D2 RS/K-Sport Kontrol Pro Coilover Review

[Matt Andrews]

Modifying a car is to ones personal preference. to be clear, I'm not bagging on the guy's decisions. Just trying to help educate so people can make the most informed decision they can. He took a lot of time to provide a write up based on the knowledge he had and his evaluation criteria.

Most people will never take their car to the track. So they may not need or want to best performance parts for their car - they want it to look a certain way, or "feel" like its a performance improvement. That's totally fine. Hell, a lot of people won't like my car, because I put little thought into how it looks. I only care about how it goes. Neither is right or wrong.

[DarrenDriven]

Originally Posted by sdlynx

Agreed.

BTW, what are the D2 spring ratings that were shipped to you? Joe mentioned that D2 changed the rear spring rate after further testing. I'm curious to see what your kit came with.

That is a good question. I don't have any way to test the springs that were fitted to my coilovers and there was nothing in the box that indicated what rates were included. I will probably never know.

Originally Posted by TouchMyHonda

Where the review too lol.

I need to put some miles on the car before writing the review. So far I have only put about 200 miles on the car, but I do need to get my initial thoughts written down for you guys. Between motorcycle rides through the San Juan Islands, Tomato battles in Seattle, whitewater kayaking on the Deschutes and mountain biking in central Oregon I have barely had a chance to answer emails, let alone write this up... but it will come!

Originally Posted by Matt Andrews

You worked hard to give the community as much detail as it seems you knew how. That's great. But I'd urge everyone to not make a product decision based on the nick nacks that come in the box. The KW's are in a completely different league than these 3rd party rebranded units. I'm sure they will get the job done for the average enthusiast. I know not everyone wants to pay $2k for a set of dampers. Just keep in mind that after tires, dampers are the 2nd most impactful thing that can change the way your car works.

Stiff does not equal high performance. grip does. And grip comes from quality damper valving that is matched to a spring rate that allows the tire to stay in contact with the ground as much as possible with as little change in force applied to the tread as possible to keep from shocking it loose.

Good luck in your selection folks. learning what works for ones self is half the fun.

I assume that anyone buying D2s, K-Sports, BCs, Megans, etc, are buying them primarily for daily driving and looking good. I only included photos of the KWs because I had them laying around and thought that people might be interested to see the differences that are obvious to the naked eye.

Originally Posted by chulooz

Try comparing dyno plots between the D2s and KWs instead of just looking at them.

Streched 19s and slammed Its not a VW, you car actually had decent performance at one point.

Who is running stretched 19s? Hehe... those are 17s, dude. Just because I have D2s mounted and the car slammed right now doesn't mean that it is irreversible. I'm just playing around with parts that I paid for out of my pocket on a car that I also paid for... so let me have fun and quit your bitchin! (By the way, you don't have to ALSO insult VW enthusiasts to make some friends here)

Originally Posted by Matt Andrews

Modifying a car is to ones personal preference. to be clear, I'm not bagging on the guy's decisions. Just trying to help educate so people can make the most informed decision they can. He took a lot of time to provide a write up based on the knowledge he had and his evaluation criteria.

Most people will never take their car to the track. So they may not need or want to best performance parts for their car - they want it to look a certain way, or "feel" like its a performance improvement. That's totally fine. Hell, a lot of people won't like my car, because I put little thought into how it looks. I only care about how it goes. Neither is right or wrong.

Thanks Matt! I think that the majority of FR-S/BRZ owners won't be using their cars for competition. I am trying a brand that I have never heard of and will use this topic to provide a longish-term place to critique and analyze this particular product. I am not trying to sell the coilovers, nor am I urging anyone to run out and buy these over KWs or another product intended for true competition. Always welcome to everyone's opinions and expertise -- the more information posted here the better that others may make an educated decision on what is best for them.

[TouchMyHonda]

Are you the dos equis man

[DarrenDriven]

Haha... I am if you are sending me free beer.

[chulooz]

Originally Posted by DarrenDriven

Who is running stretched 19s? Hehe... those are 17s, dude. Just because I have D2s mounted and the car slammed right now doesn't mean that it is irreversible. I'm just playing around with parts that I paid for out of my pocket on a car that I also paid for... so let me have fun and quit your bitchin! (By the way, you don't have to ALSO insult VW enthusiasts to make some friends here)

Sorry, I read 19 and said 19. And to clear the records I dislike the whole VW low and slow scene when it comes to making a car 'perform'. Do as you want and Ill comment as I want.

[DarrenDriven]

fair enough, chulooz.

[No Limit Motorsport]

Originally Posted by D1cker

Man look at the stroke on that KW!

Also D2 is another BC/Fortune/Stance style coilover right?

I wanted to touch on the Taiwan coilovers for a second.

D2 is a manufacturer, D2 makes coilovers for KSport. They also do some other private label stuff.

BC is a manufacturer. Largest of the Taiwan suspension manufacturers. They do private label coilovers for MANY big companies.

Stance I am not sure where they are made. I am told neither BC or D2 make them.

Fortune are made using a combination of parts they pick and choose, in addition they have certain parts made specifically for them. They than spec and assemble the product by hand in the USA. Sort of a premium, personalized "cheaper" coilover. You do pay a price for this service, about $150. This extra spent many not be worth it, if you are just going to lower the car and drive it on the street.

It takes a lot of resources, R&D, certifications, and money to build suspension, therefore their are a lot more coilovers BRANDS than their are manufacturers. The brands have the coilovers manufactured to their specification. Nothing wrong with this really, its how a lot of this industry, and the world is.

-------------------------------------------------
This part is my opinion, so take it for what it is.

As far as them not being motorsports level coilovers that would be open to interpretation, but you will find these brands of coilovers on lower level cars that win the racing series's throughout Asia. Are they AST/Ohins/Moton/JRZ/KW Clubsport? No, but they can perform really well if setup properly. They can be a cheap weapon for the guy who drives on the street 95% of the time and likes to do HPDE's, time trials, and time attack a few times a year. In my opinion the KW V3's are too soft for motorsports use (but make excellent street coilovers).

I used to hate on the Taiwan coilovers too, but they really have come a long way over the past 5 years.

[TouchMyHonda]

^ This. Also if you are in with the in crowd, and know this type of information... its like a curse.

[Matt Andrews]

Originally Posted by No Limit Motorsport

This part is my opinion, so take it for what it is.

As far as them not being motorsports level coilovers that would be open to interpretation, but you will find these brands of coilovers on lower level cars that win the racing series's throughout Asia. Are they AST/Ohins/Moton/JRZ/KW Clubsport? No, but they can perform really well if setup properly. They can be a cheap weapon for the guy who drives on the street 95% of the time and likes to do HPDE's, time trials, and time attack a few times a year. In my opinion the KW V3's are to soft for motorsports use (but make excellent street coilovers).

I used to hate on the Taiwan coilovers too, but they really have come a long way over the past 5 years.

I think that is fair. A couple clarifications I would make -

referring to high quality dampers as "race" dampers is a bit of a misnomer. Just because the valving has a high degree of precision and control just means they work well - doesn't mean they are a "race" damper. KW v3s are a great example. And so are the soon to be released AST 4150 (disclaimer: I've tested these, and may appear biased) I have set track records on junk dampers before - it can be done, but probably isn't advised.

The Taiwanese companies you refer to may have come a long way in the last couple years but my concerns are as follows:
1. Common parts bin: several cars share the same damper, with a different screw on mounts. People call this "preload adustment", but a properly designed damper doesn't need this - period. Its marketing fluff to cover an economies of scale decision. The problem with this is that while it might FIT, it doesn't work optimally for every chassis. suspension stroke, valving, etc are dependant on the wheel rates, etc unique to each chassis.
2. marketing features - not real world adjustment: many of the dampers mentioned and I have driven have lots of adjustment knobs...that do basically nothing. I've seen this on track, as well as on the shock dyno.
3. quality control or consistancy - I have admittedly not tested dampers or their springs in about 3 years. But when I did test the aforementioned manufactures, you couldn't get multiple shocks to produce the same damping curve, and the springs they used did not actually reliably measure to the spring rate they were labeled for. When all 4 corners act differently, it is impossible to set a car up optimally.

So. I'm not suggesting everyone needs to go out and spend $2-4k on dampers. But I am suggesting that the cost of these "cheap" kits is not a good value for performance. If you aren't going to compete in your car, you don't need threaded bodies to corner balance your car. If I had $1k to spend on a set up, I'd buy a high quality spring (hyperco, Swift, KW, or maybe the ones being made specifically for this car, etc) and I would get a quality set of dampers like a bilstein when they are released. You won't have any of the fancy adjustment knobs (which I would argue don't actually change the shape of a damping curve like they should), and you wouldn't have ride height adjust-ability, but how often are you messing with that anyway?

You'd spend less money, and you would have a better performing car.

everybody's got 2 cents. Sorry for giving you more than that.

[Circuit Motorsports]

Originally Posted by No Limit Motorsport

I wanted to touch on the Taiwan coilovers for a second.

D2 is a manufacturer, D2 makes coilovers for KSport. They also do some other private label stuff.

BC is a manufacturer. Largest of the Taiwan suspension manufacturers. They do private label coilovers for MANY big companies.

Stance I am not sure where they are made. My feeling is BC makes them, but I could be wrong.

Fortune are made using a combination of parts they pick and choose, in addition they have certain parts made specifically for them. They than spec and assemble the product by hand in the USA. Sort of a premium, personalized "cheaper" coilover. You do pay a price for this service, about $150. This extra spent many not be worth it, if you are just going to lower the car and drive it on the street.

It takes a lot of resources, R&D, certifications, and money to build suspension, therefore their are a lot more coilovers BRANDS than their are manufacturers. The brands have the coilovers manufactured to their specification. Nothing wrong with this really, its how a lot of this industry, and the world is.

-------------------------------------------------
This part is my opinion, so take it for what it is.

As far as them not being motorsports level coilovers that would be open to interpretation, but you will find these brands of coilovers on lower level cars that win the racing series's throughout Asia. Are they AST/Ohins/Moton/JRZ/KW Clubsport? No, but they can perform really well if setup properly. They can be a cheap weapon for the guy who drives on the street 95% of the time and likes to do HPDE's, time trials, and time attack a few times a year. In my opinion the KW V3's are too soft for motorsports use (but make excellent street coilovers).

I used to hate on the Taiwan coilovers too, but they really have come a long way over the past 5 years.

Stance is made by another company altogether, I think they are made in China or Korea, I can't remember off the top of my head.

I personally think the BC Racing sets are going to be a better buy over the Ksport/D2. I havent had a chance to check out the Fortune auto stuff in person yet.

[FML]

I'm looking for a set of coilovers that will allow me to lower my car more than it is currently on eibach springs. My budget is around $1000-$1500. Are there any coilovers out there that ride like stock but allow you to lower the vehicle 2-2.5 inches? I've heard the KW v3 ride really nice but it seems like way too much money for someone who's not tracking his car.

[DarrenDriven]

@FML - This is a topic for specific questions/answers about the D2 or K-Sport coilovers. You need to post your question as a new topic in this forum area. Thanks.

[FML]

well I guess I didnt word my comment corectly then . will the D2 or K Sport give me the type of ride quality I'm looking for?

[jamal]

Definitely not.