Suspension choose help: KW V3 or ST X
 

hi
Upgrading car suspension, purpose:
1 lowering the car a little bit
2 increase handling for aggressive use on road
3 reduce unnessary body movement of the stock suspension


I tried several brands like teins fz/mono, hks sp, bilstein, aragosta and Kw. Amoung them, Kw is my favorite. It has two features that suprise me.

First it maintains the comfort feeling like the stock suspension. On rough road, the body would stuck to the ground and would not bounce like bilstein/aragosta/hks sp.

Second, the handling is way better the stock. The body movement on the corners act like that of hks sp. Of course Sp are better in the corners but the KW V3 is enough for me.

I dont like adjust the shocks. When the bumpers and compression are set, I would not adjust it. So here is the quesion, for my purpose, is the ST X is enough for me? It is only half the price of the V3 and is much easier to adjust.

The reason I didn‘t brought the KW V1 here is because some say v1 and stx are basically the same except V1 are more durable on several occasions. i live in dry place so the cheaper STX is brought here to compare with V3.

Wish to hear your ideas on this

Unless you need room to fit wide wheels, you might be better off with a spring and strut combo instead. I'd probably go with some Bilstein B6's paired with Swift Sport springs. I personally have RCE T2's on my FRS, but that's only because I Autocross and do some track day stuff. If I only daily drove, I'd go with something more comfy though.

thanks for your reply

bilstein strut with a sport spring might be a way. But in my place, there're very few brand offers strut. U can only get coils. Take bilstein for example, they only offer b14/b16 for frs. And the price of spring is quite high. The sti/trd spring cost the same as STX coils. So.....

Imho you are doing mistake associating single coilover from big lineup with brand in general. They all make both softer/more compliant and high spring rates ones for motorsport and completely custom ones (and more expensive) to customer specs and with varying amount of adjustment.


If stock like compliance needed, i guess i'd go for MY2017 shocks set or Bilstein B6.
But you also mentioned lowering. Hmm, probably i'd go for Tein Flex A.
KW V3 imho is a bit overpriced, and you wrote that you probably don't need it's multi way adjustability.
KW V1 vs ST .. yes, i guess finish / rust durability / price might be what sets appart and if you live in non winter-salt & dry environment, ST might be of better price-performancy.

the feeling of tein is so strange. All in one, cars with teins lacks the flexibility of the stock one. So teins are not my preference.


So still confused about stx and v3, any differences?

If you don't want to mess with adjustments, the KW V1 would probably be a good option. The ST's look good in theory, but I'd be afraid of them rusting up. I would think just about any amount of rain could make them rust over time. And the last thing you want is for your collars to seize. The finish on the KW's is worth the extra cost IMO.

tks

cannt help noticing that u posted similar request querying between kw v1 and v3. And u mentioned currently u are now using rsr coilset. Why u give up kw at last?

You must be referring to a pretty old post. I've been using RCE Tarmac 2's for about 2.5 years now. They're basically a modified KW V3.

Technically they're a custom valved/sprung 2 way clubsport, but the V3's and 2 way clubsports are the same bodies, just different rates and valving for the most part.