coilovers
06-21-2013, 02:31 PM
#21
I should add something. These are *NOT* cheap shocks, there are less expensive kits that use shocks that aren't what the KW's are. Some aren't even gas charged. KW, fwiw are the dampers you find on a lot of high end cars and some race cars around the world.
KW has won numerous Touring Car championships, the 24 Hours of Nurburgring. They were installed on the last generation Viper ACR. They are OEM on the new C63 AMG Black Series (the 2nd generation one).
KW has won numerous Touring Car championships, the 24 Hours of Nurburgring. They were installed on the last generation Viper ACR. They are OEM on the new C63 AMG Black Series (the 2nd generation one).
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www.stranoparts.com --814-849-3450
Results matter. Talk is cheap. We are miles beyond the success anyone else has had with the 4th gens, and C5, C6, C7 Corvettes,
10 SCCA Solo National Championships, 2008 Driver of they Year, 2012 Driver of Eminence
13 SCCA Pro Solo Nationals Championships
2023 UMI King of the Mountain Champion
www.stranoparts.com --814-849-3450
Results matter. Talk is cheap. We are miles beyond the success anyone else has had with the 4th gens, and C5, C6, C7 Corvettes,
10 SCCA Solo National Championships, 2008 Driver of they Year, 2012 Driver of Eminence
13 SCCA Pro Solo Nationals Championships
2023 UMI King of the Mountain Champion
06-21-2013, 04:17 PM
#22
Sam, how would these KW compare to your Koni/Strano shock setup?
When I dabbled in BMWs a couple of years ago, the shocks found in KW were considered pretty good, but most folks swapped out the springs for Hyperco or Swift linear rate springs to get rid of the progressive springs KW included. Do the F-Bodies come with progressive or linear rate springs? That picture is hard to tell if the fronts are progressive of it it has a "helper" spring, but I don't recall them coming with helpers.
Also, what's the rate? I looked on KW's site, but couldn't find it...
When I dabbled in BMWs a couple of years ago, the shocks found in KW were considered pretty good, but most folks swapped out the springs for Hyperco or Swift linear rate springs to get rid of the progressive springs KW included. Do the F-Bodies come with progressive or linear rate springs? That picture is hard to tell if the fronts are progressive of it it has a "helper" spring, but I don't recall them coming with helpers.
Also, what's the rate? I looked on KW's site, but couldn't find it...
06-21-2013, 04:51 PM
#24
The issue with the KW's vs. my Koni/Spring setup is you aren't comparing apples to apples. KW's obviously cost a lot more (about double vs. Koni SA/springs), but they are coil-over and stainless, etc. Damper wise I find the two to be quite similar in terms of control though the KW's are slightly less "stiff knee" feeling over the sharper bumps. Of course the KW's are DA's, and comparing DA Koni's to the KW's, I'd take the KW's everytime due to the the fact the bump adjustment on KW is LOW-SPEED bump, which means you can use it to tune much more without the additional high-speed bump being added and getting in the way over less then perfect roads which is how Koni DA's are.... which is why I usually just run SA's anyway.
you can change rates if you want, the KW's are actually a much softer front spring than what I use, so I would recommend it for track/autocross use anyway (and I'm a Hypercoil distributor so we can do that). Rears I've not found much need to mess with. You can see these springs aren't "progressive" in the typical sense of gaining huge rate. In fact a lot of "progressive" springs get a bad rap (not all, some suck) because many are basically just springs with built in tender springs, but I digress.
The fronts have helpers. Click on the picture on my site it'll blow up much bigger to see.
you can change rates if you want, the KW's are actually a much softer front spring than what I use, so I would recommend it for track/autocross use anyway (and I'm a Hypercoil distributor so we can do that). Rears I've not found much need to mess with. You can see these springs aren't "progressive" in the typical sense of gaining huge rate. In fact a lot of "progressive" springs get a bad rap (not all, some suck) because many are basically just springs with built in tender springs, but I digress.
The fronts have helpers. Click on the picture on my site it'll blow up much bigger to see.
__________________
www.stranoparts.com --814-849-3450
Results matter. Talk is cheap. We are miles beyond the success anyone else has had with the 4th gens, and C5, C6, C7 Corvettes,
10 SCCA Solo National Championships, 2008 Driver of they Year, 2012 Driver of Eminence
13 SCCA Pro Solo Nationals Championships
2023 UMI King of the Mountain Champion
www.stranoparts.com --814-849-3450
Results matter. Talk is cheap. We are miles beyond the success anyone else has had with the 4th gens, and C5, C6, C7 Corvettes,
10 SCCA Solo National Championships, 2008 Driver of they Year, 2012 Driver of Eminence
13 SCCA Pro Solo Nationals Championships
2023 UMI King of the Mountain Champion
06-21-2013, 05:05 PM
#25
Cool thanks.
I agree. It's not a fair comparison, but for a street car, the SA/Strano spring is a good choice. But stepping up to some Hyperco/KW coilovers would be pretty awesome.
The one thing I like about coilovers is the adjustability of ride height... and if I tracked the car religiously, being able to swap out springs would be nice and then dial in with the adjustable shocks.
I assume if we went with the 550/150 combo on the KWs, your 35/22 sways would be best. If I have a 275/315 tire combo, though, I assume I might need a little more sway bar in the back or the adjustable Strano rear sways to get rid of some of the understeer the 315s present?
I'm finishing up the engine this summer and then moving on to the suspension next, so I'll keep the KWs in mind.
I agree. It's not a fair comparison, but for a street car, the SA/Strano spring is a good choice. But stepping up to some Hyperco/KW coilovers would be pretty awesome.
The one thing I like about coilovers is the adjustability of ride height... and if I tracked the car religiously, being able to swap out springs would be nice and then dial in with the adjustable shocks.
I assume if we went with the 550/150 combo on the KWs, your 35/22 sways would be best. If I have a 275/315 tire combo, though, I assume I might need a little more sway bar in the back or the adjustable Strano rear sways to get rid of some of the understeer the 315s present?
I'm finishing up the engine this summer and then moving on to the suspension next, so I'll keep the KWs in mind.
06-21-2013, 06:53 PM
#26
Just picked up a set of kws myself. I got them from summit for $2039.00 shipped. Damn good deal compared to any other places I looked.
Can't wait to get them rolling and riding
Can't wait to get them rolling and riding
06-21-2013, 11:14 PM
#29
Yeah. Their definitely nice. I can't wait to get them all buttoned up, the car running and really put them to use. The only thing I can say i don't like about them is the front top adjustment is not accessible without removing the shock tower from the car which makes it really in conveinent to adjust when installer on the car. I will probably end up drilling a hole in the shock tower to be able to adjust them without removing them from the car. Before I purchased them I searched and searched around trying to find Installed pictures of them, but never could. Hopefully these help anyone who is doing all that searching like I was. No offense Sam Strano, I know you're a sponsor and all and I would havr loved to help a sponsor out by doing business with them but when your price point is $200+ higher than another vendor it makes it kind of hard... I will be purchasing your sway bars though! 
06-22-2013, 01:12 PM
#33
Lets see... front upper spring seat, bump stop, threaded coil-over sleeve with pinch lock seat, 2.5"ID 10" length eibach race springs, and their spanner wrench.
In the rear 10" stock like springs with a threaded lower spring seat adapter that sits in the hole at the center of the factory lower spring seats.
IMO get longer/softer front bump stops, the stops they provide are to short and stiff.
The rear springs are to short, I get some longer(11" or 12") Hypercoil rear pigtail springs.
In the rear 10" stock like springs with a threaded lower spring seat adapter that sits in the hole at the center of the factory lower spring seats.
IMO get longer/softer front bump stops, the stops they provide are to short and stiff.
The rear springs are to short, I get some longer(11" or 12") Hypercoil rear pigtail springs.
06-22-2013, 01:23 PM
#34
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Lets see... front upper spring seat, bump stop, threaded coil-over sleeve with pinch lock seat, 2.5"ID 10" length eibach race springs, and their spanner wrench.
In the rear 10" stock like springs with a threaded lower spring seat adapter that sits in the hole at the center of the factory lower spring seats.
IMO get longer/softer front bump stops, the stops they provide are to short and stiff.
The rear springs are to short, I get some longer(11" or 12") Hypercoil rear pigtail springs.
In the rear 10" stock like springs with a threaded lower spring seat adapter that sits in the hole at the center of the factory lower spring seats.
IMO get longer/softer front bump stops, the stops they provide are to short and stiff.
The rear springs are to short, I get some longer(11" or 12") Hypercoil rear pigtail springs.
why are the rear spring to short? where did you get the longer ones?
06-22-2013, 01:24 PM
#35
That's one thing I really don't like about the KW's is reusing the factory upper mount. I'd rather see it with a mount that would allow you to remove and install the shock/spring assembly without ever having to open the hood.
IMO, it sucks that you'll have to drill a hole to adjust the front shocks, there's no reason you should have to do that with a High-end coil-over set up like that.
IMO, it sucks that you'll have to drill a hole to adjust the front shocks, there's no reason you should have to do that with a High-end coil-over set up like that.
06-22-2013, 09:41 PM
#39
Do you have a link for those? Or is that a call in only? On their site it says its only available for the c5s and c6s.
06-22-2013, 11:08 PM
#40
IMO the way the koni SA's are adjusted is really inconvenient as well. The KW's are DA shocks so they have two adjustment points. One is on the bottom of the shock body and is a window where you sweep the adjustment left or right just like the konis except it a better and easier location. The other adjuster is at the top of the threaded shock shaft and is adjusted using a ~5mm Allen wrench so if you simply drilled a 1/8"-1/4" hole where the shock shaft would face the shock tower adjusting would be cake with the turn of a Allen wrench at the top of the shock tower through the engine bay. IMO a small hole is a small sacrifice I'm willing to make to allow much easier adjustment. A lot of new cars as well as imports use coilovers from the factory and the shock shaft usually sticks up through the shock tower allowing companies to just use a simple **** on the shock shaft for adjusting through the engine bay. Unfortunately gm wasn't too great with their design of the shock tower on fbodies.