Hello everyone: I am in the process of purchasing new tires and shocks for my "85" 308 GTSi. In doing so, I found out the price of Koni shocks for the 308 have dramatically increased over the past couple of weeks. The pricing at the begining of 2007 was around $145 ea. for fronts & $170 ea. for rears, plus installation. The best price from Koni now is $510 a pair for both front and rear shocks. (front 82-1982SP6, rear 82-1983SP6). I called Koni and spoke with the sales manager at the Hebron, KY. location on 10/7/07. The gentleman said he found out about the cost increase several weeks ago and had been in contact with his distributor in Holland. The explanation of the increase touched on several areas, but the main reason for the dramatic increase was the high replacement cost of new tooling used to make this model shock, which is believed to be around $80,000. The new MSRP probably was arrived by projecting the five year sales of this model shock and amortizing this cost over that time frame. Having your old Koni shocks rebuilt by Koni looks better now than ever before. The cost is around $160 each. (approx. $110 labor and $50 for parts). The lead time at the Hebron, KY. location is about four weeks. Good luck to all on getting your best deal. Mike
What is the skinny on rebuilt units? I've heard that they are not that great even when done by Koni? Who has experience with rebuilts vs. new?
Tire Rack still has 308 Konis listed as $140 front/$164 rear. They're special order, so the price may suddenly change. Worth a try tho. See: http://www.tirerack.com/suspension/Susptabl.jsp?autoMake=Ferrari&autoModel=308&autoYear=1985&autoModClar=&brand=all
Robbie: I talked with Lee at Koni in Hebron, KY. He can explain to you about the quality of the rebuit and warranty. His phone is 859-586-4100 ext. 316 Mike
Call them. their web site pricing is wrong. I tried http://proamtdw.com/page15eao4.htm from an earlier thread. They had the wrong price too, but have updated it to $237.40 Try GT Car parts.
I had a set of Konis rebuilt by Truechoice and I can say for certain that I would not recommend having Konis rebuilt. Perhaps Koni themselves can do a good job, but Truechoice did not. Buy new shocks. QA1 aftermarkets are cheaper, better, and adjustable. Just get a set of Verell's paperweights and bushings. It's very easy and you will have adjustable ride height, damping, and you can pick your spring strength too. There are lots of threads on it here. Birdman
I have no koni factory experiance, but on my porsche race cars with Koni sports yellows, I have had truesports do them to a very high result, they can make them mild to wild. I have also had my bilsteens rebuilt @ 2 factory facilities east & west coast & have had them better than new, Also you can have your shocks dynoed & they can tell you what the starting point was & where you want them to be, the tolorances are pretty wide & we tested quite a bit ofthen @ diffrent tracks. I think you will be very satisfied.
We found the same problem a couple of weeks ago when we ordered some for stock. For cost effectiveness (before the price increase) we recommended customers buy new shocks rather than have us rebuild them (unless they are not available or they wanted to maintain the original manufacture date code on them). Rebuilding is now the better option. Be cautious of buying new old stock too as their is a nylon droop limiter that deteriorates over time in the oil and jams up the valving. There is nothing wrong with a correctly rebuilt Koni shock. You just need to select a rebuilder who really cares about the end result - A correctly rebuilt shock for your car. We supply and service Koni, Ohlins, Penske, Moton, Bilstein, JRZ, KW, QA1's & Afco and I would rebuild the Koni shocks ahead of installing any others on my car. Bruce
Ted Rutlands had a 'package deal' going for all four corners - new Konis, new shock bushings, and new boots for $1,000.
Ditto. Also explore Chris Alston's Varishocks.... I got rid of my heavy, yestertech Konis and springs when I first bought my 308. Glad I did. You can save major weight in your suspension by modernizing! And gain adjustability... Greg