KW V3 review - installed on F80 M3

[Black Gold]

Any renewed impressions of these after driving on them for a while?

Ride comfort, handling, any noise? Comparison to stock?

I have been paying extra attention to my oem suspension and it handles quite well but is really stiff for an oem suspension, and I have adaptive. No complaints, but I wouldn't want a suspension that is stiffer or more importantly is bouncier than stock

[Omar@VelosDesignwerks]

Thanks for this review, we will be going this route and have already installed a few hours. The V3's are typically our suspension for street driving and even a bit of track.

[kitw]

Originally Posted by KennyPowers

Any renewed impressions of these after driving on them for a while?

Ride comfort, handling, any noise? Comparison to stock?

I have been paying extra attention to my oem suspension and it handles quite well but is really stiff for an oem suspension, and I have adaptive. No complaints, but I wouldn't want a suspension that is stiffer or more importantly is bouncier than stock

It's not bouncier but it's definitely stiffer over small bumps and under say 50 mph. On the freeway, I'd say it's not much worse than stock. (I have the passive, which is supposed to be between sport and sport plus in terms of stiffness)

I'm still pretty happy with it, although it's definitely not more comfortable than stock. Reminds me a lot of the Ohlins on my E92 M3, which is saying something, because I've always considered the damping on the Ohilns to be superior - KW really nailed this set.

[edwinm3]

Originally Posted by Omar@VelosDesignwerks

Thanks for this route, we will be going this route and have already installed a few hours. The V3's are typically our suspension for street driving and even a bit of track.

I'll be doing this as well and definitely ordering from you guys at Velos, great group of guys there.

OP car looks very good, V3's are the way to do that

[Bob MG]

On stiffness, try and experiment with reducing compression settings slightly (2 clicks out)

[Bob MG]

Try lifting your front ride height around 5mm. You will immediately feel the car has better balance. The front drop is too much for the rears and you will feel harder front suspension feel.

If you check the car on the scales now it would be incorrect front/rear bias in favour of fronts. This affects balance under braking and also traction issues.

Change it and let me know how the above improves.

Here is mine with KW club sports

[edwinm3]

Originally Posted by Bob MG

Try lifting your front ride height around 5mm. You will immediately feel the car has better balance. The front drop is too much for the rears and you will feel harder front suspension feel.

If you check the car on the scales now it would be incorrect front/rear bias in favour of fronts. This affects balance under braking and also traction issues.

Change it and let me know how the above improves.

Here is mine with KW club sports

Wow

[Bob MG]

After height adjustment

[Bob MG]

Sorry iPhone upload issues

[Bob MG]

After

[edwinm3]

Originally Posted by Bob MG

After

Sits perfect thank you for sharing

[Black Gold]

Originally Posted by Bob MG

Try lifting your front ride height around 5mm. You will immediately feel the car has better balance. The front drop is too much for the rears and you will feel harder front suspension feel.

If you check the car on the scales now it would be incorrect front/rear bias in favour of fronts. This affects balance under braking and also traction issues.

Change it and let me know how the above improves.

Here is mine with KW club sports

excellent, excellent post and something that few consider



oh, and your car looks awesome

[JNoSol]

OP: The camber plates by TC Kline is available in case you need to do some light tracking with the V3s.

[kitw]

Originally Posted by Bob MG

Try lifting your front ride height around 5mm. You will immediately feel the car has better balance. The front drop is too much for the rears and you will feel harder front suspension feel.

If you check the car on the scales now it would be incorrect front/rear bias in favour of fronts. This affects balance under braking and also traction issues.

Change it and let me know how the above improves.

Here is mine with KW club sports

Bob, visually the F80 has much more fender gap in the front vs rear - the rear KW adjusters are barely high enough to go beyond what you see. Ride height won't dramatically shift weight forward or backwards on corner weights - you can adjust diagonally, but think about high school trigonometry - raising the car 5mm on one side when the length of the lever arm to the center of gravity is more than half the length of the car isn't going to do much.

Anyhow, after some time with the KW v3s, (and thanks CSanto for reminding me to update this thread) I decided that despite getting rid of the bounciness, I was not happy with the street ride of the KW v3. They do not absorb bumps as well and have a very busy ride, even after adjusting many times.

I gave up, sold the car, bought an e92 and then sold that and bought an F82, and got JRZ RStwo Touring which I'm thrilled with now. (I'd recommend skipping the middle steps, from KW->JRZ and just getting the JRZs)

[JamesGames]

Originally Posted by kitw

Bob, visually the F80 has much more fender gap in the front vs rear - the rear KW adjusters are barely high enough to go beyond what you see. Ride height won't dramatically shift weight forward or backwards on corner weights - you can adjust diagonally, but think about high school trigonometry - raising the car 5mm on one side when the length of the lever arm to the center of gravity is more than half the length of the car isn't going to do much.

Anyhow, after some time with the KW v3s, (and thanks CSanto for reminding me to update this thread) I decided that despite getting rid of the bounciness, I was not happy with the street ride of the KW v3. They do not absorb bumps as well and have a very busy ride, even after adjusting many times.

I gave up, sold the car, bought an e92 and then sold that and bought an F82, and got JRZ RStwo Touring which I'm thrilled with now. (I'd recommend skipping the middle steps, from KW->JRZ and just getting the JRZs)

Interesting you say that, I had Kw variants and also bilstein pss9 series (although not on a f8x, so take this with a grain of salt), and I agree with you in saying that the KW variants ride quality just wasn't up to par compared to the general reviews I've read on them. They seemed not to absorb bumps as well as the Bilsteins, and definitely were harsher all around; big bumps or small bumps - dare I say the kw variants were only slightly better than aftermarket springs on oem shocks..

[x.shell]

Originally Posted by kitw

Bob, visually the F80 has much more fender gap in the front vs rear - the rear KW adjusters are barely high enough to go beyond what you see. Ride height won't dramatically shift weight forward or backwards on corner weights - you can adjust diagonally, but think about high school trigonometry - raising the car 5mm on one side when the length of the lever arm to the center of gravity is more than half the length of the car isn't going to do much.

Anyhow, after some time with the KW v3s, (and thanks CSanto for reminding me to update this thread) I decided that despite getting rid of the bounciness, I was not happy with the street ride of the KW v3. They do not absorb bumps as well and have a very busy ride, even after adjusting many times.

I gave up, sold the car, bought an e92 and then sold that and bought an F82, and got JRZ RStwo Touring which I'm thrilled with now. (I'd recommend skipping the middle steps, from KW->JRZ and just getting the JRZs)

Originally Posted by JamesGames

Interesting you say that, I had Kw variants and also bilstein pss9 series (although not on a f8x, so take this with a grain of salt), and I agree with you in saying that the KW variants ride quality just wasn't up to par compared to the general reviews I've read on them. They seemed not to absorb bumps as well as the Bilsteins, and definitely were harsher all around; big bumps or small bumps - dare I say the kw variants were only slightly better than aftermarket springs on oem shocks..

This has been my experience with KWs Variant 2 on my F30. Eventually I settled on the Bilstein PSS10s and have been very satisfied. KW is a fan favorite on this forum and I'm convinced that it only gets good reviews because everyone has them. For someone who's as picky as I am about ride quality and street performance, it wasn't anywhere near the awesomeness that people make it out to be. The PSS10s blew my KWs out of the water in terms of street comfort and street performance.

I'm uninstalling my PSS10s now to get ready to trade in the F30 and I'm a little sad about it. But my new F80 already has the JRZ RSTwo Sport kit on the way; it should arrive at the same time as my F80. Going straight from the dealer to my garage to install my JRZs.

[JamesGames]

Originally Posted by ex o

This has been my experience with KWs Variant 2 on my F30. Eventually I settled on the Bilstein PSS10s and have been very satisfied. KW is a fan favorite on this forum and I'm convinced that it only gets good reviews because everyone has them. For someone who's as picky as I am about ride quality and street performance, it wasn't anywhere near the awesomeness that people make it out to be. The PSS10s blew my KWs out of the water in terms of street comfort and street performance.

I'm uninstalling my PSS10s now to get ready to trade in the F30 and I'm a little sad about it. But my new F80 already has the JRZ RSTwo Sport kit on the way; it should arrive at the same time as my F80. Going straight from the dealer to my garage to install my JRZs.

You, kitw, and I are the outliers of people that think that about KW. I swear.. most people look at me like I'm crazy and don't know what I'm talking about.. but I ran kw and blisteins back to back, and drove the cars on the same roads for 10 years, and the bilsteins always bottomed out less and absorbed the big and small bumps better..

Part of me thinks it's the large monotube dampers on the bilsteins as opposed to the twin tubes on the kw.

[VF-Engineering]

Looks great. Awesome choice!!
We are running V3's on our M4 and they are amazing.
Have fun!

[x.shell]

Originally Posted by VF-Engineering

Looks great. Awesome choice!!
We are running V3's on our M4 and they are amazing.
Have fun!

You should read the thread. He ended up disliking the V3. Sold the M3. Got an M4 and put a set of JRZs on it.

[G4BR13L]

Originally Posted by ex o

You should read the thread. He ended up disliking the V3. Sold the M3. Got an M4 and put a set of JRZs on it.

Which are unfortunately not compatibel with the EDC.

[x.shell]

Originally Posted by G4BR13L

Which are unfortunately not compatibel with the EDC.

None of the available coilover systems are compatible with EDC. Some systems, like the KWs, just come with an optional module to code off the warning (which any coder can accomplish on his/her own). The only coilover system that truly utilizes the EDC is the Bilstein Damptronic (available later this year maybe). And even that doesn't really utilize the BMW EDC, it just uses the OEM button to switch settings on their own dampers. No matter which coilover system you go with, the dampers are coming out; EDC damper or non EDC damper.

If you are planning to go for a coilover system, it's a less than ideal choice to get an F8X with EDC. However, if you got stuck with an F8X with EDC or decided that EDC isn't for you, then you got to bite the bullet when you decide to go with a coilover kit; KW or any other brand, EDC is gone.

That being said, choosing a coilover system based on whether it includes a module to code off the EDC error is (in my opinion) also a less than ideal way to choose your coilovers; since you can code out the error anyways.

I think the whole wording of "EDC compatible" on KW's kits are a misnomer at best. It's not compatible. It just codes off the error for an extra couple hundred dollars.

[ks1117]

Here is my V3, not much different from the stock one, only the front is a bit lower