KWV3 owners, did anyone remove the helper springs?

[Racecomp Engineering]

Yeah what exactly are you doing and what are you trying to accomplish? Do you have pictures of the coilover on the car and a side shot of your ride height?

- Andrew

[x808drifter]

The more I read the more it sounds like the shop doesn't know what they are doing.

[TOPEC]

Originally Posted by iFunner

I’m still new to coilovers altogether but currently the ride is fine but might be a bit soft in front. Should I be worried about not having the helper springs in the front? It will just unsettle if I lift the car up right?

I’m running camber plates from feal coilovers so it looks like this:

those plates will def add stack height to the coilovers, u need to look for camber plates that mount the top of the strut shaft past the shock tower. take a look at these KW clubsport plates



right now u r

a) removing the helper spring to counter act the effect of the added stack height by ur camber plates since its not going as low as u would like
b) by removing the helper spring, the main spring is now too short to be properly preloaded thus going to the max height setting
c) by the sounds of things, u are essentially loosing a lot of suspension travel just to get the ride height u want

id suggest u get proper camber plates and correct the preload/height settings according to KW recommended settings to fully take advantage of the KW V3, or get another coilover setup that is meant to slam ur vehicle at the sacrifice of handling performance. KW V3s are not meant to be slammed.

[wparsons]

Upper mounts came today, put them together. Here's a picture of what they look like set to 25mm drop rear and 28mm drop front (based on measurements for highest recommended setting, which is 20mm drop). There's definitely no pre-load on the rear main springs, and only a tiny bit on the fronts. With the front adjustment all the way down there was still room to compress the helpers more (I adjusted it all the way down to make it easier to get the mounts on properly).

[smg1138]

Originally Posted by wparsons

Upper mounts came today, put them together. Here's a picture of what they look like set to 25mm drop rear and 28mm drop front (based on measurements for highest recommended setting, which is 20mm drop). There's definitely no pre-load on the rear main springs, and only a tiny bit on the fronts. With the front adjustment all the way down there was still room to compress the helpers more (I adjusted it all the way down to make it easier to get the mounts on properly).

That looks more like a 35mm drop based on the fronts. I have RCE T2's and have found 12 exposed threads below the collar equals 35mm lower than stock ride height. That's using the stock top hats which don't add any extra height like a lot of camber plates.

[wparsons]

Originally Posted by smg1138

That looks more like a 35mm drop based on the fronts. I have RCE T2's and have found 12 exposed threads below the collar equals 35mm lower than stock ride height. That's using the stock top hats which don't add any extra height like a lot of camber plates.

I'm basing it purely on the included instructions:

http://www.kwsuspensions.com/extras/...Q/35258004.pdf

It states the max distance between upper knuckle hole and spring perch is 95mm, and the other specs say the minimum drop is 20 mm. I went with 87mm from upper knuckle hole to spring perch.

Not sure if the T2's have the same length helper spring, but if it's thinner then you'd be lower at the same perch height.

All that said, on the higher resolution image I count 16 threads.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by wparsons

I'm basing it purely on the included instructions:

http://www.kwsuspensions.com/extras/...Q/35258004.pdf

It states the max distance between upper knuckle hole and spring perch is 95mm, and the other specs say the minimum drop is 20 mm. I went with 87mm from upper knuckle hole to spring perch.

Not sure if the T2's have the same length helper spring, but if it's thinner then you'd be lower at the same perch height.

All that said, on the higher resolution image I count 16 threads.

Those measurements are specific to the V3 springs and OEM top hats, change either and those measurements are no longer valid.

The T2 springs are much stiffer than the V3, not sure if the length is different but assuming the spring length is the same the car (w/ T2) will sit higher with the same spring perch location, same helper, and same top hat.