Our final winner of the top 3 contestants from our KW Coilover Contest just finished installing his KW Coilovers Variant 3 system on his Acura NSX. This car is a dedicated weekend racer and consistantly proves itself on the road courses of Arizona. Coming from Tein springs on the stock shocks, the KW Coilovers was a true transformation for this car. Check out his full gallery here and read his review. You can view the KW V3 Acura NSX Coilvoers Here.
KW V3 Review
The Package arrived two days after it was shipped from the KW Depot. Fast shipping always impressed me so at this point I am already ecstatic. Inside the box, I found all four preassembled units well packaged for shipping along with several languages of instructions, and a tool kit for adjustment.
I chose the appropriate language manual and proceeded to read the instructions back to back to ensure I fully understood what I was dealing with. They were straight forward enough and had valuable information regarding optimal height and dampening settings for the initial setup.
I proceeded to remove the 20 year old specimens from my vehicle, which I assure you, is a very labor intensive job. I luckily had some assistance and we were able to remove all four corners in about 2.5 hours with the right leverage tools and an assortment of impact accessories.
After a brief snack and drink break (and a little Top Gear), we went back at it. After reviewing the setup manual again, we preset the heights as designated in the KW plans and reverse installed the KW coil-overs reusing the OEM top hats. We wondered why they didn’t come with new ones but then after a bit of research discovered that some countries require vehicle inspections that would be easiest if nothing aftermarket was on the vehicle. The KW kit did come with a new centering ring for the old top hat which fit superbly.
Reinstallation took about 2 hours and then off for a test drive. Quite honestly, the car felt nearly the same. It rode a slight amount rougher but nowhere near as rough as most coil-overs tend to ride on the street. Took a few turns at speed and it seemed pretty standard. Very quickly realized the front tires were rubbing at this height and resorted to having the fenders rolled to allow proper clearance.
The real test came on August 14th and 15th in which I participated in the UMS Tuning Time Attack Series. I was able to properly thrash the car safely and at the limit. After a few minor adjustments to the sway bars and front damper settings, the car definitely started to come alive and I must say, these coil-overs made a 20 year old car feel fresh out of the box once I had gotten some seat time with them!
A fantastic product and I will be recommending it to all due to its easy of installation and sheer performance on and off the track!
