Is KW user friendly?

[Big Dave]

Also.
ALL of the 06 World Touring cars had them fitted.
Alfa,
Seat,
Chevy,
BMW,
etc etc...
Well KW did sponsor them.....

I dont think the Leda 3ways were around when i fitted mine, I seem to think they are pretty new to the market,,,thats the 3ways,,, NOT Leda....
I do know that EMC are big believers in the Leda,s...+ they run in the Porsche champs....

 

[Fen]

Patick bought the custome 2-way race set-up, Karl. That might explain the camber plates.

Tom, I am using KW as is Big Dave on here, plus loads of people on the 968UK forum. A couple of people with M030 plus other experience have been in my car around Silverstone or Oulton Park to comment. Paul S (Diver944) is very well placed as he had a pax session at Silverstone and the guy who broke the Leda is his mate.

 

[944turboS]

Based on one dry session at Oulton I'd say it doesn't cause tyre wear issues and it felt extremely planted with the extra camber (not that it was bad before, but it would push wide whereas after adjusting it the front only washed out if I came into a tight corner far too hot.

I was lucky to get some passenger laps with Fen at Oulton & I was left with exactly the same impression as Fen, a great setup & a worthwhile improvement over my M030 equiped Turbo.

 

[Guest]

I was thinking more in terms of who is using this on a 944 Turbo on UK roads and tracks.

 

[Fen]

The 944 Turbo kit is identical to the 968 one.

 

[Guest]

Fen,
it was a delayed reply mate!! I know the 968 is the same
I am struggling to get info out of KW but I suppose it is still holiday time.
I intend to use the car for 12 months on road and track days then probably go racing
so I need to be able to get revalves and rebuilds done fast without fuss.
How good is aftersales at KW?

Cheers
Tom

 

[wjk_glynn]

ORIGINAL: Fen
Patick bought the custome 2-way race set-up, Karl. That might explain the camber plates.

Ahh... interesting.

ORIGINAL: Fen
Paul S (Diver944) is very well placed as he had a pax session at Silverstone and the guy who broke the Leda is his mate.

If you happen to know of any other references (e.g. specific forum threads, etc.) to Leda's failing, I'd be curious to hear.

ORIGINAL: Fen
The 944 Turbo kit is identical to the 968 one.

I would have thought the same thing... but KW's website (in the US) shows two different kits. It has a setup for the 944 (p/n 35271010) and a seperate setup for the 968 (p/n 35271009). I've no idea why they are different, but I've placed a tech support call to KW and will let you know what they say.

ORIGINAL: tommo951
I am struggling to get info out of KW but I suppose it is still holiday time.

Same here in the US... but that's not unexpected given the time of year. I've got a tech support call in asking a bunch of questions (including a question on what the differences are between the 944 and 968 setup) and I'll let you know when they get back to me.

Karl.

 

[sawood12]

Another benefit to KW is that they are manufactured from Stainless Steel which is a benefit for anyone using the car on the roads all year round. Not sure about the garish colour scheme though!

Fen - you've got your car set very low, how much lower than the standard turbo M030 is the KW set up at its highest? I don't want to lower my car that much from standard- also because it starts to prematurely wear the front wishbone ball joint.

 

[Guest]

Scott, if you go too low you have to change bottom wishbones as the roll centres go out.
Stainless steel shows quality I agree. Why is there so little info available on KW though?
Diver (Paul) what was the circumstances around your friends Leda snapping? I know Beverley Dixon the MD of Leda and would like to ask her if they found the problem behind the fault. I have 2 cars currently on Ledas
I have raced heavy cars like Jags on Leda's without problem before so really surprised to hear about a shaft sanp
I must say Protrac Shocks look really good if a good deal is available!

 

[Fen]

Scott my car isn't as low as it looks; the 968 skirts make it look much closer to the ground than it is. You could make a KW car look like a 4x4 if you wanted to though as you have to reindex the rears to get it even to standard height with the helpers and if you use flat top mounts you gain an extra 1 1/2" of height on the front also.

Dave with the broken Leda posts occasionally on here, Tom. It was the end that broke off at the weld. There is a pic somewhere; I think on here.

 

[944Turbo]

I have the cheaper leda and have been quite pleased with them, single adjustable, no coils on the rear, no knocking, comfortable enough on the road and firm enough if you wind the knobs round on trackdays. Most of my miles are on the road, and trackdays are not a race. Leda can rebuild them. They are going rusty though, and knwing a bit more about the KWs I might go for them if doing it again. Seems there are lots interested - group buy?
Tony

 

[sawood12]

I would be interested in a group buy. I spoke to K300 Performance today making general enquiries and the price he quoted was £1400 but would give a 10% Porsche owners club discount. I am looking to take the plunge around April/March time as the wife has blown my upgrade budget on a new 3 piece suite in the sales!! I'd rather sit on deck chairs and have KW suspenstion but I couldn't talk her into that.

I would want to set the ride height as close to my current height as possible as I have had some minor scraping incidents on bad country roads - although the harder suspension might sort that out. I also don't want to wear out my wishbone ball joints prematurely.

 

[Hilux]

don't have the high-speed bypass valve.

Thats specifically why I`m going KW

Semi or near track settings will jar/damage your spine, car, springs, dampers if you hit a big bump or pothole so KW cleverly include this facility

 

[TTM]

I'm not sure why dropping ride height by about ~1" would lead to ball joints wearing out much quicker than with normal ride height, at least with shock absorbers of decent quality - that is way better than the worthless original Boge ones.
Last time I looked at the wishbones on my turbo (it is lowered more than 1") the pins made about a nice 90° angle with the wishbones. How can this be that bad for wear when shocks travel is minimal, meaning the rotation of ball joints will be minimal as well ?

 

[sawood12]

I'm not sure why but it is a common problem on lowered S2's and turbo's. I think it only applies if you lower the car significantly so an inch or even 30mm might be OK, but much more than that and by others' experiances you will run into problems.

 

[Hilux]

I would be happy to be 75mm clear under any car but no lower on the road.

Its from experience that even a stiffly sprung car lower than 75mm can take chips off sumps [][]and have to get passengers out of the car and straddle sideways the entrance speedhumps at Bedford Autodrome [&:][&:]

Riding lower needs more presence of mind though

Leda can rebuild them. They are going rusty though

Copper grease the threads, although it picks up grit it doesnt seem (in my experience) to affect the coarse thread and makes altering a doddle. Even s/steel picks up cr*p from the road and then clogs the threads if not greased or thouroughly cleaned

 

[Guest]

ORIGINAL: Hilux

don't have the high-speed bypass valve.

Thats specifically why I`m going KW

Semi or near track settings will jar/damage your spine, car, springs, dampers if you hit a big bump or pothole so KW cleverly include this facility

Ledas have an adjustable high speed bypass too, as do protrac and motons
KW may be user friendly but their UK distributor is as hard to get hold of as the scarlet pimpernell !![]

 

[Diver944]

ORIGINAL: tommo951

Diver (Paul) what was the circumstances around your friends Leda snapping?

He had a number of fitment problems over a number of months, and Beverly was very helpful (so was Karl from Racers Edge who I believe had some input in to their design), but eventually one of the rears snapped whilst he was at the Nurburgring. Customer Service was very good and Beverly did all she could, I'm sure it's detailed on here somewhere, his userid is Davyboy. Eventually he gave up and fitted 968 CS Konis with Coilovers and has been more than happy.

For the KW I would call Stuart at K300 who is a supplier and knows the ins and outs of our cars as he is the 968 Secretary. My only experience of KW was passengering with Fen round Silverstone and whilst it was obviously much much firmer than my M030 with less lean and hardly any diving under braking he could still drive straight over the jagged edge rumble strips and that bypass valve just soaked it up [8D]. If I did the same thing with my softer M030 I think the car would shake itself to pieces []. On that limited basis I reckon it would be the perfect compromise to soak up road surfaces like ours yet be as stiff and taught as you like on a smooth track

 

[Hilux]

On that limited basis I reckon it would be the perfect compromise to soak up road surfaces like ours yet be as stiff and taught as you like on a smooth track

Agreed and having (briefly) driven Fens thats what clinched it for me as it felt `planted` but not jiggly on the road.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your input guys, I have a thread running on Rennlist on this subject http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/showthread.php?t=322335&referrerid=25713
It is interesting that in US there is a huge popularity for Leda (an English product) and they seem to have difficulty getting in touch with the KW importer same as I do in UK. I know Stu off 968uk is a distributor but not taking anything away from Stu but the least the importer could do (and they are only a few miles away from me too) is reply to my emails and phone messages!
Thanks Big Dave and Fen for your KW experiences. Am I right in assuming that the KW have separate canisters for adjustment if you go for their triple adjustables?
I am also in the market for a Kokeln rear beam for torsion bar delete if anybody knows somebody selling one.
Thanks for your assistance guys!!