They can, to a certain extent. But you make a great point in your first comment about deciding what kind of driving you intend to do. If your primarily going to be driving the car on the street and you're looking for a soft spring, an aggressive coilover setup may not necessarily be the best option for you. Once you start going too soft with the spring rates, you get too far away from the operational range of the shocks, and the ride quality will suffer. Sure, you can adjust dampening to make the ride more compliant on the street, but then you're starting to wander away from what the true purpose of coilovers is. In those cases, a lowering spring/shock setup may be better suited. There IS a happy medium, though. But it really depends on the individual preference and tolerance of the driver. Some people like a nice firm ride, while others like a softer ride.

Of all the KW V3 installs we've done, we've stuck with the recommended spring rates from KW. They've done the research to figure out what rates work best for each application. Once you start to deviate from their recommended setup, it becomes a game of trial and error.

Hope that sort of helps..

 

Thanks for the reply Tom. Reason I brought it up was my first change from stock was to the PSS9's and I found them great for the street, but with a too soft spring set for the track. Since I don't drive my car much on the street now, I went with Motons and a stiffer spring set which made all the difference in controlling the turbo's weight on the track. The car would just bounce around with PSS9's even set at the stiffest setting. I'm no suspension expert by any stretch of the imagination, but that has been my experience.

 

That makes perfect sense Larry. I always tell people, when you shop for coilovers or think about how a coilover should ride, always keep in mind that the goal of any good suspension system is to keep your wheels in constant contact with the pavement. If the suspension is too bouncy or floaty, you're compromising contact. Unfortunately the best way to maintain the most contact with the road is usually with a firmer suspension.

That's why what you said earlier is so vital. Decide what the car will be used for, then pick a suspension that covers as many of your requirements as possible. Sometimes that ends up being the more expensive coilover route, but it also sometimes ends up being the less expensive route. At the end of the day, it's all about making the driver happy and meeting their expectations.

We've found that an adjustable dampening system, like the PSS10's or KW V3's typically covers all the bases. We've just been favoring the V3's lately because of the additional adjustability.

 

aren't the KW v2's a better comparison to the PSS10's?

 

As far as features go, yes. However, there is no KW V2 application for the 996 turbo.

 

that explains it. Thanks!

 

The reason the car bounced around is within this thread below.... I had that same problem and decided to go to JRZ, problem solved.

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...-write-up.html

 

Keep in mind too that the Bilstein's adjustment is for rebound, not compression. Many people make the mistake of assuming it's a compression adjustment. That's another reason why setting it on the stiffest setting can lead to a bouncy feeling ride.

 

Well it would bounce whether it was set hard or soft, the car is heavy and PSS9's are a street setup.

 

Nothing is worse than a fully adjustable suspension that's not set up properly. Unless you're comfortable with adjusting the suspension at the track I would advise against it. For a dual purpose car with limited track use I think the kw are overkill, the bilsteins are fine.

 

I agree with you about the fully adjustable setup not being setup but if you run across someone thats in for the look of the car being low PSS9 will not work... I heard JIC might even be better... possibly KW I don't know all the physics but 100% sure PSS9 is not what you want if going for a GT2 ride height look.

 

The maximum lowering for the PSS10's is only 20mm (or .78 inches) in the rear, so it will be hard to duplicate GT2's stance and keep a compliant ride.

The KW V3's allow you to lower up to 1.20 inches front a rear while staying within the effective range of travel of the shocks.

 

Mainly the valving has been improved and other internals. Kevin at UMW has more details.


not true, Myself and a few others on this forum are at GT2 height in the back and have at least 20mm more movement down from there with the Pss10's.

Is the KWV3's 1.2 inch lower from GT2 height, X73 or turbo height?.

 

this was considerably discussed on here. Mikelly has pss9's and they are at least as low if not lower than GT2 height. and he does not hit bump stops. I know for fact that Pss10's don't. Installation procedure may have been an issue.

I also did not think that pss9's were still being sold. I asked around when I was looking to buy and everyone told me they were not being made any longer.

 

Tom, have you had any experience with KW Club Sports for the 996tt?