[johnung]

Originally Posted by GeorgeF31

I got Koni Special Active (formerly FSD) put on my 2017 330i xDrive F31/wagon/touring this week. I figured I'd share my thoughts to help others as I found a lack of info on the Special Active and FSD in my searching.

I spent 12 years with an E46 M3 Coupe so my "handles well but still road trip worthy" level comes from that. That is NOT to imply that this setup is nearly as taught. Just that I do know what top notch is. Well, stock top notch anyway.

After the reviews I could find and https://www.tirerack.com/suspension/tests/koni_fsd.jsp I decided to take the plunge. At the same time, I replaced my stock run flats with Michelin AS3+ tires. I kept the stock springs because Koni specifically replied to my inquiry that the Special Active were not designed for lowering springs on the xDrive. RWD cars are fine with them.

The result thus far has been what I'd have expected the car to do in the first place. Not rock-hard. Very compliant on rough surfaces but not quite as soft as stock. Close enough that you won't notice. In more "spirited" driving, the car feels much flatter cornering. Gone is the leaning side to side on changes and the overall unbalanced feeling. I feel like it is flatter than the 440i xDrive with adaptive suspension I drove back in August, 2017.

At any rate, for anyone who, like me, wanted a compliant ride with much more adaptive behavior in corners with their xDrive car, I wholeheartedly endorse the Koni Special Active setup.

I will update as time progresses.

Originally Posted by GeorgeF31

I got Koni Special Active (formerly FSD) put on my 2017 330i xDrive F31/wagon/touring this week. I figured I'd share my thoughts to help others as I found a lack of info on the Special Active and FSD in my searching.

I spent 12 years with an E46 M3 Coupe so my "handles well but still road trip worthy" level comes from that. That is NOT to imply that this setup is nearly as taught. Just that I do know what top notch is. Well, stock top notch anyway.

After the reviews I could find and https://www.tirerack.com/suspension/tests/koni_fsd.jsp I decided to take the plunge. At the same time, I replaced my stock run flats with Michelin AS3+ tires. I kept the stock springs because Koni specifically replied to my inquiry that the Special Active were not designed for lowering springs on the xDrive. RWD cars are fine with them.

The result thus far has been what I'd have expected the car to do in the first place. Not rock-hard. Very compliant on rough surfaces but not quite as soft as stock. Close enough that you won't notice. In more "spirited" driving, the car feels much flatter cornering. Gone is the leaning side to side on changes and the overall unbalanced feeling. I feel like it is flatter than the 440i xDrive with adaptive suspension I drove back in August, 2017.

At any rate, for anyone who, like me, wanted a compliant ride with much more adaptive behavior in corners with their xDrive car, I wholeheartedly endorse the Koni Special Active setup.

I will update as time progresses.

Koni's communications aren't very clear on the subject of using lowering springs with Koni Special Active on xdrive cars. In writing they say not to use lower springs in this situation. But in multiple conversations that I had with a top technical guy at KoniNA they apparently are talking about drops of 1.5" or more with say H&R springs. The reason is that the Special Actives for xdrive have a piston travel that would be shortened too much by that drop.

BUT Koni considers springs with shorter drops to be fine with Special Actives on Xdrive. In fact during roughly the Spring of 2018 KoniNA tested Eibach springs with Koni Special Actives and said they work great together. The Eibach spring kit for xdrive (part# has -06 in the middle) drops the front 0.8" and the rear 0.6" (this counters some of the reverse rake that BMW builds into xdrive suspension where front wheel gap is greater than rear). The other set of springs that Koni said would also work are the Dinan springs that lower the car 0.75" all around. Eibachs are about 10% stiffer than stock springs while Dinan are about 30% stiffer than stock. I chose Eibachs for the greater front drop and less stiffness.

Hope this helps someone!

[scostu]

johnung and GeorgeF31

Thanks for the writeups!

I'm hopeful that I get similar results on my F25.

[GeorgeF31]

After re-reading my post, I should qualify that I specifically asked if it mattered for a small drop spring. In my questions, the ACS wagon springs. It may be that they do not think it's a good match for the wagon and xDrive sedans are fine with short drops.

Or I might have got a more conservative answer. In my case, the issue was very clearly with the dampers as my transitions are much improved over the stock struts so I can't say I'm sad I didn't pay for new springs.

[rcaso26]

While the Konis paired with the Eibach Pro Kit springs is a really great setup, the suspension still occasionally bottoms out over large bumps or dips in the road for me. It affects the driving experience because I'm always bracing for impact when I see a dip in the road. I have an xdrive. Has anyone ever heard of someone pairing the Koni SA with OEM rwd springs on an xdrive F30? I'm hoping the extra spring travel would stop the bottoming out. All I'm looking for is a soft compliant ride without the xdrive wheel gap.

[Torquey]

Originally Posted by rcaso26

While the Konis paired with the Eibach Pro Kit springs is a really great setup, the suspension still occasionally bottoms out over large bumps or dips in the road for me. It affects the driving experience because I'm always bracing for impact when I see a dip in the road. I have an xdrive. Has anyone ever heard of someone pairing the Koni SA with OEM rwd springs on an xdrive F30? I'm hoping the extra spring travel would stop the bottoming out. All I'm looking for is a soft compliant ride without the xdrive wheel gap.

What was the Eibach springs part# you had installed... were they the mild drop ones?

[rcaso26]

Originally Posted by Torquey

What was the Eibach springs part# you had installed... were they the mild drop ones?

Yes they were the ones that drop the car .8 up front and .6 in the back. The part number is E10-20-031-04-22.

[davidc13]

In my F31, I am also experiencing the dampers/shocks bottoming out in similar scenarios with the same setup - Koni SA/ Eibach E10-20-031-04-22. Overall, the setup is pretty good for everyday street use with the occasional spirited drive. However, I hope the addition of F8X bump stops will help a bit with a little more damper travel before engaging the bump stop. They should be arriving sometime next week.

Perhaps going with a softer Eibach spring can help - like E10-20-031-14-22 (Front 965kg and rear 1300 kg)? The 04 which is technically for the Xdrive Sedan is rated at 1020kg for the front and the rear at 1310kg.

[rcaso26]

Originally Posted by davidc13

In my F31, I am also experiencing the dampers/shocks bottoming out in similar scenarios with the same setup - Koni SA/ Eibach E10-20-031-04-22. Overall, the setup is pretty good for everyday street use with the occasional spirited drive. However, I hope the addition of F8X bump stops will help a bit with a little more damper travel before engaging the bump stop. They should be arriving sometime next week.

Perhaps going with a softer Eibach spring can help - like E10-20-031-14-22 (Front 965kg and rear 1300 kg)? The 04 which is technically for the Xdrive Sedan is rated at 1020kg for the front and the rear at 1310kg.

Wouldn't a softer spring bottom out more often? I'm hoping to finally get a setup that works without bottoming out.

[johnung]

Originally Posted by rcaso26

Wouldn't a softer spring bottom out more often? I'm hoping to finally get a setup that works without bottoming out.

Which year/model car do you have? I'm surprised to hear about bottoming out. I've had the KoniSA/Eibach setup for two years on my '15 335ix. I kept the stock bump stops as Koni NA advised me to do. My Eibachs are the "-06" model which gave my car the 0.8"/0.6" drop.

I've never experienced any bottoming out. It puzzles me that you guys have.

[rcaso26]

I have a 2015 328i xdrive.

[davidc13]

2017 330ix

[rcaso26]

Just wanted to give an update here. I installed a set of the "dinan" shortened bump stops on my Koni FSD and Eibach Pro Kit setup and it fixed the bottoming out problem. The "dinan" bump stops are nothing but marked up OEM bump stops from older vehicles, so I just ordered the parts on eBay.

The part numbers are:

Front: 31331138814
Rear: 33536762722

Thanks for Farkle for his help on this!

[davidc13]

I just got around installing shortened bump stops - went with the F8x option, front and back. The frequent bottoming out on mild road features has stopped.

To recap - running Eibach E10-20-031-04-22.

I did replace the rears 1st, driving around for a week before installing the fronts, and the change was much more noticeable than the fronts. As several have mentioned, the F3X bump stops were probably already engaging the dampers at static height - hence the frequent bottoming out.

Front F8x: 31336859768
Rear F8x: 31337847662

[328iX]

I never had an issue bottoming out when on E10-20-031-14-22 & Koni SA

The best ride I ever had tbh it was awesome

[MEN54]

Originally Posted by johnung

Koni's communications aren't very clear on the subject of using lowering springs with Koni Special Active on xdrive cars. In writing they say not to use lower springs in this situation. But in multiple conversations that I had with a top technical guy at KoniNA they apparently are talking about drops of 1.5" or more with say H&R springs. The reason is that the Special Actives for xdrive have a piston travel that would be shortened too much by that drop.

BUT Koni considers springs with shorter drops to be fine with Special Actives on Xdrive. In fact during roughly the Spring of 2018 KoniNA tested Eibach springs with Koni Special Actives and said they work great together. The Eibach spring kit for xdrive (part# has -06 in the middle) drops the front 0.8" and the rear 0.6" (this counters some of the reverse rake that BMW builds into xdrive suspension where front wheel gap is greater than rear). The other set of springs that Koni said would also work are the Dinan springs that lower the car 0.75" all around. Eibachs are about 10% stiffer than stock springs while Dinan are about 30% stiffer than stock. I chose Eibachs for the greater front drop and less stiffness.

Hope this helps someone!

so in short, should we use Eibach Pro springs with KA on Xdrive "2017 330xi"? or its a big no no?

[johnung]

Originally Posted by MEN54

so in short, should we use Eibach Pro springs with KA on Xdrive "2017 330xi"? or its a big no no?

Yes, it's fine to use the Eibach springs that Eibach specifies for XDrive with Koni Special Active dampers as long as shorter (than stock) bump stops are used in the installation. Some use the shorter F80 bump stops, or the tops of the stock bump stops can be trimmed with a serrated knife.

[rcaso26]

Originally Posted by MEN54

so in short, should we use Eibach Pro springs with KA on Xdrive "2017 330xi"? or its a big no no?

As an update - I have run the Koni Special Active struts and Eibach Pro Kit springs on my car for over 2 years now. It's a perfect daily driver setup. I have no bottoming out issues with the shorter bump stops.

[MEN54]

Originally Posted by rcaso26

As an update - I have run the Koni Special Active struts and Eibach Pro Kit springs on my car for over 2 years now. It's a perfect daily driver setup. I have no bottoming out issues with the shorter bump stops.

Any pics after the install?

[henkinc]

I have loved the setup now even while retaining the OEM shocks (actually had to replace the fronts with new). Here is my assessment - Dinan offered (but not available for my year) shockware which makes the comfort setting the same as the oem sport setting. Clever these Dinan guys since I just set my car on sport and with the new Dinan springs the car is near perfect. Some spirited driving and never tracking this car. I did replace the bump stops with F80 stops and the fronts stops are basically the same height as the ones taken off the car. The rears are 1/2 in less high. I have experienced no bumps whatsoever.

I do wish I had thought about the koni shocks (Bilstein not available for my car either B4 or the desired B6 damptronic) but all is well now. I did not have the front bump stops shaved down. Finally, I don't care about minor differences in height cosmetically. My post-install pic is attached. (2014 335Xi). With MT, Dinan stage 1, front strut bar and adjusted clutch pedal takeup the car is about perfect for my needs. 57k miles.

Any feedback on plastic parts going over time? The radiator feedback pipe broke at the wrench' shop, which was cheap but scary if this sort of frailty is endemic. What next? (My oil gaskets are attended to except for oil pan gasket.)

Charlie

[rcaso26]

Originally Posted by MEN54

Any pics after the install?

The first picture is a few days after install and the second picture was taken just now. 2015 328i xdrive.

Koni Part #'s: 8745 1378L and 8745 1378R
Eibach Part #: E10-20-031-04-22

[johnung]

Originally Posted by henkinc

I have loved the setup now even while retaining the OEM shocks (actually had to replace the fronts with new). Here is my assessment - Dinan offered (but not available for my year) shockware which makes the comfort setting the same as the oem sport setting. Clever these Dinan guys since I just set my car on sport and with the new Dinan springs the car is near perfect. Some spirited driving and never tracking this car. I did replace the bump stops with F80 stops and the fronts stops are basically the same height as the ones taken off the car. The rears are 1/2 in less high. I have experienced no bumps whatsoever.

I do wish I had thought about the koni shocks (Bilstein not available for my car either B4 or the desired B6 damptronic) but all is well now. I did not have the front bump stops shaved down. Finally, I don't care about minor differences in height cosmetically. My post-install pic is attached. (2014 335Xi). With MT, Dinan stage 1, front strut bar and adjusted clutch pedal takeup the car is about perfect for my needs. 57k miles.

Any feedback on plastic parts going over time? The radiator feedback pipe broke at the wrench' shop, which was cheap but scary if this sort of frailty is endemic. What next? (My oil gaskets are attended to except for oil pan gasket.)

Charlie

If you are talking about the radiator return that runs along the top, that breaks at the plastic end fitting. It's normal. Also the plastic Mickey Mouse shaped coolant fitting breaks but there is an aluminum replacement. Replace hose at same time. I just did a coolant service and replaced both at the same time. See photos.

Also replace the vent hose that is attached to the valve cover. It deteriorates from the inside out. Do the return hose and the vent hose every 2-3 years before they fail.

Hope this helps!

[Mikeyy39]

Are these setups an upgrade over a car equipped with the m sport and track handling packages?