Community Forums

RonaldNC · 08-07-2013, 12:54 PM

Bill,

Agreed. These products play leap frog... I originally had Koni's on my coach and they were horrible. I put the then new model of Bilsteins (2010) on my coach and they were much, much better. Not too long after that, Koni came out with a new model that (I'm sure) is much better.

IMHO, It seems to me that you can only have a valid comparison on these kind of components at a specific time, using the latest comparable model. After another few months... everything changes again.

Ron

nodine · 08-07-2013, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by William Willard

I don`t know how one would determine which shock does the better job -- The only way, is to install Bilsteins, do a road test, remove them, & install Konis, & do the same test, on the same coach -- I know of no one that`s done that -- Our coach has a tag, so it has a better ride than the 2 axle rigs to start with, so the Bilsteins does the job for me -- I did get rid of the Goodyear tires & replaced them with Michelins -- That helped with road noise, & probably a better ride -- I have no arguement with whatever anyone decides to use -- Kinda like Chevy, Ford -- Your choice -- Bill Willard

I can't say which shock will perform better because as Bill points out, I have not tried and compared them and only went from the horrible Monroe shocks to the Koni FSD. What I do know is that if you just purchase the Bilsteins from any old place you will not get the Bilsteins that have been valved specifically for the different Monaco chassis. Source Engineering has worked with Bilstein to valve the shocks for the Monaco chassis and if I were going to purchase Bilsteins I would call Scott at Source and talk to him before I made the purchase.

Bob

nodine · 08-07-2013, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonaldNC

Bill,

Agreed. These products play leap frog... I originally had Koni's on my coach and they were horrible. I put the then new model of Bilsteins (2010) on my coach and they were much, much better. Not too long after that, Koni came out with a new model that (I'm sure) is much better.

IMHO, It seems to me that you can only have a valid comparison on these kind of components at a specific time, using the latest comparable model. After another few months... everything changes again.

Ron

The older Koni shocks were either manually adjusted or fixed. If you did not have the correct shock for the application they would be terrible. The new Koni FSD automatically adjusts to the severity of the bump.

Bob

Dennis_K · 08-07-2013, 06:49 PM

Love my Koni FSD's!

At a seminar, the guys at Hendersons Lineup said that the small bump damping on the Koni's had less damping on the compression and the Bilsteins had less on the extension. This makes the Koni's feel softer on the small bumps and Bilsteins feel harsher. Both should do well to control the big woops.

I have had both but on different coaches, so it's not a fair comparison, but in my opinion the Bilsteins were much more harsh which is why I went with the Koni's this time.

RonaldNC · 08-08-2013, 05:29 AM

I'm currently looking at the Ride Enhancement Kit from Source Engineering. It looks like a pretty good set-up and uses some "custom tuned" Bilsteins. I'm just trying to figure out if it's worth the investment.

Ron

jim.smithjr · 08-08-2013, 10:19 AM

I have the Source REK and I'm sure it's worth the investment!

Dutch Star Don · 08-08-2013, 11:41 AM

Bill.....I don't have any hard data on the shocks and I wasn't bashing the Bilsteins. My opinion came from reading a LOT of posts on this forum and other forums. The pattern I saw was that the gassers liked the Bilsteins better than the Konis and the DP's liked the Konis over the Bilsteins.

I've never asked Source Engineering because it wasn't something I needed to know, but I suspect that when they tuned the Bilsteins for the Monaco coaches, they were tuned for their ride enhancement kit. I say this because Monaco Mama installed the ride enhancement kit and then her husband tested several custom tuned Bilstein shocks provided by Source.

Maybe we need to hear it from the horses mouth (Source Engineering), but it would seem to me that Source would have to have two different shock numbers, one for the REK coach and one for a stock coach since the setups would be different.

crah · 08-08-2013, 01:44 PM

This is a very interesting thread. I know there has been so much discussion on Konis and Bilsteins and some people confuse the koni fsd with the koni adjustable and regular bilsteins compared to the bilstein comfort valved. I know I sure was confused and didnt know the difference at the beginning. I do have a direct comparison for the koni adjustable shocks changed to the bilstein comfort valved shocks. This would be for the front 4 shocks only. I havent logged enough miles to make a fare comparison yet. Based on initial comparison by hand, the koni adjustable shock has little to no resistance on the compression side and the rebound is very firm on the highest setting. The Bilstein comfort shock requires a decent amount of weight to compress and you cant test the rebound as the gas charge makes it go make to a neautral position by itself. I will follow up my assessment after the labor day weekend. Originally I thought my koni adjustable shock was wearing out, but bench testing shows they are fine. I know most of the great reviews on the konis are the fsd which I do not have any comparison. I do know the koni adjustable shocks carry the same hefty price tag as the fsd's.