no?

[A4A4A4]

Does this mean the FSD dampers are not robust in the cold weather? Thats a major concern in the Northeast no?

I've had my Koni FSD/Eibach combo for about a year and have nothing but good things to say about them as far as a daily driver goes. I ran them through winter in Calgary (as low as -20*F temps) and didn't have any problems at all. As long as you're not planning to track the car, I don't think there is a better option out there than this combo.

[9Hooker]

have had eibach pros and both FSDs/yellows. look for my posts, i explained what I thought in detail.

[Dan@EuropaParts]

I've heard nothing but great things about the A4 B6/B7 FSD/Eibach kit from many of our customers who bought and installed it. This kit is one of the best non-coilover suspension options in the market. We have plenty of them in stock, please PM for price.

[highlandarx]

have had eibach pros and both FSDs/yellows. look for my posts, i explained what I thought in detail.

Yeah, I read it the first time around, but as I mentioned before, I wanted to see if anyone else felt the same way, unless there are people in denial. I also wanted to see if anyone else switched over from FSDs to Sport Yellows since your post and if they felt better about it or if it was harsher etc. etc.

I mentioned that i never track the car, nor do i do any auto-x events, or any thing of the sort. I use my car as a daily driver, and tend to drive a little spirited sometimes and the stock suspension is absolutely horrible for that, but is quite luxurious on long highway drives. Nonetheless, any suspension upgrade should result in an improvement in handling and ride quality over stock. Unpredictable and floatiness doesn't sound like an improvement in either. Thus, S4 handling/ride quality for a daily driver would probably be ideal for what I want, and you said the sport yellow/eibach combo will suffice for that so I'm leaning towards that...

You mentioned that you adjusted your KONI sports to 1.5 turns from full soft rear and 1.75 turns from full soft front as these are the settings recommended by Stasis. Are these settings good all year round? I dunno how badly it snows in VA, but it gets really bad in Buffalo, NY. Do you think I will have to change the settings in the winter? I don't need adjustability, and if I have it it will be set once and for all as it is not something that i would necessarily enjoy having to tinker with.

[9Hooker]

My plan was set it and forget it. In order to adjust the shocks, they have to come off the car completely. The rears... this takes less than an hour in total, but the fronts require the springs to come off... That's a PITA.

As an aside, I will be selling my Koni/FSD combo as a set as soon as I get back from Nevada in like 2-3 weeks. I'm looking at considerably wider tires in the near future (like 255/265 size) and the Eibach Pros are too low for that IMO.

I'll be looking for Sport springs from a 2.0 6MT quattro is anyone wants to do a sweet trade.

I'll be keeping my Koni yellows and setting the rebound softer because of the lower spring rate of the OEM sport springs...

[billyhoyle]

I went from stock non-S-line shocks/springs to the Koni FSD/Eibach kit about a month ago, and have no complaints. I should point out that when I got the car, one of the rear shocks was shot, so the ride was a little rough to begin with, but the ride quality with the FSD's is pretty good. As others have pointed out, over large bumps at speed, there is a bit of bounce, but nothing major. And there is waaaay less lean and dive with these vs. stockers (how much of this is due to lowering, I do not know). All in all, I'm satisfied with these on my DD, but keep in mind I'll never be tracking this car.

[frankh]

Sorry to bring the thread back fro the dead. I am in the market for some new shocks. Does anyone know if the Koni FSD will work with stock sport suspension springs? I have a 2005.5 B7 A4 3.2Q with sports package. I would like to just replace the shocks to Koni FSDs and keep the stock sports springs. Are there any issues with that? Are the Koni FSDs tuned to work best with Eibach Pro springs?

Thanks!

[yettavr6]

I know its a completely different car, but our MKV GTI came with Koni FSD + Eibach Prokit on it, and they are way too floaty. The front end bounces like an '89 Lincoln. Handling is very unpredictable and it almost feels dangerous at times . The A4 setup may be completely different, but based on my experience I wouldn't even consider them.

[LifeAsASuffix]

I recently changed out my OEM non-sport suspension for sport springs and FSDs. I do not, and have no intention of tracking the car, it's the family cruiser so it rarely sees even spirited driving. So I can give no input on how they handle outside of normal day to day around town driving. For that they are great, it's comfortable on the highway, and rebounds nicely from open locks on bridges. The B5 caps will not fit over the 50mm FSDs so to get the front wheel gap the same as the rear you will need the coil over sleeves for the front shocks, I bought mine from ECS. So far I'm happy with them.

[Spike00513]

I know its a completely different car, but our MKV GTI came with Koni FSD + Eibach Prokit on it, and they are way too floaty. The front end bounces like an '89 Lincoln. Handling is very unpredictable and it almost feels dangerous at times . The A4 setup may be completely different, but based on my experience I wouldn't even consider them.

Are you sure you didn't cut/shorten the bump-stops, which results in the car bouncing off of them over bumps...Very few people claim this, and almost all of them (if not all of them) are responsible because they did not trim the bump-stops accordingly....

Bump...

[Mister W]

It's a thread that can be usefull for those searching for that set-up, but you just bump a 2012 post from a 2010 thread. Pretty sure the OP found his suspension by now

And to add info for the future seeker of that set-up, the koni yellow are way to stiff in cold sub zero weather imo.

[Seinsmeld13]

My Koni FSD's with Eibach springs failed last week. One spring snapped from rust and a damper was leaking. They are covered by lifetime warranty so I'm taking her in in 4 days. Hopefully it will be covered. I expect to pay for the install and alignment. This setup has been on for about 200,000 km. That's 121,000 miles to my American brothers. Up until the fail they worked beautifully. I recommend them 100%!

[mec]

i dig mine

[67Twisty]

I realize the original posts here date back to an older thread, but did you guys trim bump stops with this set-up? I have the Eibach pro/Koni yellows. I re-used my sport bump stops with no trimming. The combo was great for 2 months and now I'm getting squeaks/bounce on front passenger side going over dips at low speed. I thought maybe it was tie rod related but based on similar posts on other forums, I'm suspecting the bump stops. UCAs are new and the rest of my suspension looks solid.

[Seinsmeld13]

I realize the original posts here date back to an older thread, but did you guys trim bump stops with this set-up? I have the Eibach pro/Koni yellows. I re-used my sport bump stops with no trimming. The combo was great for 2 months and now I'm getting squeaks/bounce on front passenger side going over dips at low speed. I thought maybe it was tie rod related but based on similar posts on other forums, I'm suspecting the bump stops. UCAs are new and the rest of my suspension looks solid.

I can't recall. Sorry.