I have been thinking about this since I first read this thread. In addition to all of Deans points. I am pretty sure that when the suspension gets topped out. All of the force of the spring goes through the bottom bolt. Now I'm not saying that the bolt can't handle the force, especially if the only time the suspension gets topped out is when changing tires. But I'll bet if the suspension gets topped out with a bit more force than this, that concave surface on the bottom of the strut may yield a bit. Now, there is a bit of clearance in the assembly and hitting any bump will cause the insert to shift in the strut body. The damping forces will probably be enough to do this. Each bump now allows the insert to bang up and down bending things even more...
Markcjr says there are only little star washers under his bolt heads -- not the doubling washers pictured in the NASIOC thread. This probably magnified the problem.
Just a thought.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dean
I am not saying Koni doesn't make a good damper, in fact, Koni makes some of the best bang for your buck dampers in the world.
The problem is in general inserts significantly underperform the OE part they replace. Since they fit inside the housing of the OE part, everything must be smaller which means more heat and weight, and less of everything else.
More:
Heat
Weight
Deflection/slop
Wear
Less:
Shaft diameter
Valve pack area
Throw
Fluid volume
Cooling
Gas volume
Life
If you have absolutely no other choices, so be it, but if you have any other choices that involve an OE or larger size damper, do it instead of an insert.
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