YoungerThan944

I found a great deal on KW V3 Coilovers, and need some information before I jump on it. I've searched for over an hour, but can't find what I need to know.


How much can you lower the car with the KW suspension?
I'd use the setup with Rennbay GCK.

Do you have to leave the rear torsions in?
I was hoping to delete them when I eventually went to a coilover setup.

Do you need camber plates to mount them or can you use stock strut mounts?


The car is mainly street with some autocross and the occasional track day.

Thanks for any help, this decision is stressing me out like no other!

theedge

Is this great deal at a store, or someone selling used ones?

roman944

there is a vendor on Audizine who just quoted me @ $2300 for the V3's

jpk

I installed them in my 968 about three years ago. To answer your questions:

You can lower the car quite a bit. Stock ride height is around 3/4 of the way up the collars, so theres about 2 inches you can lower it.

To get the full range of rear adjustment, you will need to re-index the t-bars. I turned mine back two splines on the outer, and that seems about right.

The rears work with the torsion bars, so you need to leave them in. If you got significantly stronger springs than they ship stock, you can eliminate the t-bars. The springs they ship are something like 180 pounds/inch; not nearly stiff enough to work on their own.

You don't need camber plates, but you'll want them to get anything more than the 2 deg. or so you can get with the stock eccentrics. If you do get camber plates, make sure you get aluminum hats for the coilovers - the plastic ones KW gives you are OK with the stock spring mounts, but my racers edge camber plates chewed them up pretty quick.

I'm at the point where I'm thinking about stiffer springs, something more like 350 or 400 vs the 285 they ship. The front/rear balance is pretty good, so I'd keep the same ratio and do like 225 or 250 for the rears. If you do mostly street driving, the stock rates they ship are pretty good; they tighten the car up nicely, yet it's still pretty easy on the bumps.

DVC

Search the 944 turbo forum. I have posts that contain the answers to your questions.

YoungerThan944

Thanks for the info jpk, it's a big help.

I just ran into your posts on the turbo forum before you posted that. Great information, thanks!

One answer I couldn't find: is the car drivable with the supplied springs when fully lowered? The roads I drive aren't always the smoothest, but they're not bad.

theedge - it's $1250 for a brand new setup - will post links in a while. not sure if it's a scam...

Mark944na86

If used, it's probably a good deal (but do your homework, there won't be a warranty etc.) If new, probably a scam.

YoungerThan944

It's from a reputable seller on ebay. Anyone bought from txautoplex before?

INURGRL951

You can leave the T-bars in but re-index like the fellow said above but if you go over 180 pounds on the coilovers I would suggest to deleting them because there is a combination of the coilovers plus the t-bar its not just what the coilovers are. If you are getting them from a store tell them that you are leaving you t-bars in and they will set it up for you. I got mine for horsepowerfreaks and they are quite knoweldgeable in this brand of coilovers.

YoungerThan944

Alright thanks for all the help. I'm going to make the purchase and hope for the best, I can't turn it down. Check it out - looks very legitimate to my novice eyes. I'm guessing the price was listed $1000 less than it was meant to be, and will have to be honored through ebay terms. If anyone else wants to jump in, here's the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=270542617327

Mark944na86

No, but the seller does look legit.

Make sure if you decide to buy that you get qualify for all the buyer protection you might be eligible for -- eBay buyer protection, credit card fraud indemnity etc.

He might be a grey marketer -- importing these directly to the US rather than going through the "official" importer. That way, he wouldn't be bound by the US "minimum advertised price" restrictions and so on that official distributers are. The price he's selling looks closer to the UK pricing (after exchange rate) than the US or Euro pricing.

But there's nothing wrong with grey market stuff if you know what you're buying -- you might have a bit of a problem getting warranty service in the US, but apparently that's the story even if you pay the US list prices. So you might as well get it for cheap -- what exactly would you be paying more for in this case anyway?

YoungerThan944

It does say that there is a warranty on the ebay auction, but that's not something I expect to be true for this price unless it was priced wrongly. I was planning on eventually doing a used set of coilovers to save money anyway, so it's tough to say no to a deal that's cheaper than going used (even if it is grey market). Defective parts are my biggest worry, but I'll take the risk.

Mark944na86

One thing that worries me is that for that price, he's also offering FREE worldwide shipping by USPS.

The cheapest USPS shipping option (Priority Int'l) for that parcel size and weight (I know what it is exactly because I shipped one of these recently) is $232.61

Priority Mail® International
Max. length 42", max. length plus girth combined 79" 6 - 10 Days $244.85 $232.61

That's making the deal look just a _little_ too good to be true... and you know what they say about that.

Good luck with it. Awesome deal if it all pans out.

But as the Spartans might say: "If..."

YoungerThan944

Wow. That's a pricey shipping option.

I'm seriously hoping it's a mispriced item.

Not comfortable with the purchase, but it's a risk I've apparently chosen to take...

Mark944na86

The package is 19kg, or about 42lbs. That's what you'd expect from US -> Oz.

E&OE ("Errors and omissions excepted") is the standard disclaimer used to limit vendor liability for pricing advertising errors. If the guy really was going to take a bath to the tune of $1000, and realised it before he shipped you the goods, it's not likely you're going to see the item.

Fortune favours the brave.

But then again, there's also the one about fools and angels...