KW V2 impressions and settings

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by bluedvl11

Hey guys. I had the KW V2's and Hotchkis sways installed about a year ago and I really love them. It made the ride so much more responsive and comfortable and the handling was 10 fold better. It also corrected the bump steer problem. Now a year later I am noticing that it is starting to react when hitting bumps again, the steering wheel wants to jerk when I hit bumps on the highway and the over all handling fells a little loose. I have more body roll in the corners then I did a year ago. What do you think the cause of this is? Do I need to have anything re tourqed or do you think something might have failed? I'm running 22's with about a 1 1/2 inch drop and a 1/2 rake. Alignment is dead on with 0 degree camber. It has a slight pull which I'm sure is due to the craddle but its not bad at all. Any suggestions would be great, thanks!

Point of order please. Changing coils and dampers does not correct bumpsteer. The jarring in your steering wheel is not bumpsteer. Bumpsteer is the range of toe and camber changes that occur when the suspension is bound and rebounds.

The reaction you describe could be a couple of things. The first step is a detailed visual inspection of the front radius rod arm bushes, control arm bushes and lower front damper bushes. Look for cracks, tears and witness marks that would indicate any metal to metal contact.

It is possible that you have a bad strut mount.

It is possible that a damper has failed.

There are a lot of possibilities. Check the bushes and look for witness marks first.

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by joey

Check all your damper settings/knobs. Try tightening up the rebound. Example, if your front dampers are open 1 full turn, try closing them to 1/2 turn open. I have around 20k miles on my KWv2's and the ride is a little more "looser" and not as tight and controlled as it was when they were new. Unfortunately I have my front dampers open 1/2 turn and rears 3/4 of a turn, so I don't have much room to tighten the ride further.

Also, tires may be a factor. As tires get older the ride begins to get sloppy.

Good point. Check your valve settings.

Did you measure your ride height when you installed you KWs? Has the ride height changed?

[dms]

As Pete mentioned, installing lowering springs/shocks, does not improve bmp steer. In fact, it makes it worse. The only way to fix it is to relocate the steering gear. Pedders has a bush set for the rack that is easy to install and very reasonable.

Also, I am really surprised of your cambers. They are way to positive, especiall for a performance front end. Traditionally when lowering the LX, the cambers will go more negative. O degrees camber is not a good camber for performance driving. Can you list or post your full align specs for us to see? You may need to go with some camber control arm adjsuting bushes to get the angles more negatively aggressive

Also I aggree with Pete. a thorough inspection is in order, especially since you said it has changed. Lots of bushes in the front that can cause some of your issues

With mileage comes potential wear. We have seen torn bushes at 20-25K miles. We have seen lots of movement of the rer cradle assembly due to weakening of the rear cradle bushes. This does give the feeling of excess body role, but in fact is causing the rear suspension to move as much as a 1/2 inch more than the body does.

So get your suspension checked out. go to a pedders dealer and get it chacked out free

mike
dms

[Moebius44]

So what do you recommend for alignment values on an LX platform set up for road course acton?

[dms]

Originally Posted by Moebius44

So what do you recommend for alignment values on an LX platform set up for road course acton?

Only after you have a totaly compliant suspension system would I do the following specs. Also please note: there are very serious variatins in the sheet metal on the LX and being able to get these specs may or may not be available:

Front cambers -1.0 to -1.2
front casters in the 10 to 11 degrees

rear cambers -1.5 to -2.0

mike
dms

[/SRT/bluevader/SRT/]

hey guys i have an 07 c srt8. i just recently installed mopar coilovers, no hotchkis sway bars yet. my first ? is are the kw's the same as mopar coilovers. second ? is are they truley better than the stock srt8 suspension. i notice at lower speeds they are a lot better, a lot less body roll. but at higher speeds i feel like my stock srt8 suspension handled better on turns. are the mopar coilovers better than the stock srt8 suspension???

[/SRT/bluevader/SRT/]

and what is the difference between the kw v1's and v2's.
i would appreciate any help.

[dms]

Originally Posted by /SRT/bluevader/SRT/

hey guys i have an 07 c srt8. i just recently installed mopar coilovers, no hotchkis sway bars yet. my first ? is are the kw's the same as mopar coilovers. second ? is are they truley better than the stock srt8 suspension. i notice at lower speeds they are a lot better, a lot less body roll. but at higher speeds i feel like my stock srt8 suspension handled better on turns. are the mopar coilovers better than the stock srt8 suspension???

One thing that Pedders hs found, and it started with the GTO, since the GTO is an Aussi built vehicle, that in fact oversrpinging shocks and struts are in fact detremental to handling. The reason is directly related to the size of the tires and the weight of the vehicle.

We have done some tests on MEISTER's sweet ride. We took the KWs off the front, and I am not sure what shocks he had in the back, and put our system on it and in fact set up the suspension for a drag race/street performance orientation. My preliminary roadtesting showed me without a doubt, that his vehicle now handles better than with his KW coil overs, and in fact his ride comfort is significantly better. He can launch his car with ease. I have the picture of his mutliple 100yard burnouts that he is noted for.

So we will discuss this further once I have a few more test cars done. But it is possible, since you have a lot of non complaint movement on all 4 corners, that your situation could be related to too aggressive of a setup. Just a possibility,

mike
dms

[joey]

Originally Posted by /SRT/bluevader/SRT/

and what is the difference between the kw v1's and v2's.
i would appreciate any help.

The prevailing theory is Mopar coilovers are manufactured by KW.
The Mopar coilovers are essentially the same as the KW v1.s

The difference between KW v1's and v2's is the damper rebound can be adjusted on the V2's. If you like very little rebound/bounce you can tighten the V2's down with an adjuster knob.

Below is a pic of the adjuster knob. The knob is placed on top of each strut/shock. If you have an extra $300 or so, get the V2's. I have found after 20k miles the struts/shocks have become a little more bouncier/looser over time. With the V2's you can tighten up the ride to your liking.

http://www.kw-gmbh.de/kw_upload/Einbau/ea68577504.pdf

[Clean300C]

And here I feel left out, I got an allen wrench not a knob! Seriously though my 300C was ten times better when I first installed my V2's and Hotchkis sways. Now she has turned into a body roll nightmare. I can feel the rear shift in the turns; when I launch the whole cradle shifts and makes a horrible THUD! noise... to the point I put the torque management back in the tranny with the programmer because hard shifting was doing it. I have a clunk in the right front corner that only gets better when it is above 65 degrees outside... the list goes on.

All of these issues and then some are because of destroyed bushings. My car is spread out and in a hundred pieces right now and every Pedders bushing is going in. A couple grand worth. Besides this cure your car will too suck, for good. There is no way to fix it otherwise. With my C I am slightly annoyed at how crappy the bushings are stock, especially the cradle... but hey it's a luxury car right? Now if I coughed up the extra bucks and waited six months (I got my C in 2006 when you had to wait) for an SRT8 only to find the same problem I would be PIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSED. Anyone who reads this and drives hard on aftermarket shocks be prepared and save your money... your time of body roll is coming.