FFR Koni shock lifespan?

[Bill_VA]

I've been driving my FFR for about 15 years now, 14 with the red Koni shocks from FFR. How long should I expect them to last? I've got about 40k miles on them. The ride feels fine, like it did 14 years ago. But as my car gets older, I'm wondering what kinds of things I should replace just because they're old.

[NAZ]

Most service items on a street car fall under "condition based maintenance" and are only changed when they wear out or stop functioning properly. Shocks are usually changed when they wear out or start leaking (seals wear out). Some things are "cycle based" where preventative maintenance is performed on a usage schedule such as oil changes and chassis lubrication. And tires are changed when either they wear out (condition based) or exceed their useful life (calendar based) which a rule of thumb is ~six-years. There are other calendar based preventative maintenance tasks you should consider such as changing brake fluid and coolant but these will be based on the system design and the product used. And some items have both cycle and calendar based limits such as oil.

Your home built car doesn't come with a service interval manual so you will have to develop your own preventative maintenance schedule. Most folks will have their own ideas about maintenance schedules. As an engineer I made my living establishing Reliability Centered Maintenance programs and there is a lot that goes into developing effective preventative maintenance for vehicles and equipment. There is no one size fits all. You may want to look at the maintenance schedule for a similar car such as the era Mustang your drive train came out of. Some items may not apply but if you built your car you should be able to pick and choose what seems reasonable to you.

[phileas_fogg]

40 miles in 14 years? That’s gotta be a typo.

[rich grsc]

Seeing as most shocks last 100,000 miles on DD, don't know why you'd even think they would need replacing.

[Jeff Kleiner]

If they aren't leaking run 'em.

Jeff

[Bill_VA]

Yeah, that was a typo, 40k miles on the car. Sounds like I'll keep on rolling until they give up. Thanks guys.

[steno]

Over 83k on my roadster and can’t tell a bit of ride difference! Run what ya brung!!