I was just wondering if anyone is using kw suspension or have had experience with it. Reading articles about makes it sound like its pretty good, but i have no idea if it is true. For those that have know anything about, what do you think of it? How does it compare to other coilovers?

 

I helped a fellow VW owner adjust his and from the test-drive I was able to take, I found that the spring rates are fairly soft, but the shock valving is well-matched. KW uses Koni inserts for their dampers, but his KW-branded Konis seemed to be valved quite differently than my OTS Koni-branded setup. They were generally softer throughout the adjustment range, but were still well-matched to the soft springs. The hardware quality seemed comperable to my new H&R coilovers.

The part numbers on the springs looked suspiciously like H&R labels, so it seems that the KW stuff is made up of revalved Koni dampers and H&R springs, with hardware bits from H&R or Bilstein. It looked fine and worked well on the street; I can't comment on serious track worthiness except to say that if you accept the soft rates, the spring and damper system was well-integrated and felt well-controlled, stable and decently responsive.

-Adam

 

I've been helping a customer using them on a future H1 or NASA unlimited car (hasn't decided). THe spring rates are a bit soft and he will be trying stiffer, but despite the softer rates, he was faster after a little tweaking on his first day out. The softer springs also allow you to be a bit more aggressive with the curbing if that's your style.

Time (and tuning) will tell how well they really work, but they seem a decent value for the money.

C_A_T

 

With KW, can adjust height without losing shock stroke? LOL, forget what thats called.

 

Some of the KW suspensions were KONI in the earlier days but I heard this week that their newer applications likely are not. At first, KW was simply a reseller who specced their own version of springs and dampers and sold them under their own name. Their cheaper kits used dampers made by a lower end Spanish company and their higher end stuff was made by KONI. I was told that KW specced everything themselves and the KONI Engineering team didn't care for it particularly but that is teh way it goes. I have heard that maybe KW has bought a small German damper company now and makes their own dampers. I don't know if they still outsource their springs or if they bought a spring company too.

 

I have KW VariantII coilover on my m3 and they are awesome. Definatly worth the money.

 

KW is a well-known name among German auto owners. Very good quality.
They have 3 different variants. V3 is the one with height/rebound/damping adjustable.

http://www.kwsuspension.com



Modified by genxguy at 9:42 PM 12/14/2003

 

They still outsource their springs. Not the best quality. I would rather have a GC/Koni setup. Easier to swap rates and what not.

Ryan

 

Does anyone know how they are compared to JIC, Tein, or Zeal.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by awalk2005 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Does anyone know how they are compared to JIC, Tein, or Zeal.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I find that JIC, Tein and Zeal all perform just about the same on car show carpet

Ryan

 

they at least manufacture all thier own shocks, not sure about the springs. check out this article from vwvortex:

http://www.vwvortex.com/artman...shtml

CHRIS

 

I had KW springs/shocks on my 2001 Ford Focus and loved 'em. They sat perfectly and performed well while giving a good ride. No expereience with them for Civics, though.