KW coilovers bottoming out badly

[Racer Boy]

The springs look to be compressed nearly all the way when the car is on the ground, judging by the pictures you posted. It looks to me like those must be the wrong springs, they are either too short or the wrong spring rate.

I'd check the number of the spring and compare with what KW lists in their application chart.

[Gilles]

Originally Posted by Racer Boy

The springs look to be compressed nearly all the way when the car is on the ground, judging by the pictures you posted. It looks to me like those must be the wrong springs, they are either too short or the wrong spring rate.

I'd check the number of the spring and compare with what KW lists in their application chart.

+ 1

Chris, based on your pictures something is not right, most likely you have the wrong springs as the perches on my car are about 2-3" from the bottom of the treads on the strut.

Right now we are celebrating our 25th anniversary in Mexico, otherwise I would take a couple of pictures of the KW's on my CS for you.

Hopefully someone will post a pic of his KW's, otherwise I should be able to take some for you by the weekend.

Regards,
Gilles

PS: I am not sure if you will be able to follow Marcus suggestions, as I looked at my struts a couple of weeks ago to get their part number required by KW prior of shipping the struts to them to be rebuilt, and I was no longer able to get any P/N as all of them had faded after 9 + years, you may have to remove them (or better yet, remove all the load on them ) and measure the thickness and height of the springs before you call KW.

BTW, my car sits as low as yours..

[CrisZenithBlue]

hi guys,

i have gotten a response from KW with some instructions on how to install the coilovers but the instructions seem to be from a v3.

Markus has a point, on the KW website they dont offer the v2 for the 986 but other dealers do. my next move has been to as KW directly do they or do they not offer this set for the 986?

if the answer is no then there's my problem..
if they need the part number i'm sure i can get them, the set is pretty new and in good shape but i'll have to have the car up and it might not happen until later this week.

i'll update as soon as i have an answer from them.

Gilles i would appreciate a photo when you have time
enjoy Mexico!

thanks a lot for the help guys, i really wanna get this straight so i can enjoy my car worry free again.

Cristian

[CrisZenithBlue]

Ok so i got confirmation from KW that this is indeed the correct set for the 986 and the reason why V2 isnt offered on their website anymore is because it was discontinued at the beginning of this year. I imagine some dealers out there still have it in stock that's why you can find it. According to them Variant 1 and 3 are currently available for the 986 but V1, 2, and 3 have all used the same springs front and rear with no helpers. The damper itself is the only change in the valve adjustments and in the case of the V3 it has external reservoirs. Aside from that all 3 systems are very similar.

They said it's simply not intended to be used at the vehicles original ride height and that's not just because of the springs but because the shock itself is shorter.

Well that's good news i guess as it would have been a pain to replace everything. My next move is to play around with the settings to find the sweet spot. Luckily the previous owner who had these on his Boxster sent me the settings he had where he was not bottoming out so i'll try those this weekend.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks again to all for your helpful advice! I swear i would hate owning the Boxster if it wasn't for this helpful bunch on here!

Cheers!

Cristian

[Smallblock454]

Originally Posted by CrisZenithBlue

They said it's simply not intended to be used at the vehicles original ride height and that's not just because of the springs but because the shock itself is shorter.

Hello Cristian,

hm, i hope that works. When looking at the pictures i would say you can lower the car maybe 1 inch without hitting the tyres the fenders. But not shure if that will give enough spring travel.

Maybe you should preload the dampers also a bit more. I know that preload is not the right term in that case, but i hope you understand what i mean.

Did they say how low they intended the car to be?

Concerning the setup. Because the springs are progressive the method steved0x suggested won't work perfect, but it's a way to go.

There is lots of infos on setting on youtube and the internet. Always recommend to take a look, because this is not an easy thing if you want to do it right.

Regards, Markus