Bilstein vs Koni

My disco needs new shocks.. badly. All that weight has finally beaten the originals into submission.

Most places only sell Bilstein shocks for the Discovery, but I can get adjustable Konis also. I am not looking to go rock climbing or even particularly rough trailing (everything around here is dirt and soft sand) but I do daily my disco and I need it for towing my boat.

I am leaning towards the Konis as I can adjust them harder when towing, but I am trying to figure out if it is worth it.

FYI my disco does not have the self-leveling rear airsprings, mine is coilsprung all the way around

Bilstein HD 4600s are great in the rear when towing, the fronts won't matter as much when towing, the rears will greatly effect sway.

Why do you need to adjust rebound in a towing vehicle? Is that something people do?

Wait, you have a Discovery and you've got money to perform a maintenance upgrade instead of just having to fix broken stuff? Well done!

Purely personal preference and experience here, but I'll never buy Koni's. To my mind every Koni equipped vehicle I've drive uses the old trick of 'make it feel sporty by having way way too much rebound damping' which actually gives a E36 M3ty ride. It might work somewhere with billiard table smooth roads, but on real world roads and special stages (Michigan's best roads) they just ride like E36 M3. For any road application I’ll take Bilsteins.

the only Konis I've owned worked OK failed sooner than expected. ymmv.

Adrian_Thompson wrote: Purely personal preference and experience here, but I'll never buy Koni's. To my mind every Koni equipped vehicle I've drive uses the old trick of 'make it feel sporty by having way way too much rebound damping' which actually gives a E36 M3ty ride. It might work somewhere with billiard table smooth roads, but on real world roads and special stages (Michigan's best roads) they just ride like E36 M3. For any road application I’ll take Bilsteins.

I have the exact opposite opinion. To me, every Bilstein car I have ever driven is much to harsh and nervous at high speed. The compression dampening creates this. It's used to make a car feel better than it actually is. Having more rebound and less compression allows a bit more roll, but controls the movement better, and allows for less nervousness at speed by reducing the shock through the body. We used to valve most of our race cars this way, and it was one of the secrets we used to win with. Our cars always rode the strips better than any other car in the field, and were some of the most forgiving cars as well.

+1 vote for Billies.

Because of this thread, I just looked up and found that Ohlins does automotive dampers, including for road use.

Given the explosion that happened in my head when I experienced Ohlins forks on a motorcycle, I'm totally going that route on the next vehicle I really care about.

With profound apologies for the threadjack, they don't appear to have a Disco fitment, nor I suppose would that probably be a good application of $Ohlins. It just blew my mind that I could get Miata/Mini/BMW shocks from them...

Ransom wrote: Because of this thread, I just looked up and found that Ohlins does automotive dampers, including for road use. Given the explosion that happened in my head when I experienced Ohlins forks on a motorcycle, I'm totally going that route on the next vehicle I really care about. With profound apologies for the threadjack, they don't appear to have a Disco fitment, nor I suppose would that probably be a good application of $Ohlins. It just blew my mind that I could get Miata/Mini/BMW shocks from them...

I have Ohlins coilovers on my S13. Bought them used off eBay for 1/3 the price as new. I absolutely love them. They are single adjustable, but they turned my car in to the most neutral handling ride I've ever driven. Eventually want to get them rebuilt/re-valved, but leaving well enough alone for now.

As for the Koni vs. Bilstein- Bilstein all the way.

These are going a Land-Rover and the the OP wants to adjust the dampers for towing. What is the impact of extra rebound damping when you are pulling a trailer? I am curious.

I have Bilstein HDs (the yellow ones, I forget if thats the 4600 or not) on the Sequoia, which is my wife's DD and my tow rig. I've been extremely happy with the ride quality, handling, and overall feel compared to the OEM ones (which were not blown, though they bushings were pretty shot).

I run both. For me, more street is bilstein, more track is koni. But that is just my preference. Kina like blonde vs redhead.

I wanted to adjust harder in the rear for towing due to the pendulum effect of a long trailer. Even with only a few hundred pounds on the tongue, it is a lot of mass that wants to push and pull the rear of my disco up and down.

I had Bilsteins on my 318ti.. while I liked them a lot, I wanted more opinions as what to do