KW V2 review - very detailed
*NOTE* this is a comparison to the OEM NON-SPORT suspension.
let me preface this by saying i am almost totally positive i would have been happy with just about ANY quality coilover out there.. but this is what i got a killer deal on, so this is what i got. normal street drivers wont be able to tell the difference between one set of coils and another if nobody tells them (assuming they're setup the same) so dont worry about brand (just make sure the company is reputable)... get what best suits your needs
looks - absolutely top notch for my tastes. i do need to get some k-mac camber bushings, but only so that i dont absolutely slaughter my tires. i love the tuck (im dropped quite a bit) i love the construction and appearance of the shocks and springs themselves, and i love the overall aesthetic gains my car has gotten since install. i give them a 10/10 in this category (and i give audi and the a4 a 4/10 because its stupid that there arent factory included ways to further adjust the alignment of my car)
ride comfort - here i am comparing it to the comfort levels of stock. in one respect, the car is less comfortable. you can feel bumps, dips, and every subtle change in the road right down to what kind of surface it is (tar and chip, asphalt, black top, etc)... to me however that isnt a bad thing. i would understand how someone would want a balance between performance and comfort though, so i give the KW's a 6/10 in this category. HOWEVER - the significantly decreased decreased body roll makes me less dependent on my shitty bolsters. so + 1 point for the KW's, bringing the ride comfort score to a total of 7 out of 10.
turn in - ahh the crappy turn in of a heavy front engine car with a tendency to understeer.... not much can truly save the a4 from its snow plow ways (rs4 rear sway helps more than anything) but based on a bone stock non-sport to coilover comparison; the KW's cut the "plow" effect in half. properly adjusted rebound and equally well matched springs will do wonders for the way your car turns in and holds. this is where many coilovers will separate themselves from the competition. if you can afford rebound adjustable (and compression if you've really got the pockets) c/o's - get them. you WILL thank yourself later. for the effort they are putting forward in strengthening this weak spot in the a4's overall handling - i give KW a 8/10. only thing they could really do to bump to a 10 of 10 would be to offer a sway bar set which they recommend be paired with their c/o kits. but audi already makes a really nice sway bar - so just buy that instead.
brake dive - brake dive sucks. our cars do it (even though they have EBD). not a whole lot you can do to fix it (other than BBK's and properly adjusted braking bias if you dont have EBD) but i have noticed a significant decrease in the feeling of brake dive since installing the coils. now i haven't done any scientific testing to see whether or not the stiffer suspension has physically altered the ways in which the car moves and distributes the negative acceleration generated during heavy braking, but it sure as hell doesnt throw me forward like it used to when i need to get on my puny little brakes. (perhaps it is just sitting flatter the whole time due to the lower center of gravity and the inertia is just FEELS more evenly dispersed as opposed to being distributed in a physically different way.. or maybe theres no difference between the two.. who knows - not me)
bottom line here, it doesnt FEEL like it sucks as much - 9/10 (for suspension helping to correct a braking issue)
body roll - first of all, see ride comfort. the car sits flat, and quite frankly reminds me of my porsche 944 turbo with the way it feels in a turn. that is a very very good thing. especially since the 951 was the best handling production car in america for like, 5 years or something like that.
10/10 to you KW, very well done
general handling/steering feel -
the thumbs up really says it all. for one with performance in mind, the handling and steering feel really shot through the roof. i feel that now the car is much more predictable in a turn, or in any situation really. the SAME NIGHT that i finished my install i had to swerve to miss a dear ON THE HIGHWAY. you wanna talk about scary shit... i either would have hit it, or gone into a slide and not been able to control it if not for the coils. swerving to miss an animal which (i swear to god) came out of nowhere at 80mph is no easy task, i smoked half a pack of cigarettes after that - and i dont smoke. moral of the story is when the car started to kick loose (from sudden steering input at high speeds... i n00bed out and flicked the wheel lol) i was able to calmly (as much as possible) think about what was going on, and through the wheel felt like i had total knowledge and control of the way the road felt, and the way the car was moving. stock non-sport leaves a lot to be desired, and any of you with it, or who have had it know what i mean when when i say "you cant feel shit" with it. for saving my life, and completely turning my car into a whole new animal - KW gets an 12 out of 10. (bonus points for me and my car not getting royally f'ed up by that deer)ease of install/adjustment - hmmm... you may think that they're going to score low here --- WRONG. adjustment is actually very simple with these, as they're adjusted just like vogtlands and a couple others out there (you dont have to take the rear spring out to change the ride height). i did have to trim up the carpet in the rear wheel wells to reach the perch however.... whoopty do. takes a few minutes with a jack, allen wrench, and the spanner wrench to adjust the rear ride height. not hard at all - if you saw it you'd understand. minus half a point because it was annoying to cut out the carpet though. front shocks/springs are self explanatory, they go in same as the front, and adjust just like any other c/o. UNINSTALLING the rear setup can be the biggest PITA ever, and involves a lot of getting mad. i used darrick's (captain obvious) DIY when i did my suspension, and he was right. i found myself learning new curse words while working, but getting angry and really wailing on that rear spring got it to pop right out.
getting the new springs and perches in however - was VERY VERY SIMPLE. high five to kw, all i had to do was disconnect my puny rear sway bar, and have a friend use a prybar to push down on the whole swing arm. slid right in no problem at all. took about an hour for each corner to get the springs out -- took about 5 minutes per side to put them back in (no spring compressors needed to put the new ones in either! yay!) so kw, for keeping me from killing myself while putting on your springs/perches, i give you a 9.5/10misc. comments - these things have been awesome, i have to be careful or i'll scrape now, and i've got some killer camber on all 4 wheels. it's about neg 2 and change in the rear, only neg 1 or so in the front just eyeballing it compared to other cars which i know have a certain degree of camber - to me it looks sick, unfortunately it makes my tires/wallet sick. only real complaint/regret is that i didnt do this sooner. having such a low ride height is kind of a bitch sometimes, and i cant tote around as many girls in the back of my car (just the other night i had to tell 3 girls to all get out of the back so i could go over a speed bump on the way back from a party lol) but just like in the preface - the average a4 owner is going to be happy with whatever they get. the BIGGEST thing about these particular coilovers is that they ARE rebound and height adjustable, and that the rear perch IS completely adjustable on the car. so
to KW and to the fine products they produce. much love. many props.final (average) score -- 9.4/10
gotta love em
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Originally Posted by ungucpho
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