KW Suspensions

[Marcoose]

Anybody down with KW Suspensions? Thanks.

https://www.kwsuspensions.com/produc...-35220087.html

[KennyP]

You dont need edc delete kit if you have obd to usb cable and can do some coding... There was a coding guide i used to code adaptive suspension out. Basically code edc option to off status on some modules.
Other than that i had to unplug a few connectors in ecu box and that was it..
Saves around 300 eur or so. EDC cancellation kits arent always reliable. Sometimes they dont work. At least thats what i read.. They basically fool the computers that adaptive shocks are still there. Sometimes it works, sometimes you can still get errors. I think its better just to code them out.

And KW does have sales... often mark like bmw or audi based sale campains. They are often on sale in spring. I got mine during a spring sale when all v1,v2,v3 kits were discounted. V3 got the most off.. higher end product = bigger discount. I ended up paying 1800 eur for my kit including shipping. Thats without edc modules.

Because of such a large sales campain KW got a lot of orders and as i ordered mine at the end of that campain (end of may i think)i was way down on the order fulfillment list. So i had to wait for 2 months for the kit to arrive. Got them like at the end of july and installed at the beginning of august. That was a damn long wait.

Otherwise.. build quality is top notch... Adjustability is great, but takes time to set up to your liking. Prefer softer settings... Once set up i really dont play with the settings anymore.
Stabilizer bar link connection on shock body is made of thicker metal than stock so one of my links nuts came loose after a week of driving and made noise.. after tightening that its been great.

Kit does initally sag. About one year after install i raised ride height 5mm in the front and 10mm in the back to get ride height back where i wanted it. After that it has not sagged any more and keeps its height.
Also noticed that these kits have some run in period. They may feel stiff at first but mine seems to have softened a bit with time.
Im not talking about 1000km run-in. It takes longer.... 7000km or so maybe.

[Marcoose]

Thanks, Kenny.

Do you like it? Recommend it? Is the ride comfortable? Hard?

Marc

[KennyP]

I do like it... I think its plus is that you just buy one suspension kit and if you dont like something about it then you can adjust it. You can read as much as you want about other owners experiences with the suspension kit, but its still very subjective.

I decided to get v3 basically because i did not want to ruin the car with some track oriented ultra hard setup and then be stuck with it..

Buying coilovers is like buying a "pig in a bag". You really dont know what you are exactly getting until you have them installed and go for a drive. Every person is different, so are the road conditions in their area. You cant really take others words as 100% truth. With coilovers that are not adjustable if you dont like it, you would have to uninstall that setup, sell it, buy another setup and try again. I did not want to do that. In my area there arent many Z4s around to sell a used coilover kit to anyway. I bump into another e89 z4 on the road maybe once a year, if im lucky. So if i buy anything im probably stuck with it. So my thought was that if im going aftermarket i would get something thats higher end, has good reviews and if its adjustable in multiple ways i could tune it to my liking and i wouldnt have to change my coilovers out if i did not like the ride. Do it once but correctly was the idea. I did look at Ohlins and Bilstein aswell but liked KW V3 a bit more. On this forum there were a few owners who praised them aswell. Dont see them being active here anymore but there are some old threads on this forum if you search for them.

Additionally what i liked about KW V3 was that BMW itself sold BMW M performance coilovers as an option for M2 in their dealerships. These BMW coilovers where basically a rebranded KW V3 in BMW M colours and some extreme adjustment settings left out for warranty reasons. So you could basically go and order a brand new BMW M2 with coilovers already installed from dealer, include them in your lease deal with warranty.
Good enough for BMW then probably good enough for me...

I installed V3 using recommended factory settings that are pretty much in the middle of the adjustability range.
Was great on smooth roads, stiffer front axle settings improve steering and turn-in. But on ruffer roads it was not good... front was too stiff over bigger bumps.. on really ruff roads it was untolerable... And some roads in my area are awful and often unavoidable.

So i started to change settings... softened compression a bit then drove on these settings for a few weeks then changed them again. After changing settings like 4 or 5 times it started to feel ok on ruffer roads. i did lose some sharpness in steering by softening front compression and rebound. But its not bumpy anymore. Front axle now takes bumps, compresses and glides over them without transfering it to the body of the car. Steering is still great. Same or better than stock. Steering was amazing on stock KW settings though.

I dont really remember my exact settings... i have some older posts on this forum where i did get into specific settings a bit. It was about 2 clicks softer from stock settings all around. but there were some small variations between axles.
I could go even softer but i did want to keep some of the sportiness aswell.
Was looking for something similar to sport+ on m adaptive suspension. Maybe a bit softer than sport + .

Finally after setting up the shocks there was still a small issue of rear getting really stiff at bigger bumps. I think as i lowered the car and after it sagged even more there wasnt enough travel for the suspension to do its job.
After raising the car,(5mm front and 10mm rear) it went away and it doesnt have such an abrupt stop to suspension travel anymore.

After that i have been happy with my setup and have not seen a need to change any settings anymore.

Even friends i have given a ride have said that its not hard at all and quite nice.
For me there are some smaller vibrations on old ruff roads that have like steps in it... that could be dealt better with.. but thats minor picking. Stock suspension would have issues on such a road aswell.

In the future i am thinking about m3 control arms and maybe stiffer stabilizer bars.

In conclusion: Love the setup. Great quality, seem to be robust and last for some time. And if they would fail you can have them rebuilt which is not an option on stock adaptive shocks.
Not really for someone who wants out of the box solution as you have to play around with settings for some time to get it where you want it to be. Adjustability range seems to be wide.

Not easy to change settings on the fly though. Front rebound is easy, front compression you can do without lifting the car but it would surely help.
Rear rebound you pretty much have to lift the car and maybe remove the wheel to change settings. Rear compression you can change without lifting the car but still its better if you do. It isnt as easy as you would think is what im trying to say.

[Marcoose]

A million thanks, Kenny.

[proboner]

How do you like your H&R springs on stock shocks?

[Marcoose]

For spirited drives on Skyline, 84, etc, yeah, it's the bee's knees. For everything, else, it's far too aggressive. I would not recommend.