[sparoz]

Originally Posted by LotusBoy

Hi Sparoz ! I'm not enough of an expert to answer your question technically. But about KW's, the main difference between V3 and CS is firmness. To the extent that a CS is only advisable for regular trackday fans. I'm running KW's DDC, which is basically an electronicaly adjustable version of the V3. Using a switch installed on your dashboard, you can adjust firmness between Comfort, Sport and Sport+. The latter is for track only !!
Or using an app on your i-phone/i-Pad/i-pod, you can create a wifi network, and adjust your damper's firmness by the percent. And it works perfectly !!
Mechanically, DDC dampers are adjusted by altering the valves inside the damper itself.
If you're a total trackday nut, go for KW's CS. But for most of us, the DDC is The choice.

Yeah, heard good things about the KW DDC and it is still on my list. It achieves what I wanted to achieve - just not sure that's the way I want to take it. I have a tendency to do things the hard way for the sake of it .

Originally Posted by Plautos

You are going to race with your car? If so, go for the suspension that offers more resource for tuning.

If not, go for the cheapest or better recomended for street use.

You are going to buy technology, that´s why some brands cost more than others... and in this case the price difference is very significative.

The difference betwen them is hard to tell, you have to find some one who have really tested them all to answer your question.

Originally Posted by Mahlzeit

Your question is a bit broad.

Start with your intended use and the features you think you want.

For example - are you into show and shine events? Street group driving events? Midnight solo mountain runs? Track days? Autocross?

Do you want to tinker w/ your settings? Do you feel like you want to adjust height, and camber in your driveway - and then get realigned each time you do? Do you feel like you need to corner balance your car? Do you want to tinker w/ compression separately from rebound for optimal handling at the risk of getting it wrong and ending up with sub-optimal handling? Or is a single adjustment for 'stiffness' enough?

I'm in the process of trying to make sense of the options out there as well.

From what I can tell the option w/ the best street & track hybrid with adjustability is the KW v3 (height, rebound, compression adjustable), which retails for $2500. The new kid on the block is the JRZ RS1 (fixed height, single adjustable), but you have to choose your fixed height springs and spring rates, pay more for height adjustability, and will run you ~$3100 w/ adapter sleeves for 1M. Both #'s from HP Autoworks site. And those numbers are before camber plates ($440). Haven't spent much time looking at prices for the other brands.

Spent last weekend in a 996TT running on 19's and a fresh set of KW v3. I was quite surprised at just how compliant the car rode on the street. And my god the handling was absolutely flat and confidence inspiring. Something you'll appreciate in a 500hp beetle. Before driving that 996TT I was leaning RS1's, but after that drive and seeing the KW price - things are back up in the air.

May be I wasn't that clear, but the question is actually quite specific not in the sense of application. I really wanted to know the technicalities on what suspension companies trying to do to make theirs better. I am person who need to understand the mechanism before I can make a decision. Just by going with price point or what someone says without reasoning to me becomes a religion. Obviously if fast/slow compression and rebound are just settings, then any suspension that had those adjustments would be the same. Obviously, this is not the case. How two suspensions differ is what I want to know and what sort of impact it will make towards the application.

I actually know what I want to do, is to have a mechanical setup without DDC that gives the same or better level of comfort with improved handling. However, without knowing what the technicalities it would be difficult to make decisions on the compromise.