Lippy951

I just ordered KW V3 suspension from Darryl Scott at HPA Motorsports. He gave me a great deal on them since I am a Rennlist member and I mention that I saw his company on one of these forums. I would highly recommend giving Darryl a call if you are looking to buy them. Another great benefit from being a Rennlist member, thanks everyone.

Brantley

nice... let me know how you like them. I am on the suspension upgrade path and considering my options.

theedge

Damn, I didnt know they did a discount for Rennlist. Oh well.

Lippy951

I will. I think my shocks are the original ones. They are very bad, so bad in fact I was driving by a construction area going about 20mph and I thought I blew a tire. Everything was shaking until I got on a on ramp and it was smooth road and shaking went away. The only other thing I am going to do is replace the bolts and lock nuts and the strut mounts with OEM ones. My car is an 86 so they are not that expensive. I am still contemplating on KLA mounts, this is a street car so I am not going to put adjustable casters on. Darryl want to see some picture so I will post them as well. I have bee researching this for 6 month. Talked with a lot of people and at the price I got, I could not pass it up. It will be a couple weeks before I get them on. I will let you know.

bebbetufs

Congratulations.

I am installing these this spring. I have some thoughts on the problems some people have reported which I think are worth consideration/ discussing.

The polished stainless steel of the KWs shock bodies is harder and more slippery than the mild steel of the originals. This may be the reason some have reported the camber adjustment slipping and the welded-on pocket for the eccentric washers breaking.

I recommend getting new bolts and washers for safety. as well as sand blasting the jaws of the shocks on the inside and on the outside to create maximum friction and grip on the knuckle and the washers. Ideally the pocket for the eccentric washer should be reinforced by welding as well.

Lippy951

I have heard of these issues as well. I am going to replace all the bolts, washers and nuts. Instead of sand blasting, how about roughing up the surface with emery cloth? Or install external lock washer could be another alternative. My suspension will not be here for another week, then I am going out of town for a week. Shooting for the beginning of April for the install. Let me know how it goes and if you take any pictures, share them.

bebbetufs

Definitely do the sandpaper thing if you can't sandblast them. The reason I prefer to sandblast is because it leaves a more "spiky" surface, but most importantly because the blasting work hardens the stainless which could possibly improve the durability of the "spikes" and help them grip better.

This is in theory - in practice, who knows, maybe adjusting the camber and tightening the bolts is enough polish/flatten the surface again. I'm just doing the small bits I can think of to try and preempt the problem.

thingo

If you are tracking the car you really should reinforce the welded on piece, the load on it can depend on where the eccentric sits, but it is a weak point. I don't think it would be much of a problem on a street car.

docwyte

I had major issues with KW V3's on my S4. Both with the units and how they handled the warranty repairs.

bebbetufs

Not very helpful considering we just got them.
I've heard of some bad experiences, both here and on other forums, but these are the only TUV certified blow-off valved shocks I know of so lets see how they hold up with the precautions I'm taking.
I'm hoping the European branch is better on customer serivice, but I'm hoping I won't have to find out.

Lippy951

Where is this weak point exactly? Anyone have any pictures?

Techno Duck

I remember the thread and the picture but the links are all dead;

https://rennlist.com/forums/944-turb...-review-5.html

https://rennlist.com/forums/944-turb...g-removal.html

The stock struts are rolled around the edges (forming a 90 degree angle) where the eccentric bolt and matching washer press up on, this is what gives you camber adjustment and helped holds it in place. With the V3, this part is a welded on piece rather than rolled. I think the theory was the eccentric nut / bolt, even when torqued correctly can slide on the very smooth stainless strut body when under high cornering loads (IE track use); This broke the welds on the raised section. I cant remember exactly, but i believe the earlier versions of these struts only had a few beads on it. I think my struts (bought around 2010-2011) were fully welded.

Ive been running the V3 on my 951 for about 5 years now; probably have around 10-15k miles on them with plenty of track usage. They are excellent for a compromise street / track car. They are like a 70/30 setup biased towards street. Personally i love them, car handles great on the track and is still quite comfortable on the street.

I did contact KW years ago regarding revalving the rear struts for torsion bar delete; the response i got was kind of a run around... like the guy didn't know what he was talking about and didnt want to be bothered. I emailed KW Germany and got a very detailed response back from them. Mind you, this was probably 4-5 years ago so things may have changed.

thingo

I had to reinforce mine a few times,but as I said it can depend on where the eccentric sits.
That said I still run the front struts, I changed the rears only when they couldn't cope with stiffer springs. My car is mostly a track car but the lost time I had a failure at this point was on a sprightly street drive.

Lippy951

Here are some picture I took around the eccentric bolts. Is the tab that is welded to the shock mount that the eccentric bolts fits into the problem area? Do these look any different than the one you guys have?

bebbetufs

They look the same as mine. I'm considering grinding the off and making a thicker replacement.

Those of you who have had failures. Do they fail on the outside or inside edge?