KW V2 coilover kit
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From: Land of mountains, cheese, chocolate and watches
12' W204 C63 AMG coupe "T-Rex", 12' W451 Smart Fortwo Pulse (99' W202 C43 AMG + Ultima Can-Am sold)
I still have to try the softest setting, but I just need to wait for the rain to stop and wash the salt off the roads. The comparison with the OE suspension may be difficult as it's now over 2 years that I installed the KWs
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98 C43, 15 Alfa 4C LE, 18 Tesla Model 3 DM Perf, 08 Duc S1000, 02 Duc 998, 98 Duc 748, 01 Miata
I wouldn't jump to that conclusion. Eibach doesn't know what shocks you are going to use (stock or aftermarket) and same for Koni, so they aren't designed as part of a system. KW designs theirs as a system, so the damping rates on the shock are meant to match up well with the spring rates. The Viper ACR, the CLK Black Series, etc. use KW setups from the factory, so they're obviously pretty well regarded.
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From: New Zealand
C43 w/clk55 Organs
Quoted from Jeremy Clarkson after owning the CLK63 black for some time..
"When I first tested the 6.2-litre CLK Black, only 300 of which were built, I was overawed by its massive range of abilities. It was not just the thunderous 507 horsepower or the insane wheelarch extensions, though these two things on their own were probably enough. It was the knife-edge handling, the constant sense that you were driving something that was actually designed to kill you. It was called the Black, I suspected, because that was the colour of its heart.
I signed my review off by saying that no one’s life was complete without one and shortly afterwards put my money where my pen was. Yup. I bought one.
If I’m honest, it hasn’t been an entirely happy relationship. The seats are so hip-hugging that I am unable to offer lifts to fat girls. To make matters worse, I am also unable to explain why. “Because your **** is too big to fit in the seat” tends to make women cry.
It is also extremely difficult to fasten the seatbelts and impossible if you are wearing a coat. And then there’s the question of range. Like the standard CLK it has a 62-litre (13½-gallon) fuel tank, which is fine if the engine up front is a parsimonious diesel. But when it’s a massive V8, 62 litres does not get you to the end of the road.
Worse than this, though, was the ride. On a normal British road that has been dug up by slovenly apes and repaired by companies with both eyes fixed firmly on the bottom line, it was intolerable. I do mean that. Intolerable. So bad that I actually looked forward to it running out of fuel so I could get out and have a respite from the battering.
I knew what had happened, of course. I’d been so seduced by the power and the styling and the Grim Reaper handling that I’d overlooked the bad bits. Buying one had been a bit like choosing a wife based entirely on the size of her breasts.
Honestly, I was thinking of getting rid. But then I read something interesting. The Black comes with adjustable suspension. Lots of cars do, these days. And ordinarily my advice on this matter would be plain and simple. Leave it alone. A big car maker such as Mercedes-Benz knows an awful lot more about chassis dynamics than you do. If it thought the car could be improved by fiddling with the damper settings, it would have done so at the factory.
Adjustable suspension is nothing more than a sop to the ego of the terminally stupid. And something a salesman can talk about on a test drive: “Sir can tailor it to sir’s bespoke requirements, sir ...”
But I’m sorry, Mercedes has test tracks and millions of laptops. It employs thousands of doctors who have no sense of humour, just an insatiable thirst to do the best they can. So the notion that you, in a shed, can improve on their work with nothing but a screwdriver is as absurd as trying to improve on a Gordon Ramsay soufflé using nothing but what you have in your pocket.
I was chatting about this to a chap called Gavan Kershaw a few weeks ago. Gavan is the top chassis boffin at Lotus. He is responsible for the Elise, the extraordinarily balanced Evora and, I’m told, the marvellously supple new Jaguar XFR. Most of all, though, he is the chap who designed Top Gear’s test track.
He’s a very clever boy and I trust him, so when he said he would have a look at the Black, I agreed. Mainly because, no matter what he did, he couldn’t possibly make it worse.
He didn’t. It’s still not comfy. It’s not even halfway to a nod in the general direction of comfiness. The tyres are too low-profile and the chassis-strengthening beams too vigorous for that. But his twiddles do now mean that, for short periods behind the wheel, it is possible to think of something other than the pain.
And here’s the really good bit. By making it a bit softer, he has ensured it is now nearly two seconds faster on a lap round the Top Gear test track.
And the steering, already very good, is now sublime.
Normally, I don’t really care whether car bosses read my columns. But I do hope the people at Mercedes are reading this, partly because it might cause them to think that maybe a hard ride isn’t necessarily the way forward. But mostly because a fat bloke from Turnipshire (Gavan is a bit porky) has managed to improve what they presumably thought was perfect.
I know that sort of thing makes a German very unhappy. And achieving that once in a while compensates for the less savoury parts of my job."
"When I first tested the 6.2-litre CLK Black, only 300 of which were built, I was overawed by its massive range of abilities. It was not just the thunderous 507 horsepower or the insane wheelarch extensions, though these two things on their own were probably enough. It was the knife-edge handling, the constant sense that you were driving something that was actually designed to kill you. It was called the Black, I suspected, because that was the colour of its heart.
I signed my review off by saying that no one’s life was complete without one and shortly afterwards put my money where my pen was. Yup. I bought one.
If I’m honest, it hasn’t been an entirely happy relationship. The seats are so hip-hugging that I am unable to offer lifts to fat girls. To make matters worse, I am also unable to explain why. “Because your **** is too big to fit in the seat” tends to make women cry.
It is also extremely difficult to fasten the seatbelts and impossible if you are wearing a coat. And then there’s the question of range. Like the standard CLK it has a 62-litre (13½-gallon) fuel tank, which is fine if the engine up front is a parsimonious diesel. But when it’s a massive V8, 62 litres does not get you to the end of the road.
Worse than this, though, was the ride. On a normal British road that has been dug up by slovenly apes and repaired by companies with both eyes fixed firmly on the bottom line, it was intolerable. I do mean that. Intolerable. So bad that I actually looked forward to it running out of fuel so I could get out and have a respite from the battering.
I knew what had happened, of course. I’d been so seduced by the power and the styling and the Grim Reaper handling that I’d overlooked the bad bits. Buying one had been a bit like choosing a wife based entirely on the size of her breasts.
Honestly, I was thinking of getting rid. But then I read something interesting. The Black comes with adjustable suspension. Lots of cars do, these days. And ordinarily my advice on this matter would be plain and simple. Leave it alone. A big car maker such as Mercedes-Benz knows an awful lot more about chassis dynamics than you do. If it thought the car could be improved by fiddling with the damper settings, it would have done so at the factory.
Adjustable suspension is nothing more than a sop to the ego of the terminally stupid. And something a salesman can talk about on a test drive: “Sir can tailor it to sir’s bespoke requirements, sir ...”
But I’m sorry, Mercedes has test tracks and millions of laptops. It employs thousands of doctors who have no sense of humour, just an insatiable thirst to do the best they can. So the notion that you, in a shed, can improve on their work with nothing but a screwdriver is as absurd as trying to improve on a Gordon Ramsay soufflé using nothing but what you have in your pocket.
I was chatting about this to a chap called Gavan Kershaw a few weeks ago. Gavan is the top chassis boffin at Lotus. He is responsible for the Elise, the extraordinarily balanced Evora and, I’m told, the marvellously supple new Jaguar XFR. Most of all, though, he is the chap who designed Top Gear’s test track.
He’s a very clever boy and I trust him, so when he said he would have a look at the Black, I agreed. Mainly because, no matter what he did, he couldn’t possibly make it worse.
He didn’t. It’s still not comfy. It’s not even halfway to a nod in the general direction of comfiness. The tyres are too low-profile and the chassis-strengthening beams too vigorous for that. But his twiddles do now mean that, for short periods behind the wheel, it is possible to think of something other than the pain.
And here’s the really good bit. By making it a bit softer, he has ensured it is now nearly two seconds faster on a lap round the Top Gear test track.
And the steering, already very good, is now sublime.
Normally, I don’t really care whether car bosses read my columns. But I do hope the people at Mercedes are reading this, partly because it might cause them to think that maybe a hard ride isn’t necessarily the way forward. But mostly because a fat bloke from Turnipshire (Gavan is a bit porky) has managed to improve what they presumably thought was perfect.
I know that sort of thing makes a German very unhappy. And achieving that once in a while compensates for the less savoury parts of my job."
Thread Starter
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 453
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From: london
Mercedes C55 AMG
I seem to be adjusting mine around 8 to 14 clicks to hard. when set at 14 all round the rear spins for to easily. when set to 8 all round i don't feel all the road bumps but i can feel body a little body roll. ive set it to 12 front and 10 rear at the moment and feels really good. So I think setting the rears a little lower than the fronts will work better. When I go back to the Nurburgring next year ill spend time adjusting the rebound for good high speed stability but also to balance oversteer . I think I will be surprised with what settings ill end up with (softer side). ill be corner balancing the car after Christmas ill post the set up and pics
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Mercedes C55 AMG
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for years I used two jacks but it not very safe..
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Mercedes C55 AMG
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2006 E55 AMG/1996 C36 AMG/1999 C43/55 AMG/2021 Toyota Tundra Crew Max TRD Sport Premium
My Koni yellow/Vogtland setup is much softer than the stock ride quality when set to the softest setting. When set to the firmest setting the ride becomes far too harsh imho. Halfway is perfect for everyday driving. The ability to adjust the ride quality is something that I could never do without.
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My Koni yellow/Vogtland setup is much softer than the stock ride quality when set to the softest setting. When set to the firmest setting the ride becomes far too harsh imho. Halfway is perfect for everyday driving. The ability to adjust the ride quality is something that I could never do without.
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From: Land of mountains, cheese, chocolate and watches
12' W204 C63 AMG coupe "T-Rex", 12' W451 Smart Fortwo Pulse (99' W202 C43 AMG + Ultima Can-Am sold)
Fanatics drive on a track where the surface is smooth. The harder to hardest settings can thus be dialed in on that type of surface.
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Last edited by KJI3jflarryfe93; Dec 22, 2014 at 12:43 PM.
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 453
Likes: 76
From: london
Mercedes C55 AMG
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 5,889
Likes: 323
From: Land of mountains, cheese, chocolate and watches
12' W204 C63 AMG coupe "T-Rex", 12' W451 Smart Fortwo Pulse (99' W202 C43 AMG + Ultima Can-Am sold)
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Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 453
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From: london
Mercedes C55 AMG
hi all
I adjusted the rebound to 4 clicks from soft all round and the car dose roll into corners and floats a lot more than stock suspension.
KW say there recommended settings are rebound 6 clicks open I take these settings as 6 clicks from hard buy can not be sure they say open not from soft or hard.
But 6 clicks from hard dose feel really good and ive been trying to fine tune from here but its winter so cant drive really hard
I adjusted the rebound to 4 clicks from soft all round and the car dose roll into corners and floats a lot more than stock suspension.
KW say there recommended settings are rebound 6 clicks open I take these settings as 6 clicks from hard buy can not be sure they say open not from soft or hard.
But 6 clicks from hard dose feel really good and ive been trying to fine tune from here but its winter so cant drive really hard
