E34 Koni settings?

[e345spd]

I am about to install Koni's all around, and I was wondering what others have theirs set to in the rear. Also, does anyone know who is still selling GC coilovers for the e34 and still has them in stock? ( I e-mailed GC directly, no help, and have checked many websites.) After searching the forum, my main question is is there a problem with setting the back full hard? I'm looking for the best handling, not comfort.

[Anton CH.]

I am pretty satisfied with 3/4 to 1 full turn from full stiff all around. At full stiff and it skips over bumps. It also depends what springs you have.

[pundit]

... is is there a problem with setting the back full hard? I'm looking for the best handling, not comfort.

I have Konis and Eibach springs fitted to my E34.
It depends on the road conditions and your driving style.
Hard (low or non-compliant) suspension will result in your wheels skipping over bumps rather than following them, as Anton already mentioned.
This will cause a loss of traction which will make your car handle worse.
What's the point of spending a **** load of cash on good rubber if you can't maintain contact with the road surface??

'Shock absorbers' are actually incorrectly named.
Your springs are your 'shock' absorbers, and what popular automotive culture refers to as 'shock absorbers' are actually spring dampeners.
In reality you should choose your springs, wheels and tyres, then adjust your dampening to correctly control the spring oscillation.
(Unsprung weight will have an effect on the dampening) After that experiment with stabiliser bars to controll body roll and under/over steer.

Koni applies the dampening adjustment to the rebound (not compression) this means that compression (impact) dampening remains the same regardless whether they are set at full soft or full hard. Applying adjustment to the rebound only does help to reduce impact harshness at higher settings compared to increasing the compression dampening.

However when the wheel hits consecutive bumps ie corrugations etc. with high rebound settings the shock & spring may not have time to fully recover its to it normal travel length which could cause bottoming out on subsequent bumps.

So unless you are driving on a surface as smooth as a baby's backside you will need to experiments to see what works best.
However if you only set the rears to full hard then the car will have a tendency to over steer.
I sometimes increase my front dampening by a turn if I'm going for a blast through the hills but will set them back to normal for my commute to work.
(Though if I had adjustable stabiliser bars I would adjust those instead.)

Remember Koni advise the adjustment only really is there to compensate for wear over time.
They recommend you should begin with the shocks set for full 'soft' as this is how they were designed for the vehicle.
BTW - full 'soft' is not really soft. It's just not as hard as full 'hard'!

[gale]

I installed mine front & back at 1/2 turn from soft & makes a nice compremise setting for mixed street & twisties. I set the fronts at 1 turn from soft when doing a run thru the twisties. Kinda wish I set the rears at 3/4 or 1 from soft from the beginning, now I have to take them off to adjust. Of course, all of this is moot since mines a 7, so I'm comparing apples & oranges to your setup.

Easy to tell on the rears which way is soft & firm by running it all the way to one extreme or the other & feeling the difference in resistance when pushing on them.

[e345spd]

ahha, I can see how it would skip going over bumps. I guess I will start soft and go from there, it's pretty easy to get the back shocks off anyways/compress springs. Now I just need to find those Ground Controls....

[Felixdacat]

I have Koni and H&R. My rears are one full turn, and my fronts fully compressed 4 turns. The rear is great, and responds really well. The fronts...a little rough for the winter the way they are set now. I will be adjusting them tonight though.

[Rick L]

1/2 turn using Koni + Eibach setup... Not too harsh but still stiff enough to corner well.