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      01-19-2012, 03:58 PM   #1
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KWV3 Installed Now Corner Balance or Just Alignment

Just installed KWV3 coil overs after a ton of research. Took a ride in another 1 M that had the suspension installed and I felt for my application it was best suited for daily driving and the ability to track if one chooses. I am however now looking to dial everything and I have been told an alignment is all that is needed. However from my prior cars and experience I have done corner balancing. Wanted to get your guys input on this issue. Also if any of you guys know a good shop in San Diego, Ca or near please let me know your review.
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      01-19-2012, 05:35 PM   #2
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I have spoken to a few workshops who install KW's and from what I have been told, corner balancing is only useful if you intend on being a track warrior. If it is merely a DD with an occassional track day thrown in here and there I think it would be a waste of money/time.

But afterall personal opinions differ, so someone will probably tell you differently
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      01-20-2012, 02:18 PM   #3
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I opted to do the full set up. I think if Im going to spend the money on the system I might as well spend the extra dough to set it up properly.
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      01-22-2012, 01:36 AM   #4
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Corner balance it if you plan on tracking the car religiously, otherwise just align it.
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      01-24-2012, 02:45 AM   #5
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Hey Raptor, here is some work for you! The Variant 3 from KW seems to me like the most useful mod' for the 1M, it would be nice to get a full report about it. How is the ride comfort ? How much lower is it ? What about the installation ? Have you got pics, before and after ? Does it feel more settled when driving on a rough road ?
Thanks in advance, Dee-Jay.
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      01-24-2012, 05:15 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LotusBoy View Post
Hey Raptor, here is some work for you! The Variant 3 from KW seems to me like the most useful mod' for the 1M, it would be nice to get a full report about it. How is the ride comfort ? How much lower is it ? What about the installation ? Have you got pics, before and after ? Does it feel more settled when driving on a rough road ?
Thanks in advance, Dee-Jay.
it all depends on the set-up
Softer or harder set-up, lower or a bit higher. That's the nice thing about full adjustable coil overs

It for sure feels more settled.
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      01-24-2012, 09:36 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VO 1M View Post
it all depends on the set-up
Softer or harder set-up, lower or a bit higher. That's the nice thing about full adjustable coil overs

It for sure feels more settled.
Hi mr Valencia, looks like you would know the subject... What's your experience with the Variant 3 ? Any pics, rough road or track driving ? Any more feed back is welcome, come on guys !
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      01-24-2012, 05:19 PM   #8
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Ok Kw users... I´m waiting... start talking. Share your experience...

This is the stock setup...

It is a must to reduce the body roll and fix this crazy balance.

The car alone


With me inside


Stock body roll

Last edited by Plautos; 01-24-2012 at 05:30 PM..
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      01-24-2012, 06:39 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RaptorKTM View Post
I have been told an alignment is all that is needed. However from my prior cars and experience I have done corner balancing. Wanted to get your guys input on this issue. Also if any of you guys know a good shop in San Diego, Ca or near please let me know your review.
I've had my 135i corner balanced. With fully adjustable suspension, why not spend some extra coin to have it dialed in properly?!

Midnight Oil Motors (http://www.midnightoilmotors.com/) did the work on my car. They're a friendly bunch and they sure know their BMWs!
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      01-24-2012, 08:28 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LotusBoy View Post
Hey Raptor, here is some work for you! The Variant 3 from KW seems to me like the most useful mod' for the 1M, it would be nice to get a full report about it. How is the ride comfort ? How much lower is it ? What about the installation ? Have you got pics, before and after ? Does it feel more settled when driving on a rough road ?
Thanks in advance, Dee-Jay.

So far with the pre set settings from KW the ride in my opinion is more planted. It does not bounce and jump anywhere like stock. With what little seat time I have with the current set up on the road I can tell you in 100% honesty I find the KW V3 suspension to have a better Daily Driver ride then OEM. Nice thing is you can get a the car to have less rake up front and still have a close to OEM height if you choose. I never slam my cars so my suspension which I will post a few photos tomorrow has a excellent amount of ground clearance. I highly recommend this modification for the 1M. Definitely a noticeable improvement.
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      01-24-2012, 09:35 PM   #11
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Car is going to BBI Motorsports to get all set up this week. I will let you know when Joey is done with it. From what im seeing this is going to make a night and day difference on the car, tire wear, handling just about everything.
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      01-25-2012, 09:27 AM   #12
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Hi Raptor, and thanks a lot for your input on the KW3. I'm sure over the years many 1M will get this upgrade as it sounds so beneficial. One last question though: how much is the drop in height in the original KW set-up ? Knowing that 1 inch is 25,4mm, I'll do the math.
Did you kept it as it was ? Many thanks in advance for the pics, Dee-Jay.
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      01-25-2012, 09:54 AM   #13
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FWIW glad you chose to get it corner weighted. After spending 10's of thousands on a car and a few more for good suspension, seems silly to cheap out at the last moment.

I've corner weighted a car in the past after I installed coilovers and it did seem to make a difference in spirited driving (offramps and such). Left and right turns behaved the same way afterwards, where before the work one might be balanced and the other oversteer or understeer.

I doubt it will be a night vs. day difference, but you should see a change. If you don't, it's not because it was a waste of time, it was because you got lucky with your settings when you installed the parts to begin with.
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      01-26-2012, 02:57 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LotusBoy View Post
Hi mr Valencia, looks like you would know the subject... What's your experience with the Variant 3 ? Any pics, rough road or track driving ? Any more feed back is welcome, come on guys !
The V3 is for sure an improvement. I use my car as a weekend car, but track it as well. With the winterwheels I have softened the damper settings quite abit which improves the ride a lot. With the V3 changes can be made very easy, the wheels can stay on the car.
I have lowered a bit, but not too much.
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      01-26-2012, 11:05 PM   #15
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I would recommend corner weighing the car, but not necessarily corner balancing it.

If the corner weights are reasonably close to each other (<100 lb), just leave it alone. Some installers tend to be obsessed with corner weights and want to make it perfect, but after all this is not an open wheel formula car with very little suspension travel. When you have different fuel load, or passenger/no passenger, that would throw the corner weights off.

Quote:
Originally Posted by LotusBoy View Post
Hi mr Valencia, looks like you would know the subject... What's your experience with the Variant 3 ? Any pics, rough road or track driving ? Any more feed back is welcome, come on guys !
Here's a thread of our experience setting up KW V3 on a 1M for a local BMW CCA club racer. http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=566275
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Last edited by Richard@M-World; 01-26-2012 at 11:14 PM..
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      01-27-2012, 01:40 AM   #16
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Thanks for the info. Could you post what your compression and rebound was set to, or where you thought it was set best. Right now im running on KW recommended settings and the rear end bounces a bit to much on bumps and seems to take a little while to settle. Might be to much rebound. Just curious where yours is set.
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      01-27-2012, 02:24 AM   #17
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I have the rebound in the rear on 12 clicks open. Compression 7 clicks open, for tracking (on the Ring) I reduce it to 6.
In the front I have rebound 9 clicks open, for tracking 6. Compression 7 clicks open, for tracking 6 but will try 5. Still fine tuning.

I have -1.9 degrees of camber at the front and back. Toe neutral in front, 1.4mm toe-in in the rear. Corner balance is about 52-48 front back if I remember correctly, but more important 50%-50% cross diagonal with me sitting in the car.

Last edited by VO 1M; 02-06-2012 at 03:22 PM..
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      01-27-2012, 02:10 PM   #18
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What did you do I particular to get -1.9 of camber? Do you have camber plates?
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      01-27-2012, 02:41 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CDR_UK View Post
What did you do I particular to get -1.9 of camber? Do you have camber plates?
Nope, it was managed with the KW V3 without camber plates. The KW guys mounting it where surprised as well to get this much negative camber without camber plates
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      01-30-2012, 11:38 AM   #20
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Car is all done, the amount of adjustment was amazingly good. Without acting like a kid who just got to touch his first set of titties, let me tell you the suspensions fits this chassis much better then stock. THe KWV3 now give me the feeling of a longer and overall larger chassis. The handling is bone jarring, you can turn into any corner and the car turns before you can process it, unbelievable. The Suspension was way off from KW so setting everything correctly then setting the height properly was huge. More then that was the alignment. Doing some compensations and everything was big. My suggestion to guys with stock suspension or modified is to visit Clarence Brown Alignment in San Diego CA. THese guys have been around for ever. THe guy I Used was Daryl, a very rough looking guy who seems like he does not like you. BUt let me tell you a few words with this guy and his knowledge is incredible. He made all the tire pressure, and alignment changes from camber, caster, toe, etc and everything he did was spot on. I feel like its an entirely new car and I am so excited I did everything so far. This car is incredible. I say this coming out of an e63 M6, e92 M3, X5M. So this car is just unreal.
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      01-30-2012, 03:52 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RaptorKTM View Post
Car is all done, the amount of adjustment was amazingly good. Without acting like a kid who just got to touch his first set of titties, let me tell you the suspensions fits this chassis much better then stock. THe KWV3 now give me the feeling of a longer and overall larger chassis. The handling is bone jarring, you can turn into any corner and the car turns before you can process it, unbelievable. The Suspension was way off from KW so setting everything correctly then setting the height properly was huge. More then that was the alignment. Doing some compensations and everything was big. My suggestion to guys with stock suspension or modified is to visit Clarence Brown Alignment in San Diego CA. THese guys have been around for ever. THe guy I Used was Daryl, a very rough looking guy who seems like he does not like you. BUt let me tell you a few words with this guy and his knowledge is incredible. He made all the tire pressure, and alignment changes from camber, caster, toe, etc and everything he did was spot on. I feel like its an entirely new car and I am so excited I did everything so far. This car is incredible. I say this coming out of an e63 M6, e92 M3, X5M. So this car is just unreal.
Did you install the coil-overs yourself and have the shop do the corner balancing/alignment or did they do everything including install?
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      01-30-2012, 06:10 PM   #22
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Nop, Coil Overs were installed by BMW/Mercedes Double Master Tech @ HG Motorsports, Clarence Brown did the Alignment. BBI will be fine tuning and completing the corner weight process once everything settles a bit.
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