What else compares to KWs???

[appletonn]

Well the Bilstein Cups on mine are superb at damping every slight movement on smooth surfaces, but not very good at absorbing the small bumps as Neil describes.

The KW dampers appear to be pooping up in lots of applications these days, not just the Porsche applications. I was talking to a guy who had fitted them to his 993, and felt that the ride quality had improved, even on shorter, stiffer springs, but the damping was now much better too.

KW does appear to offer you a real cake and eat it scenario[]

 

[sawood12]

One of the greatest benefits i've noticed with the KW's is the improved traction and grip. Even with my Conti Sport tyres. which sometimes are like riding on ice, the KW's just seem to make them grip much better. In fact I rarely notice the lack of LSD now as I can pull out of junctions with alot more power now without the inside wheel spinning away and can get on the power so much earlier in bends as the weight transfer as the power comes in is much more controled and doesn't upset the balance of the car.

In my view in terms of priority of mods regarding drivability of your car i'd put KW upgrade above engine power mods. Engine power is nothing without the ability to use that extra power- the KW allows you to exploit more of the horses you have and therefore more of the horses you might obtain as you go forward. It is a very very expensive mod granted (it soaked up almost 2 years worth of my Porsche and trackday buget), but when I look at the cash i've spent on my car in total including he original purchase price I'd struggle to get any modern car that would give me the performance and fun that my 944 gives me. A modern hot hatch may be as quick on accellaration but is not anywhere near as much fun to drive.

 

[morris944s2john]

So KW dampers give a better ride and handling Than original? and they are cheaper than genuine Porsche replacements??

Does anyone have links to suppliers etc where i can check out prices?

 

[MarkK]

Promax in milton keynes supplied and fitted mine last week,as Scott said the improved traction is phenominal,well worth looking into,really want to do a track evening to fully[]

 

[edh]

ORIGINAL: Peter Empson

Nope. Release valves are for girls []

[] That's right Peter - Real men use Leda []

I think KW's are a no-brainer for a road / track car if you can afford them. My Ledas are a bit stiff for road use, but OK for me, and not quite firm enough for trackdays with sticky tyres. There's no way I could justify replacing them & wil probably get them rebuilt at the end of this year - Leda are now just up the road from me.

 

[steve 944t]

I would agree with all that has been said. Superb upgrade. As for suppliers, mine were supplied and fitted at www.rpmporsche.com (a bit far for you probably John).
Also worth speaking to Stuart at http://www.k300performance.co.uk/ (or contact him via the forum, as he is the 968 register sec), very helpful chap - I recently bought a set of powerflex bushes from him (must get around to fitting them soon [])

 

[333pg333]

ORIGINAL: morris944s2john

So KW dampers give a better ride and handling Than original? and they are cheaper than genuine Porsche replacements??

Does anyone have links to suppliers etc where i can check out prices?

I'd be surprised that they're cheaper than stock?? Still even the Variant packs are worth it. Talk is there is now a 'Clubsport' pack with KWs.

 

[Diver944]

ORIGINAL: 333pg333

I'd be surprised that they're cheaper than stock??

I bet they are not far off the cost of M030 including springs. Last time I heard the front struts were circa £400 each, the rears are £100 each and then you have the springs to add too.

KW have recently reduced the price of the V3, it's now around £1300 all in []

 

[Hilux]

the KW's will provide higher grip and traction on poor surfaces, and maybe allow the car to bump over the rumble strips safely

Mine are set (by Promax) with a road/track compromise thats a monumental leap over (probably) old worn out Mo30. The main benefit is that you can have quite a harsh ride but when you meet a pothole or drain cover etc on the road the suspension doesnt even seem to know it was there...............I`ve built fast track/kit car type cars and discussed and experimented with many set ups and I`ll have to say the KW is v v good, not necessarily better than others (for I havent tried others) on a 944 but it is genuinely a must do upgrade. The KW is all st/steel too so no corrosion.

 

[Peter Empson]

ORIGINAL: edh

ORIGINAL: Peter Empson

Nope. Release valves are for girls []

[] That's right Peter - Real men use Leda []

I think KW's are a no-brainer for a road / track car if you can afford them. My Ledas are a bit stiff for road use, but OK for me, and not quite firm enough for trackdays with sticky tyres. There's no way I could justify replacing them & wil probably get them rebuilt at the end of this year - Leda are now just up the road from me.

So are you tempted to change the spec when you have them rebuilt []? When I had mine refurbished after my little incident all it cost me extra was the new Eibach springs which are very reasonably priced.

 

[edh]

Maybe - I don't have rear coilovers, so I'd have to do that to easily increase rear spring rate

I'd like to take a fair bit of weight out of the car next year, so I guess that will also have an effect

 

[Peter Empson]

ORIGINAL: edh

Maybe - I don't have rear coilovers, so I'd have to do that to easily increase rear spring rate

I'd like to take a fair bit of weight out of the car next year, so I guess that will also have an effect

[][][][][][][][][][][][][]

I've been toying with the idea of deleting the torsion bars altogether, you could solve both your problems in one go with that[]

 

[sawood12]

ORIGINAL: edh

ORIGINAL: Peter Empson

Nope. Release valves are for girls []

[] That's right Peter - Real men use Leda []

I think KW's are a no-brainer for a road / track car if you can afford them. My Ledas are a bit stiff for road use, but OK for me, and not quite firm enough for trackdays with sticky tyres. There's no way I could justify replacing them & wil probably get them rebuilt at the end of this year - Leda are now just up the road from me.

On the contrary, the v3's have been developed for the track. The valve mechanism was intended to improve the ride over kerbs and rumble strips - its just a happy added extra that they also make the ride more acceptable on road. Though the issue of rebuilding could be an issue as the KW units will reqiure sending back to KW in Germany with no option for an exchange set.

As to costs- you're looking at £1400 (or £1300 if Paul is right about the slight reduction in price), but that's only half of it as the car requires lowering and to lower the rear you're looking at the thick end of 10Mh's labour plus all the other bits and bobs that will inevitably require replacing while you're in there.

 

[944Turbo]

i think it was tommo who claimed the leda also had a bypass valve dont know if this is correct. Are leda back in business now? The rebuild cost of around £60 a corner was part of the reason i went leda in the first place not been in a kw car yet to compare.

 

[Peter Empson]

ORIGINAL: 944Turbo

i think it was tommo who claimed the leda also had a bypass valve dont know if this is correct. Are leda back in business now? The rebuild cost of around £60 a corner was part of the reason i went leda in the first place not been in a kw car yet to compare.

Yep, I've not used them yet but their details are here: Leda

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Andrew, we are trying to contact you to remove the advertising from your posts but the messages are being bounced back. Is your e-mail address up to date on the forum database?

Please see the "our forums" thread above or the big banner on the forum home page to explain why we have to delete your posts, remove the offending items and we can restore them.

Thanks for your help,

 

[333pg333]

Andrew, what particular setup of KWs did you get? Do you know the spring rates and do you still have your torsion bars installed? If so, how do you determine your effective rear rates? Also what bump and rebound settings do you find are best for the track?
Patrick

 

[AndrewS]

Hi Patrick,

I have the standard Variant 3 package fitted to my car and the rear torsion bars are re-indexed so the rear coil over springs take the majority of the weight of the car (that way ride height can easily be adjusted at the rear too).

I'll need to check with Roger (where the KW was fitted) the settings on my car as I have left them as is since they were fitted last year.

My guess is that the compression (bump) is set to minimum and the rebound is about mid-way, but I'll let you know later.

Regards,
Andrew

 

[edh]

ORIGINAL: sawood12

ORIGINAL: edh

ORIGINAL: Peter Empson

Nope. Release valves are for girls []

[] That's right Peter - Real men use Leda []

I think KW's are a no-brainer for a road / track car if you can afford them. My Ledas are a bit stiff for road use, but OK for me, and not quite firm enough for trackdays with sticky tyres. There's no way I could justify replacing them & wil probably get them rebuilt at the end of this year - Leda are now just up the road from me.

On the contrary, the v3's have been developed for the track. The valve mechanism was intended to improve the ride over kerbs and rumble strips - its just a happy added extra that they also make the ride more acceptable on road. Though the issue of rebuilding could be an issue as the KW units will reqiure sending back to KW in Germany with no option for an exchange set.

As to costs- you're looking at £1400 (or £1300 if Paul is right about the slight reduction in price), but that's only half of it as the car requires lowering and to lower the rear you're looking at the thick end of 10Mh's labour plus all the other bits and bobs that will inevitably require replacing while you're in there.

I think the point is that for a track only car you've got a few options, some much cheaper than KW, but most will give you a ride quality that won't be very pleasant on a road car. KW appear to have solved this. That's what makes them a good idea for a road / track car.

 

[AndrewS]

Hi,

With respect to road suspernsion, there are limited options and I don't know of another solution that provides such a good road/track set-up without being much of a compromise in either application.

With respect to KW, it feels very similar in compliance to the original suspension. However, the improvement (partly becuase its new) are significant and very noticeable.

On the track I would run 600+ lb spring rates with very firm damping using race developed suspension (in my case it was ProTrak on my Porsche Cup 2000 944 Turbo). You simply would not want this on the road. Even 200lb springs would be extremely hard. The KW spring rates are probably lower than that, but possibly not more than M030.

Regards,
Andrew