Emil St-Hilaire

I have a set of 4 AP-1,OEM with les than 5000 kms.on them.

engifineer

Well the Racelands were junk when they came out of the box new... so yeah :P

I have run Koni yellows on this car. They work great and would not recommend against them for stock spring rates. I had mine revalved for 800/600, and while I did ok on them autocrossing, the smaller piston diameter was not good for such high rates and they never were great with that setup, so I bought a pair of used TCKlines (Which are Koni 8252 double adjustables) which are a TON better. But those are not made any longer and you would have to find some used like I did. But, for stock rates the yellows are not bad at all for the price.

But as mentioned, it depends most on what you plan to do with the car.

jyeung528

do you have a quick summary of why you wouldn't run a twin tube on this car?

B serious

The factory shocks are monotubes. They're short stroke. The springs are soft. The motion ratios are relatively high. So...you'll probably notice the difference in the shock's low speed control. And you won't have as "crisp" of a feeling. And you won't have as much feedback.

If a car already comes with monotubes...a typical twin tube is a downgrade, right?

I'm not saying to buy a trash monotube in place of a really nice twin tube...but Koni yellows (as good as they are) are not going to feel the same as a nice monotube shock.

Slowcrash_101

What's wrong with Koni? You mean because of the fixed piston stroke? I agree it isn't ideal if you want to lower the car, but as an OEM replacement at stock ride height, there is no downside. Damping is pretty good IMO.

engifineer

I agree with this. I made them work pretty well with super stiff springs on a lowered car, well outside of their optimal setup (which I discussed with Lee at Koni). They were not optimal for my use (Autox) which is why I switched (they came with the car when I bought it which is why I was running them to start with). But on the street, virtually no one would have complained about how they performed. On stock spring rates with the stock valving in the yellows they would be perfectly fine. I am going to say that 90% of drivers on here could not tell the difference in overall performance of those vs a comparable quality monotube design driving around on the street. The price is not bad and the quality is pretty good on them, so I would not advise against them for typical street use at all.

B serious

You guys really can't tell the difference between Konis and a good monotube setup during street driving?

Shit, if you honestly can't tell...then, I guess go for it. My recommendation to keep monotubes on the car was based on the assumption that the user cares about the differences in drivability - speaking about street use.

I'm not saying Konis are bad. They're actually pretty damn good.

But I can't believe yall couldn't tell a difference from how the stock Showa behaves or how a good monotube behaves in comparison to Konis.

BUT...then again...I am a very sensitive man....

Slowcrash_101

Stock Showas are pretty good definitely have a bit more high speed damping on compression, but I feel are a bit under damped on rebound. The Konis seem to have the opposite behavior. Softer on compression and slightly over damped on rebound, letting the springs do most of the work.

There is a difference and like I said, at near or stock ride heights it's very subtle. You'd probably notice if you're used to one setup and jumped in a car with a different setup, but I'd wager that's true in any case. Doesn't mean it's bad, just different.

Besides, with these cars it's Ohlins or bust.

I feel that is the only coil over that is an actual upgrade over stock(for the price), and not just a replacement part.

KWs as good as they are, aren't good for our cars so I agree a twin tube isn't ideal. it's certainly not an upgrade.

engifineer

If you think that most people driving this car on the street can tell that difference, then you are severly over estimating the average owner lol. I never said I could not tell, but I also spend a lot of time behind the wheel in a competitive environment.

Billman250

Just checked with Honda for 4 new damper units (no springs, top hats, etc) for a 2003.

Still available, 1090 my cost. Amazing how S2000 parts (likely all Honda) keep going up.