AudiWorld Forums - bilstein vs koni...need advice and reasons on what to get

...different designs and different attributes, but still both are pretty much a linear rate damper on a graph.

The Bilstein will give an added sense of spring rate to the car given the high gas pressure, which is good as long as the seals don't fail (search for H&R on that one, which use Bilstein).

The Koni has an adjustable rebound valve, so you get some fine tuning out of it. The twin tube setup and low pressure (i.e. ambient) will result in less harsh of a ride, but won't give you the added "spring rate" of the high pressure Bilstein.

Now onto some things i *wouldn't* beleive. Bilstein will say their dampers are "self-adjusting" so you don't NOT buy them for their lack of adjustability. This is IMO pure marketing, and by nature, most all true linear rate dampers are self-adjusting. Also, if Bilstein really believed a damper didn't *need* to be adjustable, they wouldn't have made one (see PSS9 or H&R PCS).

So don't fall into that hole, if you want adjustable rebound, by the Koni. If you dont know or don't care, ignore that whole thing.

Bilstein will say that their high gas pressure helps with cavitation, which it does. Of course, at the level they are running (pretty high), they had to make an advanced seal to hold it in. So I'm not saying the bilstein will fail, just keep it in mind. So why doesn't Koni run high gas pressure to help with cavitation? They don't need to. There are much more advanced synthetic oils available that help with the cavitation issues, so high pressures are not required to avoid cavitation.

The Bilstein (I believe) comes with multiple grooves so you can move the perch up/down a bit. That's a nice feature. I don't think you get that with the KONI. If that matters.

Both are a good replacement damper, that have many people using them and can comment on actual ride quality. I would find cars and drive them, that's the best way to see what works for you.