[John Hennessey]

Here are some comments, observations and recommendations with regards to KW suspensions and these cars:

1. You guys are driving 4100+ lb sedans and station wagons.

2. No matter what you do in terms of suspension, sway bars, etc. you cant make a 4100 lb car handle like a race car.

3. Suspension feel is subjective. what feels good to one person may not feel as good to the next.

4. What does the KW offer? Make your big heavy car drive and feel like a new Z06? Nope sorry. What it does do is: Allow you to properly lower your car while having improved spring rates and shock dampening. Who and how is this determined by KW? Well they are a pretty large firm with excellent testing resources including the autobahn and Nurburgring. these guys have been tuning bmw and porsche suspension kits for over 10 yrs.

5. so when the kit comes out of the box all of the engineering is already in the product.

5. what about setting your rebound adjustments? well my suggestion is to put them right in the middle of the setting. dont monkey around with this unless you are an experienced track rat and you know what you are doing.

6. also, i would lower the car no more than 1.5 in. in front and 1.25 in. in rear. Always try to have the front .25 in. lower than the rear. adding this "rake" will give you better high speed stability. works on just about any car.

7. alignment spec - this depends on a few things. do you want maximum performance and are you willing to live with increased tire wear?

maximum performance and dont mind buying tires more often: have your tech give you 1.0 deg. neg. camber in front and 0.50 deg. neg. camber in rear. camber adjustments on these cars is somewhat limited so you may not be able to get that much neg camber. but the more neg. you can get the better for best performance. set front toe at 1/16 in. OUT and rear toe at 1/16 in. IN. set caster at full forward.

dont want to increase tire wear and not trying to set new track lap records: go with the factory spec alignment.

8. all cars should be properly aligned after changing out the suspension.

it should also be sais that the factory suspension is pretty good. are the kw's better? in my opinion - YES and for a number of reasons:

1. my subjective feel for one of these cars with the KW's is that it feels more sports car like. more bmw like where i feel more communication from the chassis and i just like the overall feel of the car.

2. lowering center of gravity is always good.

3. kw's are very well made and from a quality standpoint are a much better product than what comes on the stock car.

lets face it, most who want to do suspension mods are not racers, dont plan on running in the one lap of america this year, etc. most guys just want a lowered, better looking car with a better feel and improved handling. KW's do this whether or not you can subjectively feel it.

ok, well thats my 2 cents. some opinions may vary. oh and dont conclude anything about KW in terms of what motor trend said about the GS car. i think it has been said that they got their kit on at the last minute and that there were some issues on installation, etc. so dont let that magazines test results truly reflect how the kit is supposed to perform.

happy new year!