K-sport: too good to be true???

[cs40racing]

So I received my k-sports today, upon inspection now I see why you want shorter droplinks tommy, don't know why k-sport did it this way (okay maybe I do) but it's mostly an afterthought that they added the droplink attachment. What does this mean? It means that for the phase 2 owners who want to literally "SLAM" their vehicle you will most likely have to get phase 1 droplinks because there is a point where you won't be able to go any lower because of the length of the droplink, why? because the mount is dependant on where your ride height is set... do'h?! what were they thinking???

I'll start with the front struts, construction quality is good, anodizing finish is good, pillowball mount good, springs good, overall the part is 100% nice. My only concern is the bottom of the strut, I don't like the fact that they made the strut mount threaded and that it is possible for the strut to become loose and begin working its way down onto the cv joint boot over time... I hate (AND I MEAN HATE) replacing halfshafts... I've done it so much it's a piece of cake but it's the most annoying job ever... I understand it's nice to have your shock body adjustable but c'mon k-sport WHY???

Weight is considerably less than stock, the KW's are also this lite, but i'll compare weights when I swap them out.

The rear assemblies are nice, they're simple and straight forward, again though, k-sport has made the shock body adjustable on the mount, a very very VERY nice feature but WHY??? Now when I go to adjust six months down the road it's going to be an even bigger pain in the @$$ to adjust because of dirt, dust, crap, grime, and whatever else works it's way into the threads... I've had to cut perches off of coilovers before and it is a PAIN, think of having to cut the damn shock body mount off this thing... OMG... it's going to be a nightmare!!

One feature the k-sports also provide is adjustable damping, this is where the KW's lose out, or is it? I kind of like the idea of just installing and go.

Most people will never think of these things and I admit when I first got my KW's I didn't give it a second thought, I just slapped them on and was happy. I'm going to swap everything this weekend so we'll see how these K-sports treat me. Hopefully they'll be better than the B-G's, and in my opinion the B-G's were extra nice, even compared to the KW's B-G was not far behind...

Something some of you may not also be aware of, you will have to maintain these, that means at least once a year you'll have to take them off and clean them up, every coilover used in daily driver application is the same. If not you'll end up having fused perches and shock bodies and you'll end up having a very bad day...

Some info. I also dug up on k-sport;

It's a generic shock/strut assembly built off of technology acquired by some suspension company in England, the K-sport name is actually one of two (or many other ) name brands this suspension is sold under, some of you may recognize the name D2 Sports Suspension, they are essentially the same thing. I couldn't find who actually made the struts/shocks for these guys but they appear to be good quality, everyone in the import world who uses them has nothing but positive things to say.

[GerBeGurGya]

Glad your initial experience with the setup is positive.

Just a couple of things I would like to say.You will see that the bracket for the droplink will be positioned about the center of the threaded section.There is one more inch to go lower on my current height settings I'd say even you would find that extreme.

I dont get you word on the has to be taken out every year and clean the stuff.Nothing should get under the protection and other than that no other parts need to be kept clean.I think the pillow ball mount might need some cleaning then lubrication as this part gets the water but it can be done just by opening the hood.I will use compressed air then oil used for lubricating the O-ring chain on motorcycles.This stuff gets in between easily then becomes more like the grease.Waterproof quite possibly never will let water in there anymore.

The bottom part is kinda scary indeed but I think they designed the whole setup as the damper itself can be replaced as one unit.I'd say it is very nice feature and can lower the cost if the damper goes.Tighten the bottom up first then secure the thing together with the locknut on the top.

The rear one has to be like that as thats the way you adjust the height separately from the spring load.

Let me save you end everybody whos going with this some time with figuring the adjustment.Here is my current setup use it as a good base then go from here.

[cs40racing]

Thanks Alex,

I'm going to set my front overall exposed strut length to 6.5" instead of 7" since I want to go quite a bit lower than you, however now with this bumper I have I can't really go down any lower at all

What I mean by cleaning and maintenance is that imagine if six months from now you decide you want to raise the car, you can clean the threads as much as you want buy you'll have dust and dirt that work their way into the threads, so you raise the car, you now have trapped dust and dirt down into the threads, which in turn will begin to oxidize (assuming this material they used is really plated well it WON'T) but that's a perfect world and this isn't it... so what happens after you raise and lower and adjust a few times WELL AFTER you initiall installed the kit and it was all nice and clean? you get dirt, dust, rocks (mind you small pansy little rocks) trapped in the threads, one thing leads to another and before you know it you have a cross-threaded perch... Here you have a total of six on each front strut, six possible cross threads to look forward to.

On the KW's you'll only ever have two. I had to cut perches off of mine twice in five years, thankfully replacements are easy to come by (keep in mind my kit is a galvanized kit with fine threads), hopefully these coarse threads are better, KW switched to coarse threads and single perches per assembly. And no this is not just these coilovers, all coilovers are prone to this problem. It's just an unfortunate side effect of owning coilovers.

For someone who will adjust theirs and never again adjust they don't care about this but I adjust the suspension quite a bit sometimes, depending on drive or where I am taking the car so it affects someone like me the most.

[GerBeGurGya]

IC what you mean and can tell that already experienced this problem as I adjusted this setup a couple of times.I just used toothbrush on the threads before I even begun to do anything.

This measurements I posted are good for some aggressive driving and gives some comfort.On a twisty mountain road I find this setup too soft actually but in the city just comfy enough not to hate it. However if you wanna go lower you would have to increase the spring load quite a lot or try the dampening to be more in as I have the rear fully in on the rear but only 4 click on the front.May be I will try that to give it more hardness..The pillow ball actually dried out I think as after a couple of day standing the first turn makes some noise.Will see to it soon as I get out of this sickness I contracted last week.

Dont you think the shorter drop link will not reach the bracket?May be some adjustable would prove useful in this case after all.

[cs40racing]

HMmmmm.. would def. like to know what you use for the pillowball mount...

I can tell this suspension will annoy me trying to set it up blindly the way I am... what really sucks is not being able to turn the shock/strut body safely while it is installed in the car...

[MikeNacarato14398254]

carlos, D2 in no way is related to Ksport, ive called both companies to ask

Also, idk if our B+gs were the same or not but these are a hell of a lot better than the bgs. i also though of the cv boot problem as well becuse ive done it twice and i dont wanna replace that stuff again.

[cs40racing]

Ksport and D2 are the same product, they come from the same manufacturer, they are obviously different colors and somewhat different setups but they are both made by the same manufacturer.

and the B-G's were good stuff, you could look at the shaft on the front strut and you could tell it was heavy duty, the problem with the B-G's is they were never finished, remember the ones I had that I sold you were only prototypes, so for a prototype it was a hell of a good product, but there were no upper mounts and tophats ever made for them...

[MikeNacarato14398254]

i like the ksports a lot better. do your bgs have mounts and everything??

when i called ksport they told me they were not affiliated with d2 and they just happened to look similar. dunno why.

[GerBeGurGya]

Carlos wrote on Thu, 15 November 2007 20:22

HMmmmm.. would def. like to know what you use for the pillowball mount... I can tell this suspension will annoy me trying to set it up blindly the way I am... what really sucks is not being able to turn the shock/strut body safely while it is installed in the car...

U use this one.I have used this and similar ones on my bikes with great success.Not only on the chains but whenever moving parts were to get wet and needed to be lubricated.It wont dry off for long time.Its liquid like when you apply so it can get into trough small gaps then in thickens there lubricating the parts from the inside and its stickies too.Probably one time applied will never to be touched again on the pillow ball.The parts has to be dust free or the lubricant will become like the sandpaper.

http://www.cyclegear.com/spgm.cfm?L1=52&L2=&L3=& L4=&item=TUC_53-6012_G

This is only one of many great stuff.As I said I used this particular make for years and its really stickier and lubricates better than others I tried.

[cs40racing]

Nice, I will try to get some of that, there are alot of guys at work who ride motorcycles one of them might have this.

How's the suspension bias overall front to rear the way you have it set up now (front soft, rear hard, front hard, rear soft etc...?)??

[MikeNacarato14398254]

i have it on soft all the way, its nice and smooth for daily driving.

[GerBeGurGya]

My setup is much softer on the rear.The front is like stone can not push it down at all by my weight on it. (240) the rear can be moved but not too much.If I wanna go lower on the rear I'll have to harden it further or it will rub.I have to keep a kinda soft setup on these crazy roads unfortunately.

[tomedkaz1568908563]

I tightened my springs quite a bit and my rebound is one click away from the hardest setting and I think I need a rear sway bar to make the rear stiffer at sharp turns. When I jerk the wheel the rear feels too soft as it's leaning too much. Other than that ther performance is superb.

In terms of the bottom part breaking loose - it happened to me. The black retainer part in the front loosened twice and I think it's loose again because i hear it at turns sometimes. I tightened it really hard and it keeps unscrewing. I think I'll remove it alltogether so it doesnt rub on the boot - I dont see the purpose of it

I think I'll eventually purchase PH1 droplinks to loosen the tension on the front bar. I think my steering wheel became a bit harder to turn (not a budren).

[cs40racing]

that concerns me... I'm pretty good at tightening these things up right though, hopefully I won't have issues...

[GerBeGurGya]

tomedkaz wrote on Thu, 15 November 2007 21:22

I tightened my springs quite a bit and my rebound is one click away from the hardest setting and I think I need a rear sway bar to make the rear stiffer at sharp turns. When I jerk the wheel the rear feels too soft as it's leaning too much. Other than that ther performance is superb. In terms of the bottom part breaking loose - it happened to me. The black retainer part in the front loosened twice and I think it's loose again because i hear it at turns sometimes. I tightened it really hard and it keeps unscrewing. I think I'll remove it alltogether so it doesnt rub on the boot - I dont see the purpose of it I think I'll eventually purchase PH1 droplinks to loosen the tension on the front bar. I think my steering wheel became a bit harder to turn (not a budren).

You can not loose the bottom part.You need two point to secure the damper.One thread is in the top section of the lower support and the second thread is in the bottom (black) part.If you remove that the damper will not be secure and will dingle all over destroying all the threads.Dont do it.

The PH1 drop link is like 3" shorter.You'd be sure that will be long enough?I think it will be 1.5" too short.