KW Clubsports Review
 

Reviewing the KW Clubsports for those who are thinking about them or @Racecomp Engineering Tarmac 2's which are based on the KW's

Lets break this down into the following

Installation: Straight Foward, I could have installed it my self since the units come in 1 piece and its a swap out, but I decided to get everything done all at once and get it aligned/corner balanced at the same time. Thanks to @ptuning for all of the install/alignment/corner balance work

Stock Alignment (Nothing added on) I was able to get -3 in the front and -2 in the rear.

Corner Balance Numbers goes as follows:

Corner balancing w/ 215 ballast:

TOTAL WEIGHT w/ BALLAST = 2922

BEFORE:
LF = 867
RF = 780
LR = 660
RR = 615
CROSS % = 49.28

AFTER:
LF = 856
RF = 789
LR = 671
RR = 604
CROSS % = 50.00


Daily Driving Comfort: I would say these are a small percentage harsher than the Stock setup on certain surfaces. Essentially you have a bump or 2 here or there you will feel if you don't slow down but anything big and you will definitely feel it. Also any valleys or hills in the road that go on for a while will result in the car really transferring the feeling back to you and almost make you a bit dizzy nauseous if they go on for a while (Normal people).

According to KW the rates are 340/400 with RCE's tarmacs being a bit more rough so take that for what its worth when it comes to daily driving

Handling: Cars has 255/40/17 Direzza ZII tires with 17 x 9 Enkei RPF1's 45 offset. It rubs the splash shield at full lock. Car feels like its riding on rails, I have not gotten the rear end to break loose at all yet but I will be fully testing this out at auto crossing in the next 20 days or do.

Drop: Only dropped it functionally minimally as most of the lots we race in have lots of hills and valleys in the pavement and I really don't need anything scraping underneath. I would say drop is about .75 inches


I think thats it? Not sure any questions. DC Streets are tough and its not too bothersome

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Thanks for the review. We will be putting these on our shop car in the next week or so.

*edit* Just curious where you heard the spring rates were 340/400. I had heard the same thing, and that the V3s were softer than that, but RCE and a few others pointed out that I had most likely been told wrong by KW. This just has me curious.

must resist urge to drop 2K+ on suspension...

Called KW up this morning and asked.

Completely worth it from our experience in the M3, S2000, and Miata markets. :bellyroll:

Car looks fantastic. Thanks for the review.

Gotcha. Yeah, I've called multiple times and the 340/400 is what everyone has told me. It seems as though early V3s have the same rates, or there is a break down in communication somewhere. Now I'm very, very curious.

Very weird Ill see if I can investigate further

I agree! I was very very close to throwing done on some RCE Tarmacs but now I'm going to test out the stock suspension and decide what fits my needs the most closer to end of year

being broke and on this forum is a bad thing haha

:happy0180:

Very true but guess who is staying? Broke or not i'll make it though its only money!

Did some Sharp High speed turns and crap does this thing grip :) Can't wait for High Speed Autocross coming up soon

Just came back from about 400 Miles of driving and So far its pretty good. Comfy at cruise speeds hard hits from potholes can be a bit bothersome but not too back.

The worst part is a series of hills/valleys on the roads from uneven pavement that goes on and on. It will make you a bit queezy even for those who have tough stomachs.

If the Clubsports are 340/400...then wut are the spring rates on the V3s?

same springs

Several autocrosses later and I def need to adjust the rear for less over steer soften them up. I did it a little but seems like I need to do it more

@kanundrum, I can't decide if these are worth going for over the Variant 3's. External reservoir is attractive (do they even come on this application?) but apparently is not adjustable like on their race dampers, which according to KW adds no performance advantage, only a reduction in potential ride discomfort. What are the other advantages?

If you put the cost of V3's and assembling and top hats etc this maybe worth it to you. These are a bit more aggresive in their dampening rates and I have no complaints on ride quality once you adjust them.

No external reservoir.

Thank you! Do the Clubsports come with adjustable top hats or are those sold separately? And are they only in the front or both front and rear?

2 Way Adjustable both front and rear and has top mounts

Note, just noticed they have a new clubsport setup that has external reservoirs thats like 5k lol

Still a twin tube design.

http://www.frsport.com/3-Way-Clubspo..._p_142380.html

At that price, you're looking at custom KW competition spec coilovers.

at that price get ohlins and call it a day

Those 3 ways look familiar. We were testing a set for GD STI back in 2011.

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...99863883_n.jpg

KW clubsports are good shocks. RCE T2 clubsports (based on KW clubs) are good shocks too...but cheaper and with a lifetime warranty.

- Andy

Report on these, they were misgrosely out of tune from factory and I had to put everything back to soft and start dialing all back up. So far its good but a bit more tuning is needed

Any updates on your tuning or are you satisfied for your application?

I have adjusted dampening to softer rates for autocross and they are even better. I still have a lot more tuning to do but so far they are solid in both autocross as well as around town driving

Am I going to need a new set of adjustable front endlinks with the clubsports? Or will the stock fit just fine (assuming leaving it at KW's recommended height settings)

Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

Stock front endlinks are fine.

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If you plan to corner balance the car you should use adjustable end links.

Any reason you went with these over the RCE tarmac 2? I originally purchased a set of club sports and regretted it as soon as i found they couldn't handle anything above 340/400 effectively

Just got mine installed. Anyone else running the 2 way w/ top hat having very very slight squeaking at the rear? It's barely noticeable but I can hear it when going over sharp speed humps or bumps.

Time to sell it and buy a set of B16's!
:lol: