KSport Coilovers: All About 'Em

[Kirk]

Randall, it sounds to me like you're trying to get the nut off the shaft of your KSports, right? I just had a similar problem with my JRZ adjustables - how to hold the shaft from spinning to tighten the top nut down. What I did (since I had enough exposed thread to do this) was put two more nuts on the shaft above the nut to be loosened or tightened. I then snugged those two nuts up real tight to each other. This kind of locks them onto the shaft. Then you can hold these locked nuts with a wrench (which then holds the shaft steady from spinning) and loosen or tighten the main nut you're trying to get to. Worked for me and no need to bung up your shock shaft with vice grips.

Kirk

[RandallNeighbour]

Der Geist wins the prize. My mechanic took his impact wrench out and three seconds later, they popped right off. I swapped the springs, added the skinny ones below on the rear, and put them back together.

He's planning to work late tonight and have the job done by tomorrow. 19 hours is what he quoted me to do all four bearings, the trailing arms in the rear, three lower control arms, install the Ksports, and the track arms (toe links)... $1500.

He's also thrown in a four wheel laser alignment he's doing at the dealership on his own time and nickel. Not bad considering the hours required to do all this work.

I am expecting a totally different car when I pick it up.

Insite, your instructions did not have a measurement on the rears from the ground to the top of the wheel well. Is there a recommended height?

BTW, I noticed something very interesting on the freeway out to his place today. I had the ksports in the rear trunk, adding about 45 lbs to the rear of the car. The front was really squirrelly at 75 mph and unstable. Almost like I had a flat tire. I do hope that was just the extra weight in the back with nothing added to the front to balance it out. Weird indeed.

[insite]

rear ride height should be a little higher than the front ride height; something in the 25.25 - 25.75 inch range. FYI, M030 RoW is 25.75 and bone stock is 26.25.

[RandallNeighbour]

While installing my Ksports, bearings, and other suspension parts, my mechanic found that my front right control arm (the one that extends from the chassis to the control arm with the ball joint) was bent and required replacement... Oklahoma Foreign sold me a salvaged one for $150 shipped overnight. I would have put in a brand new one or a rebuilt one, but I want to do both sides when I do it. This should be closer to the age of the existing one on the left side.

Here's a shot of the back driver's side, completed:

[RandallNeighbour]

I picked up my car last night. Wow. Observations:

1. Much rougher ride. However, none of the dampering settings have been made and all four corners are not on the same place on the dial.

2. The car now handles as if it were bolted to rails on a roller coaster. Far less body roll and it's no longer sloppy. I did not feel any pitching front-rear either due to a problem with harmonic balance... but I'm fairly ignorant of all this and that may be to my advantage if it exists

3. I doubt I will ever drive across country with the wife on a vacation in the car again. She'll holler like a cat with it's tail on fire and ask me every five minutes why we didn't take the Lexus (or the BMW, which we'll probably have by end of year).

Kevin, what tire pressure do you recommend now? I can't seem to find it.

[shifter997]

Hi, Insite. I was reading this thread but I am not sure you installed 300/400 or 400/500. Can you let us know? How is the ride on streets/ highways?
Thanks.

[insite]

Originally Posted by shifter997

Hi, Insite. I was reading this thread but I am not sure you installed 300/400 or 400/500. Can you let us know? How is the ride on streets/ highways?
Thanks.

i've got the 400/500 and randall has the 300/400. the 400/500 are rough on the street for sure, but not unbearable. i actually don't mind the ride at all. my fiancee really doesn't mind it either. the dampers are actually not bad; they do a good job of controlling the car over bumps and dips. i would probably choose slightly different spring rates next time to deal with some harmonic issues inherent to the 400/500 choice; probably 350/500 or 400/550, but i'm not sure yet.

[shifter997]

Originally Posted by insite

i've got the 400/500 and randall has the 300/400. the 400/500 are rough on the street for sure, but not unbearable. i actually don't mind the ride at all. my fiancee really doesn't mind it either. the dampers are actually not bad; they do a good job of controlling the car over bumps and dips. i would probably choose slightly different spring rates next time to deal with some harmonic issues inherent to the 400/500 choice; probably 350/500 or 400/550, but i'm not sure yet.

Insite, I thank you in prompt response. I appreciate your knowledge, analysis backed with calculation ( I remember " Dynamics" in Engineering class. Although I don't use it much at all ), and a fact that you track your car. Hats off to you and Randall. Thanks again.
Any word on the group buy, you mentioned in the past thread?

[RandallNeighbour]

My 300/400 setup, set at the softest setting, is just a bit rougher than stock struts and springs.

I just sorted out the installation tonight, actually. My mechanic didn't tighten down one of the top nuts on the rear driver's side strut mount (loose a 1/4 inch) and the center nut was a little loose too. Tightened both and it stopped the rattle and banging I heard while going over every bump.

BTW, if you install these, double check clearance between the coilover and your rims and tires. Before I set my rears to 25.75 inches from ground to wheel well, they were rubbing my 18x10 aftermarket Carrera lights (from wheel dynamics) just a little. Fortunately it was only rubbing on the rubber perch base on the coilover, not the spring or perch rings. My 7mm spacers are now mandatory to keep the tires and rims from rubbing in the back. I suspect they're needed in the front too.

Then, because I replaced 3 of the 4 control arms (the ones with ball joints) and all four of the other control arms (that connect to the ball jointed control arms) and installed new rear adjustable toe arms, I had some serious rubbing problems with those stinking dust shields behind the rotors. Took me forever to get them out of the way so I didn't have a very loud, tinny, ticking noise when I made U turns (from metal whacking against the holes in my cross-drilled rotors).

Having all four wheel bearings replaced at once is a real treat! The car coasts silently and finally, oh joy! I do not have steering wheel vibration any longer! After buying new tires repeatedly and having road-force balancing done more times than I can count in the last four years, I solved a vexing problem.

Now, I must wait a week to get an alignment. My mechanic said he'd do it for free if I waited until next week, so I will be patient and save $$$ to let him do it when he has time.

The car feels so very different now, but I think I hear some noise coming from the springs clattering a bit over certain kinds of bumps. The adjustment knobs are really loose in the back and cannot be removed like the front ones. I might just tape them down to see if that's what's causing the clattering back there. Everything else seems to be bolted down nice and tight.