Does anyone have any experience with these coilovers?

I am looking at these vs. the BC system and wanted to see if anyone has first hand knowledge with the ST kit.

Thanks in advance!

 

No 1st hand knowledge, but here's common knowledge:
ST is made by KW, a trusted name in aftermarket suspension. Categorized lower than KW, of course. They're of galvanized steel body, height adjustable but mostly w/ fixed damping.

 

Thanks for the info. I did know all of that just looking for first hand knowledge on them. I know they also come with progressive springs as well. Just wondering on how they drive and also how they fair when lowering them a good amount.

 

I had ST coilovers on my Audi s4...very good company and they rode very nice. Highly recommend them.

 

I agree I have seen them on a handful of cars. Just looking for them on a R53 right now and wondering how people like them and also how low they can go.

 

Long story short. With the ST's, depending on what tires and wheels and offset you may need wheel spacers in the front for the spring perch to clear the tire. Stock wheels and offset are likely to need the spacers which will mean you will need longer wheel bolts or studs. Been there done that.

You may get away with not having that problem if you keep the lowering to the absolute minimum. KW's spec for that is .8 inch.

Best thing to do is lots of searching on this site.

 

I've had them for a couple of years now on my R50. It's lowered ~1.5" I think. The car sits 24" ground to fender. I was running 16x7 ET40 Konig Feathers with 205/50/16 tires and I didn't need spacers. I'm running stock R100 wheels now with no spacers as well.

I did buy the 5mm H&R spacers for the front "just in case," which I'll sell cheap to anyone who might actually need them. My tech installed them anyway but I had them removed later on, so they're used. Anyway, onto the coilovers.

I like them quite a bit. Stiff but not much worse than stock IMO, car handles great, corners very flat now. I'm nowhere near as low as they can go. I don't think they're the lowest (VMAXX I think are your best bet if ride quality is an afterthought and you just want to get flush.)

No squeaks or noises or anything, they've been good to me for 25,000KM or so.

 

Thanks for all the info everyone. Danny, do you happen to have pictures of your car on the STs and 16 inch wheels?

 

If you have any questions I can answer about the product let me know. I do not have personal experience, we have a few customers that lurk around here who use ST.

 

There are some pictures in my gallery, the side shot in the driveway is the best one for reference. I believe there is one on the side of a desert road as well. Id post them but I'm on the mobile app.

I got mine from the suspension source. Very fast shipping and good customer service.

 

Thanks for the info. I ended up ordering my set and they arrived yesterday. Hope I can get what I need out of them

 

Installed mine yesterday, everything went smooth except there is a noise coming from the back, it sounds like something is loose or metal on metal touching. Any ideas on what they can be, btw im gonna take them apart again today and see if i can find anything!

 

Check to see if your wheel is making contact with your coilover.

 

I just asked in anther thread if ST made coilovers for minis. lol now I know they do!

 

Hi guys-
Have the STs on my car but having serious noise issues caused by contact of inner area of second coils of springs up front making contact with upper perches. Check out my post with pix in the general r53 section or do a search of threads I started. Only two including one here in this section looking for anyone who installed STs to get feedback on them. Let me know if any of you have the same wear marks on front springs and perches. All I can say is that I'm pretty disappointed with the product right about now and KW is giving me the runaround about it.

 

Sounds like you just need spacers.

 

Have any information on what spacer product to use? Didn't you say you hadn't worked with ST coil overs in past? If a spacer is all it will take to fix this I'll be very happy but it's still a lot of work to tear it all apart to put them in.

 

The spacers are needed if you have contact with the spring and wheel. Not the spring and perch per say.

 

I'd like to know if anyone reading this thread has the STs V1s or V2s installed with the progressive rate springs up front (these are standard on all three setups). These use the OEM. Upper spring seats. If you do wondering if you have noise from front. If you do look at spring perches and inside of second spring coil from top and see if there are signs of wear.

 

I would avoid buying the STs. For anyone who made this mistake because info is absent on this forum or other forums (until now since I learned the hard way) just know that you CAN fix their problem. The inner diameter of the 2nd and 3rd coils of their front progressive rate springs cause them to rub the upper spring perch and make noise. Call KW and get linear springs crossovers and helpers in a soft spring rate and it will work (You'll want their Clubsport Springs). You'll need to get custom top caps from Ireland Engineering and then get a machine shop to modify them to accept springs with a 61mm inner diameter. Problem solved.