Koni P11 suspension kit

Does anyone have any experience of the Koni suspension kit for the P11 Primera? It consists of 4 x Koni adjustable dampers, 4 x Koni lowering springs, and 4 x Koni bumpstops.

The entire kit seems quite good value at £325 (about $500), and Koni seem to have a good name, but is it worth it?

Or should I just keep the stock dampers and fit a set of lowering springs?

I would go with the Koni over the stock dampers/lowering springs.

You're stock dampers cant handle the higher spring rate of the lowering springs. This usually ends up in your lowering spring doing all the work and basically just beating the hell out of the soft dampers until they are totally useless in a few months. :(

Originally posted by Anthony
Does anyone have any experience of the Koni suspension kit for the P11 Primera? It consists of 4 x Koni adjustable dampers, 4 x Koni lowering springs, and 4 x Koni bumpstops.

The entire kit seems quite good value at £325 (about $500), and Koni seem to have a good name, but is it worth it?

Or should I just keep the stock dampers and fit a set of lowering springs?

Are you kidding?

Konis are arguably the best dampers in the world. I plan to eventually put them on both of my cars.

Stick with the complete Koni set-up. One thing Koni does better than most from what I've seen/heard is arrive at a better combination of bounce/rebound damping. Japanese dampers tend to have too much bounce damping and not enough rebound damping. This is where the Konis shine. By taking some bounce damping out and adding a little rebound damping, they take some jiggliness out of the ride of a stiff suspension.

Thats kinda what I figured.

I know that using stiffer springs on stock dampers isn't the best option and can lead to premature failure of the shocks, hence I was looking into getting a complete kit.

I know Koni do great shocks, but I just wanted to know if anyone has any experience of them on their Primera.

They also do a kit for the P10 which is priced the same at £325

I have Konis on my USA P11 and like them a lot. I used them with stock springs for a while but thought they were overdamped. With coilover springs it actually rides better with the Konis in my experience.
The European P11s have Koni Sport shocks all around which can be pretty stiff if you want or pretty close to a stock suspension.
The main disadvantage of these Konis is that you have to take them off of the car to adjust the dampening and rebound. I think most of the Japanese shocks can be externally adjusted.
As I understand, Konis usually last the life of your car under normal street use but can be rebuilt and/or modified by a suspension shop to different specifications if you like.

...

Where can you get the Konis??? I have been looking everywhere for them...I called Need for Speed in the UK and they are asking $600 for Bilsteins shipped here to the States...Let me know where you guys got your Konis...thank you...

Shox.com has them for one, I think Tire Rack also has them. Truechoice can make custom Konis if you're hardcore.
Just make sure you get the P10/P11 front Konis and the B14 Sentra/Maxima rear Konis. Don't get the Euro rear P11 Konis for a USA P11!
Don
99 G20t

Why not?

hey donsster, how much did you pay for your koni setup?

The P11 rear suspension is different on European models than US models. I know because I tried to use the Euro P11 rear Konis on my USA P11 and they are short, requiring extensive modification.
The US P11 has a 'multi-link beam' rear suspension, what does the European Primera have?
BTW, the P11 Remus muffler also requires modification to fit a US G20.
Don

Tony...

You can get the Koni setup from Velocity Resources in Florida. They do mail order. The number is on their website www.velocityresources.com

Ask for Jason Duty...

thanks guys for the info..I will look into it...

I have tried a P11 with complete KONI set up, but it dosn't perform as weel as the adjustable INTRAX kit I have have on my car

You can adjust it from 40mm to 150mm which should be enough..:p

It is a little hard/aggressive, but VERY easy to control.......

INTRAX really is worth the try...... You won't be disappointed

How would you compare the Koni setup to stock though?

And how much is the Intrax kit compared to the Koni?

To be honest, 40mm drop is going to be enough for me. The roads where I live are awful in places (hence I don't want a rock hard setup) and speed humps are all too common (hence I can't drop it much) :uhoh:

The KONI setup is a little softer than the INTRAX you don't have the same feeling with the car as if you are using the INTRAX, but there is NO DOUBT that the KONI setup also is very good. I would go so fare as to say, that the KONI might be better for "commen" use than the INTRAX which is more for racing.

The front of the car is a little harder with INTRAX than with the KONI setup which makes it easyer for the rear of the car to keep up if you have to make some fast shifting turns.......

For both setups it is very important also to get new (heeling stabilizers) and to loosen all bushings when the car stands horizontal on the wheels (NOT hanging) and then of course tighten them again.:frog:

I dont now the price because a Danish Nissan gure thought that it was an interesting experiment to lower it 110mm so he paid some of it. My price was 5000 DKr.

We also have a LOT of speed humps in Denmark, but it really isn't so big a problem. It is MUCH worse when you have to go out on the road from af parking lot etc.

just to add my opinion........

Konis are a good shock, but the problem is the springs they come with, they arent konis cos koni dont make springs, but they are of a matched quality. Why not try the shocks with something like Eibachs or H&R springs, maybe a better combination.

Sooner or later, i think i'll have to change my standard shocks, as ive read many times now, people seem to have problems with lowering springs on standard shock setup. Its not the first time ive done this combo, and previously never had any problems, but now i know about it, i'll look out for it.

I might go for some Bilstein shocks or maybe Boge gas shocks. Are gas shocks good?????? dont really know what the difference would be.
Can someone enlighten me please?

just get the TEINs guys...do it right and do it once

The reason I was looking into Koni's and not Tein's was that I do not want to pay $1100 dollars plus import tax (probably another $250) for some uprated shocks and lowering springs.

I was just going to put on lowering springs without changing the shocks, but I figured that sooner rather than later the standard dampers would die on me and I'd have to change them anyway. Therefore I might as well put some uprated dampers on at the same time as the springs.

Put it this way - is the Tein setup worth paying over DOUBLE the price for? For the sort of use it will get on my car, the answer in my mind is no.

Oh, and one last thing - since the Tein kit fits the US P11, would it even fit a Euro P11 with its different rear suspension?

the TEINs is made for the JDM Primera which is the same as the UK Primera. Although the rear suspension of the US G20 is a little different, the TEINs fits absolutely perfect...i dont understand how the Konis wont fit correctly in the back...the shocks are the same even if the rear suspension is a bit different...same chasis.
For those of you that never heard of TEIN...they are one of the BEST suspension company in Japan, IMO, better than Konis. Besides..you drive a japanese car, get japanese product for it!!!

Well thats cleared up the fitment issue then.... there was me thinking that the US P11s had wildly different rear suspension to the Euro/JDM P11s.

Still, would you say that the TEIN setup is worth paying two or three times the price of the Koni setup?

$1100 for correct springs designed for the shocks that features 16way adjustibilty with 3 heights is worth it in my opinion.

OK - thanks for the info :)

Luke- How much can you get the Tein setup to the UK for??

The USA G20 is made in Japan, but the European Primera is not. Hence, there are differences between the two. . So, the Japanese TEIN fits US cars great! If you check the dimensions on the rear Primera Koni# 8040-1225, it is shorter than the US spec rear Koni #8040-1220. Or maybe I got those numbers backwards.
The Koni's main advantage is that they are rebuildable to any spec you want. Konis are used in F1 and many other racing applications and even comes OEM on the Lamborghini Diablo. But of course they couldn't possibly be as good as a Japanese product right??

Let me try again.....

INTRAX fully adjustable, used by the BTCC primeras and you can be lucky to find it for the same price as KONI.........

But I do not now if they will fit the US Primera :o

I don't think they do...probably just the fronts...

Also, who has tried using the Maxima rear suspen on a US P11??? Is this for reals?? and if so, what year maxima??

Tony..

Koni Front Primera P11 struts part # 8040-1127S
Koni Rear 95-98 Maxima struts part # 8040-1242S


Call Jason Duty... www.velocityrecources.com

Boogie,
are the Koni 8040-1242S Sport valved? The 8040-1220s are Koni Special (orange colour). In that case the 1242s (yellows) are the ones to get!

Don

Is that Don M.? I was wondering about that too. You gave me the 1220 PN but I changed it to the 1242 PN that Brian gave. This will be changed on the next G20.net update so I just want to make sure I put the right number down.

Which would be the better one?

The ones I had were Koni sports.. aka Koni "yellows"

Yes, I'm Don M. Jason, I think you did the right thing with your website. I guess my sources didn't know about the sport (yellow) valved 1242S.
Don

But of course they couldn't possibly be as good as a Japanese product right??
Don, in my opinion, japanese products performs better over european parts. few tuners in Europe can whip up a car that can match the tuners in japan for a street/track car. I would LOVE to see the Cyber EVO VI go up against a AC Schnizter M3 on a race track. the M3 will get beaten to pulp...and i dont care if it has a M5 V8 in.

the TEIN and JIC are all customizeable, meaning you can revalve and rebuild the shocks to any specific settings you want. bigger pistons, valves, rods, gas charged, liquid charged....whatever, as long as you are willing to wait and pay, u can have an ultimate set up.

OK, cool then. I don't see TEIN advertise that their NA series shocks are rebuildable, nor have I seen any US companies that say they can.
I guess it's pretty hard to completely objectively evaluate suspensions, but I sort of think the TEIN NA/GC comparo is apples to oranges because the TEIN NA/NR does not have linear coilover type springs like the TEIN HA/HR setup.
What's best is of course dependent on what you really want !

Hi, are you talking about adjustable height shocks?
i´ve been looking all over for such shocks for my primera, when i checked the koni website thy didn´t have the adjustable rideheight for primera at least, anyone who knows if they got them anyway or any other make thet have adjustable shocks for primera?

BjornF

Hello it depends whether your car is European or American/Australian!

But if it is European you can get both Koni and INTRAX adjustable, but try to look at page one in this thread! :o)

Originally posted by G22DET
Don, in my opinion, japanese products performs better over european parts. few tuners in Europe can whip up a car that can match the tuners in japan for a street/track car.

:hehehe::hehehe::hehehe::hehehe::hehehe::hehehe::h ehehe::hehehe:

I think it's pretty hard to beat the German tuners. Their cars are not as extreme as the Japanese tuner cars, but they tend to be much more civilized as daily transportation. Granted I've never driven a Japanese or German tuner car (yet - next time in Dallas I will have the opportunity to drive an AMG CLK55 :D ), but this is from reading and observation through the years.

Originally posted by G22DET
the TEIN and JIC are all customizeable, meaning you can revalve and rebuild the shocks to any specific settings you want. bigger pistons, valves, rods, gas charged, liquid charged....whatever, as long as you are willing to wait and pay, u can have an ultimate set up.

Same is true for Koni. Bilstein as well.

IMHO, Koni makes a much better damper. I think the Japanese dampers have too much bounce damping and not enough rebound damping.

i´ll try my local intrax-dealer....

unfortunatly he dosen´t seem to care much so we´ll see how it goes.

FWIW,
I just recently installed the Koni Reds and Ground Controls on my Sentra and I am very happy with the set-up.

Jon

Don, in my opinion, japanese products performs better over european parts. few tuners in Europe can whip up a car that can match the tuners in japan for a street/track car. I would LOVE to see the Cyber EVO VI go up against a AC Schnizter M3 on a race track. the M3 will get beaten to pulp...and i dont care if it has a M5 V8 in.

Are you so sure about this? German cars are built for autobahn speed, japanese cars are built for easy day usage. You are comparing apples to oranges! Give me a M3 powered by M5 engine, i will whip whatever EVO asses I can find...

A friend of mine looking to buy a M3 or C32 or possible CL55 too. After test driven these cars, for all out contest of speed, no japanese cars can match German cars in top speed stability.

My 2cents worth...

Give me a M3 powered by M5 engine, i will whip whatever EVO asses I can find...

dunno about that :p :p

well at least not if the Evo was done up
mind you too....The Japanese Aftermarket Done Up Evos (complete cars) are usually built for racing purposes....500-600hp on tap easy ....sometimes more....
plus they have all sorts of electronic devices which is far beyond our knowledge...

Heard of a Japanese Performance Car Video called "Best Motoring"?if you get a chance do see it.... you will be amazed by their technology :) :) :)

hahahahaha...

I came from the land of all Japanese super cars landed... yes, I have seen the motoring a lot of times already. I got a collection of them. But those drivers are very pro-japanese products...

But my point is, don't dismiss German cars just because Japanese tuners did something wilder on their cars. If Honda is proven that good, it would have won the F1 more than BMW in this season. Result speak for itself. Beside, Toyota is coming in next season, so we shall see how Japanese engineering go against German's.