Ridiculously hard ride

[amanda1]

Thanks Amanda.

Is that 7-9 clicks from min or from max?

I'm presuming ride height won't have a massive effect on 'crashiness'?

From default/ min setting

I don't have a prob with the ride height on the kws being low but then they have the separate resovior which I assume helps the ride control ...... I am no mechanic though.

[bam_bam]

Do they have a separate reservoir?

[chunky79]

Dunna think so, think cryptic is getting mixed up with ohlins.

[bam_bam]

Mmmmmmmmm, Ohlins.

[rossi46]

I *think* the v3 comes with reservoirs on two shocks ( the rears?? ) and helper+main springs on the other pair

[bam_bam]

It'd be the fronts, ne?

[Shoppinit]

I didn't think the KW came with reservoirs. Could be wrong though. Never really looked into it. It offends me that they couldn't design a shock that couldn't be adjusted without removing it from the car.

Was there every any feedback on the Ohlins? Are they still silly expensive?

[bam_bam]

I didn't think the KW came with reservoirs. Could be wrong though. Never really looked into it. It offends me that they couldn't design a shock that couldn't be adjusted without removing it from the car.

Was there every any feedback on the Ohlins? Are they still silly expensive?

Awesome was the reply I got. Yes, still about £4k. I'd go these or a custom AST setup if mine were to break.

[pimpinyourmum]

I don't think they have separate reservoirs. Stand to be corrected though but didn't see any when I took photos

[rossi46]

It'd be the fronts, ne?

That would have been my assumption too. Perhaps I'm mistaken , just thought I read about it somewhere a while back. Different market ? US spec maybe ?.

[dubbed_up_daz]

I'm hoping you guys can help. My RS6 saloon suffers from a ridiculously harsh ride. It's running KW V3's I believe although the previous owner fitted them from a car which had suffered an engine fire as far as I can gather.

At any rate the ride is appalling. I'm running standard 19" wheels but have considered downgrading to 18's just to soften it but I know I wouldn't be tackling the problem.

My local garage has softened off the springing but the harshness is still there over potholes and broken surfaces. I now have a softly sprung car that sort of 'bobs' over undulations and still crashes into bumps!!

I wondered if it was a damping issue but I'm told by the garage they can't see where to soften off the dampers???

Is there anything else I should be looking for?

Hoping you can help as it's totally ruining the enjoyment I get from the 6 - I actually avoid driving it at the minute.

Just to say I'm not being soft when I say the ride is harsh. My daily driver is a MINI GP with the coilovers wound down to maximum drop and I consider that ride to me more than acceptable

I avoided the V3s due to the off car adjustment for rebound. The garage saying they have softened the sprinving says to me that they raised the car taking out some of the preload. The bobbing over bumps suggests to me that the dampening is fried possibly due to previous bottoming out or old worn oil dampeners but that depends on your definition of bobbing. I had 4 year old H+R's on mine when I got it and it was prone to nodding nose syndrome and occasional rear scrubbage. I upgraded when I renewed to AH Flachwerk modded H+R race coils and it is very liveable with imo

[Shoppinit]

If you raise the car you load the springs more.
The KW use linear springs anyway, so the pre-compression won't make any difference to ride as long as you don't get coil bound.

[dubbed_up_daz]

Indeed. Dunno what I was thinking re the preload. Should proof read more when im on the wine

[Daveperc]

Eh? Raising or lowering (assuming we are not talking about changing springs) should make no difference to their load at all! What ever the weight of the car on each corner is still going through the same spring (give or take a bit of friction in the bushes etc)!

If it's crashy it's cos the shocks are knackered.

Fit DRC - problem solved!!

Dave

[Shoppinit]

On coil-overs you raise the ride height by compressing (i.e. loading) the spring more. Since the rate is proportional to the load on linear springs then this makes no difference to the performance of the suspended system since delta load had a directly proportional effect on delta compression.