None of my shocks appear to be leaking... wondering if they need refurbishing but not 100 percent. If this car was like any other car I've worked on I'd just buy new shocks and be done with it. I figure 30-year-old shocks probably need replacing. Anyway at the very least I have to replace the bushings. Would you guys recommend they be refurbed or are they good to go as long as they aren't leaking? And where would you recommend I send them for refurb?
I replaced my Koni's with new ones about 10 years ago. Wasted my money. The old ones must last forever. I did have a bad eye shock bushing.
A couple of years ago, I had my factory Konis tested at the Koni Service Center (https://www.performanceshock.com/) at Sonoma raceway using their shock dynamometer. All four shocks were still within factory spec and I just put them back on the car.
The shocks on my 89 328 GTS were replaced with all new OEM, at just under 100,000 miles, and I have to say the gain that my car had was more noticed when I replaced the motor mounts. So yes, the factory shocks are incredible to say the least. I kept my originals just in case. Ferr Parts sourced all the new units at somewhat of a fair price ..lol G
Good day, Although your Konis may not be leaking it is very possible that the internal seals have broken down over time plugging up the various internal control valves, etc. My konis were original on my 1975 car, but appeared a bit "stiff"... once I opened them up, I understood why (see pics). All of the valve passageways were blocked and in one case I had to use small drill bits to remove the material. After my rebuild, they worked as they should. The long and short of it, you cannot judge the condition of your Konis by looking at them... Cheers, Sam Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I was just reading about this in an old issue of Forza. They described the exact problem area you have here with these shocks.
Before you think about doing anything, why are you thinking of doing anything? Is the car bottoming out under spirited driving? Is it just plain too soft as you go over bumps and dips? If all you do is Sunday drives, you probably won’t notice a difference. If you’re looking for a little more control, what are the dampening settings at? There are five possible positions, what are they set at now? Do you know? Unfortunately you have to pull the shocks, compress the springs to clear the shocks and then depress each one to zero to see. When I did that I found that they were all at different settings- from the factory!
My shocks suffered from the deterioration of the seals at the top of the shock to the point that the rubber crumbs clogged passageways throughout the shock. Not surprising as the "seals" were nothing more than rubber washers compressed to squeeze them against the main shaft coming out of the top of the shock. The same parts and technology used for packing seals in old school faucet stems. Koni latter (don't know the date) joined the 20th century and redesigned the seal holder to accept a std. oil seal, I modified my seal holder to do the same 20 years ago. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I was going to post about my 79 308 GT4 Koni’s, but Brian A. beat me to it. verbatim. Would not change a single word in his post!
I have to replace every bushing on the suspension (including the shocks even if I don't have them refurbed) so since I have to do all of that anyway I'm probably going to do the shocks especially after looking at the pictures above. Like I wrote in the original post, if these weren't so damn expensive I wouldn't have even posted I would have just gotten new shocks. But Ferrari... so. I would second what Dr Tommy wrote. Who has the best price for stock Konis for an '82 ... or who has had their shocks refurbished and who do you recommend to do that.
Performance Shock Inc. (a factory certified Koni Service Center)(https://www.performanceshock.com/) at Sonoma raceway will rebuild shocks are return them to new condition. They warned me that the cost of rebuilding them is the same as buying new ones.
There is also a second factory certified Koni Service Center here in a suburb of Columbus, should that be closer to you. AFAIK, the one in Sonoma and the second one in Columbus are the only USA centers left today. And I can also confirm the cost of the rebuild roughly equaling the cost of new. That's why I bought a pair of new fronts last summer, with my old OEM Koni pair now sitting on my shelf. I'm saving them should some future owner of my car ever want to rebuild them in the name of "factory authenticity" or whatnot.
Good day All, As mentioned, it is typically more cost effective to buy new shocks than to have them rebuilt by the authorized Koni centres...well, here in North America that is. In Europe the rebuild cost by authorized centres is a lot less expensive. That said, some f-car model Koni shocks are NLA and so the only option is to rebuild. In my case, my shocks were NLA and had to be rebuilt. I would have preferred to send them out, but I am in Canada and so there is no way I would risk having my now NLA shocks damaged or lost during transport (to/from). Having insurance on them would not help if there are simply none to buy... Having reviewed the past fchat member rebuilds and with great help from @Peter, I was able to rebuild mine quite easily even with fabricating the two tools needed (the top "nut" and a shaft clamp). I think my total cost to rebuild was around $100 (a total of 4 shocks) in parts and materials (seals, paint, authentic decals, power coat springs, etc). Although not a big deal to some, but the new shocks use paint that is more red than orange like they used in the past along with a different Koni decal (mine use the older "winged" decal that is truly a decal and not a sticker). Cheers, Sam Image Unavailable, Please Login
Good day Tommy, What was interesting is that the top seal between the housing and the top nut was not compatible with the shock oil! When I disassembled everything I forgot to quickly wipe down one of the top seals, as it got shock oil on it. The next day that seal swelled up that it was completely unusable! I thought that was really odd, as the seal should have been shock oil compatible, but clearly it was not. Although not entirely scientific, it appears that over time the seals breakdown and lose their compatibility with shock oil. I suspect the newer and new shocks have better material technology and so they potentially will not have this issue. Still, it was an eye opener for sure. As I said... for those that think the shocks are fine by looking at them, do as you see fit... but I have evidence that clearly says that is not the case. Cheers, Sam
Just FYI, I contacted "Performance Shock Inc" and was quoted 300 to START. Basically if it was as simple as replacing the seal or whatever I suppose it would be 300 but it's additional money to have them tested, which seems very very odd to me. I have to pay you to rebuild it and then if it doesn't work when I receive it back oh well because you didn't bother to test it? Anyway what I really wanted was a "new" shock. To completely refurb one shock it's over 600 dollars from them. So suffice to say I'll be ordering new ones when the time comes... since those are "only" $315 for new shocks... at least for now. It's truly amazing to me how much a shock cost for a Ferrari when the same type of shock from Koni costs about 100 bucks each for my GT500. The Ferrari tax is in full swing on everything you can't get that isn't specific to this car. Can't even imagine what it must be like for guys driving F40s or some other million-dollar Ferrari.
I think I paid about $200ea. from Tire Rack. But that was 10-15 years ago. No price surprises me anymore, I am sometimes shocked when something seems reasonable.
Good day, I am not trying to defend Koni, but your $100 comparison to those used on your GT500 may or may not be valid. Having rebuilt my Konis I can tell you that the internal design is not trivial and there is a lot going on... and not your average shock design. Secondly, in many cases Koni has a very specific part for a Ferrari model (size, damping rate, spring perches, etc) and that Ferraris are made in limited production numbers, that Koni would need to amortize the cost of the product (initial R&D, manufacturing, stocking items, etc) over this relatively small quantity. The result would be a higher per unit cost.. which is no different to any other product manufacturer. Adding to these costs is the fact that Ferrari Koni's last a very long time and so the number of sales per car would be somewhat small. I would say be thankful that Koni still offers shocks for various Ferrari's and/or has rebuild centres that can support their shocks... as it would be a ton of work and to find another shock and/or make a replacement that would fit and work like the OEM Konis. In fact have you found any other shock manufacturer that could be used on these older Ferrari's. If so, please post up. Cheers, Sam
Sam, I think Koni's and their service are very good. However, there are a number of other drop-in replacements for these shocks like Spax and QA1. The non-Koni versions are height adjustable as well. Otherwise, I like the Koni's but need more adjustability.
Good day Ron, My post was in response to another poster that provided a price comparison to Koni parts used on Ferraris and those used on their GT500 and/or other cars... which I felt was unfair when one considers the items I presented. In some cases there could be a replacement to the Konis used on Ferraris, but these replacements may or may not be: less expensive, look oem, of have the same direct fitment. Remember, I am speaking in general terms, and not specific to the Konis used on 308s... On a side note, in some cases one is forced to use a non Koni solution, as some NLA Konis are not officially rebuildable by Koni themselves or their authorized rebuild centres (e.g. the 365/400 series Koni load levellers). For these load leveller needs, the usual solution is to use a QA1 setup and custom make appropriate Spring perches. With that said, I can certainly understand your and perhaps other's needs/wants to have a different setup that the Koni's provide. However, these applications have a completely different focus and so cost, OEM looking, etc are not really factors and so I get that. It would be interesting to see what the drop in replacements look like and also their cost? Are they that much cheaper? Cheers, Sam
You're right Sam what was I thinking... Ferrari tax is just in my mind Wait one second... I seem to remember a thread that has a cross-ref for a bunch of Fiat parts that don't come in the horsey box? Don't get me wrong. I'm glad they still make the shocks too. But I would be surprised (and maybe wrong) if the reason for the cost was really the complicated internals of the shock. Looking at the valving above it looks no different to a lot of other shocks out there. Hell Magneride shocks are in the neighborhood of these Konis and those are pretty darn sophisticated setups. Like I said I could be wrong (I often am LOL) but from my past experience with buying parts for this car (the radiator I just bought for thousands of dollars comes to mind) I kinda think it's probably because... Ferrari.
