stopped by my mechanic today - he said that from what he feels the car is dialed at the extreme level - I mean rock hard - the car wouldnt budge a millimeter when pressing on it -

He says he needs 2 Hours to adjust the suspension and that I will like it alot more - I really hope so!

any of you guys try adjusting the suspensions on your own?

 

Hi, most people here have the Bilstein Damptronic, so there is no adjusting involved. As far as your car, I assume you have a good mechanic with plenty of suspension setup experience? This to me is the most critical factor in tuning the car's suspension.

For the stiffness involved, my opinion:

1. The KW V3 has adjustable low speed compression damping and rebound damping. Lowering the rebound damping will increase comfort, and lower the compression damping may help also. Just keep in mind these have consequences otherwise; for example, lowering rebound too much could cause an underdamped system, which is not good. Suspension adjustment is black art -- tricky and should be done only by seasoned mechanic.
2. Ask the mechanic to see if previous owner has installed OTHER suspension components as well, such as drop link, rear upper control arm (dog bones), rear toe link. All of these other components will contribute to the stiffness of the car. They are great for some people, but not all.
It seems the car has been extensively tuned by previous owner and I would not be surprised if he has changed other components as well.
3. Ask the mechanic to see if the car has after-market sway bar, and if so, what is the setting of the sway bar. Stiff setting of rear sway bar could make the car extremely stiff and uncomfortable.

gmoney, yes you could change springs in any coilover -- that's their advantage, but for most people, this should not be necessary as it is very tricky. Changing spring rates affects other critical car parameters (front to rear balance affects understeer/oversteer behavior). What I mean is yes it's done, and am sure done very frequently by guys at the track, but for a street car, one shouldn't have to unless one is nutty, like me.

 

Call a KW dealer and find out what the factory settings were. The factory setting is usually good for most street applications. I had mine tweaked to suit what I was looking for.

I came off of JRZ's, so the KW was like riding on a cloud But then again, stiffness is really a subjective matter. I would definitely suggest going down to 19" wheels, It really does change the overall ride quality.

 

Finally got the car adjusted - night and day difference! I believe i went 2 clicks above the lowest point where before I was 6 clicks from the highest?

Much better - I can imagine the ride being better with 19"s - if so it might be to soft!

The only issue Im getting is that "low speed" bounce - like around 25mph - where my "man *****" do a jiggle - I might need a slight tighting - i also took the pressure in the PS2's down to 40 rear and 34 front - they were 44/36 before

Again - NIGHT AND DAY Difference!

thank you to Adam over at KW that was guiding us through the adjustments - If I can just get rid of that bounce Ill be a happy guy... still havent gone over the patches of rough pavement - Ill do that tommorow but much happier than yesterday!

Thank you to all who helped out!

 

1. Congrats on the KW correction. That's more like it. If you don't mind my asking, what exactly was changed? Compression or rebound (where was the setting located on the coilover?)?

2. Those tire pressures you listed above seem high! Is this cold or hot pressure?
Look at the manual and set the tire pressure setting to "Partial Load." Then check the differential reading using the control stalk, a good starting point is zero throughout. In California, my cold pressure is 36/31 cold, 39/33 warm for street driving. Yours at 40/34 is still on the high side, especially for New York temp in December and especially if this is cold reading.
Over-inflated tire makes car feel very stiff, and negatively affects road adhesion.