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      10-27-2018, 06:52 PM   #3
Curt2000
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Drives: '93 Supra Turbo
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Washington D.C.

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I have been through several different types of suspension set-ups over the years. I used to be of the mindset, why spend money on coilovers when you can buy springs for a fraction of the cost and achieve a modest drop and stiffening of the ride. As I started going to car shows and perusing the forums I saw more and more cars that achieved a 'perfect' stance with paper thin wheel gaps and camber/stiffness/rideheight control. I thought that stuff was all cool but much to expensive for my goals.

From coil springs I moved on to an adjustable spring set-up, I was able to achieve the stance I was looking for and for a modest cost but soon came to realize that it was at the expense of ride comfort and my struts. The car had an unnatural bouncy feeling and I would actually say handling was degraded and my struts eventually gave out.

So I decided to finally splurge for a set of true coilovers. I went with KW's entry level Variant 3 system for my E92 M3. What a difference these made, the car was still very comfortable to drive but had a much more 'sporty' feel. Plus I was able to adjust the ride height at my whim which I really liked. The system re-uses the stock pillow mounts so you don't get the metal to metal vibration and noise like other set-ups.

I'm a long time customer of KW due to their long standing pedigree in the euro racing circuits and OEM relationships. Their kits are always a huge improvement over stock and provide ride height and dampening stiffness controllability. The install was time consuming to do by myself without a lift or air tools but I was able to pull it off in about half a day this weekend. I also threw the TRD Strut brace on during this install too!

The install process is pretty straight forward...
- Jack car up, take the wheel off
- Undo to three top hat nuts, hidden under other top hat nuts for various things (I may have been fooled in the rear) :loser:
- Break/remove the strut mount bolt
- Un-do the sway bar end link, use a second jack to compress the strut assembly and get a low profile pass through socket wrench and allen key to remove the bolt
- Loosen the top hat nut before dropping the assembly out ***without removing it***
- Drop the assembly out and use mcpherson strut compressors to unload the spring
- remove the top hat, trim the rubber boot off, re-assemble on the KW Kit using the same pass through socket wrench set
- You will have to drill/file down the pass-through on the stock top hat to make it round, it will have two flat areas that were very helpful in getting the top hat screw off because they prevent the strut rod from rotating but the KW strut rods are round and won't fit. I didn't have the perfect size bit for the job so I ended up using a smaller one and just grinding down the flat areas until I had removed enough material for it to slide onto the KWs.
- Re-assemble

Pretty much exactly the same on all four corners. I needed a nice install like this to get my hands dirty, its like therapy!

The stock 25 year old suspension was TIRED and noisy, pretty sure a couple, if not all, of the struts were blown, the KW V3 was a much needed refresh, now she feels extremely tight and less noisy, plus I can now fine-tune the ride height and stance for those new aggressive fitment HREs when they arrive!










**This mod also drove my decision for replacing the OEM fender liners with new OEM plastic, it will make a big difference, for me atleast!

PHOTO SHOOT!
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Former Car: '16 SUNBURST GOLD F80 ///M3--6MT/Carbon Cloth (ED Thread)
Former Car:'13 SANTORINI BLUE E92///M3--6MT/Speed Cloth/ZCP(ED Thread)
INSTAGRAM:@C2KMotorsports

Last edited by Curt2000; 11-09-2018 at 08:49 PM..
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