Another KW update....

Well I had part of the afternoon off today and on a whim called Todd at A&C to see if he could fit me in at the last minute (3:45). I got there and he wanted to make sure there wasnt a problem with the front tires (the balancing). So he swapped them out and we went for a ride and it wasnt the tires. He noticed the back rear left tire was REALLY low when it was sitting on block of wood as we had the car on the jack, so he checked and there was 11LBS of pressure in the passenger rear! The crazy thing is that the tire didnt even look low sitting on the ground. Once we filled it up the car drove straight as an arrow! I could not believe the difference. We waited 5 minutes in between checking the pressure again and the tire lost 3 lbs, so I will be taking a trip to americas tire.

As far as the ride. We were at full firm at all 4 corners and it was HORRIFIC! Todd put them 8 clicks back from full firm in front and 2 back from full firm in the rear. It rides much better. I am still not totally happy with the ride for a set of $3200 coil overs, so I will get a jack and play with the settings when I have more time, but for now the ride is better. Heres the bottom line and end of the story when it comes to the KW's, if your looking for a decent ride on a hammered Viper, these arent the shocks for you, period! A normally lowered car would do fine. For my application I need either Motons or possibly the new shocks coming out from the former guys at Moton.It really is amazing how bad ass Motons are (Of course they better be at that price)

I just wanted to give a huge thanks to Todd and Herman at A&C. It took Todd about two hours to adjust everything, change out tires, test drive, and set the settings. Not only did he not charge me a DIME, He actually gave me $20!!! (I forgot my wallet at the office and didnt have enough gas to make it back to the OC). How many shops will not charge you for two hours of work and then actually pay you!He also took me for a ride in a black Supercharged monster with gears, I'll be polite and just say I had an accident in *******! I was dead set on a Heads/Cam, but after that ride I'm not sure. Thanks again Todd, I'll be back in Jan. for Motons, Headers, Exhaust, Tune, Filters, gears and to have you go through the entire car.

Mike

Motons will spoil you : >)

So, do you not have the tire pressure sensors in place as they will ding constantly when the pressure drops below a certain point.

I just had to have one of my rear tires remounted after thoroughly cleaning the bead area on the rim from some build up/corrosion?

ROCKET62 said:

So, do you not have the tire pressure sensors in place as they will ding constantly when the pressure drops below a certain point.

I just had to have one of my rear tires remounted after thoroughly cleaning the bead area on the rim from some build up/corrosion?

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Didnt put the sensors in the wheels (Will now though). Tuire was fine last night, came out this morning, completely flat. Drove it across the street to th gas station and it wouldnt hold air. Got the car towed to discount tire and they said I ruined the tire because it has a heat ring and they wont patch it. I litereally drove it.05 miles at 5-10 mph. Have to buy a new $540 tire, great way to start out Monday!

Thanks for the reminder-- don't drive on a flat tire unless you have to! I have done that, too (years ago), and most gas station type repair places wouldn't bother to inspect for damage to the tire's inner liner. These days with all the history of lawsuits relating to tires and wheels, real tire shops are more savvy. It takes less than a tenth of a mile to "heat ring" a tire.

According to the folks at Tire Rack: "All non-run-flat tire sidewalls deflect (bend) excessively if operated while completely flat, and the exterior of the tire's sidewall may come into contact with the road, or the interior of the upper sidewall may come into contact with the interior of the lower sidewall. This rubbing will usually cause a visual ring to appear around their exterior circumferences due to the scuffing, as well as blistering or grinding away some or all of the interior innerliner rubber on one or both sidewalls. Since the interior innerliner rubber is the only part of the tire actually designed to retain air, wearing it away or damaging it results in the need to replace the tire. Additionally, the rubbing may generate enough heat to cause a thin blue circumferential ring to appear in the sidewall rubber, indicating that the rubber was overheated. Since heat generated by running the tire flat has caused this bluing, it also results in the need to replace the tire."

Sonoman said:

Thanks for the reminder-- don't drive on a flat tire unless you have to! I have done that, too (years ago), and most gas station type repair places wouldn't bother to inspect for damage to the tire's inner liner. These days with all the history of lawsuits relating to tires and wheels, real tire shops are more savvy. It takes less than a tenth of a mile to "heat ring" a tire.

According to the folks at Tire Rack: "All non-run-flat tire sidewalls deflect (bend) excessively if operated while completely flat, and the exterior of the tire's sidewall may come into contact with the road, or the interior of the upper sidewall may come into contact with the interior of the lower sidewall. This rubbing will usually cause a visual ring to appear around their exterior circumferences due to the scuffing, as well as blistering or grinding away some or all of the interior innerliner rubber on one or both sidewalls. Since the interior innerliner rubber is the only part of the tire actually designed to retain air, wearing it away or damaging it results in the need to replace the tire. Additionally, the rubbing may generate enough heat to cause a thin blue circumferential ring to appear in the sidewall rubber, indicating that the rubber was overheated. Since heat generated by running the tire flat has caused this bluing, it also results in the need to replace the tire."

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I consider myself a car guy after 12 Highly Modified Corvettes and 2 Vipers, and didnt even know this. Expensive Lesson!

1dumped viper----Thanks for the update. I have not drove my car and have not changed out where I left off. full firm in the rear and 6 clicks (out of 12) in the front and still rides like SHIIIIIIITTTTTTTTT. I will be going very soft in the rear and then work up from there. Im still hoping i didnt spend 3K on these and not be able to make ride quality better at this height. Again, It may very well be I have my car set too low for these fully adjustable coilover
I will see if I can contact anyone at KW to see what they say

ulllose said:

1dumped viper----Thanks for the update. I have not drove my car and have not changed out where I left off. full firm in the rear and 6 clicks (out of 12) in the front and still rides like SHIIIIIIITTTTTTTTT. I will be going very soft in the rear and then work up from there. Im still hoping i didnt spend 3K on these and not be able to make ride quality better at this height. Again, It may very well be I have my car set too low for these fully adjustable coilover
I will see if I can contact anyone at KW to see what they say

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Thats about where I'm at. I think its just the nature of these shocks. If you want to go super low, your not going to get the ride you want. For the normal guys on the site that only lower 1.5", they are good. You really need to get Motons or Penskes to be dumped and get a good ride. I will continue to play with my settings as well. Im at 2 clicks from full firm in back and right at 7 clicks in front, and the ride is decent.