First off, all you're doing by turning the knob when the struts aren't installed is turning the strut rod inside of the strut body. You have to have the top of the strut isolated to make your adjustments. Because you've done your research you know that having the struts on full soft will NOT give you the most comfortable ride possible, correct? When I had my Koni Sport kit, I had the fronts on 3/4 turn from full hard, and the rears were 1/2 turn from full hard. This gave a very soft and compliant ride that absorbed all the differentiations in the road and kept the wheels firmly planted and not sliding when I incurred fast corners. Just some thoughts for you.