First of all, my phone died halfway through so I didn't get many pics of the rear.


Here's what I did:


I bought KWV3 from a guy on here who never installed them. They did not come with top mounts (Tophats). So had to remove the top mounts from my 'struts' and install them on the KW's. Did this according to KW supplied instructions.






This job was pretty simple for me because I went RWD last week. So I have no front axle's.


Started by removing the nuts in the rear of the car under the carpet panel.








Then remove the plastic in the boot, and take unscrew nuts on either side of the car for the top mounts.


(I should have taken wheels off before this step.) Take your wheels off first thing.


I have/ H&R Springs on the front. What I like to do is once tension is off you can pop the spring out of it's mount and screw/thread it down the strut body. Once you do this you just compress the piston by hand and you have plenty of room to maneuver out of the wheel well.








Disconnect the end link and the bolt going through the strut:






Side note:
On the front struts there are bearings up at the top. I don't know the technical term, but they are designed terribly. They go bad easily and literally fell apart when I took the strut off. I saw they were bad when I put the H&R springs on, and ordered replacements. However the coilovers didn't use these bearings so the set that I have is for sale to anyone who wants them. If you have creaking or crunching in the front end of the car, it's most likely these guys.





Bearing just fell apart.



Removed top mounts from struts, Pressed on the coilover sleeve and installed top nut on the coilovers. (you do reuse the very top washer from the strut also)


There was some question below about why you would not use the strut bearings. Their diameter would not work. Here's a shot of the instructions where they state NOT to use the old bearings:











Push coilover back into place, and reinstall bolts. I put a jack under the brake rotor and slowly jacked everything up into place. Here is it is in place:



The rears are actually easier.


Disconnect the end links


Remove bottom bolt through the bottom of the strut.


I tapped the bolt out with a punch and a ball peen hammer


Then I used a pry bar to just wedge the bottom of the strut out of its mount. Once it springs free I just twisted it downward and was able to pull it out.


Removed top mounts from old struts, and installed them onto the KW's.


From there it was a simple matter of threading the coilover back up and lining everything up.


I wish I had pics for the back, but again, the phone died.


My observations just from driving for about 15 minutes at midnight when I was finished.
Car seems much more planted. It inspires confidence and this is before any alignment or anything.


I would say this is one of the best upgrades I've done. I wish I did this when I first bought the car!


On a side note, the H&R Springs are for sale. They are the Sport Springs. Bought them from Vividracing for $334.33 about 8 months ago. I'll sell them for $250 plus shipping.


The Strut Bearings I talked about are found here: http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/...4.00&itemquant= 2


I'll sell the pair I have for $80 shipped.

 

wont you have the noise issues by not using the thrust washer/bearings ?

did the coilover instructions specifically say not to use them ?

 

Did you install an LSD? How is your traction off the line and around turns if you still have the open diff? I really want to do a RWD conversion but am not ready to spend the money on an LSD yet.

 

Nice write up!

You will like them even more once you have them dialed in.

 

Correct, the coilovers don't use them. I did kind of freak out for a bit when I realized there were no bearings there. But I trust KW engineering.

 

they actually specifically said not to use them ?

i had the issue when my bilsteins were installed, but the instructions make no mention of them, when they were re-installed the problem went away, just wondering if kw does something different that would prevent the issue

 

I have not done an LSD. It may be in the cards, but so far I don't really have any complaints. Traction seems fine so far. But honestly I don't drive my car really hard.

 

If I remember correctly on my install there is another part on the KW coilover that freely rotates.

 

There's nowhere for them to go. The diameter of the bearings would be too large for the coilovers to use them. If you look at the KW Top Mounts they don't use them either.

 

intradesting, hopefully there wont be any noises, it annoyed the sh*t out of me

 

Yeah, I agree. My old OEM struts were terrible. All kinds of creaking and grinding noises. Driving around last night everything was SILENT.


If anyone who is qualified wants to chime in on this I would love to hear it. But from what I can tell there is no bearing used. (But I'm not an expert)


Also, added a few pics up at the top showing this top mount and how I assembled it. Also a screenshot of the instructions.

 

this would make sense as to why the thrust washers are not needed then

 

Yep per the KW install instructions

Insert the original supporting bearing without the standard bearing and
mount it with the supplied stop nut.

 

great write up! i'm on H&R's and want to go kwv3's too so i'm glad to hear there is a noticeable positive difference! would you say it rides smoother or harder? do you have them set hard or soft?

 

I've been on both as well. HUGE improvement.