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H&R + Koni Yellow

30K views 74 replies 19 participants last post by  Doogle510 
#1 ·
Is anyone on H&R springs and Koni yellow struts?
I'm thinking of getting the koni yellows in the link below and wanted to ask other peoples' opinions of them before buying the set and spending $625

KONI NA | List
 
#6 ·
I ended up getting really lucky. I am a member of the Third Gen Mazda Club on Facebook and another member who lives near me contacted me about my spring install. He ended up installing my springs(Corksport, which he than removed and installed my H&R's), Koni Yellow Struts and Shocks, JBR Tru Torsion RSB, JBR SRI). He has done other things for me too. I would suggest also buying new strut mounts and bearing and such. I bought all that stuff OEM.
 
#7 ·
ey lisa. i'm planning to go the same route you did with H&R and Koni yellows. will likely do the springs first as the Koni's are pretty expensive, but will go get them later on. are there more affordable alternatives to Koni's?

could you tell me why I would need to buy new strut mounts and others? also, is the RSB absolutely necessary or could i do without it? Thanks.
 
#9 ·
I posted this question in the Eibach vs H&R thread, but maybe it's better posted here.

I pulled the trigger on the H&R springs, but torn between Koni Yellows or Bilstein B8. I'm leaning towards the Yellows as they are highly praised, but also hear great things about Bilstein.

Which would best compliment the H&R?
 
#10 ·
My money is on Koni in this case. The B8 are significantly more expensive and aren`t adjustable. Of course the reality is that no one is going to ever adjust their shocks and struts once they`re on, but the Yellows at least give the option. With H&R on my car, it`ll have a set of yellows on it whenever they end up needing to be replaced.
 
#13 ·
I play with the adjustments on the struts all the time. The rears I had adjusted once. Too much trouble cuz you have to remove them. No matter what settings, still a rough/jarring/jolting ride over bumps.
 
#14 ·
I installed my H&R springs and Koni Yellows and love them. Let them settle then started adjusting and happy where its at now. Stiffer for sure, but comfortable and handles the way I like it to.

Yeah bumps can be a hand full, but since its lowered you really want to take those bumps and dips slow.

That price in the OP link is a pretty high. On Tire Rack they have them for far less. thats where I happened to get mine.
 
#15 ·
I have had mine installed since June, prior to that in April I had the Corksports. While the H&R's are MUCH better ride than the Corksport with the same settinsg, for me, it is just not a comfortable ride. It is jarring/jolting and too much bounce. If the roads are smooth, than the ride is very nice, otherwise it's not very appealing. The handling and looks are superb, but I have now sacrificed ride quality for looks. Next time around I think I will go with Eibach and larger wheels to lessen the gap. I don't want coilovers.
 
#16 ·
FWIW, the Koni yellow compression damping is almost the exact same curve as a stock shock absorber, so bumps of any size will feel the same. What`s different is the rebound, so less "bobbing"....important if you`re encountering multiple consecutive road surface inconsistencies. To handle bigger bumps a vehicle needs the exact opposite of what we`re doing. It needs a tall spring with very little compression damping and medium level rebound damping. The konis work well for making a car handle by making the side of the car on the outside of the curve not rise as quickly, keeping it more level through turns but still allowing it to lean a little bit, letting the rest of the suspension do it`s job. So in essence, the Koni shocks will improve the handling, but not the "ride".
 
#18 ·
@ leela222: If you're after a better ride, along with improved handling, the KONI FSD's are really the way to go. The ride is better than stock & the handling is also improved. I imagine the KONI Yellows may handle even better, but the trade-off for reduced ride quality on a daily driver isn't worth it, at least not to me.
 
#20 ·
The FSD uses a pretty cool technique. Compression damping is exactly the same as the yellow (and stock, and damn near every other bolt on replacement) but the rebound damp is designed to loosen over stutter type encounters and stiffen over single event type encounters. Don`t know if they`re using an inertia valve (like Fox) or if it`s a two way check ball type system (or something else all together) but it seems pretty hip.

The yellows have been a standard for lowered cars for a long time. I`ve read on various forums that the FSD are not well suited for lowered vehicles, but the Koni site makes no mention of it. Personally, I just need them to work and have a reasonable life expectancy under spirited conditions. The 3rd gen 3 is no racecar, never will be. It might beat a stock veloster in a stoplight grand prix, but it`s no muscle car. Anything I do to it is purely for my own enjoyment and to be entirely honest, I doubt there is any discernible difference in daily driver performance between any of the shocks mentioned thus far. It`s not like one of them will carry you through your local "Dead Man`s Curve" at 50mph while another will glide you around it at 80. Big bumps are going to suck no matter what, shitty roads are, too. When we lowered our cars we signed off on making it worse anyway LOL.
 
#21 ·
I doubt there is any discernible difference in daily driver performance between any of the shocks mentioned thus far.

And you would be wrong. The KONI FSD's are a definite improvement to my daily driver over the stock shocks, both in handling & in ride comfort. I attribute this to their variable dampening design that adjusts itself automatically to the road conditions & challenges you face. The KONI Yellows & stock shocks do not.
 
#28 ·
I originally went with the spring/shock combo as a few people here and in another group said that it's better than entry level coilovers. Well i didn't like the ride. I have read and talked with MANY people who have the BC's. They raved about them. Smooth ride, amazing, etc. the list goes on. Well for me they are not. I understand every one feels things differently but when you have ALOT of people saying only good things about the BC's, i figured it would be a huge improvement over what I had. Sadly, i was mistaken.
 
#29 ·
Well, you know what they say. Follow the herd and eventually you end up in the meat locker. :smile2:

When it comes to a big purchase like a new suspension system, it is really important to do some homework. I looked around for quite a while before settling on the H&R/FSD combo. I did look at coilovers, and checked out BC. What I saw I did not like so I passed. No need to drop well over $1000 on higher end coilovers either. Coil overs don't really offer a big advantage over stock type suspension, especially on these cars. Yeah you can adjust the ride height, but who does that on a regular basis? There is no real performance difference if you use decent parts - ie good springs with appropriate rates and dampers that are fairly well matched. The good thing about coilovers is if they are of decent design the springs will be standard sizes, meaning you can source replacement springs with different rates fairly cheap.
In the big picture BCs are realistically low end entry level stuff made in China. Bor-Chuann Industries produces a lot of ricer lowering kits that you see on Ebay, like Megan Racing, Chaonai, Stance, FortuneAuto and most of the other multicolor coilovers that sell for $600 or so. Mostly all the same with slightly different valving or shimming, but all made by BC. Its the ones with the adjustable length shock body that you need to watch out for. These adjustable length dual perch shocks are a cheap way to make a single shock that fits everything. They just don't work as well as a shock that is designed for a particular application. In any event, when you lower a car like this you are going to lose some driveability no matter what. Adjustable body BCs just make it worse.
 
#34 ·
I recently installed Koni Yellows/H&R's on my 2017 Mazda 3 2.5L Touring Hatchback. I hear a popping sound when going over dips in the road. It drives fine over bumps. The spring is seated properly. Installed the spring insulator sleeve on the top of spring, cut bump stop in half, greased the top hat, installed adjustable end links (got measurements with sway bar in the neutral position) and I still can't get rid of the popping noise. Is there anything I'm missing or need to do? The noise is coming from the front and occasionally from the rear. HELP!
 
#41 ·
Actually H&R don't make springs for the 3rd gen. I confirmed that with customer support and if you look on H&R website there is no part number for the 2014 up.
 
#42 ·
When calling the US department of H&R, they said the same thing. However these springs that we're all using on our 3rd gens seem to only be manufactured in Europe and they are different retailers. When mentioning what the US company told me to the EU rep via email, he said we can no longer do business anymore since I told him i spoke to the US department (which was strange).

Comparing

H&R Special Springs, LP.

with

H&R - DAS FAHRWERK
 
#59 ·
Hey @arathol,

How are the FSDs holding up after almost a year of driving? And how many miles have you put on them?

As I mentioned last year in this thread, I'm rocking yellows/H&R. A year later, and I just can't deal with the harsh ride over bumps. Some of the major roads here in NJ have yet to be redone, rt 80 and rt 20 in particular, and they are the absolute worst. Had some family members in the back seat and they all hate it lol.

I've even went so far as to drill small holes in the bump stops to allow them to compress (as mentioned in this thread), since I had them cut from the bottom and lost the tapered nose part. The holes i drilled might be too small, so I'm going to make them a little bigger to see if that helps. All 4 bump stops were cut at the middle.

And I just realized that since it's winter, I should inflate the tires 2-3 psi higher.

As a last resort, I will have to change my spring/shock combo. I'm very tempted to go Eibach/FSDs. But if I can get away with just swapping out one, then I'd rather do that. Which would yield a better result - switching out the H&R for Eibach's, or getting rid of the yellows for FSDs?
 
#60 ·
So far so good. No complaints after about 6500 miles.
Yellows are not known for their ride quality. They are more of a sport shock, best on flat smooth roads such as a track. Even on the lowest settings they can be rough.
I'd lose the Yellows and get something more driver friendly.
 
#63 ·
Do you think the yellows would be less painful on stock oem springs? I still kinda want them for autocross, just not sure I want them that badly lol. Id almost sooner save up for that FRS/BRZ as we have 2 brand new race tracks opening up in the next 2-3 years and I want to have a boosted FRS/BRZ with full spec'd out suspension/brakes ready to rock once they open. I have aspirations for a street legal car track record for as long as I can hold it lol.
 
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