[flukey]

I've got an E90 335xi and I just received my KW V3 coilovers (xi edition of course). I'm getting them installed soon and I was wondering what setup other KW V3 (xi or rwd) owners have. This will be my first aftermarket suspension. I'm looking for a little lower ride height than the E90's sports package and a firm setup that is not unbearable for an everyday ride.

Any and all help is appreciated, thanks! Pics of your rides with KW V3 are a bonus

[Vegas_Sirk]

Im ordering KW V3 as well. I would be interested to know this too.


BTW: do the KW V3 comes with upper pillow ball mounts ???

[ksfrogman]

You should also KWV1 and KWV2 owners because the mounting, coilover threaded sleeves, and components are similar. The V3 offers adjustable rebound, a function of the dampers. All other adjustments should be the same.

[ksfrogman]

7-29-07 settings:

The left front tire still was rarely hitting the top outer portion of the front fender well plastic cover that sticks out further. I dremeled that piece off, adjusted the front coilovers upward to 25 complete turns from complete drop, and stiffened the rebound on the front shocks by 3 more clicks. It is now at 5 clicks (just under 1 full turn) from maximum stiffness. I like a compliant ride, but wanted a little more tightness in the front end for high speed manuverability.

The rear settings remain the same.

[Green-Eggs]

When we install the KW coilovers, we set them up to be a little over stiff, say around 60-65% firmness then adjust according to the end users desire

Ride height is personal preference as some customers want to be just a little lower while others want a slammed look. The dampening/rebound adjustability will vary based on height adjustment due to suspension travel

There is only Variant 3 available for the XI models both E90/E92 and E91

[Don Nguyen]

Ride height is debatable, depending on if you get your car corner balanced or not. Not really neccessary for street cars.

I would just lower the car to your desired height, make sure that the shocks are adjust accordingly to how stiff the springs are, and work from there.

I typically start from full stiff and slowly work my way back from there. That way I know where the end is, since that is the more important end of adjustment, vs the beginning/full soft.

Sometimes struts are slightly off of each other, that's why I do that.

Since your car is relatively new, you will have to play around with it a bit, to see where you feel that the car isn't too stiff, but at the same time, isn't too soft. After all, you do have coilovers, so make the most out of them.

-Don

[JWadle]

Originally Posted by ksfrogman

The left front tire still was rarely hitting the top outer portion of the front fender well plastic cover that sticks out further. I dremeled that piece off, adjusted the front coilovers upward to 25 complete turns from complete drop, and stiffened the rebound on the front shocks by 3 more clicks. It is now at 5 clicks (just under 1 full turn) from maximum stiffness. I like a compliant ride, but wanted a little more tightness in the front end for high speed manuverability.

The rear settings remain the same.

Just to clarify: Your final settings are front: 25 turns from max drop & 5 clicks on rebound, rear: 7 turns from max drop & ?? clicks rebound?

What are your tire sizes?

Thanks.

[sg335]

Originally Posted by ksfrogman

The V3 offers adjustable rebound, a function of the dampers. All other adjustments should be the same.

Point of clarification: The statement above is incorrect. The KW V3's provide the additional ability to adjust the Compression stroke of the Strut/Shock in addition to the Rebound, whereas the KW V2's only provide Rebound adjustment.

[Archibald Donnington]

compression stroke = bound?

[18LLC]

Originally Posted by flukey

I've got an E90 335xi and I just received my KW V3 coilovers (xi edition of course). I'm getting them installed soon and I was wondering what setup other KW V3 (xi or rwd) owners have. This will be my first aftermarket suspension. I'm looking for a little lower ride height than the E90's sports package and a firm setup that is not unbearable for an everyday ride.

Any and all help is appreciated, thanks! Pics of your rides with KW V3 are a bonus

review? any?

[Green-Eggs]

KW is the best coilover

Let me know if you guys want any

[ksfrogman]

Originally Posted by sg335

Point of clarification: The statement above is incorrect. The KW V3's provide the additional ability to adjust the Compression stroke of the Strut/Shock in addition to the Rebound, whereas the KW V2's only provide Rebound adjustment.

You are right. Thanks for correcting me. Don't know why I said what I did, but maybe I was thinking of the V2s, and had a slip of the finger or momentary brain lapse (more likely). I didn't say what I know.

V2 > adjustable rebound

V3 > adjustable compresion in addition to rebound

V1 > preset

[ksfrogman]

Originally Posted by JWadle

Just to clarify: Your final settings are front: 25 turns from max drop & 5 clicks on rebound, rear: 7 turns from max drop & ?? clicks rebound?

What are your tire sizes?

Thanks.

Hi,

Sorry I did not see this message earlier. I actually stiffened up the rear dampers again, this time to 5 clicks from maximum. I don't like sloshiness.

As for the number of turns, I made sure to measure the left and right sides from ground to center wheel well (direclty above the center hub). Both sides were equal. With the rear at 7 turns from max drop, the negative camber of the rear wheels was 2.25 and 2.75, which causes tremendous tire wear. Making the camber less negative would have caused the tire tops to rub the fenders toward the rear, especially with the proper toe-in.

So I have sinced raised the rear up to 12 turns from max drop, and was able to have the car realigned with 1.75 and 2.00 negative camber.

We know that when you lower your car, the wheel camber becomes more negative. What I didn't know, but was told recently is that the toe-in decreases (i.e., causes more toe-out). A toe-out condition would wear out the inner portion of your tires more quickly. Combine this with negative camber, and this would be a BAD situation.

My advice for someone with wide wheels and aggressive camber (mine are 19x10 ET 26 with 265-30-19 Toyo Proxes4 tires) would be to realize the constraints of camber, toe-in and fender width. If you're going to slam your vehicle, but have wide/aggressive wheels, you're either going to rub or wear out the inside of your tires quickly. Had I gone with 19x10 ET32 in the rear, I would have been able to more safely lower the car with more acceptable negative camber, but the wheel lips would have been smaller.

Here's the latest photo of the readjustment:

[dawgdog]

Car looks great! I actually prefer the less aggressive drop. I'd love to see a picture of the minimum drops using KWs on an e90.

[spacedogg]

Originally Posted by dawgdog

Car looks great! I actually prefer the less aggressive drop. I'd love to see a picture of the minimum drops using KWs on an e90.

+1. I'm not a big fan of the super slammed look...but the last photo looks about perfect!

[18LLC]

I guess the v3 for xi is not that great? since the guy who start this thread have no more updates...

[flukey]

Sorry.... I'm still in the process of getting everything configured properly.

I'll post some pics tonight, however, they are from when the rear springs were installed incorrectly. The shop installed the rear springs upside down. After getting this fixed, the rear is sitting way to low. I look like I have 1000 lb in the trunk! However, the body is still higher in the rear, it just looks messed up.

Regardless, all I've got to say is the KW V3 are awesome. It is noticeably rougher at slow speeds, however, at high speeds and when cornering, it feels so much better than stock! The KW V3 stabilizes the car immediately at high speeds and keeps the car smooth and level when cornering hard. Great investment if i only I could get them configured correctly.... but thats partly cause I'm in Iowa and it's hard to find shops that do this type of work...

[18LLC]

Originally Posted by flukey

Sorry.... I'm still in the process of getting everything configured properly.

I'll post some pics tonight, however, they are from when the rear springs were installed incorrectly. The shop installed the rear springs upside down. After getting this fixed, the rear is sitting way to low. I look like I have 1000 lb in the trunk! However, the body is still higher in the rear, it just looks messed up.

Regardless, all I've got to say is the KW V3 are awesome. It is noticeably rougher at slow speeds, however, at high speeds and when cornering, it feels so much better than stock! The KW V3 stabilizes the car immediately at high speeds and keeps the car smooth and level when cornering hard. Great investment if i only I could get them configured correctly.... but thats partly cause I'm in Iowa and it's hard to find shops that do this type of work...

is that means this is a hard to config suspension?