Koni FSD Struts/Shocks - Just Released

with love <3,
Starbrand

 

What the heck is that?

 

Yup, I hear you. Koni FSD aren't cheap to begin with. My OEM shocks aren't dead yet, but my wife always has car sick riding in my prius, where she's totally fine riding in my track day car Mugen Civic Si with coilover 7K F& 10K R + sway bar. Customers have also left me low ratings with comments regarding to the ride quality. Have done tons of goolging for the past 24hrs. Bimmer guys and Mazda guys all comment noticeable improvement in terms of ride quality and handling. I just placed my order from my civic forum vendor which I have been using for the last 8yrs. $555shipped. Special Order. Ship in 2-3 weeks. I'll report back next month.

 

Let us know. I'll be changing my stock struts soon.

 

UPS dropped this giant box at my front porch this afternoon when I head home for lunch, this box is weight about 40 lbs. YES! it finally arrived from tirerack.com, this will be my next weekend project. I will keep you guys updated about the ride quality.

 

Well...I got up early @ 7am today and start the KONI struts upgrade project, before my buddy retired mechanic friends come over I did the tear down on the wiper assembly / trays to gain access to the shock tower, the whole project took about 2-3 hours from start to finished.

The rear shocks are simple and installed no issue, the top bolt access made simpler because I "cut" open a giant square opening to revealed the shock top bolt 3 weeks ago and finished with the factory cover from the 2012+ model year, I reused the top shocks cover/bumper and it fit perfectly.

The front struts also straight forward except the 2 big nuts/bolts are tight but we managed to loosing it with long extension jack handle , the fit and finished on the KONI strut are perfect, all bolts opening are perfectly line up, the most time consuming is compressing the strut spring, that 2 big bolts/nuts torque at 175 ft-lbs are insanely hard. I replaced all of the rubber parts in the front struts assembly, the old pieces are getting harden and brittle.

Now...the ride experience,
The 1st impression is ALL of the irritating tire noise are gone, the steering wheel no more vibration from the imperfection road surface, it soak up lots small road bumps and cracked road surface, the ride on city driving is MUCH more comfortable and nimble, the freeway driving even more stable and lots of sporty feel, it went over bumps nice and easy, I don't feel anymore butt bounding up and down anymore.

Cornering...it's super nice and flat! the body lean is GONE and drive is more effortless than before, the car no wiggle left and right anymore.

I will keep updating in the next 2-3 weeks of driving experience after the struts/shocks settle in more. The alignment is fine but I will have it align after 1k+ miles.

Overall I am pretty happy that I get the KONI over KYB or OEM, it's expensive compare to KYB and OEM. I hope these will last at least 100K+ miles.

The stock front struts no leak, but it's weak after 4 years and 120K+ miles, the rear shocks are shots (KYB)...once pushed down it didn't come back up quick and easy, it took a while to fully extend back to normal.

Here are some installed pictures...

 

Thanks for taking the plunge and being the first to review these! Did you by your car new or used?

 

brand new 7 miles on the odometer back in 2011, the date I picked up was March 11th, the Japan tsunami disaster!! the rear shocks are on mine are "done", I am glad I change it, the front still o.k but weak. The Prius now ride even better than day one I got it, these FSD struts/shocks works better than the OEM mono tube.

I had the 17" wheels and tires and it's work as advertised tuned for low profile tires.

 

On your wiper removal thing, if someone has the long ratchet box wrenches they can just remove the 3 bolts without removing the wiper assy.

 

I do have a ratchet box wrenches but it isn't long enough, to me...taking apart the wiper assembly is a piece of cake since I did it 2 times, installed and removing the strut tower brace, 15 minutes at most, we don't want to take a chance losing the strut tower nuts.

It's not bad at all to disassemble the wiper assembly, it may be hard the 1st time but easy with power tool.

 

Ordered. Plan to install soon at a well-rated shop I found on tirerack.com. Will update once I get them put in.

 

Had a shop install just the front struts today, and also replaced the strut mounts. My car has 13,500 miles on it. Rear shocks are still OEM/KYB.
My first impression is it is definitely quieter over some road sections like expansion joints. And the first moderate speed turn I made I noticed it handled much better. The body lean around corners is much less that it was before.
As far as ride quality and absorbing small bumps and cracks, I am not sure yet. Very subjective. I will post more opinions after I have driven it some more. Some forums say it may take a short while to break in.

 

glad to hear you also get the Koni FSD, the rear shocks actually help smooth out the ride, you might want to swap out the KYB.

 

solrunner, when you replace the rear Koni FSD, observe see if a tiny/light knocking sound on the upper shock support, it drove me crazy since the day I did the upgrade, during normal driving I didn't hear any knocking, but when I drive in garage (ICE if off) I can clearly hear a "thud, thud" sound from my rear right shock. I even replace the shock dust cover/bumper stop still the same situation. When you install compare the FSD vs KYB there is a different between the 2. Thanks in advance.

 

If this is an exact fit to the 2013 gen III Prius, I would probably go with this setup.

KONI struts and shocks are on the top of my list when mine goes out.

 

It is exact fit kit, the ride is definitely better than the crappy stock struts/shocks, I took the Prius to the SF bay area the crazy winding highway 1 by the Pacifica coastal drive, it's more fun to drive now compare to the stock, very controllable and stable even at speed over the posted limit.

 

Hi all,
I have a 2013 prius II since new with the stock 15'' rims and tires. I changed over to stock shocks with TRD springs and TRD Rear sway bar (based on good reviews from this forum) at about 15k miles in late 2014. I hated how the stock shocks were too soft for the springs and it would bounce a lot under big gaps or pot holes and the ride was definately not smooth. At 20k miles in late june 2015. I gave in and added the Koni FSD shocks (ordered from tire rack and waited a month on backorder) on all four corners and I have to say highway rides are much smoother and any minor bumps in city roads are also less loud and annoying. For those with stock shocks still, this is definately a worth while upgrade. I've driven about 2000 miles since the install and love this setup way more than the stock shocks with TRD Springs and TRD RSB.

 

Congrat on the new FSD setup, I also had the FSD installed and drove about 2200 miles+, are you still on the stock 15" rims and tires? where are you in SF bay area?

 

A trusted shop (but not always the cheapest) quoted $700 for changing out all 4 shocks. Still haven't gotten over the sticker shock, so haven't gotten other estimates. Does that seem about right? I'm tempted, but I would want to be pretty sure there would be an immediately noticeable improvement in city driving (mainly interested in comfort and stability) before laying out $600 for parts and $700 for labor.