Blowing shocks

[Ralf]

I built my car with BSI's suspension set-up, which includes their camber plates with a 1" spacer welded on top of the strut tower. The shock bodies have been shortened and have Koni 8611-1257 shocks in them. When installed in the car, the springs already have tension on them, which means the shock piston can't extend any more. When the car is on the ground, I estimate that the piston is only compressed into the body about 1" or less. I only got about 5 races out of the first set and 4 for this last set. My thinking is that they are getting damaged from topping out instead of bottoming out.
Anybody had the same problem and found a solution? Right now I'm thinking of using a non-shortened strut body and placing a spacer inside of the strut body to get the same length but allowing the shock piston to be closer to the middle of the shock. Doing this, I would get about 2 1/2" before it tops out and 3" before it bottoms out.
Lowering the car even more is probably not an option, since the lower control arms are already pointing up.
What do you think?

[dj10]

Contact Bildon.

[Ralf]

Looking for a solution other then a complete new set-up. I like the idea of adjustability, but not the price of the KW race shocks that Bildon sells.

[Dano77]

Can you remove the 1 inch weled spacer and effectivly lower the entire deal 1 inch down the tube. Is there enough threads on the spring perch?

Probably too diffacult to cut the spacer out,but cut off wheels are cheaper than struts.

[Nodrog]

You need a longer strut assembly in there. The strut housing that you currently have it too short for the ride height you're at. If you can find a set of stock non-sealed struts for the VW, use a set of 8611-1259RACE inserts instead (which are longer and directly fit in the housing) and the setup will work fine.

Using the 1257 with a spacer in a stock housing will also work if the inserts that you have are all right. Just be sure that there is a hole in the center bottom of the spacer so you have access to the compression adjuster.

Gordon

[T Broring]

Do Koni's need to run an external bump stop?

[Matt93SE]

Do Koni's need to run an external bump stop?

All of the red/yellow Konis I've run need one. don't know about the 8611s, but I would think they do.

[Ralf]

Gordon,
I already have new 1257's on hand, so will have to go with those. What do you feel is a safe compressed distance so that they don't "top" out? Looking at the strut bodies threads, I could cut off about 1/4" to 3/8" without having to machine more threads.