So how do we feel about Koni Special Active (formerly FSD)?

I've got about 2500 miles on my new GTI and I'm honestly not thrilled with the ride quality.  Tampa roads are generally trash and with the damper tuning and the low profile tires on the 18" wheels the ride feels really busy and nervous.  Some impacts have a bouncing/ringing effect through the whole chassis.

The car doesn't have DCC (adaptive dampers) so I was looking at the Koni Special Active shocks (formerly known as FSD) to use with the stock springs.   They supposedly smooth out small imperfections, but I've read mixed reviews.  I've also read that the FSD's used to have early failure problems which I hope have been fixed with the rebranding...

So I'm wondering what the GRM community thinks about them.  What say ye?

I put a set of the FSDs on my '12 Cooper S and they totally transformed the car.  These are what should have been on them from the factory.  3 years later and they are still amazing.  It went from a stiff, crashy mess, to a composed confident car.  It corners better, rides better by a factor of 10, and your fillings get to remain in your mouth.  I am going to put a set on the BMW soon.

I'd go down the route first of at least having your GTI's alignment checked out.  The roads in southwest Ohio are pretty crappy also (although I am not sure how they compare to those in Tampa), and my completely stock 2011 GTI was really composed on them regardless over the entire 95k miles that I had it.  For reference, my car also had 18" wheels on it (standard).

I'll second racerdave600's opinion. I put FSDs on my 2003 Cooper S years ago. They're still going strong and I love them. 

I test drove a Mustang back to back with stock at the Koni experience at the SEMA show. They work nicely until they get near the limit of their travel, then they blow off and there's a bit of a hard hit. I was able to trigger that a few times on the Las Vegas test loop. If you've got the suspension travel, I can see them working pretty well on a street car. 

I picked up a set for my 986 Boxster after reading a lot of positive things in Porsche forums. If it wasn't going to be primarily a street car I may have went yellows. I won't get around to installing them for another 6 weeks or so, but I will be sure to post my impressions once I do.

These are the shocks that come in a Factory Five Racing kit. Mine happens to be a Daytona Coupe-R.

They are single adjustable, rebound only. Annoying to adjust though, you have to pop the black plastic cap off the red body where the piston enters. Depress and hold a small metal button hidden underneath, then twist the piston. There are 4 positions total, and sort of a "Click" felt in each position (vaguely). Release the button and the piston spins freely like normal. Replace plastic cap, and your coil spring, and reinstall on the car. If you need to change the rebound setting, remove the entire coilover and repeat. 

My understanding is that they are specifically valved for FFR, but all the FFR owners say they run them in the softest setting all the time anyway. They're cheap shocks that came with the kit, so I'm just using them to get a baseline. I will be swapping to double adjustables at some point. Currently setting my Daytona up for autocross, in the very early stages still working on spring rates, but I'm sure I'll learn more about the Koni Reds FSD/SA dampers and their limits soon enough. 

I grabbed a set for our DD Jetta TDI while they were on sale for a little more than what OEM struts/shocks cost. Haven't installed them yet because I've yet to order the mind-boggling amount of hardware needed for the job since VW is infatuated with single-use fasteners. Based on comments here I'm looking forward to the transformation. In reality I know just about anything would be better than the 140k miles OEM parts on it now.

In reply to Logan95 :

Those aren't FSDs, they're 30 series monotubes valved specifically for the FFR and then painted red for whatever reason. They're just standard rebound adjustable dampers, no fancy FSD unfortunately.

In reply to infernosg :

Sometimes you have to read between the lines on what hardware actually NEEDS to be replaced. The strut bolts on my fiesta are officially single use, but they're also giant and there's no way the torque setting they get is yielding them unless they're made out of playdough or something. Mine looked totally fine when I removed them, took torque again just fine, and have been problem free for over a year and probably 10k miles and plenty of others have done the same. Same with my cayman when I dropped the front subframe to swap sway bars. Technically all of the like ten bolts are single use but none of them are actually being yielded. I replaced the two that also mount the front suspension arms just to be safe, but plenty of people have reused all the hardware with absolutely no issues.

Red is Koni's corporate color, they've used it on a lot of shocks for a long time. I think the rears on my classic Mini are red Koni Classics.

I have the actual Pantone color for Koni Red around here if anyone really wants to know :) Also, I've found the closest match for vinyl.

If have SAs with Golf R springs on my Sportwagen.  I'm super happy with them.  I'm running 225/40-18 Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires and was expecting a much more 'brittle' ride.  I do get a little more head toss over bigger imperfections, like some railroad crossings, from  more body motion but I haven't had any complaints from my wife or daughter.

It's just a street car that probably has never seen past 7/10ths.  It's also the only spring/damper package I've used other than stock so YMMV.

I replaced everything that was recommended.

Keith Tanner said:

I test drove a Mustang back to back with stock at the Koni experience at the SEMA show. They work nicely until they get near the limit of their travel, then they blow off and there's a bit of a hard hit. I was able to trigger that a few times on the Las Vegas test loop. If you've got the suspension travel, I can see them working pretty well on a street car. 

Thanks, that's the impression I get.  Seems like most of the complaints I see are from people that used them with lowering springs which they're not designed for...

mfennell said:

If have SAs with Golf R springs on my Sportwagen.  I'm super happy with them.  I'm running 225/40-18 Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires and was expecting a much more 'brittle' ride.  I do get a little more head toss over bigger imperfections, like some railroad crossings, from  more body motion but I haven't had any complaints from my wife or daughter.

It's just a street car that probably has never seen past 7/10ths.  It's also the only spring/damper package I've used other than stock so YMMV.

I replaced everything that was recommended.

Nice!  Love to see modded GSWs!

My wife's 2019 GSW SE is my yardstick here.  If I could get the GTI closer to how her car rides I'd be happy.