WTF Koni? Are they that busy.

[Vetruck]

I recently canceled my order of Koni shocks for the car becasue this fly by night company (ClutchFlywheel.com- A subsidiary of THMotorsports) has lied to me three times saying the order is shipped from the manufacturer. Turns out it "will be shipped", and not "is shipping" since May 8th. I canceled the order out of principle becasue I do not like being stroked along. Tireracks website says the Koni's are backordered until Aug- so they are going to bet my business since they are up front with order info.(the other site said 99% of items in stock and you do not find out until after you buy that they are FOS)

But anyways- What the heck is going on with Koni? Are they that busy? I have never seen a reputable company tak so long to make a non custom product that has multiple applications. Unbelievable they are going to be 3 months to get. I am not settling with anything else though, so I will just have to put the car on hold until then.

[John Jones Jr.]

What Koni's did you order?

[Vetruck]

Monotube's. The 26 series.... in other words the light weight ones. They are also backordered on the twintube rears so even that would be a wait (I do not want those though.)

[John Jones Jr.]

They're available on eBay.de put I suppose shipping and whatever taxes would make them too expensive.

http://www.ebay.de/itm/KONI-Stosdampfer-Gelb-VA-HA-Mercedes-Benz-C-Klasse-W202-Lim-T-Modelle-in-/140735607529?pt=DE_Autoteile&hash=item20c47ef2e9

[Vetruck]

Those are twintubes, and they also probably dropshipped directly from Koni like the others. Tirerack actually has the front 8041's in stock.

Ps- I'm sitting at the detail shop as we speak. I wanted to at least get the paint professionally clayed and waxed since I have to wait on the suspension

[John Jones Jr.]

No, they're mono's.

Vorderachse: 2 Stück 26-1575SPORT
Hinterachse: 2 Stück 26-1576SPORT

[Vetruck]

No, they're mono's.

Vorderachse: 2 Stück 26-1575SPORT
Hinterachse: 2 Stück 26-1576SPORT

I'm on my crappy phone right now so I could only see the pic and not the entire info. Ill look againwhen I get home

[Vetruck]

403 euros equal 527 aprox US dollars without shipping included yet from overseas.. I can get them from Tirerack for 360.00 if I wait another 2 months max. For that price I would start looking at custom inverted shocks for $175 each. If I drove this car full time I would definately do that, but I keep telling myself its for the little lady so I do not need to build another race car.

[Denlasoul]

Try Pure Motorsports. I bought mine from them many years ago. Might have them in stock.

[Vetruck]

My fronts are finally on there way from Tirerack, the rears will be estimated around the 2nd week of next month. Fine though because my rears are doing ok, but my fronts are shot and are needed ASAP.

I also have a spring compressor tool coming this week so I can finally get started on yanking the springs and taking some bump measurements on the car through travel. When I do this I will document it all on a spread sheet so we can make a sticky of this pertinent info. It will help others know just how far off things go in toe and camber when the car is lowered.

I keep pondering the eibach kit and came this close to ordering it, but I have not experience with this car performance build wise and keep telling myself to throw the Koni;s on there first and see how much it firms the ride first before I mess with coil spring decissions. I keep telling myself the C36 fronts trimed and stock rears trims with a larger rear only swaybar- we'll see if my guess will be right or wrong as to what I think I will settle on- if not, then springs are cheap to change until I get it right to how I want the car to handle.

If anyone is curious why I want larger rate fronts and softer rears/ stock front bar and larger rear bar? It is because I want to induce sqaut in the rear of the car around a corner. The heavier C36 front springs will keep the front of my little C220 4 cylinder very stable on ride height- while the rear will absorb for straightline comfort. Instead of going a larger swaybar in front that locks up the nose of the car and tosses the occupants side to side when one or the other wheel hits a bump, the stiffer springs will reduce roll and dive and still retain a bit more independance for later grip and braking. On the rear, I want the outside rear wheel when in corner set to pull down the inside rear also to induce body squat and "set" the rear into a corner. THe larger rear bar will help loosen the car that would be otherwise tight with the heavier proportioned front springs. But keeping the nose a little higher and the rear squated in set, the roll center levels out and keeps the car tight off the corners so less one tire fire when both rears are dynamically loaded. This is why I am really concerned about bumping the car through extensive rear travel becuase I want to see what changes are going on in Toe, camber, and also rear caster when the power is applied so its not walking and jiggling on me and staying very smooth. Any time you have a small powerplant car, it is critical to be able to carry speed with predictable tire footprints. Any booble or jerk of the car will stumble and scrub speed.

Side note: Anyone ever see an extended front lower balljoint for these cars? Would be a close fit with stock 15" wheels, but would be no problem with larger 18's.