Sub'd!

 

Sub'd

 

That stance tho

Initial thoughts

 

Nice man! Come bonus season ill be rocketing these myself. 1 question, do you know where the shop set the dampening and rebound?

 

I don't unfortunately. I can ask them though. They did tell me that they have room to go harder and softer on both compression and rebound so I imagine it's probably somewhere in the middle. I'm running a but more compression in the rear to get rid of the car wanting to squat so hard under acceleration.

 

Still liking this setup?

Can you post some pics of the adjustment knobs on the dampers tops? Curious how easy it is to change settings. Thx!

 

Yep! Still loving them. You can get to the adjustment knobs for the front by removing the little covers that are next to where the windshield wipers come out. The rear ones require that you pull the carpet back. I'll get some pics the next time I have it up on a lift.

 

I just received this setup and hope to have them on the car before an time attack event next weekend. I loved my KW's on my FRS so I'm really anxious to see how they perform on the RS.

 

Ordered! Mainly based on your review . I’ll tag on my review after some street and track miles on the setup. Looking forward to it! Thx again.

 

Just got mine installed, not digging the huge drop in the rear. Just not enough adjustment there. I'll be going back to stock springs for next year's autocross season, but IMO KW should have added another inch to the rear springs.

 

Do you have a picture? That's a huge consideration for those who want to daily their car.

 

You really find the rear drop to be huge? The tire still follows the contour of the wheel well with "tucking in". For my eye, it looks perfect. Can you post a picture?

 

You really find the rear drop to be huge? The tire still follows the contour of the wheel well with "tucking in". For my eye, it looks perfect. Can you post a picture?

View attachment 242378

Is that max height on the rear?

 

They do make a product to raise the rear if you're too low. The fronts can be raised heigher.

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-kw-suspension-parts/coil-spring-spacer-15mm-priced-each/65030045~kw/

 

If OP is already at min drop height adding a spacer will raise the car but will be trading off suspension "droop" travel. I'd check with KW before raising height....1/8" probably no problem but more than that and maybe compromising setup.

 

Nice smooth ride

Nice review video. You said some what expensive. :disgust: So how much for the KW V3s and then how much to install and adjust ? Total cost= ? This might be the way to go

 

Nice review video. You said some what expensive. :disgust: So how much for the KW V3s and then how much to install and adjust ? Total cost= ? This might be the way to go

I got a deal from the shop that I work with. In general I'd say that you should be able to get the coilovers installed, corner balanced and suspension alignment for right at 3k.

Just depends on what labor rates are in your area.

 

Not sure that the V3s are the best choice for a Time Attack car. You'd probably be served running the club sports instead of the V3. That said, the car handles better now that it did stock. It's definitely more neutral than stock. What I felt was confirmed by one of our local driving instructors. Car is more compliant than stock and more neutral. Definitely not a push-mobile. I'm running the compression in the rear a bit higher than recommended to improve traction.

From my vantage point, there's no downside to the V3s. The car handles and drives better than stock in every way.

Just my feelings though.

 

Street class in SCCA only allows 2-way adjustables thus the V3's fit the bill. I had club sports for my Street Touring class FRS and loved them although, for autocross, they were overkill and ultimately, did not bring any noticeable improvement in performance over the V3's I moved from. If I did track days, the CS's would have shown their advantages. The other drawback to club sports is no lifetime warranty. I'm thinking KW doesn't make CS's for the RS anyway. Compared to the stock shocks, the V3's will be a huge improvement. Our local TA series is really overgrown autocross. Slightly faster speeds and larger courses. I'm not bashing this set up at all. So far I'm very happy. I just wish there was some additional height adjustment in the rear. The fronts are fine. There is no way my 18" x 9.5" rims and 265/35 tires will fit in the rear now without damaging a fender. I think there are other rear spring kits available to deal with this if I decide to go that route and they would allow for swapping springs as well. I really look forward to running this setup this weekend. The weather looks great and I get to play with shocks!

 

I've had these installed for a day now and am very pleased with the ride on the street; not more pogo! Overall, the ride is a generally firmer given the firmer springs and the damping is superb.

Tomorrow I'm headed for a track day to see how they do there.

For now, I'm leaving the settings as they came from KW (Front Comp 5 Rebound 9, Rear Comp 4 Rebound 9) as that feels very nice.

Ride height is at minimum drop 30mm/35mm.

BTW - The coil-overs come with the electronic damper cancellation kit. Unfortunately, CJ Pony Part Website made it seem like you have to buy the cancellation kit in addition to the coil-over kit. That is only needed if you get someone else's coil-overs that does not provide the cancellation kit.

 

Did you ever play or move from these settings, or did you find this set-up as optimal?

 

Would you clarify your damping settings? Are they clicks from full soft or clicks from full stiff? What springs are you running? Thx.

 

Clicks are from full firm. Springs are those that come with the kit from KW.

 

Wow, that is extremely soft compression settings, even for the street. Did KW recommend those settings in their install instructions or were they pre-set?

 

4 clicks is soft? Only 3 clicks left to full firm !?!

Yes, that is the preset and in the instructions

 

Oops, I meant to say rebound not compression. That would seem to allow quite a bit of roll under hard cornering. Interesting that KW selected those setting. Not that Ford's setup is correct but they run much higher rebound vs compression, especially at lower shock travel speeds.

I'll be interested in your feedback after you get some more time/miles on the setup.

 

Since the KW set up is completely different than the factory system I think it's a bit hard to to make any reference to number of clicks on the KW's to the Ford dampers. Until we can see dyno plots of each setup overlayed we can't say one has more rebound force than the other at "x" number of clicks. Dampers can be designed (and almost always do) to have more rebound force than compression or vice versa. My point being, don't get hung too up on number of clicks. As sleepless has noted, this is a great setup and so far, I love mine as well. BTW, I was finally able to get my rear ride height to an acceptable level for me which is about a 1" drop thought the use of some homemade spacers for the rear spring adjusters. Not ideal, but no rubbing on my 9.5" wheels (+38) and 265 RE71's.

Sorry for the horrible phone pic.

 

Had several fun sessions at Pacific Raceways yesterday and am very happy with the KW "factory" settings. Overall, the suspension is firmer and much better controlled on the track (as on the street) than stock's "normal/street/softer" setting. I drove on the stock MPSS tires and stock pads since it was 40F. Traction was superb and bumps were absorbed properly, unlike either setting on the stock suspension.

Note, when I say the KW's are firmer than stock's soft setting, the feeling is from the stiffer springs but it is a more comfortable ride due to the much better damping.

I'm extremely pleased and the cost is a very reasonable value at $2400 plus installation and alignment. Now the car is perfect for me

 

Absolutely agree that factory damping is wayyyyy over damped in the lower (normal driving range) damper travel speeds. ..especially rebound. The damping curves create a lot of unnecessary stiffness/nervous feel.

I assume the springs are progressively wound on your KW V3. If correct, that would bias the damping settings to a softer compression vs rebound setup like you indicated. Most of my experience is with KW on linear springs which means the damping (compression/ratio) is much closer to within 2 clicks of each other for the street and light track use. With the progressive springs, your setup should provide much improved ride, especially over road surface irregularities, and upgraded overall handling. Enjoy!

 

The rear springs are progressive while the front stay linear.

 

I ran these, corner balanced, on my Stage 2 1.5 Ecoboost (220 HP).
Can you please confirm that there is no low speed clank on any side?
My old Focus had a clank on my rear left especially when turning at low speeds.
I called KW, I took the car to three 'experts' and they all said nothing is broken.

KW said something was wrong with the top of the shocks, so on my bloody expense I had to replace my rear shocks and of course the top hats. As KW is not making anything for the regular focus, the standard Ford top hats are simply not compatible with this product. The 4th guy I found who is actively racing at Assen, SPA and the RING, looked at my set up and said this will never be fixed.

So while I am interested in the V3 and the ClubSport 2 way (why would they make a 3 way for the RS ??? ) i am reluctant this time. The clanking on a daily basis was driving me insane. Parking in my driveway was turning me into a psycho especially when going over the sidewalk with my front left as it would clank only there!!

 

There's no low (or high) speed noise with this setup. It's very smooth and doesn't make any noise. I have over 2k miles on my V3s and they've performed great. Highly recommended.

 

Same here...now. I initially had some clunking, but that was due to the Ground Control camber plates and a loose pinch bolt on a Massive control arm. Once I tightened the bolt and properly arranged the bushings on the GC plates, my noise is gone.

 

Mine is also quiet (no camber plates).