Coilover Longevity - KW
Discussion
Morning,
I currently have a BMW 5 (F11).
Because I haven't fully grown up yet and still behave like a chav by lowering my cars at the age of 37, I have fitted lowering springs to the front and lowered the rear using BMW software.
The car looks good when parked - however when driving, the ride is sub-par.
Its ok on straight / smooth roads, but feels like I'm sitting on a prancing horse over undulated roads.
This is purely my fault - it was fine before I had to mess around with things.
Its been around 12 months since I made things worse, its got to a point whereby I need to do something about it.
The wise / correct thing to do would be either put it back to the way it was, or put a traditional spring / shock setup on there - however, as the chav instincts take over and I like my cars to sit fairly low - I'm pulled towards coilovers.
In the past, I have fitted the likes of HSD / BC to previous cars - however I was very impressed by a set of KW V1's my friend fitted to one of his cars a few months ago.
I tend to cover around 15,000 miles per year - mixed urban / motorway duties and was wondering how the likes of KW V1s stack up in terms of longevity.
I've done the whole budget coilover thing in the past and had to bin them after 24 months.
I would like to go for something thats going to do me well for a few years, as I intend to keep the car for the foreseeable.
I know coilover setups dont tend to last as long traditional shock/springs, but Im assuming KW will have a good replacement part service should a spring snap or a shock blow.
Does anyone have any long term experience using the likes of KW V1's?
Many thanks.
I currently have a BMW 5 (F11).
Because I haven't fully grown up yet and still behave like a chav by lowering my cars at the age of 37, I have fitted lowering springs to the front and lowered the rear using BMW software.
The car looks good when parked - however when driving, the ride is sub-par.
Its ok on straight / smooth roads, but feels like I'm sitting on a prancing horse over undulated roads.
This is purely my fault - it was fine before I had to mess around with things.
Its been around 12 months since I made things worse, its got to a point whereby I need to do something about it.
The wise / correct thing to do would be either put it back to the way it was, or put a traditional spring / shock setup on there - however, as the chav instincts take over and I like my cars to sit fairly low - I'm pulled towards coilovers.
In the past, I have fitted the likes of HSD / BC to previous cars - however I was very impressed by a set of KW V1's my friend fitted to one of his cars a few months ago.
I tend to cover around 15,000 miles per year - mixed urban / motorway duties and was wondering how the likes of KW V1s stack up in terms of longevity.
I've done the whole budget coilover thing in the past and had to bin them after 24 months.
I would like to go for something thats going to do me well for a few years, as I intend to keep the car for the foreseeable.
I know coilover setups dont tend to last as long traditional shock/springs, but Im assuming KW will have a good replacement part service should a spring snap or a shock blow.
Does anyone have any long term experience using the likes of KW V1's?
Many thanks.
It’s been a while, but i used to be a KW dealer (10 years ago).
Never had any warranty issues and the INOX coating was genuinely brilliant, I took a set off a car being sold after 3 Scottish winters and they wiped clean.
The ride was always very OEM+ on them, but I would always recommend V2s.
The V3 was better as from memory they were oil filled and not oil and gas mixed.
Never had any warranty issues and the INOX coating was genuinely brilliant, I took a set off a car being sold after 3 Scottish winters and they wiped clean.
The ride was always very OEM+ on them, but I would always recommend V2s.
The V3 was better as from memory they were oil filled and not oil and gas mixed.
KW are a solid brand, but you do need to bear in mind that the V1 is their budget coilover. They do also have a budget budget line marking as 'ST Suspensions'.
Corrosion will be your biggest battle. Coating the lot in AC90 and wrapped in coilover socks should help that.
What brand of springs have you fitted? Sounds like H&R to me.
A set of eibach springs will suit your car/driving much better (but probably won't give you the look you want). Eibach are what I've generally fitted to my road/daily cars (twice to 2 different E61's which I owned previously) as I also haven't grown up yet.
Corrosion will be your biggest battle. Coating the lot in AC90 and wrapped in coilover socks should help that.
What brand of springs have you fitted? Sounds like H&R to me.
A set of eibach springs will suit your car/driving much better (but probably won't give you the look you want). Eibach are what I've generally fitted to my road/daily cars (twice to 2 different E61's which I owned previously) as I also haven't grown up yet.
I have now placed an order for a set of KW V1.
Dispatch date is the 18th of this month - very excited.
Did a few miles in my old Z3 this weekend, I fitted it with a set of MTS Technik coilovers last year - even that thing rides so much better than the F11 currently does, which makes me wonder how I've put up with it for so long.
Will report back in a few weeks in a no doubt elated state talking about how I should have purchased them a long time ago.
Dispatch date is the 18th of this month - very excited.
Did a few miles in my old Z3 this weekend, I fitted it with a set of MTS Technik coilovers last year - even that thing rides so much better than the F11 currently does, which makes me wonder how I've put up with it for so long.
Will report back in a few weeks in a no doubt elated state talking about how I should have purchased them a long time ago.
The postie delivered me a present yesterday.
They didn't last long in the box. Forgot how straightforward it was to replace struts / shocks on the F11, including removal of the old suspension, the KWs were fitted in less than an hour.
As with any coilover setup, adjustments take longer than the fitment!
Due to the previous lowering springs and the rear height adjusted via ISTA, I was already happy with the ride height, so was just a case of taking measurements prior to removal and then matching.
The difference is tangible as expected, probably influenced a lot by the fact the front shocks were toast - at least one of them was anyway (Pushed the damper rod down with very little resistance, then I couldn't return it by hand - so probably wasn't doing much damping, which may explain the front to rear rock when coming to a stop.
Undulations in the road I would previously tend to either avoid / slow down for are now dealt with very well with the KWs.
I would describe them as almost feeling like the factory sport suspension when driving normally, with a few sportier characteristics when pushing on.
At the moment I'm initially impressed, the car feels completely different to drive and has ironed out the main frustration with the car (admittedly my fault in the first place)
They didn't last long in the box. Forgot how straightforward it was to replace struts / shocks on the F11, including removal of the old suspension, the KWs were fitted in less than an hour.
As with any coilover setup, adjustments take longer than the fitment!
Due to the previous lowering springs and the rear height adjusted via ISTA, I was already happy with the ride height, so was just a case of taking measurements prior to removal and then matching.
The difference is tangible as expected, probably influenced a lot by the fact the front shocks were toast - at least one of them was anyway (Pushed the damper rod down with very little resistance, then I couldn't return it by hand - so probably wasn't doing much damping, which may explain the front to rear rock when coming to a stop.
Undulations in the road I would previously tend to either avoid / slow down for are now dealt with very well with the KWs.
I would describe them as almost feeling like the factory sport suspension when driving normally, with a few sportier characteristics when pushing on.
At the moment I'm initially impressed, the car feels completely different to drive and has ironed out the main frustration with the car (admittedly my fault in the first place)
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