Mad_SB

iTrader: (8)

So, I've been thinking about coilovers for some time now, and after my last driving school at RoadAtlanta, I finally decided to take the plunge. I mainly use the car for everything... trackdays, daily driver, etc. Dyno4mance has some great deals on KW's going on so I had Andrew order me up a set of V3's.

Here are the specs to save everyone the digging:
front spring rate: 540lb/in :: 9.7k :: 90Nm-170mm
rear spring rate: 340lb/in :: 6.1k :: 60Nm-200mm

Edit:
Spring rates of you choice can be ordered from any KW dealer. You just order their race springs making sure you get the proper free length. Springs should have the specs printed on them in the form of Force - FreeLength. The included fronts are 90-170 (90NewtonMeter - 170mm free length). The rear are 60-200(60NM-200mm).
/Edit

Bump Adjustment: 2 full turns, 4 clicks per turn
Rebound Adjustment: 3 full turns 6 clicks per turn
Front eccentric camber bolt! (yes that is correct, the kw's include a front eccentric bolt so you have full range camber adjustment without having to buy new tophats)

EDIT:
It looks like the minimum drop you will get with the KW's is 3/4 in. This is based on the maximum spring perch height from the manual of 50mm (of exposed thread under the perch). After setting the ride height with my body weight in the drivers seat, I came out to 3/4" drop all around. The max drop will be about 1 3/4 in - 2in. , again based on the minimum perch height of 20mm. I was not looking to lower the car much so I am very pleased.
/Edit

I was a little worried that the rear spring rate was too low, but I figured I would try them out as is, and order higher rate rears if I felt the need. I went with the recommended setting (from the included setup guide) for bump and rebound for the initial setup. I did not want to drop the car much so I settled on ¾ in drop front and rear. I just eyeballed the front camber settings for this weekend and will be getting it re aligned this week sometime

First Impressions:
I got everything bolted up and went out for a shake down run. I could immediately tell a huge difference in ride quality. I put about 100 interstate miles on the car last night. The car sucks up bumps and undulations very well. I don't feel like my fillings are going to pop out over choppy bits any longer. I've often heard you can get better than stock ride quality and better than stock handling with a proper set of coilovers. I'm now a firm believer! The ride quality is amazing, far better than stock. Body roll is almost non existant with street tires (have not put on the r-comps yet) and it just always feels planted. I have not pushed it hard yet, but so far it feels very neutral. Once I get some time on the twisties I'll update the thread with any fine tuning to the bump and rebound settings.

Now a few pics:

Vicious1

iTrader: (5)

Nice review. Getting mine put in next week, and sounds like I'll be happy with em.

Kidloco51

iTrader: (32)

Love mine. Dropped over a second at my local track compared to my bilstein/swift setup.

dbsears

iTrader: (37)

Is that stock springrate....thats like 9.5k and 6k isn't it.

EVO8LTW

iTrader: (41)

What do you mean about the front eccentric camber bolt? The car has one stock to adjust camber (the bolt with the arrow on it). Does the supplied one go where the car ordinary has a normal bolt?

Mad_SB

iTrader: (8)

The stock bolt is a two position bolt. The KW supplied bolt is not limited to two positions, nor is the channel the bolt sits in, so you can dial in any amount of camber you want rather than being limited to one of two settings. I'll try to get a picture latter today.

Mad_SB

iTrader: (8)

Yeah 9.7k / 6.1k are the factory kw rates, I updated the post with the metric units.

dbsears

iTrader: (37)

What did your alignment end up coming out too? Also do you have a rear swaybar and does the rear seem stiff enough. I know you said you where just on street tires but I am just wondering. Thanks

Mad_SB

iTrader: (8)

I'm getting the alignment latter this week, First I'm gonna tweak the ride height with my body weight in the drivers seat.

I'll probably run -2f -1rear, same as I was running on the stock setup. (maybe -2.5f -1.5 rear) with minimal toe in on the front, I would run zero toe, but I have a bad habit of running 100 - 110 mph on interstate trips longer than a few miles.......

I do have a cusco adjustable rear bar, running it in the soft position at the moment, same place I had it on the stock setup.

I'm not too worried about the rear spring rate cause the kw recommended rebound setting on the rear is 2 full turns (12 clicks) from full hard, so there is plenty of room to up the rebound to induce over stear.

funnyclub

iTrader: (4)

Hey mate I had a set of these on my car with cusco top mounts on the front and I found I got a lot of knocks and bangs. I also notice when turning slowly I would hear twangs from the springs. But I think this was all down to the fact I was using aftermarket top mounts with them rather than stock top mounts.
The handling was great but I couldnt stick the noises so I removed them and sold them on. I then fitted a set of bilsteins with hks kansai springs but i miss the handling, so I have now bought another set of coilovers.

Mad_SB

iTrader: (8)

Yeah, I would say that was due to the top hats or improper seating of the springs. Other than the initial drive i don't have any unusual noise. during the initial drive, the bumpstop / dust boot will move around until it finally seats at the top of the spring, at least from what I observed.

Also, I had to set the car down on all 4 wheels before getting the final torque on the front shock shaft bolt (center of the top hat), if that was loose you would certainly have clunking.

Another sorce of noise or squeaks when using the stock top hats is the rear bushing assembly. The rear tophat bushing is a two piece design, I cleaned mine real good, but did not put any lube on the bushings mating surfaces before i put it all back together so I may get some squeaking from the rear at some point, but If I do it's a simple fix.

ReSin

iTrader: (1)

Good review mad VIII. I love my KW's. I'm also running the recommended settings, although I have increased the bump setting while autocrossing.

Dennis

rjdevo9_mr

i like your setup

Mad_SB

iTrader: (8)

I updated the original post some more info on replacement springs and ride height.

Thanks for the props guys. I can't say enough good things about the KW's. And I owe a big thanks to Andrew at Dyno4Mance for getting me a great deal!

Slick-IX

iTrader: (4)

i wish i had the extra money for them lol