Well early this spring I was driving, and my right rear strut began to clunk. That being said I was some what upset as my 07 STI only had 46,000 km on it, and I was planning on finishing up my stage 3(meth, and equal length header). So now I would have to eat into my budget, and do some suspension upgrading.
Well i began by jumping on the internet, and searching around. Lots of options out there, and in the passed I have ran a variety of suspension systems on various vehicles. So I decided that VEX has never led me astray, and sent the email to Ryan, and asked for some suggestions. I have had fully adjustable suspensions before(1990 large turbo'd RX7 that was set up for drifting), and it was always a pain in the popper to make sure it was set up right. So I opted for a system that has some adjustments, but is mostly set, and forget. We came to the conclusion that the KW Variant 1 is what I needed.
Of course I already had a whiteline sway bar installed, so I figured I might as well match that up with a front one, and put on some whiteline endlinks, and a rear sway bar bracket also to make sure things were nice, and strong!
The packaging of the KW coilovers was done very well, and everything was perfectly in place when I opened the box like it is supposed to be.
Now considering I work for a large garage(Kal Tire), and all my techs are suspension guys this would be a breeze to install. Everything fit perfectly(well the sway bar bracket didn't at first, than I realized it was Left, and Right sided....dummy I am), but once we fixed that it went together perfectly. Worst part was trying to figure the starting measurement for the coil overs, but with some number crunching, and great guestimating(must come from my many years of creating budgets), I got the front bang on, and rear required a minor adjustment. I chose to leave the rebound control where it was set from the factory, and adjust as required.
The sway bars, and end links were also a breeze to install, and everything fit perfectly.
So everything is together, and alignment is all done, test drive time! First thing I notice is how flat the car stays under cornering, and it is super responsive. Definite improvement from stock! It feels nimble, and begging to be pushed! Next thing I notice is unlike other coilover kits I have had in the past, the ride is actual quite pleasant. For sure it is firmer than stock, but it doesn't rattle your back molars loose when you hit a crack in the road! This was unexpected, and I couldn't be happier!
To sum it all up the KW Variant 1 coil over kit is a great buy. You pay a little more than some of the others on the market, but for the quality of the ride I would pay that any day. The car handles responsively, and with the lower center of gravity, and firmer sway bars you really notice the nimbleness of the car!
