That's coilovers though rather than the standard shocks and springs with adjustable damping only.

You're right.I misread the title of the thread.It's still a really good and affordable suspension system,though.

So question then for people, just how hard is the KW varient 2.

I think right now I'm looking at:

- KW V2

- KW Street comfort

- Bilstein B6 shocks

If I'm going for coilovers then they will have to be stainless as I do a lot of miles over the winter.

Otherwise it's OEM or just upgraded dampers.

Also what is a typical life of the suspension springs for an Octy II?

Are they still going to be good at 100K or is it going to be noticeable degradation and they should be changed now as they will get weak soon anyway?

The KW Variant 2 kits are a very good option and as said have the added benefit of stainless steel bodies.

Damian @ DPM Performance

Street comforts also have the stainless bodies and have the same adjustability as the V2's, but are comfier

Street comforts also have the stainless bodies and have the same adjustability as the V2's, but are comfier

So can anyone give me an idea of how the V2's on medium/soft and the the street comforts on the medium/firm compare to other cars.

So are the street comforts just as tight as the standard sports suspension or is it a step up on this?

Something that really bugs me, is that I have heard you can't adjust the rebound on the KW coilovers while they are on the car.

That makes the adjustment fairly pointless to me.

So can anyone confirm this is true.

Off the coilovers line, what are peoples opinions on H&R or Eibach lowering springs (30mm max drop) combined with the bilstein B8 shocks?

Ta

Edited 15 August, 201015 yr by cheezemonkhai

I guess a phone call to someone like JKM would answer the question about adjustability on the kw's? Tthey are running V3's on their demo Vrs TSI.

You've got exactly the same problem I had a couple of months ago - lots of choice, and very little in the way of reviews or comparisons to help make your decision.

I had also considered keeping my eibach springs, but replacing my fsd with either bilstein b8 or eibach dampers but I couldn't find any info on how these would feel on the car.. main reasons for going with the weitecs in the end: made by kw who have excellent reputation, recommended by some people who's opinions i trust, will give me the option to have the ride height exactly as i want (not done yet)..

However, having seen how well Alex's car sits with my old eibachs and stock dampers (plus his positive comments about how the stock dampers seem to cope) If i was doing this again i'd seriously consider eibachs + bilstein B4. The B4 is effectively to OE spec, but obviously being made by bilstein i would guess its going to be good quality. When I priced up the B4's a few months back it came to only 236 incl vat for all 4. Thats half the price of the b8.

Just a thought - if you're happy with your current ride height (and your existing springs are not sagging/showing their age) you could keep the OE springs and just replace your tired dampers with some B4s? Cheapest option? Its still an "upgrade" as they're bilsteins? Least risk as they are to OE spec ie you can be pretty sure you're not going to get a ride thats too hard?

HTH.

The V2's and the Street Comforts are adjustable at the top of the dampers, but this means that the backs have to be removed to get to the adjusters. V3's are the same but also have extra adjustment at the bottom of the dampers which you can get to. V1's have no adjustment so you cant get that one wrong!

I really like the way the eibachs work with the standard shocks. I can still throw the car around, but i do feel sometimes it needs to be slightly stiffer. I will have some KW roll bars on soon which i think will stabilise the roll on the corners as the tyres seem to find the limit of the car before the limit of grip.

Street comforts also have the stainless bodies and have the same adjustability as the V2's, but are comfier

Depending on what drop people are after, the V2 may be a better option as the Street Comfort don't go nearly as low though.

Damian @ DPM Performance

Edited 16 August, 201015 yr by Damian@DPM

So can anyone give me an idea of how the V2's on medium/soft and the the street comforts on the medium/firm compare to other cars.

So are the street comforts just as tight as the standard sports suspension or is it a step up on this?

Something that really bugs me, is that I have heard you can't adjust the rebound on the KW coilovers while they are on the car.

That makes the adjustment fairly pointless to me.

So can anyone confirm this is true.

Off the coilovers line, what are peoples opinions on H&R or Eibach lowering springs (30mm max drop) combined with the bilstein B8 shocks?

Ta

I'd say the H&Rs are more suited to the B8s.

Damian @ DPM Performance

Thanks Damien,

I'm not after a big drop, in fact I'd be happy with no drop if I could get the handling a bit more solid with it.

The street comforts seem more my end of things, as while I want the reduced roll and slightly firmer set up, I certainly don't want the rock solid ride.

WRT the B4, it is a tempting option as that would have no insurance issues due to it being an OE part, however I think I might need some new spring as the originals have done 85k and do occasionally seem to allow a bit of wallow and roll (Although that could just be the dampers)

To be honest mate, that's exactly what I'm after too, fixed height 0-30mm drop and adjustable damping that goes from about OEM stiffness to firm.

Dude, not wishing to offend, but damping has nothing to do with stiffness/firmness.......a spring will compress the same amount under the same load at both ends of damping adjustment

Damping, both compression and rebound will affect the speed of the springs movement. Also a damper may have both high and low speed damping circuits for better adjustment/controll

If you dont understand that then I seriously wouldnt mess with your OEM setup.

Folk tend to get adjustable dampers and wind on the damping and complain the ride is hard, it isnt, its just 'crashy' as the damping doesnt allow the wheel to move fast enough.......this is dangerous on the road as the idea of suspension is to keep the wheel in contact with the ground as much as possible and secondarily to control body movement aling with the ARB's

If you dont want to compromise the ride quality but you want to 'firm up' the handling i'd suggest a rear arb and a firmer front arb, you'll get less roll, so a sharper turn in etc but retain some ride quality AND maintain the very very carefully calibrated OEM damping circuits

Dude, not wishing to offend, but damping has nothing to do with stiffness/firmness.......a spring will compress the same amount under the same load at both ends of damping adjustment

Damping, both compression and rebound will affect the speed of the springs movement. Also a damper may have both high and low speed damping circuits for better adjustment/controll

If you dont understand that then I seriously wouldnt mess with your OEM setup.

I'm aware of how damping works and the stiffness/firmness comment was a simple way of putting it, that I thought got the point across.

Part of this may have been a lack of the correct punctuation on my part.

If you increase the compression and rebound damping, the car will appear more `stiff` as the damper will work against the spring compressing and return it to a none bouncing state more quickly.

I'm aware that this isn't a good thing to have it too far like this, hence looking for something that will include the springs and dampers, be a little more firm, but at the same time not compromise or be overly harsh.

Folk tend to get adjustable dampers and wind on the damping and complain the ride is hard, it isnt, its just 'crashy' as the damping doesnt allow the wheel to move fast enough.......this is dangerous on the road as the idea of suspension is to keep the wheel in contact with the ground as much as possible and secondarily to control body movement aling with the ARB's

If you dont want to compromise the ride quality but you want to 'firm up' the handling i'd suggest a rear arb and a firmer front arb, you'll get less roll, so a sharper turn in etc but retain some ride quality AND maintain the very very carefully calibrated OEM damping circuits

Taking the view you have on the suspension, why would I want to play with a very very carefully calibrated OEM ARB and dial in extra properties that are undesireable on a car such as more of a tendancy towards overteer than understeer?

Edited 16 August, 201015 yr by cheezemonkhai

I'm aware of how damping works and the stiffness/firmness comment was a simple way of putting it, that I thought got the point across.

Part of this may have been a lack of the correct punctuation on my part.

If you increase the compression and rebound damping, the car will appear more `stiff` as the damper will work against the spring compressing and return it to a none bouncing state more quickly.

I'm aware that this isn't a good thing to have it too far like this, hence looking for something that will include the springs and dampers, be a little more firm, but at the same time not compromise or be overly harsh.

Taking the view you have on the suspension, why would I want to play with a very very carefully calibrated OEM ARB and dial in extra properties that are undesireable on a car such as more of a tendancy towards overteer than understeer?

if you add a rear arb of the same stiffness that you increase the front arb by the how does that promote oversteer?

By the way, as the octy natrually understeers, a stiffening at the rear to a small extent would help with a touch lift off oversteer and make it much more responsive, if you can take advantage of it with the way you can drive

you've clearly got the arse although i was trying to help and its obvious you dont really know much about the subject in hand.

i'll leave you to carry on

I'm aware of how damping works and the stiffness/firmness comment was a simple way of putting it, that I thought got the point across.

Part of this may have been a lack of the correct punctuation on my part.

If you increase the compression and rebound damping, the car will appear more `stiff` as the damper will work against the spring compressing and return it to a none bouncing state more quickly.

by the way, if you increase the damping it returns to its original position slower not more quickly

and it wasnt punctuation , it was the words that were wrong

Pardon me for helping!

Edited 16 August, 201015 yr by VRsMatt32

WRT the B4, it is a tempting option as that would have no insurance issues due to it being an OE part, however I think I might need some new spring as the originals have done 85k and do occasionally seem to allow a bit of wallow and roll (Although that could just be the dampers)

I would expect that wallow and roll = knackered dampers.

i'd only be changing springs if they are sagging, uneven ride height, badly corroded or you want the car to sit lower.

02p etc.

by the way, if you increase the damping it returns to its original position slower not more quickly

and it wasnt punctuation , it was the words that were wrong

Pardon me for helping!

There is rebound and compression, which can be adjusted separately on some shocks, hence my comment.

If I didn't have the arse before, I sure as anything do now.

So I'll skip your `help`, thanks all the same. I know nothing, you know it all and that's great.

I would expect that wallow and roll = knackered dampers.

i'd only be changing springs if they are sagging, uneven ride height, badly corroded or you want the car to sit lower.

02p etc.

It's certainly one of the options I was looking at, but have never taken a car to the point where it's needed new springs so wasn't sure on how quickly they will sag.

The cars I did take to silly high mileages didn't have shocks and springs, so there were other things like sphere to deal with there.

Edited 16 August, 201015 yr by cheezemonkhai

id say the bilsteins are the ones to go for. easy to adjust as the adjustment dial is at the bottom of the shock. iirc the KWV3 adjustment is at the top of the shock and not exactly accessible once installed.

There is rebound and compression, which can be adjusted separately on some shocks, hence my comment.

If I didn't have the arse before, I sure as anything do now.

So I'll skip your `help`, thanks all the same. I know nothing, you know it all and that's great.

there may well be, but if you 'increase' the damping on either knob it makes it slower not faster

You are clueless mate, get some pro advice

Edited 16 August, 201015 yr by VRsMatt32

there may well be, but if you 'increase' the damping on either knob it makes it slower not faster

You are clueless mate, get some pro advice

Matt - how come this is the second thread I've come across in a matter of days, where I'm noticing a certain 'attitude' in your posts to other members? The rear tyre feathering thread is another. It's really not helpful, to anyone.

The whole forum's known as a nice place to be, where people are helpful and things can be discussed properly. Like this thread. Can we please keep it that way?

Mark - for what it's worth, I'm looking at going down the Weitec Ultra GT route. Gonna try and get a demo of them this week.

Steve

Mark - for what it's worth, I'm looking at going down the Weitec Ultra GT route. Gonna try and get a demo of them this week.

Steve

Be good to hear how you get on with them.

I have to say the street comforts are appealing to me, but then you look at it all and realise the sheer cost of that over just going OEM.

Edited 16 August, 201015 yr by cheezemonkhai

Matt - how come this is the second thread I've come across in a matter of days, where I'm noticing a certain 'attitude' in your posts to other members? The rear tyre feathering thread is another. It's really not helpful, to anyone.

The whole forum's known as a nice place to be, where people are helpful and things can be discussed properly. Like this thread. Can we please keep it that way?

Steve, read my first post, I started with the fact I didnt mean to offend and politely explained that the poster was wrong and a possible solution. I couldnt have been more helpful

He came back clearly with the arse and tried to make out he was right and posted even more garbage which I corrected again and he's getting more wound up because he cant accept that he's not as knowledgeable about it as he might be

If this is the kind of place where folk get upset when they hear the truth when someone tries to help with cold facts then i'll leave you to it. He talked utter rubbish about damping

Same on the tyre thread, if that guy had posted on the main forum I use which has tens of thousands of users he'd have been murdered for being an idiot......i mean come on....not checked tyre pressures and tracking EVER and then complained about odd tyre wear. He'd get laughed out of a real garage if he said that and I was much more polite.

I tried to be nice on this thread but any 'neutral' can clearly see who got upset and who's talking sense!

Edited 16 August, 201015 yr by VRsMatt32

Can I ask that you play nice in here please.

That is all........:wonder:

Be good to hear how you get on with them.

I have to say the street comforts are appealing to me, but then you look at it all and realise the sheer cost of that over just going OEM.

This is what bugs me - you end up paying out a fair wedge of money and still not getting exactly what you want, bar £1300 and full Weitec/KW adjustables

And that's another plus point of the Ultra GTs, being £425 for the full kit. Awesome will also supply Weitec kit, so I could get it bought and fitted in one go as they're only round the corner.

If the setup turns out to be firmer, but still with some reasonable ride quality then I'll get them ordered

As said before, there's absolutely no benefit to me of fixed damping coilovers, as it's the damping I'd want to adjust, not the height

Cheers,

Steve

You've been asked to play nice in post #48, which you've obviously had trouble in comprehending. It looks like the OP has had his questions answered, time to close this.