New KW Coilover Kit for E30 M3

[pauliecarzz]

Interesting, i wonder how many other owners feel that way.

Do you know what their previous setup was?

I know one guy had H&R Race and Ground Control at one time. No Idea on the other Gent, met him at Sig and mentioned that he was NOT happy with the KW ride quality.
I myself have tried Coilovers, H&R sports and Race.
If I had to choose one I'd go with the Race over all of them.
Currently have a set of Custom-Made Springs with Bilsteins That took a long time to develop through trial and error But up till now IMO they offer the best ride and road handling of anything on the market. It was an expensive experiment but worth it to me.

[Westopher]

I don't own a set.

I didn't quite mean it literally haha.
When Alex (the KW rep) posted up on FB with sets for sale though, they seemed to fly off the shelves (I don't necessarily mean literal shelves lol) so I expected to see lots of reviews. I'm guilty of having piles of parts sitting beside the car as well though, so I can't really criticize. I'd really like a set, but I can't decide if 2k is really an amount I want to spend to adjust my ride height 25mm from where it is now, when I could do many more important things to the car.

[pauliecarzz]

I didn't quite mean it literally haha.
When Alex (the KW rep) posted up on FB with sets for sale though, they seemed to fly off the shelves (I don't necessarily mean literal shelves lol) so I expected to see lots of reviews. I'm guilty of having piles of parts sitting beside the car as well though, so I can't really criticize. I'd really like a set, but I can't decide if 2k is really an amount I want to spend to adjust my ride height 25mm from where it is now, when I could do many more important things to the car.

I think you answered your own question. "Important Things First". Worry about suspension after the important things are addressed.

[mwagner10702]

Currently have a set of Custom-Made Springs

Probably the best of all the solutions IMO. In a perfect world I'd like factory ride quality with about a 25mm lower ride height. I suppose damper valving AND proper shock length / travel would be a large part of a "factory ride quality solution".

My next suspension experiment will be H&R Race Springs (already on the car) and Koni Sports (8641-1210SPORT) in the front and Koni 8042-1134 in the rear. The rears are intended for the 1994 - 2004 Mustang and have a shorter shock body than the standard rear Koni Sports (80-2522SP1). In addition - and this is the big thing - the rebound is adjustable from the top of the shock vs. the standard Koni shock where the shock has to be removed to be adjusted.

I had a long discussion with the folks at TC Kline about the rear shocks and their recommendation was to go with the 8042-1134 Koni (it is also double adjustable) as they felt it was a better match with the 570lb rear H&R Race Spring. They felt the standard 80-2522SP1 did not have the proper valving for that spring rate.

- Mark

[pauliecarzz]

Probably the best of all the solutions IMO. In a perfect world I'd like factory ride quality with about a 25mm lower ride height. I suppose damper valving AND proper shock length / travel would be a large part of a "factory ride quality solution".

My next suspension experiment will be H&R Race Springs (already on the car) and Koni Sports (8641-1210SPORT) in the front and Koni 8042-1134 in the rear. The rears are intended for the 1994 - 2004 Mustang and have a shorter shock body than the standard rear Koni Sports (80-2522SP1). In addition - and this is the big thing - the rebound is adjustable from the top of the shock vs. the standard Koni shock where the shock has to be removed to be adjusted.

I had a long discussion with the folks at TC Kline about the rear shocks and their recommendation was to go with the 8042-1134 Koni (it is also double adjustable) as they felt it was a better match with the 570lb rear H&R Race Spring. They felt the standard 80-2522SP1 did not have the proper valving for that spring rate.

- Mark

Mark
Thats Pretty Much what I did, I had the Factory springs tested and increased the rates by a fraction. I lowered the car a bit more than 25mm but played around with spring pads to get the car to sit to my liking. I just had 2 more sets made with one set being .4375" taller. I just couldn't stand the harsh ride that the coilovers provide. These cars don't need to have such stiff suspensions for common road use. Surprisingly besides the fantastic ride the car handles perfect and dips into the turns better than stock.

[mlytle]

saying "i had coilovers" or "the harsh ride of coilovers" is completely pointless.

M3's come stock with a coilover suspension. coilover just means the coil is wrapped over the damper. :-)

a suspension with an ADJUSTABLE SPRING PERCH is generally refered to as a coilover. that setup can have any spring rate and damper combination. soft, hard, normal, street, track, race. suspensions with adjustable spring perches are not "harsh" unless someone didn't match rates with the desired application. the big advantage of the setup is that a huge selection spring rates and heights are available off the shelf, without having to have custom springs made.

[MtlAlex]

saying "i had coilovers" or "the harsh ride of coilovers" is completely pointless.

Correct me if im wrong but everyone was referring to coilovers as the available coilovers option in the after market.

ei: i got a set of GC coilovers vs me who simply got bilstein shocks with h&r springs.

[HANDBLT]

Probably the best of all the solutions IMO. In a perfect world I'd like factory ride quality with about a 25mm lower ride height. I suppose damper valving AND proper shock length / travel would be a large part of a "factory ride quality solution".

My next suspension experiment will be H&R Race Springs (already on the car) and Koni Sports (8641-1210SPORT) in the front and Koni 8042-1134 in the rear. The rears are intended for the 1994 - 2004 Mustang and have a shorter shock body than the standard rear Koni Sports (80-2522SP1). In addition - and this is the big thing - the rebound is adjustable from the top of the shock vs. the standard Koni shock where the shock has to be removed to be adjusted.

I had a long discussion with the folks at TC Kline about the rear shocks and their recommendation was to go with the 8042-1134 Koni (it is also double adjustable) as they felt it was a better match with the 570lb rear H&R Race Spring. They felt the standard 80-2522SP1 did not have the proper valving for that spring rate.

- Mark

How did this experiment go? I am picking up a car with Koni's (the front you mentioned and the DA rear as well). They are mated to stock springs at the moment but the ride height is appalling. The previous owner lived on an unpaved mountain road so I get the stock spring/ride height.

Just wanted to see if the H&R Race with the Konis worked out or should I just go for the KW V3? Not really into shipping off the spindles and waiting for them to get modified. If it comes to that I'll be sending them in to MCS. I have them on my race car and they are very compliant on the street when I do drive it around town/mountains.

T

[mwagner10702]

How did this experiment go? I am picking up a car with Koni's (the front you mentioned and the DA rear as well). They are mated to stock springs at the moment but the ride height is appalling. The previous owner lived on an unpaved mountain road so I get the stock spring/ride height.

Just wanted to see if the H&R Race with the Konis worked out or should I just go for the KW V3? Not really into shipping off the spindles and waiting for them to get modified. If it comes to that I'll be sending them in to MCS. I have them on my race car and they are very compliant on the street when I do drive it around town/mountains.

T

Short answer is the Koni experiment was a complete success for me.

Putting cost and logistics (shipping and modification) aside MCS would be my first choice. Since you have them on your race car I wont go into the reasons why they are the absolute best damper solution you can buy. If you can afford it, do it.

If KW is the direction you want to go, you dont need to send them your spindles. Their kit includes pre-built housings with spindles AND Ackerman arms. Bimmerworld has the V3 (double adjustable) kit in stock - $3,964.00

Regarding the Konis; I was really impressed with the double adjustable rear damper when combined with the H&R race springs. The race springs benefit from higher levels of compression adjustment that you cant get with the standard Koni (80-2522SP1). For all-around street driving I dialed in about two or three clicks of compression on the rear dampers which really helped smooth the ride compliance. Having said all that, you are still on a 570lb rear spring so the ride will be on the firm side.

The combination of H&R race springs and standard front Konis (8641-1210SPORT) with the TC Kline rear Konis (8042-1134) also makes for a great part-time track day setup when paired with other uprated suspension pieces.

As I mentioned in my previous post, an additional benefit to the TC Kline Koni damper is the rebound adjustment is on the top of the shock shaft, so you can adjust it without taking the damper off the car like you have to with the standard rear Koni damper.

The KC Kline DA rear damper is the only one I would use with the H&R race springs. Full stop.

It took me a couple of iterations before I found the right rear spring pad for my liking. I believe I ultimately went with a 15mm thick pad to raise the rear to where I wanted it.

So, bottom line is I would whole-heartedly recommend the H&R race spring and Koni / KC Kline Koni combination if you are looking for a BUDGET solution that works well on both the street and track, but . . . . . MCS is the end-all, be-all of damper solutions and would be my choice over everything else if I was to do it all over again.

HTH,

Mark