[f00dstamps]

I was going to buy some v2's as well but will instead try out the r1's. KW should have opened up their facility during the weekend to troubleshoot this problem with a willing customer that could demonstrate this issue. Their failure to do this was poor customer service. I will take my business elsewhere.

[mkppk]

So I have read all 12 pages of this thread so far and have a question.. I have some noise from my KW V2's (on a 135i). It's not really a chirping sound though.. more like a "pssst" sound, a few people have mentioned a "compression" sound - this is also what I might call it.

Is this different than the chirp sound? Has anyone determined if this sound is related or what its cause is?

It sounds like high compression release of air when I go over bumps (even small ones). The suspension has been one the car over a year, and seems to perform just fine, but I have never had this sound with other coilovers (even other KW V2 coilovers on an E46 M3).

Thanks

[Ferg]

Compression noise is fine, chirp is not.

[romak47]

I too have read all 10 pages and also have a squeeking noise on my kw v2's almost like in the video that the OP put up.
Im not sure what compression sound should be but I didnt have "compression" noise with my OEM coilovers.

Have had this noise for around 30k kilometers now.

The explanation of it possibly being wrong fluid in the shock makes a lot of sense to me. A thicker fluid would possibly cause this noise we all hear. Especially in colder conditions where fluids become thicker.

if fluid change fixed this squeeking for one dude. maybe kw needs to address this.

[Nvrenuf]

I have KW V3 with about 10k miles and chirps / bouncy feel. I wanted to get these serviced asap since the car is INOP without them. It took a week+ to get an RMA because my messages were not returned so I suggest calling until you get someone on the phone. I got the RMA info back the same day and more delays due to the email I replied to going into a spam folder.

Anyhow, I just got a call from Alex ***EDIT Adam*** and he told me both front rods are bent and causing the chirp. He told me it will cost $200 for the new rods and take 7 business days for them to get here from Germany. I asked him how they could both bend and he said too much camber. He said if the car is lowered to much, the camber will bend the struts.

So I have pay $200 and shipping to get these back and my car is inop for about a month. I don't think I need to express how I feel about this product beyond these facts.

[jgalaxy]

That sounds a tad bit fishy. $200??? I'm no expert, but it would certainly cost more than $200 to replace/fix bent shock piston rods; not to mention fixing any ancillary damage to the other components (Ex. pressure tube etc.).

Originally Posted by Nvrenuf

I have KW V3 with about 10k miles and chirps / bouncy feel. I wanted to get these serviced asap since the car is INOP without them. It took a week+ to get an RMA because my messages were not returned so I suggest calling until you get someone on the phone. I got the RMA info back the same day and more delays due to the email I replied to going into a spam folder.

Anyhow, I just got a call from Alex and he told me both front rods are bent and causing the chirp. He told me it will cost $200 for the new rods and take 7 business days for them to get here from Germany. I asked him how they could both bend and he said too much camber. He said if the car is lowered to much, the camber will bend the struts.

So I have pay $200 and shipping to get these back and my car is inop for about a month. I don't think I need to express how I feel about this product beyond these facts.

[Nvrenuf]

The car was not undrivable and when I took the struts off, they seemed physically fine. They determined the problem on the shock dyno according to Adam. When I had them out, they compressed and rebounded smoothly with no oil loss.

Anyhow, maybe bending is what is causing some of these units the chirp. If the design cannot handle street driving forces, it merits revision.

[jgalaxy]

Originally Posted by Nvrenuf

The car was not undrivable and when I took the struts off, they seemed physically fine. They determined the problem on the shock dyno according to Adam. When I had them out, they compressed and rebounded smoothly with no oil loss.

Anyhow, maybe bending is what is causing some of these units the chirp. If the design cannot handle street driving forces, it merits revision.

I am now on my 3rd season with my KWv3 and 45K Km's with mostly track time and driving to from the track. I had one brief bout of chirping at the beginning of the winter 2 years ago for 2 weeks and it never returned. Is it the oil? Is it the spring binding and rubbing?

[Nvrenuf]

I replaced the upper mounts and covered the coils in tein coil silencer to no avail. I had the slight rubbing on the coils, but this coil silencer made no difference.

I firmly think coil bind has nothing to do with the chirping.

I will ask for the bent rods to be shipped back so I can try to gauge how much they were bent with a true bar and feeler.

[IllLojik]

Wow, the lack of any involvement/post/updates from any KW reps in this thread is quite disheartening. Here I was about to pull the trigger. I'll stick with my ZSP springs and performance shocks for now.

[Sam335ix]

Well... I almost bough them for my 2011 ix and now I have to go back and read and read more posts on lowering my damn jeep!! How about the v1? Any problems with them?0

[11N65]

Originally Posted by roller84

Thanks for the info. Owning KW suspensions has been very fustrating for me.

On my last car, E46 330i, I had purchased a brand new set of V3's. After having the car corner balanced and aligned I found out that the rebound setting kept returning to the zero position. Turned out that KW had a bad run of struts. They offered abosolutely no compensation for me having to remove the suspension and send it in for repair. They could not even cover shipping. They returned it to me with the adjustments seized and I had to send it in again.

After getting that issue resolved I began to have issues with the swaybar endlinks wearing out very quickly(every 8-10k miles). After much back and foward I got that resolved.

Now with my 335i I had an issue with the tab on the strut that the endlink attaches to breaking off and bending. It has now happened to me 2 times. See the pics below.







Though they say they have had no issues using this suspension with the H&R sways they blamed it on that. I sent pics of the install that my shop did and they said all was fine though and I don't see how if the front bar I believe is only 1-2mm thicker than stock. Again, I had to pull the suspension twice to get it repaired. Owning KW's has been very expensive for me. Now it looks like there might be another inherent design flaw.

To me, that looks like the installation is wrong. Left to right right to left. The struts are labels R and L.. make sure R is on passenger, L is on driver side.

Maybe I could be wrong.

[HP Autosport]

Even mounted correctly we have seen this happen in the past.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, KW may have revised the anti roll bar mounting bracket on later kits(we have not sold or install enough kits to know).

Noise issues is hit and miss. We have installed kits that never made noise and have some that just chirp as soon as we take the vehicle for a test drive.

[JohnnyE]

Thread has been quiet for a long time, so I thought I'd ask for the obvious.. Any definitive answers/solutions? Has the issue, if now known, been corrected so that if I order new V1's there will be no freekin chirps?

[NM_BMW]

I'm about to hit 44,000mi and I have yet to have any problems with my V3's.

[KN| BMW]

Im thinking to get the V2 or V3 but I have to reconsider about this after reading this topic!

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by JohnnyE

Thread has been quiet for a long time, so I thought I'd ask for the obvious.. Any definitive answers/solutions? Has the issue, if now known, been corrected so that if I order new V1's there will be no freekin chirps?

Still hit and miss on the chirps from the front struts or rear shocks.

[tha_good_life]

Still no fix for this problem?>

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by bapesta206

Still no fix for this problem?>

Sounds like a redesign and/or reengineering may be needed. KW may already be aware of the issue, but may too costly to get it done.

[tha_good_life]

Originally Posted by HP Autowerks

Sounds like a redesign and/or reengineering may be needed. KW may already be aware of the issue, but may too costly to get it done.

I know they came out the re designed version of V3. I wonder if that is better. I just bought the old V3 and hoping I won't run into problems.

[ExpensiveTaste]

I have the chirp too. Oddly enough, I forgot to reattach the front sway bar at one point and had no chirping. After reattaching the end links, the chirping noise was definitely apparent with fast movements of suspension travel. Bumps where both sides of the suspension travel = no chirp. I think it's coming from the front left strut.

Originally Posted by HP Autowerks

Sounds like a redesign and/or reengineering may be needed. KW may already be aware of the issue, but may too costly to get it done.

Does the Swift Spring conversion fix this chirp?

[sA x sKy]

Had mine installed today..they were 2007 versions that were rebuilt to 2012 specs by KW..and it chirps over uneven roads and small bumps...unfuckingbelievable.