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      06-10-2019, 06:42 AM   #9
Caduceus
First Lieutenant
Australia
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Drives: 2008 135 (sold), 2017 M2
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Australia

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Quote:
Originally Posted by mhanism View Post
Awesome post and detail! Thank you!

Curious on your take on the ride quality and changes to the handling dynamics post lowering as well. Given your level of detail, your perspective on the impact to the car's handling would be most welcome.
I drove the car for a few weeks using the recommended street setting supplied by KW. That is 9 clicks open for rebound front and rear and 6 clicks open for bump front and rear. Easy to remember when both ends are the same! These numbers are in the manual.

My impression is that firmness of the ride is only slightly more than OEM. Pitch changes under acceleration and braking are reduced and body roll while cornering is also reduced. If you wanted to just set and forget, this would satisfy the majority of users on the street and for light track use.

I have only had one track day since installing the suspension and despite searching hard, I could not find any KW recommended track settings. They exist for the Clubsport coilovers but not for the V3 (at least that I can find). So I took a punt and set rebound at 6 open and bump at 4 open on both ends. i.e. rebound 3 harder than street and bump 2 harder.

I'm quite a conservative driver at track days and on this particular one, I had not driven before. So I was not out to test the limits. What was immediately obvious to me was improved grip at both ends. My MPSS are nearing the end of their life and at my penultimate track day (before the KW install) I had really lost confidence in them. Especially the back end which would power oversteer with minimal provocation.

Having the new suspension was like giving the tyres a new lease on life. Powering out of corners where I would easily break traction before, the car would just grip and grip in perfect balance. No oversteer, no understeer. I also suspect that my new alignment with 3mm toe in at the rear aids this corner exit stability. I wonder if it was perhaps set with less toe originally? I pushed progressively harder expecting to find the grip limit but never got there. This car is very capable.

I don't have a proper tyre pyrometer but I did check tread temperatures with an infrared point and shoot thermometer at the end of each session. At the back end, temperatures were 2-3 deg celsius warmer on the inner vs. outer edges. This suggests current camber of -1.8 is about right. Pushed harder or with fresher tyres, these should come out very even. No camber change warranted.

At the front end, I was expecting hot outer edges and outer shoulder wear like a lot of people without camber plates experience. Remember, I am -1.65deg (non-adjustable) at present. To my surprise, the temperatures were even and shoulder wear was not disproportionate. The left tyre was 10 deg warmer than the right but to be expected with a mostly right turning track.

The reasons for not seeing high outer shoulder temps and wear probably reflect my lack of experience on this track which meant I would usually enter corners a little slower and power out vs. braking really late and turning in hot. I think that the required amount of front camber is proportional to how hard you push and how sticky your tyres are. More experience/aggression and more grip = more camber needed.

Overall, I rate this suspension very highly. It's a worthwhile upgrade for street and certainly for track.

PS. I didn't have time to change the setting back to street and took the car to work today. I have no desire to leave it set like this for street use. It's too firm. Amazing that 2-3 clicks can change the character so much.
Appreciate 1
mhanism277.00