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Wheel alignment (and new shocks?)
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The Koni shocks allow the bus to go around a corner on the interstate with very little lean,as my friend that works for me and has driven my bus stated,”THIS WILL GET YOU IN TROUBLE”
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Jack, Jack, Jack……….No. Shocks will control squat and rebound, but the sway bars will control the lean going around a corner.
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I think both Jack and Jon are right. If the compression is set stiff, then in a corner the rate of lean will be reduced, but eventually you’re up again the sway bar.
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Jon,All I can say is that the feel is totally different with the Koni’s,if you ever drove a bus with them you would replace the OEM shocks ASAP.
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Jack, I do not doubt for a minute the Konis are superb. And I am well aware as original equipment shocks get a little age on them their resistance to compression and extension of the suspension is zero.
However, I will remain unconvinced as good as they are Koni shocks will limit the leans. Assume for the monent you are running straight and the bus encounters a bump that extends the full width of the lane. If the shocks did not allow some almost instantaneous compression the entire bump would be absorbed solely by the tires. While a turn is not a bump, you subject the coach to the forces that make it tend to lean far slower than what the coach is subjected to on that bump in the road. As a result the shocks will continue to function as shocks, allowing compression and rebound to the extend you have them adjusted, but only the sway bars are resisting the lean.
Dick, I have never heard of a racer trying to set up a car going to less or more compliant shocks to handle the turns, but I have always heard of increases in sway bar diameter as a means of eliminating excessive leans.
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Well Jon you need to come to the race track with us and actually visually see what shock changes can do for a race car.We have Ohlins that are double adjustable with 11 adjustments on compression and 11 on rebound,if you think that the shocks will not control roll you are dead wrong!!!The only way that you can experence the Koni shock is to drive a coach with the complete set in the stiffest position,you would be on the phone ordering a set before the demo was over,IMHO.
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I just received a pair of oem shocks for the steer axle from Prevost, and was disappointed. They have virtuallly no resistance on compression and very little on rebound. If the application was a street car, I would throw them away. It will be interesting to compare the old ones to the new. I have run bilstein and koni on track cars and they cannot be compressed by hand, maybe that is biasing my opinion. My intuition was that the oems would have to be stiff to control the weight of our front axle. But like Jon said, less stress on the sidewall on compression.
The shock controls the rate of lean but not the ultimate stroke. Sway bar controls the stroke.
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I’m up for a test drive. Both the race car and the bus.
I’ll have you know I am a serious racer. I had my Z06 up to 85 once, and I floored it in 1st gear once.
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85? Didn’t know you had a kilometre clock in there! :))
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To show you the risk taker that I am, that 85 was in MPH.
I damn near peed my pants.
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Koni shocks have a 100K warranty. That covers leaking of fluid and that would be probable reason for failure. I’ve had Koni on 1 plastic RV and 2 Prevost. The most improved handling is the front and is instantly noticeable.
Playing with settings, there are 5 positions my choice is one up from soft. With the 365s on steer at 105 lbs.psi.
For a very short time I had Road King on the front. After very poor cooperation from Loni at Road King about the less then satisfactory ride I pulled them off. It was like riding on a park bench with them. There was no return and to make matters worse pay freight both ways. It got a little tight for a while
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Jon, Jack, Dan and Dick: You all have bits of truth on shocks and sway bars as relating to both busses and race cars. Since I type very slowly, it will make for a good disscussion over snot balls in April. As for a test drive…Jon you are welcome to drive our Koni equipped bus. If we can get you a license you can try the race car….maybe at Daytona, Sebring or VIR. Won’t do 85 in 1st, but will do 215 in 4th at Daytona. How ’bout it ? Geo.
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I’d pee my pants at those speeds.
I think every guy likes to think they are a competent driver, but I know my limits.
True story. In Western NY where snow covered or icy roads were the rule rather than the exception in the winter I was pretty good at some high speed driving on the roads. I won’t say I had no fear but 70 MPH on hard packed snow requires a pretty good sense of the car and anticipation. The level of concentration was very high and despite driving like a complete fool on those roads I never went off the road or had a tow hook on a car. Spin recovery was a skill I learned because I had to.
But there is a hell of a difference between the risk of sliding into a snow covered ditch or field, and spanking a wall at speeds you mention. No thanks.
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Jon, as Dirty Harry once observed “A man is gotta know his limitations”. But you can still try the Koni equipped bus.
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I’m going Koni in March, anybody want my oems? I paid 53.22 dollars for each one, and will take what I can get, and donate half the proceeds to a charity of your choice.
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