KW Variant Spring Rates?
 

Can anyone tell me what the spring rates are for the KW V1's and V3's? I've tried doing a lot of searches, but keep coming up with conflicting information. Some sources I've read say that the V1 and V3 have the same spring rates while others say the V3 is stiffer. Any useful info on this would be appreciated.

CounterSpace Garage has them listed at 230/285 for the V1's and 343/400 for the V3's.

http://counterspacegarage.com/kw-var...-frs-gt86.html
http://counterspacegarage.com/kw-v3-...r-brz-frs.html

That clears things up. Thanks!

Those V3 rates should be double checked with KW...I believe they have been switched to the softer rates after an initial run of the firmer 343/400.

- Andy

Really? Why would they have switched to a softer spring?

***Edit: I just got an email back from KW. It looks like the current spring rate is 230 lbs/ front and 285 lbs/ rear. ***

Beats me. But the firmer rates are used on their KW Clubsports.

- Andy

Yeah that's what I was 99% sure of and MOST vendors still have the old rates advertised (since that's what they were at first).

The firmer 340/400 rates are on the KW Clubsports which are a good chunk of change more money and without a warranty. But they include topmounts.

Or get RCE T2 Clubsports (built by KW) with a warranty and 400/400 rates. ;)

- Andy

Yep, that switch happened over a year ago. :mad0260:

How do you know which spring rate you have? That'd nice to know which ones I have :)

^^^ This

Can someone order T2's with staggered rates? I know you offer different rates, but they're square as far as I can remember.

Post up the numbers on the side of your springs.

The 340/400 rates should be 60-something front and 70-something rear.

- Andy

Absolutely!

- Andy

Well, since the car is in storage for winter, I'll look it up in the spring *badumtish* :)

The number is printed on the side of the spring - KW prints the rate in N/mm and the length in mm. So the 343/400 were 170mm length and 60 N/mm in the front and 70 N/mm in the rear (60-170, 70-170). The 230/285 softer kits came with 200mm length springs in rates of 40 and 50 N/mm (40-200 50-200).

Also, the front helper spring on the stiffer kit has a shorter block length than the helper on the softer kit. In the softer kit the helper is the same front and rear. In the stiffer kit the helper is weaker in the front than in the rear.

I bought my KWV3s over 1 year ago and don't really care for the weaker rates. I've been autocrossing my car and at lower ride heights, your handling will suck as you will be on the bump stops. If you plan to race, get the Clubsports or some other kit with higher rates. I am currently running at almost max height to keep off the stops as much as possible. Stiffer springs would help a lot to keep off the bumpstops.

This has me heavily reconsidering the V3's and leaning towards the Tarmac II's from RCE.

I feel like this is the only real option out there for the money and performance, and not to mention they are based on kw club sports and for much less money. Just seeing RCE's helpful posts on this forum has been enough to sell me on them.

I've actually pm'd them today to see what they recommend for my usage. Be it the 0's or the 2's. But after seeing their research and the fact that they have a lifetime warranty, I'm pretty sold on them myself.

Found pictures of my V3s installed and I do have the old spring rates.

Here are the codes mentionned before:

http://i.imgur.com/E0e1B8N.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/2mLH0FL.jpg

Does it change things a lot or?

Does anybody know the highest spring rate the V3's can handle? I would think since the early runs had a 400 lb spring, they'd be ok up to that at least, right? Unless they changed the valving too.

I found out from KW that you can increase spring rates by up to 200 lbs on the V3. Just thought I'd put that info out there in case anyone else wanted to know.