KW variant 3 coilovers

[cgfen]

KW coilover Variant 3 /// Coilovers with State-of-the-art technology from motor sports

Why don't these get any love in the U.S.?
They are only a few hundred dollars more than PSS10's AND offer both bump and rebound adjustability.

Sir Colin of Ninemeister gives them a big thumbs up.

Did you consider buying them for your street / track car and end up buying Bilstein instead?

Why?

~ 18 months ago, I was pretty far down the path of buying the KW's. Then my eye was turned by the PSS10's for a "good deal".

Now I'm pretty close to selling the 10's to a local friend and trying the KW's.
I'm not sure if the KW's will be demonstrably "better", but they will be different and i like to fiddle.

plus, i'm a sucker for purple anodized aluminum

cheers

Craig

[Trophy]

I have the KW Clubsport's on my car and absolutly love them, the the improvement over the PSS9's that were on the car before is amazing.

[pantera]

Craig, the Bilstein's have been in the US for a long time and have been the standard for sports/track cars. Recently though company's such as JIC Cross and KW have come on the scene and offer coilovers that equal or surpass Bilstein. In my opinion KW hasn't aggressively marketed their product here in the States. I also believe they are not as big as Bilstein. They do have a huge following in Europe though.

Steven, I'd like to hear more about the clubsports. Is your car a dual purpose car?
If so how do you like the spring rates for the street?
How are they on the track?
What made you go the KW route?

Dan

[Trophy]

I have been very impressed with the KW's overall, the car is mainly a track car with occasional street driving, however the spring rates and ride comfort is actually quite good. We dont have the best roads here in Calgary (freeze thaw issues) and the car behaves very well, even at track shock settings. I am sure if the shocks were softened it would be even better.

I have a friend that has been using the KW's on his project cars he has built for European Cars magazine and have been very impressed. There will be an article in an upcoming European Car mag about the Clubsports that were put on my car with lap time comparisons etc (can't let all the details out yet)

If you have any other ?'s PM me.....

[earlyapex]

I have head very good reviews of KW and wouldn't hesitate using them.

[cgfen]

Originally Posted by Trophy

I have been very impressed with the KW's overall, the car is mainly a track car with

If you have any other ?'s PM me.....

I'll also PM, but i'm writing here also.

Could you describe the ease / pain of setting compression and rebound while the wheels are on the car and the car is on the ground.
It seems compression is easy to set by inserting a tool into the bottom of the strut and "clicking about".
Setting rebound seems a bit more challenging.
Please tell us how you set rebound?

Thanks

Craig

[andybullen]

I've had kw coilovers on one of my vw's for over 10 years, stainless, still perform and adjust perfectly!

[douglas751]

I had the KW suspension installed a few days ago, but have not had time to really experiment yet, and I have only adjusted the system one time.

You must jack up the car and crawl underneath to change the bump compression, the rebound compression is easy in the front, on top of the strut. The rear is more difficult because if you do not have a long slender arm, you will need to remove the heater blower and the airbox. I can just barely reach in there, scraping up my arm a bit.

The ride is fine at the firm settings with 16" wheels here in Michigan where the roads are terrible. I will soften it a bit now, but if I had to live with it the way it is now, I would be OK as it is still better on sharp bumps than my stock springs and Bilstein HD shocks. The ride is set on the high side to avoid geometry issues which also helps with the ride quality.