I know people that have blown them on stock springs. Problem not solved.
I'm running them on stock springs, so I guess I can (eventually) be considered a data point for this. I got mine about 4 months ago. For those who have blown them on stock springs, how long did they last before they went?
I have to wonder if these things have an "infant mortality" phase like a lot of other things, where the probability of a failure is much higher, and after which the probability of failure is quite a bit lower.
If this were a problem with the design, then everyone who had these would be driving around on blown dampers. I'm deeply skeptical that such is the case, and the people who have these and haven't blown then (e.g., Norm Peterson) can be considered existence proofs that the problem isn't with the design
provided one stays within their design parameters. I have little doubt that once you lower the car by more than some amount, the Konis (or any design with stock dimensions and mounting points) just won't suffice.
The amount of lowering and the requisite spring rate are tied together. Not only does the reduced travel demand a higher spring rate, the increase in roll moment arm (thanks to the roll center dropping 3x faster than the amount lowered) also does. Between those two, csamsh's claim that sufficient lowering spring rates to keep the car off the bump stops are beyond the Konis' ability to control may actually be correct. It will of course depend on the amount the car is lowered. Lower by an inch or less and my suspicion is that the critical damping rate of the resulting spring rates will still fall within the Konis' damping region, though perhaps barely so. And it might easily be that the Konis just won't last when cranked up that high.
And then there's the question of the tires. Run stickier tires, and the forces on the suspension will be greater. It's one of the reasons I've decided to stick with the Bridgestone S-04 Pole Position tires -- they're cheap, they last reasonably well, and they don't take the stock suspension beyond its design parameters. I won't be surprised
at all if that's one of the reasons I haven't seen the kind of bad behavior from the suspension that others here have seen. If I change to a stickier tire, I'll probably
have to modify the suspension to compensate, to keep the geometry in the sweet spot area.
Since it's highly likely that the scenario most here are talking about is with R-compound tires or something very close, yielding at least 1.3G worth of grip, I can easily see why there's such a disparity in opinions. I don't know what tires Barbaro runs, but I won't be surprised if they're street tires similar to mine, that are not so grippy as to take the suspension beyond its design limits.
The bottom line is this: when it comes to opinions and experiences, the details matter,
a lot.
