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KW competition coilovers



  172 Cup (track) FS
Can someone explain the differences between the KW Variant 3 and KW Competition range of coilovers for the Mk2 Ph2 Clio ?

specifically the differences for the 2-way adjustable kits
 
  172 Cup (track) FS
Sorry posted this after a few beers - have just re-read and did not mean to write Variant 3 - just Variant.

anyone ?
 
  172 Cup (track) FS
thanks - I have also found http://www.kwsuspensions.de/allgemein/Racingkatalog/kw_racing_comp.pdf

but I'd like to avoid what KW say and find out a bit more from other sources.

can't find any info on whether it's a different type of damper/spring or whether it's a completely different construction.

certainly the 3-way adjustable Competition setup is very different to the Variant 3 as the Competition one is remote-reservoir and looks very tidy indeed.
 
  172 Cup (track) FS
also would be useful to know the weight of 4 standard (2 front, 2 rear) Clio 172 Cup dampers and springs
 
  lift number 1 @ btm
there are two different competition sets- 2 way and 3 way. kw don't actually sell variant 3's for the clio, except for the v6. i spoke to yozza about the v3's they have and i think he said they have them specially built.
i have a set of the 2 way competition dampers, and they are built to your specification. you give the axle weights and tell them what the car is going to be used for, and they will build a kit to suit. if you need to change anything, they have almost any combination of spring rate and length. and can re-valve the dampers to suit if needed.
i'd definately recomend them, they are an awesome bit of kit!!
 
  172 Cup (track) FS
i have a set of the 2 way competition dampers

I just had them fitted to the car as part of the latest stage of prep (roll cage also done). I've been through the custom build with KW based on car weight and the other info they ask for.

if you need to change anything, they have almost any combination of spring rate and length. and can re-valve the dampers to suit if needed.
i'd definately recomend them, they are an awesome bit of kit!!

can you help me with settings ? What ride height did you go for as a starting point.

Also once the car has been corner-weighted - what should I do with the bump settings ? Is there a guidleine for a generic starting point for front/rear ?

The car is never used on the road (SORN'd it) so this is about a proper general setup for use at UK circuits and then me getting to grips with which way to tweak the setup for wet/dry and certain types of circuit ?

Can you give any assistance drhoswer - would be much appreciated :approve:

Any idea about the weight loss compared to standard shocks/springs?
 

Ali

  V6, Trackhawk, GTS
May be better answered in the tech section.

I was impressed with the KW's on a 172...Miles better than the FK's and H&R's imo
 
  lift number 1 @ btm
i've no idea about the weight loss to be honest, but as far as the setting up goes, i found the settings in the instructions to be pretty close, i added another click of rebound to the rears, as they were a little bit bouncy for me. other than that, all i can say about the damper settings is it will depend completely on how you drive and the surface you are on (but i'm sure you know that anyway) as far as ride hight goes, if you have the fronts much lower than the point where the wishbones are level you will get progressively more understeer (do you know about roll centre/centre of gravity?) and again, the rear setup will depend on how you like to drive, nose down will give you a pointier more agile car, ie. mobile rear. a flat setup will be the more predictable and stable option.
the best thnk to do is probably phone someone like mark fish who has spent years setting up cup racers.
 
  172 Cup (track) FS
thanks

I've got familiar with the traits of the chassis through plenty of track time last year.

when you say "one more click" for the rears do you mean Bump + or Bump - ?

I'll phone Mark Fish as you recommend and will also speak to the guy who did the cage work as he preps cars for Palmersport.

I just didn;t want to take it somewhere and say "make it really good please" without trying to understand how the adjustments affect the traits of the car - very hepful info cheers. It can be a bit tail-happy with the rear ARB and toe-kit setup that I run so I'll try to get them to dial a bit of that out.
 
  lift number 1 @ btm
i meant one more click+ on the rebound so the rear is a tiny bit slower coming back up and a bit less bouncy.
i use mine day to day, so i have spent ages playing with the settings. the most comfortable set up i have found for that is with the bump completely open and the rebound between 1/2 to 2/3 closed, i'm guessing that would also be reasonable to use for wet settings. i'd definately say that it would be worth moting the car and spending a month driving it to try to get used to the differences in the settings, the range seems to be pretty broad, and one turn makes a noticable difference.
 
  172 Cup (track) FS
this is great stuff - and it's telling me that I will need to go for slightly "harder" settings as I tend to pick the twisty tracks out of the circuit schedule for trackdays atm.

Croft in particular is muchos fun and demands really good grip out of corners to get the power down early. So I would probably look to run at somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 all round on the hardness, possibly a bit more if the grip is really there.

even without the coilovers, because of the rear ARB, toe kit and poly bushes the grip was incredible on my semi-slick Dunlops so I trust the chassis to hold on - the reason I wanted the coilovers was to get power down sooner and reduce the nose-dive on braking as I've not been able to brake late enough.

It's impressive that you can get enough ride comfort on the road with a significant handling improvement out of a race-focussed kit. What drop did you go for on yours for day-to-day use ?
 
  lift number 1 @ btm
to be honest, i'd say that comfort is stretching it a bit!! i don't mind, but anyone in the passenger seat normally has something to say. as for the drop, i don't know the numbers. but the front wishbones are set level, as this will give the least weight transfer.

http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showthread.php?t=295178

not a great pic, but it might give you some idea.
 
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