Shock absorbers Rancho or KONI

I am running Koni special active on my 2018 Alltrack, which is also riding on Golf R Estate springs. I like the ride, firm but not harsh. I had them installed after driving a friend's Alltrack that had the Koni special actives.

I did Koni Yellows set to softest dampening and H&R Sport Springs. Amazing handling, nice comfy ride.... until the roads get rough and they do frequently in CT. Manhole covers which always seem to be a mile below the surface are horrible... yes I always try and avoid but sometimes you can't.

I find the adjustability on my Yellows invaluable for fine tuning the car's behavior.

I had two sets of the FSDs on my SportWagen with Eibach Pro and really liked them. I had replaced the first set under warranty at less than 40K miles due to failure of both one front and one rear.

These shocks replaced a 40k mile set of Koni yellows, which I always thought were a little stiff for the street though performed well the few times I had them on the track. My setup is what I thought it should have felt like from the factory. Great daily driver with all the control I need blasting the back roads. Doesn't crash over bumps and the damping is about perfect.

I had a spongy pedal and after a good flush and bleed my pedal is rock solid. I do have a bit of travel before the brakes grab though, almost like 1/2-3/4 of a inch of free play before anything happens. is that about what you are having?

I used koni sports on my mk4 and they were awesome. Front and rear adjustable. It takes a couple days of adjusting to get them how you like them.

I have the Koni Special Actives with the R wagon springs. I love them. They work as advertised; they're more plush over small and mid-sized bumps, offer much better damping over large bumps, and they stiffen up nicely when pushed in the corners. For a road car I really think these are the best option out there. One thing about them though is that they're over-damped if you're too low. They work great with the R wagon springs, but I'm not sure they'll work well if you're any lower.

Rancho gets a lot of hate on the roads. I don't know what they are worth but they seem decently built from here !

I put these Rancho RS9000XL Shocks on in 2018 on my 2007 Xterra. I've only put about 20K miles on since. Very disappointed in both the quality and the soft ride they provided. I put on Bilstein 5100s, so far they feel much better.