Adjusting 328 Koni's

Has anyone changed the damper settings on their 328. Any recommendations? My car seems a bit too soft for my taste. I wonder if I should try adjusting the Koni's before upgrading the springs. Has anyone changed the ride height? Is there a European setting or some aftermarket springs? I thought of having the stock koni's fitted as coil-overs? Any thoughts on the subject would be appreciated. This is not a track car.

Best Regards,
Christopher

 

Do a search for lowering, there is quite a bit of info including springs. What's right for you depends on how you drive the car. A lot of people are happy with the stock springs and shocks, I think they belong in a dumperster (or on ebay).

To adjust the shocks, you need to remove them, take off the spring, fully compress the shock, then turn the shaft. After it's adjuster, it will still be a 15 year old shock, you might want to think about new ones or rebuilding. Good luck.

 

Are you sure they need to be completely removed to be adjusted? I haven't looked that closely at my just-bought 328, but on my Porsches I could detach just the bottom of the shock and rotate it to adjust.

FYI...I did some searching the past few days, and apparently only rear shocks are available new from Koni. I can't find anyone who has new ones for the front. Koni will rebuild them but it's a four-week turnaround.

 

Even if you adjust the stock Konis, all you're adjusting is the rebound rate. The jounce rate is not affected, and of course, the spring rate is still the same.

 

http://www.ferrarichat.com/discus/messages/256120/199158.html (Lowering)
http://www.ferrarichat.com/discus/messages/256120/180746.html (Adjusting)
http://www.ferrarichat.com/discus/messages/256120/261228.html (Spring rates, etc.)
http://www.ferrarichat.com/discus/messages/256120/280066.html
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http://www.ferrarichat.com/discus/messages/256120/186884.html

 

You will have to remove the shockabsorbers and take the road springs off the shocker in order to adjust the shocks.

Unfortunately the only correct way to adjust them is by putting them on a special machine and measuring the rebound and compression values, and then adjusting them so that they are all the same. If there is a Koni agent near you they shold have the machine, just in case you need the figures they are :-

Rebound Compression

Front 143 - 171 55 - 65
Rear 143 - 171 55 - 65

For normal road use (but allowing for some hard use!) I would set the rebound to around 155, the compression will always remain the same.

If you end up fitting new Konis (which due to the age of the car you well may do) they do recommend that they are re-adjusted after 500 miles of road use, as they will settle in and the factory settings will change.

MW