Koni FSD Struts/Shocks - Just Released

It's expensive labor, I had a retired mechanic helped me on this, I saved the labor cost. It's 3 hours of work just on swapping the struts/shocks. I had a quote from Toyota dealer, they wants 8 hours of labor!!

Yours is 2012+ plug-in the rear shocks had an access door to get to the shock upper nut and support, my 2011 DOESN'T have it so I have to either remove ALL of the trims or cut a hole into the trim pieces, I cut the hole and buy the plastic cover from dealer!!!

The rear shocks are the one going bye bye quickly than the front struts. it will last at least 100k miles. I changed mine at 120k+ miles and it's shot.

 

Yea that is the same price I paid. $500 for just the front struts and they wanted $250 more for the rear shocks. I just did the front. They were quoting 3 hours labor for the rear shocks which is nonsense. If you have the newer gen 3 with the shock access panels in the rear trunk then it should only take 30-60 min.
The front takes longer than most other cars because they have to remove the wiper assembly just to get to the strut mounts.

 

My shop pretty much goes by the Honda or Toyota book, even though they are independent. They said book on these are 2 hours per wheel. Maybe I'll see what my dealer quotes.

But will I really notice an unmistakable improvement in comfort for city driving?

 

Hi Guys. I have a question regarding to the strut mounts.
Is there a specific way to place the mounts pointing to certain way like facing outside, inside or the firewall? Or it doesn't matter at all? I'm very confused and stuck at this step.

 

I marked the bolt / chassis face to the front of the car before I remove the strut mount. If not I guess just put it back see how it goes.

 

My current setup is Koni FSD + TRD Springs + TRD Rear Sway Bar. I'd like to add my own personal experience/review with the Koni FSD after 3 weeks with 3k miles. I assume the springs have been settled and the shocks should be broken-in.
I'll keep it short
Handling - Less understeer(from heavy to moderate). Body roll reduced significantly. Braking distanced shorten. Around 25% increase in rebound & compression compared to Factory Struts and Shocks. If you don't know what you're driving, you will never think it's a Prius. You'll be thinking it's some kind of SPORTY(not sport) FWD but a heavy one, so it understeer a lot, and the factory alignment spec doesn't help. It's ok, after all it's still a Prius.

Ride - Harsh! lol My dedicated track car 08 Civic Mugen SI w/ AMR Coilover w/ Swift Springs 7K Front and 10K rear + 23mm Rear Sway Bar + NT01 255/40/17 rides better than my Prius. The problem is they don't absorb bumps well. It drives like with all tires are bumped up to 40+ PSI. Very very harsh. I think the problem is they don't mate well with the TRD Springs as Koni makes the FSD to factory spec spring even though they claim 1-1.5" drop springs should be fine.

Other Thought - Maybe those guys with 15" will have a better luck with these shocks. For 17" guys, maybe a 50series tires will ease the pain a little bit so my next tires will be 205/50/17. Also, I'd like to assume that since the shocks are always being compressed by the TRD springs(1.25" drop?), they trigger themselves to run at a higher rebound and(/or) compression rates

Conclusion - I think in terms of both ride comfort and performance, the Koni FSD should work really well with stock factory springs + TRD rear sway bar, but then you'll have to live with that 10 finger wheel gap. I've never run with a cut springs so I cannot comment on that. Maybe someone can chip in, but I definitely wanna give it a try.

 

What is your cold tire pressure setting, 33F 32R? The 17" rim and tires will effect the ride comfort even with 1 PSI over the spec limit, I had the stock springs with TRD rear sway bar, a Cusco front strut tower bar. My ride is soft over bumps, a little floating effect on highway speed.

I have a co-worker he has the 2012 plugin with TRD lowering spring with stock struts and shock, TRD plus rims and rear sway bar, the ride is much better than mine current setup, may be the plug in has different struts ans shocks since the PIP is heavier.

Just give the FSD a few thousand miles to break-in, it will be more acceptable ride comfort and handling.

 

Can anyone tell me why these Koni FSD 2100-4145 Won't fit a 2013 Prius v, is it possible to easily modify what doesn't fit ?

Rob43

 

Just some follow up after approximately 8K miles. The ride is in short one word HARSH.
Every little bumps on the roads, you'll definitely feel it. On smooth surface and freeway, the ride is awsome!
My COLD tire pressure is 34F 32R. I've lowered them to 31F & 30R just to see how the ride is. I freaking LOVE it! The softer sidewall/tires really absorb the bumps and the ride remain firm and sporty. It's really comfortable even in San Francisco where construction ans shitty roads are everywhere. I wish I could keep this setting, but the Prius is so hard on tires to behind with. Running lower tire pressure will kill the front tires even faster.

 

Try 32F and 30R, I believed that the TRD lower spring gave that extra stiffness which original tuned for the stock struts/shocks. The Koni FSD is optimized for the stock springs, that is why I didn't go for the TRD springs, I had that on my list for modding, I exchanged a few emails direct with KONI USA, they do not recommend lower spring for the FSD, I am glad it turned out great with it. I am feel quite a lot of feedback also on the uneven pavement roadway but it's much better compare with the old stock struts/shocks. I had mine tires pressure set at 33F &32.5 in the rear this gave me a little better overall mpg but still have the comfortable damping factor, btw how many miles on the stock shocks and struts before you upgrade to FSD? Have you redo the alignment? I did it twice at the dealership but it still pull to the right, they blame it on the tires, my brother is a Honda master tech and told me to swab tires from left to right and it fixed the pulling issue, I think the old struts/shocks caused the tires uneven wear, it's over 2500+ miles so far no more pulling to the right anymore.

 

I changed stock shocks and struts at around 90k. Actually, they needed to be replaced way before, I guess around 60k because I noticed my front tires were losing their meat like crazy after 60k. I had Lifetime Alignment at Firestone, and I always get alignment and wheel rotation every 6k, but it didn't help. Now I'm at 106k, my tires wear looks nice and even. My Prius has been pulling to the right slightly ever since the I hit a curb with my rear right wheel. The toe on that wheel is toe in 2+ degree, but the tire wear on both rear wheels has been nice and even. The excessive inner tire wear on the front I mentioned before was due to the front shocks weren't doing their job during braking. I'll swap the tires someday when I have time. Thanks for the tip. If I could do this all over again. I'd rather go with Tein Street Advance. For almost same amount of money, I'd get the adjustabilities for both ride comfort and height on Tein. While I loved my Koni Yellow setup on my track car, I really regret this FSD purchase on my Prius.

I think Koni tuned the FSD for a prius with stock springs and 15" wheel. With 17" wheels, you'll always feel like your tires are overinflated

 

Anyone with a stock 15" car now running these? How is ride/handling in that application?

 

I would like to know this also. My car has about 110k miles on it now. The ride on the highway is very jittery over 70mph, even on the smoothest of roads. I had all my tires road force balanced, they are all between 9-12 on road force which is excellent. The jitter seems more pronounced on small road imperfections which leads me to believe it's the struts. So i'm looking to replace the struts.

I was never satisfied with the stock strut ride quality, i'm looking for more of a luxury car feel to my ride, are these koni's going to give me that?

Also, where's the cheapest place to buy these? Amazon has them for $739.

 

Ready to pull the trigger, who are you guys buying from ? Do we have a PriusChat preferred vendor we'd support or just anywhere cheap ?

 

I bought mine from Tirerack.com, it was onsale during KONI promtion.

Koni FSD Damper Set

 

I'd suggest Tein Super Street over these.

 

Yes, well, if dropping the Prius was the question that might be the answer, but the konis keep the stock ride height, they are a drop in replacement for the oem keyboard struts, the problem is finding a better than oem Spring, the trd springs drop the Prius, but work with the konis.

 

if anyone need this Koni FSD might get it cheaper than tire rack.

 

Check your rear toe reading ! If one side is toe is off a lot more that the other side when the torsion bar twists over slighest bump the toe is affected too causing a extreme change in thrust angle back and forth, ( back end jittery toe is changing over bumps ) fix : since rear torsion bar has no adjustments you have to get a reading to determine the toe angle difference left to right, you have to make hour own shims out of very thin sheet metal placing it on the front or back of the wheel bearing bolts , then rechecking reading , multiples trips to the shop unless you find a shop that has done this b4! There also those plastic ring shims hah is there any plastic parts on suspension system? I would never use it!

 

i am looking for a set, for my 2015 prius two do you know if it will work with 2014 model ? cause koni website doesn't have anything for the 2015 pruis.