Coilovers: Customized tuning 🎥
Not every car hits the road with optimum suspension as standard. Drivers with higher demands on the handling characteristics of their car therefore like to resort to upgrades with coilovers. The video shows author Stephan Hauri doing fast laps on the almost four-kilometer course. A coilover suspension allows the ground clearance of a [...]
The video shows the author Stephan Hauri doing fast laps on the almost four kilometer long course.
A coilover suspension allows the ground clearance of a car to be adjusted by means of a thread on the suspension strut. Coming from motorsport, such spring-damper units are becoming more and more widespread in road cars. Tuning fans use these components to lower the vehicle and thus give it a new look.
Many options for driving dynamics
Frank Lewerenz, suspension expert at KW Automotive (gallery on the right): "However, for those who also like to drive their car faster and safer once on a closed-off track, a modern coilover suspension offers an almost infinite number of options for adapting the driving dynamics to a track or personal preferences."
Suspension specialists such as KW Automotive therefore offer an extensive range of coilover suspensions that can be used to make sporty cars even sportier and to help average vehicles achieve better characteristics in terms of comfort, safety and driving dynamics.
Coilovers with a basic setup
Fredy Barth, racing driver and owner of Fredy Barth - Motorsport & Events (gallery on the left): "Basically, it is the tire that makes the ride fast, safe and comfortable. To do this, it should be in contact with the road as continuously as possible. The task of the damper (center gallery, red.) is then to control the suspension travel based on the normal, longitudinal and lateral forces that occur during the ride so that the grip is optimal."
New adjustable suspensions offer the possibility of varying the damping during both compression and rebound. KW supplies coilovers with a basic setup that can be adapted to different conditions. After interventions in the chassis and thus also in the wheel suspensions, the wheel geometry must always be checked afterwards.
Driving behavior of the car at the limit
In principle, adjustable suspensions are intended to optimize grip, self-steering behavior and drivability. The car's handling should be easy to feel at the limits. For fine-tuning the dampers, the new KW modules offer the option of adjusting the rebound and compression stages separately with two-stage valves for the low speed and high speed damper speed ranges.
This means that the setting of a V3 Club Sport suspension, for example, can be either more fault-tolerant for an average driver or extremely precise for a record time hunter.
Damper systems for beginners and professionals
KW divides its coilovers into five variants from V1 to V5. This means that shock absorber systems for beginners through to ambitious sports and racing drivers are catered for. There is now even an extensive product range for classic and youngtimers. This means that anyone who does not puristically insist on original parts can often improve the handling of their classic car.
At the manufacturer KW, every single damper-spring unit has to pass a function test before it goes on sale. Complete technical data can be viewed online at any time without a password. Tuning and adjustment work is preferably carried out by experienced personnel.
