I am firm believer in Bilstine's... The front ones on my gti were purchased in 1984 by Donald Gregory (Paul & Eric's) dad, They were on a Scirocco I ended up with that he bought new in 80... They were groupe 1s, I disassembled them this winter, cleaned them up & re-greased them, there are very hard to compress, but when you do they come shooting back! Still have gas! The thing is the side loads, these have 3-4 inches of bushing in side on a 2 inch shaft, they don't get side loads on the seal.... All i have ever heard about Konies is " they blew up"...