RE: Koni info (in defense of Koni)

["Buchholz, Steven" <Steven.Buchholz@kla-tencor.com>]

... I'm sorry, but I don't buy your argument at all.  It really doesn't
matter that a Koni is "a precision-manufactured, performance shock
absorber" at all ... if you make a guarantee and mean it then you will
honor it, without question.  The only thing at issue here is that Koni
ostensibly offers a lifetime guarantee, and they should honor that
guarantee no matter whether or not the purchaser has the original
receipt ... or else the guarantee is in fact a marketing gimmick.  Can't
Koni recognize a particular strut as one they manufactured?  Is there a
problem with companies in developing nations making cheap copies of Koni
struts, painting them yellow and foisting them on unsuspecting
consumers?  No, they count on the fact that in general a strut is going
to last a few years ... and in that time the purchaser will misplace the
original receipt.  It makes me wonder that even if you had the receipt
if you would have to produce a signed affadavit from the guy that sold
it to you that they were in fact sold to you ...

This incident sends a clear message to me ... that Koni does not make a
shock absorber that they reasonbly expect to last as long as the
guarantee states.  I had been hearing good things about the adjustables
for the urq, and I will be purchasing a set of cartridges soon since I'm
going to be doing the clutch and probably a bunch of other stuff ... but
I have to say I'm going to look long and hard elsewhere before I buy
from Koni.  That doesn't include the '85 4kQ and '88 5kCSQWs that I own
that are probably running on the original struts ...

... sorry about the rant ... perhaps I'd better go to bed ... oh yeah,
I'm still at work!  :-)

Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)

OBTW, my most recent Craftsmen story is that the last time I brought in
a broken 8mm socket (they always break tightening the triple-squares on
inner CVJs) the guy asked me if I wanted to have the old socket back.
What a trusting soul!  ;-)