i need to know what the top adjustment does bound/rebound? same with the rear. need to know what im adjusting...

 

any links to a good diy alingment.

 

bump

 

http://www.bimmerhaus.com/tech/shocktuningTN.html

for street I run 3/4 soft on both bump and rebound... but I live on bumpy roads..

 

This might help setting up the KW V3s.

Rebound: Top

Bump: Bottom

Closed is full clockwise



Kit Settings

Rebound Bump

Front 1.5 turns open 0.75 turns open

Rear 2.0 turns open 0.75 turns open

If you're not running camber plates, I'd recommend the "kit" settings for the KWs above as well as the alignment settings that bchappy mentioned earlier: MAX camber front (minus 1.8 - 2.0) and about 1 degree rear with 0 toe all around.

For street, even with camber plates I'd recommend about -3 camber front and -1.3 rear with 0 toe.

Running agressive toe AND camber will kill your tires on the street so I'd save the more aggressive alignments I mentioned for track.




Recommended Track Settings (These settings are designed to work on my car with full Whiteline stuff - roll centre kit, bump steer kit, trailing arm bushing kit, steering precision kit, rear 26mm swaybar etc.)

Not rocket science - basically it's just a smidge stiffer in terms of the rebound settings.

Rebound Bump

Front 1.0 turns open 0.75 turns open

Rear 1.5 turns open 0.75 turns open


The same guy who came up with the above setup for my car recommended running an alignment of -3 camber up front and -1.0 rear with -0.05 toe out all around - makes the car a bit tailhappy (remember this is in addition to the Whiteline bits).

I currently run an even more aggressive alignment: -3.4 camber front and -1.5 camber rear with 0 toe rear and -0.05 toe *in* up front. Toe settings - I find the toe out makes the car more responsive whereas a little toe in makes the car more stable under power (rear is still nicely mobile but not as twitchy as the initial setup).

Anyhow, that's just my 2c - don't think you can go wrong with the "street" setups above as a baseline. Track settings will vary according to your mods and preferences (not to mention the track and track conditions etc.).

Good luck!

As for top hats, I'm curious what people would recommend. I have the Whiteline max Cs installed right now and although I think they're the most innovative design out there mine weren't installed properly (the shop that installed them didn't tighten them properly and one of the bearings has seized - also ALL of the bolts have been stripped off by overzealous alignment shops banging them and doing them and undoing htem with an impact wrench.

BTW YES you do need a spacer between the top of the shock body on the KWs and the bottom of the MaxC camber plates - which isn't included in the kit.

Anyhow, although I liked them my Whiteline MaxC camber plates have since been totally destroyed so I'm wondering what other top hats would work well with the KW V3s - HKS, Cusco, WORKS etc.???

 

I have cuscos and they need a spacer as well... along with constant attention to the top nut.

 

bump

in case anyone is still following this thread, I've been fiddling and have come up with what I think is a pretty nice setup.

Note that this setup is pretty aggressive - don't recommend it for bumpy roads. The nice thing is that the handling is now very much to my liking - the front end is PLANTED and the car's tailhappy when I want it to be (a good lift or a little trailbraking on corner entry will swing the tail right out) but under power it's very controllable - four wheel drifts are possible but the car's not "fish-taily" or hard to handle. Handling is also very neutral on longer bends when pushed hard - front end tracks the pavement like a demon and all tires seem to break away pretty evenly at the limits.

All in all, a pretty good combo.

Basically what I've done is try to maximize front and rear traction while getting the sort of controllability I want - I could have just upped the tire presure in the rear to extremes but now I don't have to (unless AutoXing on super tight courses perhaps).

Anyways, feel free to try these settings out and let me know what happens but not my fault if you end up pointing the wrong way etc.

Parts on car:
Whiteline roll centre kit, steering precision kit and bump steer kit, whiteline rear swaybar set on full hard, HKS camber plates set to 4.9 degrees of caster, KW V3 suspension and 255/35/18 Pirelli P Zero Rosso tires.

Car is lowered in such a way that the rocker panels are exactly parallel to the ground - more fender gap up front than at the rear.

front
bump 0.75 turns open
rebound 1.25 turns open
camber -3.2
toe 0.05 degrees toe in

rear
bump 0.75 turns open
rebound 0.5 turns open
camber -1.5
toe 0

Essentially what you see here is the front end being set up a little stiffer and the rear end suspension being set up really really super aggressively using the bump settings. I wouldn't recommend closing the shocks any more than 0.5 turns open (from full tight) and even as is it may be rather overly aggressive but I'm loving the handling!

Perhaps a better way to get similar results would be to go for a stiffer spring in the rear and soften the shocks up a little bit but this is just what I've found to work pretty nicely from my own trial and error.

Enjoy!

 

I believe the coils should come with a manual that have all the recommended settings including height/compression/rebound adjustments

 

I got my KW3 from Robispec and he adviced me to set the car like this.
-3 in the front and - 1.3 at the rear. 0 toe in the four corners. And of course corner weight the car.
I have tried it at the track and it works very good.
I hope this helps.

 

Do you have to have camber plates with the KW's to increase camber pass -2?

 

The fronts need a Double-D socket, the special tool that mitsubishi sells fits (MB991682 - TOOL B IN THE PIC). Only problem is the strut nut, which is a size 19mm (bigger than the stocker) - I need to find a tool similar to A that fits a 19mm nut instead.

 

For people that installed the Variant 3's with the stock top hat, did you guys leave the cap out? (the cap that keeps dirt and etc from entering the top hat's bearings).

The KW Variant 3 shaft seems to be longer than stocker so one can't put the cap back in - did you guys just put a hole in the plastic cap for the shaft to go through?