When pillowball bearings wear out, then tend to click/clack over small bumps and rough roads. But the biggest issue is that they're solid metal connections between the suspension and the chassis... which is great for handling, but loud and harsh on the street.

Some people don't seems to mind at all, but because you were talking earlier about "I hate noise", a set of Tein SS coilovers seem ideal: you set them up once at the ride height and damping you want, then forget 'em, and they use stock (or Group-N's would be nice) top mounts so they're as quiet as stock.

:lol: I'll give you a ride next time I see you. :lol:

Thanks, yeah I don't like constant noise. Like when swaybar bushings squeak, I can usually get passed it but its just annoying. Thanks for the advice, maybe I will wait to find a set of Tein SS. Thanks again Scott.

Im going to take you up on that Matt.

I made my final decision, KW Variant 1 coilovers...height adjustable with a preset dampening from the factory. Seem like a good buy. Think I will order them this week.

I don't think you can go too wrong w/ the KW's... people seem really happy w/ their lineups.

Alright so first...thanks everybody for your help and suggestions, secondly...WOOT!

Got my KW Variant 1's yesterday
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...WRXGuy/KW1.jpg

But I have a few questions because I have never worked with coils before...

So I am going to use my stock tophats on these coilovers, I know that may be frowned upon but oh well...so to mount my rear tophats I know that I have to remove the bolt and bolt the top hat on...my question is, I need to use a spring compressor right? To hold the spring down and remove the bolt...
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...WRXGuy/KW2.jpg

Same thing goes for the fronts, they have the purple rounded top, I know the washer under the tophat goes onto that purple piece and then the tophat goes on top. But with the helper spring do I have to clamp them down with a compressor?
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...WRXGuy/KW4.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...WRXGuy/KW5.jpg

And finally, to adjust height on these coils I know that I'm supposed to turn the purple nut at the bottom down the threaded collar. I assume that, very gently, I loosen that little screw and then adjust and then tighten, very gently.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...WRXGuy/KW3.jpg

Thanks in advance for the help, I am a noob with suspension stuff :lol:

Congrats man, KW's are sweet.
I'm pretty sure you won't need a spring compressor to remove your hats, the old springs should be broken in enough to not shoot the hat off.
I would wait for some of the others to chime in though just in case.

I want to know who chooses the colors.

Ze Germans.

I clamp my old ones just in case, but I'm talking about undoing that bolt on the new ones. The rears and the front KW's are already bolted together with no hats, so I have to undo them to put the tophats on, I'm just wondering if its ok to clamp those springs down...

It should be, might nick the paint. The rears look like they have keeper springs(zero rate) so you don't need to clamp them. The fronts shouldn't be preloaded.

I just actually read your post, you can turn down the threaded collar and not have to clamp shit.

This.

Hey i was just going to post a question about that click clack sound... I just put some sti springs/struts on and i hear it when i go slow. So do i need to replace something?

Yes. The STi struts. They are known to clunk pretty badly once a bushing in them wears out.

Sweet, I didn't want to clamp those beautiful new springs lol. Now about height adjustment. I am only going to lower the fronts ~1in maybe less, so do I need to be concerned with the height min's and max's in in the instructions for the coils?

And I am just making sure about this but when I turn the nut that adjusts height if I turn it up and tighten the spring thats lowering and if it down (away from the spring) then it would be raising it...correct?

Do I need to replace anything? or can i just let it go like they are?

It's not that bad, it doesnt bother me, really.

Er, no. Simple physics. Drop the spring perch, and you lower the car. Raise the spring perch, and you raise the car. The spring is a fixed length, you adjust height by moving where the bottom of it sits. With single-adjustable coils like that, I'd set them where the factory states; lowering them too much will eat up all your shock travel; as you lower the spring perch, you're putting the car further and further through its shock travel.

Thanks sybir...that makes sense, like I said, noob question and apparently a high school physics failure :lol:

SO, I know they're installed, and I know it's the car's aligned, ( ;) ) so post up your first impressions dammit!

for real! I want a ride now. Good thing we had the rack putting that thing up and down as many times as we did, would not have been fun with a jack and jackstands.

ZOMG amazing!!! I fell in love with my car all over again! Huge thanks to Cory and Robby! You guys kick ass!

The suspension makes such a difference, good choice with the KW's. Do you know what the spring rates are?

Velcome to ze KW family.

We were trying to figure that out yesterday.

The manual is in german so from what we could figure the best it was 9 kg front 9.5 kg rear but that might be really really wrong.

Way, way wrong. That's 500 front, 550 rear give or take a bit.

yeah 9kg is 19.84160359664 lbs, I think my 79 Impala had those spring rates. I think 100%juicifer can read german , pm him for help.

9kg/mm and 9.5kg/mm or 500lb/in and 550lb/in sounds about right for a performance coilover, just backwards. I would expect the fronts to be stiffer than the rears.

Variant 1s are not truly "performance" coilovers though, they're just meant as a means for proper ride height reduction. That's stiffer than the Variant 3s IIRC. I would say that 5k/4k is more appropriate for that setup, though I agree that very few designers would put stiffer rear springs in.

ESP should be more interesting now. You're coming to the GSR autox, yes?

Nick said he thought he read somewhere on the all knowing interweb about 400lbs one end then i dunno the other so im probably way wrong. Either way they are sick coils for the price, very good quality, cool colors, and relatively easy to install/adjust, even though it tookk us like 8 tries to get it even all the way around. i want to see how it settles and how the ride height ends up.

kw's North american website has a spring rate guide somewhere.

http://www.kw-suspension.com/en/30_P...nder/index.php

Most definitely! I can't miss out on the GSR event and I have to give these coils a proper break in. Its the 27th and 28th right?

Yup! :)