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Old 01-16-2006, 06:51 PM   #7 (permalink)
BBSRT8
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Car: 2006 300C SRT8
Join Date: Aug 2005
Member Number: 3224
Location: San Diego CA
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Posts: 199
Well, I finished installing the KWs and The Hotchkis swaybars about 1:00 PM today (three hours today and three hours yesterday. Not to bad). After taking a little break and rechecking all the fasteners I put the tires back on and took a little drive. I immediately could feel the difference in the ride quality. It was firmer without being overly harsh. I can now "feel" the road much better than I did with the stock setup.

I have the shocks adjusted to KWs recommended settings and I think it should be fine for now. Once I get some more driving time in, I may make small adjustments and see how I like them.

I didn't push the car hard for the first 20 minutes. I just drove it on some roads that I know are a little rough to get an idea how the suspension would react. While it is an improvement over the stock SRT8 suspension, it wasn't a huge one. I may feel different later on as I get in more driving time in varying conditions.

When I decided to start getting more agressive, I was very impressed with the way she now handles. Quick lanes changes were very stable and this thing was staying flat even when taking turns at a fairly high rate of speed (without breaking the law of course). I would have to say that the Hotchkis swaybars are a very big improvement over the stock ones.

I wasn't able to get more than an hour to play with my new mod, but I will experiment some more when I get back on the 23rd (Duty calls and I got to get underway tommorrow).

Some tips about the install:

If you are planning on doing the swaybars (and I highly recommend that you do), save yourself some hassle by buying them now and put them on at the same time that you install the suspension. You will already have most of the steps required to be accomplished done anyway and it would be a pain in the butt to have to repeat all that work later. I am glad somebody convinced me to get them now.

When I got to the part where I needed to remove the coil from the front shock I couldn't find my spring compressor (honestly, I have one somewhere). Thank goodness for the local part store and their free loaner tools. The spring compressor (at least the one I had) was too big to fit on the tightly wound coils of the KW springs. After trying to force it to work and getting frustrated, I figured out I could just adjust the adjusting ring all the way down, install the spring and get the nut on, then adjust the adjusting ring back up. No spring compressor needed!

I also needed to modify the top boot on the front shocks. I had to cut off the lower portion because it didn't fit inside the new coil.

I'll post more info when I get back and do some more driving..
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Roy
Retired Navy
2006 Brilliant Black 300C SRT8
Options - Sunroof, Option Groups I & II, Rear DVD
Added goodies: PPP 426 Stroker and Ported heads/intake, PPP Turbo cam, B&G stage 4 flashed PCM, Magnaflow catback, 3" high flow cats, DUB CAI, Heat TCM, PI 2800 Stall Torque Converter, KW V2 Suspension, Hotchkis swaybars, GSM Mod, 170 Thermostat, Ultimate pedals
Goodies that I want: LSD and DSS halfshafts (Awaiting install), Turbo (Also awaiting install)


Last edited by BBSRT8 : 01-16-2006 at 06:53 PM.
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