KW V3 Coilovers Released for FR-S / BRZ

[blu_]

Originally Posted by RYU

Who said anything about a war... I've been on forums far too long my friend.

The mods should delete all of these for being

Sorry everyone.

I was just joking m8. Like Dave said, intelligent critical discussion should be welcomed.

[Matt Andrews]

Originally Posted by RYU

Matt, you don't come off like a shock snob at all. At least to me. I also appreciated your questions on the RS*R thread. Hoping to hear back on that.

I've spent a good amount of time researching some of the low cost coilover offerings. Admittedly, there's a lot of junk to have to wade thru. I also agree that many of the cheaper Japanese offerings may be more suited to their smooth streets and tracks and also agree being able to dial-in some droop would improve ride quality on the street hence, 0 (or negative?) spring load. In any case, I eventually settled upon a set from BC Racing using Swift matched springs. This option comes with a revalve job if needed and your choice of spring rates for Swifts. I'm not saying these are better than the KWs but for roughly $1000-1300 (not sure how much the FRS/BRZ version will be) they seemed like the best unit I could find where it provided ~80% of the performance at 50% of the cost. I feel that since they are assembled here in the US at their facility in FL they may have better control over QC even if ever so slightly.

Have you had any experience with this particular coilover? Would appreciate a PM if you feel this is OT.

I've had limited exposure to them. I've driven 2 cars with them, and some of the suspension engineers I know have disected them as they were sponsoring a car they were working on. I personally wouldn't put them on my car, but if your budget is $1k, then they might not be a "bad" option if you are insisting on an "adjustable coilover". However, if $1k was my budget, I wouldn't buy an off the shelf coilover. I'd likely buy a non-adjustable entry level bilstein shock and a groundcontrol sleeve or simple lowering springs. I just don't think that the adjustment knobs on the less expensive shocks really do anything to the damping curves. Bilstein makes a really quality damper and even their non-adjustable ones are servicable so you could match the valving to the spring rate if you really wanted to.

[Matt Andrews]

Blu-

AST is almost done, if not already done with their FR-S damper jig. One of my old crew guys works for them. I haven't talked to them yet, but I'm pretty interested as well to try them on this chassis. I'm not 100% sure yet, but I think I'm going to put together a blog and document modifications to my car as well as lap time effect at socal tracks (with GPS data). Not sure if I have the time, but I think it would be fun to see the progression like that.

Andrew- I 100% agree with isolating adjustment on dampers. I've never been really happy with car set up when compression and rebound were both effected by knob clicks.

[Ishii Motors]

Got a set of KW's in today.

Not going to get into what everyone is talking about, but thought everyone would like a look at them.

Ishii

[kanundrum]

Thats awesome. Let us know how they are compared to stock. I honestly don't know if this car needs suspension

[RiskyTrousers]

Originally Posted by Ishii Motors

Got a set of KW's in today.

Not going to get into what everyone is talking about, but thought everyone would like a look at them.

Ishii

Thanks Ishii!

Do you think you can put them on a scale for us?

[Matt Andrews]

interesting. they've evolved their damping adjustment "knobs". Used to be you had to have a special toothpick looking thing to get to the bottom adjuster...

[Ishii Motors]

Ok, so we just got to play around with the KW's a bit.

To start, I just installed them using the factory strut tops.
The installation went very smooth as this car is easy to change out the suspension.
2nd these have all proper mounting for the ABS wires. So they fit in like stock, no funny buisness.

The adjustment capabilities are great. It does take a bit to get the proper balance between the 2 adjustments but after they are set the handling is excellent!

Super smooth as well, at the adjustment level I have them at it is not a harsh ride at all.

Now, because I'm new to this car I can't comment much about how these feel compared to other brands. But from stock to what I just experienced it was a big improvement and deffinately reccomend the KWs

BTW. These are about 8lbs lighter than stock.

Ishii

[igorot]

do you know how much clearance is gained in the front possibly?

[ultra]

Do they give you an put-of the box setup for bump & rebound?

IMO the toughest thing about v3s is getting the bump & rebound dialed in since they're double adjustable. The KW recommended setup is usually a good starting point until somebody comes up with a a better setup.

[phm14]

I was considering the KW V3s until I googled "KW coilover problem", and found that KW has had some CS history I'd rather not deal with. I had Ohlins DFVs on my last car and was very satisfied. I've also had many years experience with Bilstein products in both on and off road applications, and never had one fail. Durability is as important as performance for me, as sending off your suspension for premature failures is a big PITA, and a pain in the bank if the manufacturer doesn't back their product.

[Matt Andrews]

I wonder what the rest of the story is on the customer service. I've never had problems with kw. Wonder if it had to do with the reseller, and not the manufacture...

[fatoni]

Originally Posted by gearheinz

ive installed, track tested, dialed in a few different brands of coilovers for a few reputable drivers. time attack and drift.

supention ive worked with:
Kei Office
Tein
HKS
RSR
Zeal
KW

out of the box with standard settings they prefered KW. After a full day of testing they really preferred KW!

here is a short write up on KW headquaters
http://www.superstreetonline.com/fea...r/viewall.html

you wont find a BC, DG5 etc.. headquarters, as they are mostlikely made in taiwan and assembled by 10 yr olds.

im no suspention expert, just sharing what info i have. just my opinion..

obviously...but seriously, naming brands isnt really telling us much. speak to actual products and on which vehicles and then maybe some of what you are saying will have importance

[Esoteric]

Thanks Ishii. Nice pics!

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My personal experience has shown KW to nearly always be a good choice. They do a very nice job on bump damping out of the box that works very well with max performance street tires.

For 100% street use, or DE/dual use, I have had loads of good feedback with KW systems on many types of cars.

We used a set on our E36 race car a few years back to fit the budget and it turned out to be competitive in BMW club racing with only a change in spring rates!
We upgraded to JRZ RS and that was clearly better, but still- I haven't yet found a widely available system that is as well sorted out of the box for the same money.

In a similar price range... Bilstein (track valved, if you can get them for your app) dampers are good, but typically compromise street comfort more than the KWs from my experience.
Bilstein "PSS9/PSS10" series are not nearly as robust as the non adj. Bilstein and not valved for the higher spring rates. Not sure if they will make them for the FT86.