KW Coilover quality? (For my OTM)
 

TLDR: How do KW coilovers (V1 in this case) hold up? Compared to Bilsteins? Any experiance? How do they handle salt?

The long version below:

So, I put a Bilstein PPS on my 2011 Honda Fit about 4 years and 50k miles ago. Recently had onenof the front struts blow appart (litterally, shot itself across the garage when I went to change the strut mount, which I thought was the cause of the clunking). Tryingnto warantee it through tire rack, but getting bit by Bilstein's "supply issue". Been on backorder since early December, and just got informed it got pushed back to end of Feb at the soonest. Which I don't believe at this point.

Looking for fairly soft and comfortable, but better handling and stiffer springs since I load this poor car to the gills fsirly often and the stock setup just couldn't handle it. The stock suspension also sucked hard core. Too little spring, too much compression damping, too little rebound.

Bilsteins have been fantastic, and ride great, but I can't get a replacement it seems. So choices are KW, BC, Tein, Stock (yuck) or lowering springs (also a no go cause I want stock ride height for winter). And then of course all the usual junk coilovers that aren't worth looking at.

I have KW V1s on my 328 wagon. Rides fine for me. Stiff, but not jarring and I have them very low. Haven't had them long enough to comment on durability.

When I was looking, I got the impression these were in the cost effective range. Step up from the ebay junk and racelands, but not to the quality of Ohlins and the like. Basically, the lowest coilover that won't make you hate your car.

salt , whats your concern there? pretty much all paints and anodizing will react the same.

A shock referral from a completely different platform, is a terrible data point. useless actually. Whats your budget? Why not just one of the shocks we all like?

For salt, not all arethe same. Inferor stainless steels, not using stainless at all, such like that. KW claims to use a high quality stainless for everything, so more just want to know if that's true. The bilsteins were supposed to be good, but had pitting in the chrome on the shaft after just 4 years.

As far as shock recomendstions, I am looking for overall build quality info and purchasing experiances snd such, not how it rides. I know that is going to very a lot from car to car design. I have cleaned what I can from the Fit forums, but sadly they are 98% ricers and getting any useful info is hard...

I had KW v1 on my Passat for a similar amount of time. They were actually pretty good, fixed length not multipiece like Alibaba stuff, and while the plastic spring perches on the front didn't immediately seize up in midwest winters they did eventually corrode themselves into a fixed position. If you're concerned with rust/salt, then bag them from day one. The rear was a separate shock from coil, like your fit, and the rear adjusters were a PITA from day one. They weren't coated steel like the fronts, but black anodized aluminum.

Springrates were soft, and progressive which was great for a cushy daily, but they were terribad when subjected to autocross or trackday lunchtime parade laps.

Before I sold the car, I installed a used 100k mile OEM suspension and was blown away by how much better it rode. lol

I redacted this post a few times before hitting Post. I've matured, and would opt for a normal Bilstein B8 with a stiffer rate, moderate drop lowering spring. Adjustable rideheight isn't a requirement for my daily driver anymore.

So they sound fairly similar to the bilsteins overall. Almost noone makes good aftermarket stuff for these cars anymore. A few came through but were discontinued. The PSS are the only bilsteins available. Other than that I have the usual monroe, kyb gr2 and koni str.t. They dicontinued the yellows for these or I would just do that with custom spring rate.

I may just have to do that anyway at this rate. All the lowering springs for these are too soft.

Have these on my Miata, pretty good on the street, fairly comfortable. Good for spirited driving but not so for the track, too soft and no damping option.
Still better than Tein and the taiwanese shocks imo.

According to me i would not recomend KW. They are Twin tube compare to Monotube bilsteins. Perhabs they have knobs but to be honest it works good when it is new.
Last mounth my friedns enforced me to rebuild and perform service for KW V3. It is nightmare regarding to design and how it is built. Plenty of complex parts.
For me bilstein is much better option, it has rebuildable facility and it is monotube which is more efficient and more durable than KW.
If bilsteins are not available I would take BC ( the same design 46 mm monotube )

I forgot how terrible the rear adjusters are! Mine were like that too. Had to remove the spring to adjust, which meant removing the control arm for me.

Honestly, I was looking for a low spring with normal shock, they just don't have anything that low for me (xdrive e91). I agree with what someone else said that coilovers are not needed in a daily.

Yeah, the rear adjusters that came with the bilsteins are like that too. But dropping the rear springs takes less time than getting the car up. Two bolts for the shocks and the torsion beam drops right down.

As far as not needing coilovers in the daily, usually I would agree, but the second gen Fits are severily under sprung from the factory. The suspensions are almost the same between first and second gen, but the spring rates are super different. First gen is 3.1kg/mm front and 4.9kg/mm rear. Second gen they went to 1.7 and 2.0 because people were complaining the first gen was too stiff. One of my issues with the car is it would bottom out any time I loaded it up. The Bilstein kit solved that and road like a dream even loaded to the gills.

One of the options I have is getting used springs and then new struts/shocks from a first gen abd making them fit. Other option is some Koni Orange (the only "performace" shocks/struts available) and the stiffest lowering springd I can find, which are the Progress ones at 2.8F and 3.6R.

I have no idea what rates are on the Bilsteins other than they arw progressive. Supposidly the rears in the progress set are as well.

Is there a Swift Spec R spring for the fit(or jazz) in jdm land?

They make sport springs for the Fit. They are only 2.3kg/mm front and 2.1 rear. The OEM dampers already suck massivly with the stock springs. Too much compression and not enough rebound. The STR.T supposidly have a hair less compression and a good bit more rebound, hence why I am thinking those with the stiffer progress springs, or the even high rate first fen fit springs depending on how they react to the progress ones. Noone seems to make an adjustable front strut for these, though I can get modded yellows from an 06+ civic that fit on the rear.

Also, I love this forum. This has already been more constructive than trying to get any useful info out of any of the Fit forums with the ricer boys. *facepalm*

There is also the TEIN Street Advance Z:
https://www.tein.com/srch/us_search....STREETADVANCEZ

Those are 3kg/mm in the front and 2kg/mm in the rear, so probably not a huge upgrade.
The shocks are adjustable though, so that would be a plus.

I run a set of TEIN Street Advance Z's on my Lexus IS200 (same chassis as Altezza and IS300) and for the money they are OK.
Build quality seems decent and they are quite a bit stiffer than stock.
The damping range and spring rate is tuned for road use and I have them set to full stiff all the time. With that in mind I would not go for the Basis Z.
In the grand scheme of coil overs they are not great, but given they cost the same as OEM replacements, I think they are reasonable value.

Comes down to model. I had KW V3's on a 350z and they were pretty incredible. Stiff enough to stop it from feeling like a boat but still easily comfortable enough for a female to be oblivious about. Was in a mate's car with V1's and they were shithouse. I'm told the valving is the big difference.

Anyoje have any experiance with BC stuff for longevity and durability/salt resistsnce?

They are apparently clones of the bilstein's internally, one of the few companies that does custom stuff for the Fits actually uses bilstein parts to revalve and rebuild them.

what world am i living in? What year is it again? Is Reagan still president?

There really are just no good options for this dang car anymore. It seems any good companies that made midprice parts have stopped, so I am left with either having to go expensive and custom, stock replacement (yuck), or the standard ricer boy options of tien and ebay stuff. And of course, all the sport/lowering springs are like, 1.5-2" claimed drop and about 5% stiffer than stock, so those are useless...

And the Fit forums are usless cause the only reviews are "yeah, rides great! Look at how low it goes!"

Yeah, I go to other forums looking for advice on random things, no other sites are like MT.

Anyhoo, be on the lookout for a used set of Xida's, or just fork it out for new ones. You sound like a perfect candidate for the GS series. Have not seen those come up used though. Nobody gets rid of them..yet..

How will Xidas help with a 2011 Honda Fit?

Although I can say part of the reason I am so picky about suspension and damping now is the Xidas I have on my 90... (Insurance payout from a deer payed for those, still worth every penny). Sadly, I bought about 8 months too early to get the XLs/GSs or I would have a set of those.

LOL, I failed to gather from post 1, that this was in regards to a Honda. Ill exit now.