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Is it me? or do my KW's suck!>?!? hehehe

can someone tell me if the ride of full coilovers change if its Winter time? when i go over bumps and such i get loud bangs when i hit them..... isnt that the job of the shocks to absorb most of the impact???


correct me if i'm wrong please

i paid 1600 bucks for them and right now i think they should be worth about 400!!!

 
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i'm also experiencing some noise in my front driver side when i go over small bumps and or making a turn in a highway exit. this all started last december. i dunno if its normal. the noise is getting annoying now.

how low did you lower ur coilover? what is your dampening setting?

 
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well your riding on 500 lb/in Springs on the back.... of course its going to be a bit rough. also it may be a good Idea to get their upper mounts.....

Just my $.02


Oh ya, just to clarify something..... Shocks dont absorb shocks.... the springs do. the job of the shock (also called a damper) is to control the springs and stop them from ocilationg (bouncing). So if you are haveing a rough ride its the fault of the spring rate not the shocks (though technically shocks do have a bit of influence there too by how they are valved for High and mid speed dampening).

 
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so basically KW's srprings suck???


i got mine adjusted at 1/4 off the softess setting...

 
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No, the springs dont suck. they are possibly to stiff for your application theres a difference.

Of course Hearing loud bangs could be other things too... Like Check your exaust and see if any of the hangers have broken or come loose, also check to see if the exaust and the anti-roll bar are hitting each other.

 
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The other thing to check is torque on the upper mount. The nut in the center of the strut hat should be at 44 ft-lb (double check it, but I think thats right). It isn't uncommon for coilovers to be packaged with the upper mount nut loose, of course this assumes you've got the KW upper mounts. The strut could be loose. Also make sure that you're upper mount bearings are good... especially since theres many reported problems with them going bad. They make noise.
Since you lowered it, some of the clearances under the car change. You change the geometry of the suspension arms, which like Zzyzx said, has been known to cause swaybar/exhaust collisions.
I've never heard of any issue with any KW suspension for any application... so I highly doubt they suck. It may be too stiff for what you want, but they're not shitty coilovers.
Also double check your install and make sure there isn't any loose bolts that are causing something to move.

 
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wow you guys know alot =) i'm sure everything is tight and i did get new bearings for my uppermounts... now does winter and the cold play a factor in the stiffness?

 
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i was suspecting that the noise in the front driver side is the suspension arm hiting on something. however, i check mine already and I dont see any marks of colision. what else could cause that noise? could it be the spring moving around when the car hit a bump? how about the dust boot rubbing the helper spring, which causes the squeeking sound. I was looking at the rear coilovers and I saw this yellowish rub marks on the dust boot. all these are just my inference and I could be wrong. I think the KW coilover are better coilovers.

 
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i dont know maybe its just me... maybe i thought it would ride out smoother than it should be... but it does seem to be a bit rougher than my ground controls that i had with my good factory shocks until they blew?

how low is your ride Jedo?

 
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there is 1 finger gap all around with si rims. yea, it's rough! it used to be zero finger gap until I decided to raise it a little bit because of the rougher ride. i think it got a little better now when i raised it. still have to buy new tires and realign it.

 
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tell me how does ur KW feel? wut year is ur civic?

 
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ya i dont know , this coils seem to be very productive on the track but in city driving they suck hehe


thats my opinion

anywyas i dont think its worth the money though

 
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same here...that is how i feel with this coilover. i think all coilovers are like this though...i like it when i'm driving in the highway. did you have it installed in a shop?

 
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well my friend does this stuff and beleive me he knows more than most shops lol, my coils are jsut really rough and not as smooth as i expected them to be... i mean i've heard numerous ppl who say Teins are awsome....

 
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but i mean i stil ahvent heard any response to the winter issue... because where i live it reaches temperatures down to -30 Celcius (no idea what that is in Ferenheit)

 
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Teins specifically the SS have a softer spring rate, so yes they would give a "softer" ride. KW seems more interested in Performance rather then comfort.

 
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god damn lol, the reason why i bought the kw was for the stainless steele.... should have stayed with TEIN for less!!!

 
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how about the winter issue?

 
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yes!! how about it?? please respond to the ZZyzx

 
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same thing for me, got the kw v2, more noise when the weather is cold or wet. as for ride quality, im on 1.5 turn from soft and i think its ok, as for performace, very very good. i dont have the upper mount yet, might get it soon, the noise could be coming from upper mount area

 
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how is "ok" for you?

liek are you satisfied?

 
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Ok... here's the deal fellas... any self respecting suspension company should offer custom rated springs. In other words, if you think that 350/500 is too stiff, call KW, and see if they'll make a set thats 275/400. They'll probably cost you the price of a set of lowering springs, and they'll fit right into the coilovers. I'm sure the old ones have Resale... you could sell them used to someone else who owns KWs looking to stiffen/reduce the rates on their car. Coils usually just have straight rated springs (which are by nature more responsive, but harsher than progressives) and they're typically a universal length and diameter that fits the coilovers for most of the applications.
As far as it being cold and having an issue... *IF* its only harsh when its very cold out, it could be due to the thickening of the oil in the shock. Not too likely, but possible. If it thickens it'll lose some of its damping ability and may cause the harshness, but the gas pressure inside should keep the effect from getting too bad.

 
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but you know when somethings out in the cold it gets stiffer?

 
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Sell them and get tiens...simple as that

 
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lol how much you think i could sell em for?

 
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Why sell them, Call KW and get a different spring rate. and if you really wanted to you could get the exact spring rate as the Tein SS,

Im sure Glen at KW would be more then happy to work some thing out..

 
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ya i just called them now , glens not there and tom isnt either lol i'm goign to find out tomorrow

 
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thanks for all the help tho... do they acutually make different srprings with different rates? if they did i wonder why they never asked me before hand...

 
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A range of 100 degrees at a relatively low temperature like this won't change the elasticity of metal very much. Its a little bit of material science... I can go into it if you want, but won't right now.

Its just a matter of running a different thickness wire through the coiling machine. Not hard to do, but they do it on a custom basis... its one of those things you have to know about, otherwise everyone will be calling about them, and they'd never get the standard ones done.

 
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oohhh isee thanks so much ..