KW V3 Setup for Street use.
 

Just bought my KW V3 coilovers today and was hoping a few owners who have had them for a while could set me up with a good setting for street use/aggressive driving. I just want a good baseline to start with since i am installing/setting up the suspension myself.

Thanks in advance.

(Also if any of you guys running HPDE or Autocross have any setup tip that you can share I'd like that too!)

Start with what's in the book, and then adjust it to your tastes!

I don't know how many setting are in the KW V-3 but i have comparable coil-overs with 30 levels of damping and I set mine to 18. It could go slightly softer but I am trying different settings for a week or so DD'ing to gauge if it's an improvement or not.

turn all settings to full stiff.

front compression- back off 7 clicks from full stiff.
front rebound-back off 10 clicks from full stiff

rear compression - back off 8 clicks from full stiff.
rear rebound- back off 7 clicks from full stiff.

from there I advise you to drive the car in many scenarios BEFORE you make any more changes.

NEVER, NEVER ,NEVER make more than one change at a time. ( you will never know what change made the difference you liked or disliked).

Rebound is on TOP and compression is on the bottom.

Remember as you upgrade your suspension things like rear control arms and rear subframe bushings that will effect these settings so dont be surprised if things feel different after certain changes.

Myles
RCE/ GTWORX

Thanks Myles, thats exactly what i was looking for!!

I just got the KW's today but am waiting until my AP control arms come in, not to mention my wheels and tires.

That's what i'm talking about, great post Myles! Where else are you going to get that kind of help?

No worries man. While we carry most brands, we will be testing the following over the next 6 months:

RCE T2s
Bilstein
Ohlins

And a few others I cant mention yet.

We feel there are various options for various needs. I dont feel that brand X is necc better than brand Y etc. ( amongst the brands with actual "damping");)

Myles

I have mine setup with stock rebound. Two clicks stiffer in the front on compression and 1 click less compression on rear. Works very well car doesn't have the traction issue as much and is a lot more mangeable on the street. This worked well for my track day too.


My car only has a minor drop so more compression valving may be need if your lower.

I am thinking of adding 1 click of rebound to the rear shocks too. This should help settle the rear a little more. Front feels perfect to me.

Sorry, but I am confused....when you talk about "......rebound-back off 10 clicks from full stiff" do you mean stiff being full fast or full slow?

I've only ever thought about rebound being either fast or slow, never stiff, as rebound dictates the return speed of the damper from compression.

Myles, I've come to value your opinion and I'm new to the subie world so here's a quick question for you. How come you don't test some of the other seemingly well regarded jdm brands like RS*R?

I'm not talking about the lower end offerings from BC racing, Tein, Fortune, and <insert random brand here>. For example I run DG-5s on my other vehicle and find them very competitive in the approx $2-3k price range.

Im gonna go out on a limb and say that full stiff = fully closing the valve, and then backing it out the desired number of clicks. I just installed them tonight on the stock wheels/tires and without the adjustable rear control arms (dont have them yet) and the suggested setup from Myles seem pretty spot on for street use, I may add another click stiffer in the rear as the car feels a little soft in the back.

When we say stiff we mean slow return.

Not Myles....but....

A long time ago, WAY back in 2004 when most of us were running around in diapers....we did sell some "higher end" JDM brands. Some of them are pretty good, many have some hassles (rebuilds only in japan for example), and some we felt just were overrated. We did have a few less than stellar experiences that soured us a bit and when started going to the euro brands we didn't really feel the need to look back. Really good valving, lots of travel, good support even stateside. We aren't "anti-JDM" by any means (see Myles' STI JDM v-limited lip and stacks of best motoring DVDs and Japan only Impreza magazines) and we do have an open mind. It's just that at the moment we feel there is a lot of really good stuff that happens to come from Europe.

- Andrew

Bingo... Exactly what I did... Had them dialed in within the first week, haven't changed them since.

This is what I have mine set to and they feel only slightly more firm than stock. Perfect for DD'ing.