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i have a C63s Coupe and after a year of running with the standard staggered wheel setup I’ve decided to make some modifications starting with Velos S10 forged wheels with 50/50 hardware, in satin black at 20 x 10 front and 20 x 11.5 rear, on order. To Make the most of the new look I also need to lower the car, but I don’t want to lose the dynamic suspension select option.
Ive scowered the internet looking for the best product and I’ve come across KW HAS which I’m sure could give me good results and allow me to also adjust the height if I’m not happy at any point. They are not cheap at roughly £800 for a set.
Im wondering if anyone has any experience of the KW HAS system on thier car. How is the ride compared to stock, especially whilst driving in comfort as I do around 50 miles a day minimum?
Has anybody had any issues with the installation or reliability issues. Any comments or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated.
I have them in my sedan and haven't had any issues other than trying to get a larger 10.5 wheel to fit lowered w/ a 285/30/20 . You'll need to watch your offsets if you're going low . Even my 19's touch the fender when turning lock to lock and I didn't even realize until I had the wheels off and saw the paint rubbed through on the inside of the fender in the wheel opening ....You can't see it from the outside and would never have known if I didn't have the wheels off. The other issue is the rear tires touched the rear bumper cover going over larger bumps in the road . So you need to pay attention to how low you want to be . My ride is like stock but I usually drive in sport + to stiffen up the chassis to avoid tire rubbing .The other thing is your going to end up with some add't camber and you may want to address this with bushings or just go through tires more
Last edited by C3504matic; 07-26-2018 at 10:35 PM.
I have them in my sedan and haven't had any issues other than trying to get a larger 10.5 wheel to fit lowered w/ a 285/30/20 . You'll need to watch your offsets if you're going low . Even my 19's touch the fender when turning lock to lock and I didn't even realize until I had the wheels off and saw the paint rubbed through on the inside of the fender in the wheel opening ....You can't see it from the outside and would never have known if I didn't have the wheels off. The other issue is the rear tires touched the rear bumper cover going over larger bumps in the road . So you need to pay attention to how low you want to be . My ride is like stock but I usually drive in sport + to stiffen up the chassis to avoid tire rubbing .The other thing is your going to end up with some add't camber and you may want to address this with bushings or just go through tires more
I won’t be going that low to be honest. I still want a fingers width between the top of the tyre and the wheel arch. In terms of camber, is that not something they can sort out during the alignment process? Is this a common problem with lowering? I don’t drive car that hard and have done 12,500 miles on the first set of tyres and I think I can get another couple of thousand miles before my new wheels arrive. Is lowering likely to mean that I will get a lot less miles out of the tyres?
If you do not do something about the camber than yes you may go through tires faster . My car was - 3.0 and after bushing were installed its now -1.9 . I'm not sure I'm sold on these bushings as much as I'd like to . The car doesn't feel the same even with it being within factory specs. It's good in the straights but as you are at highway speed and go into a turn it seems to tighten up and fall in slightly . We've retorqued the control arms to 120 ft lbs and it still feels off . I'm going to through it back on the alignment rack to see if the settings have moved since my w/alignment 2 weeks ago ..... I called KMAC and they thought the problem was they weren't tight enough but they are so not sure what exactly is going on with them .....maybe I'm lower in the front than most ...... stay tuned ...sorting it all out been some work
If you do not do something about the camber than yes you may go through tires faster . My car was - 3.0 and after bushing were installed its now -1.9 . I'm not sure I'm sold on these bushings as much as I'd like to . The car doesn't feel the same even with it being within factory specs. It's good in the straights but as you are at highway speed and go into a turn it seems to tighten up and fall in slightly . We've retorqued the control arms to 120 ft lbs and it still feels off . I'm going to through it back on the alignment rack to see if the settings have moved since my w/alignment 2 weeks ago ..... I called KMAC and they thought the problem was they weren't tight enough but they are so not sure what exactly is going on with them .....maybe I'm lower in the front than most ...... stay tuned ...sorting it all out been some work
i don’t want much of a drop, maybe something like an inch as I will have 20’s all round. I guess you had to go further with them being 19’s to get the look you wanted!
I really hope I don’t get the same problems you have. I don’t want to sacrifice the drivability that much over looks.
I am running 20's in the rear and it's been a bit of work sorting out these bushings but I'll get it sorted out . It's not that bad but I'm just very fussy . If worse come to worse I'll ditch the bushing for stock and sacrifice tires . It's not my daily driver so I have time . I wanted the look more than track time and I'm more of a 1/4 mile guy anyway .
If you do not do something about the camber than yes you may go through tires faster . My car was - 3.0 and after bushing were installed its now -1.9 . I'm not sure I'm sold on these bushings as much as I'd like to . The car doesn't feel the same even with it being within factory specs. It's good in the straights but as you are at highway speed and go into a turn it seems to tighten up and fall in slightly . We've retorqued the control arms to 120 ft lbs and it still feels off . I'm going to through it back on the alignment rack to see if the settings have moved since my w/alignment 2 weeks ago ..... I called KMAC and they thought the problem was they weren't tight enough but they are so not sure what exactly is going on with them .....maybe I'm lower in the front than most ...... stay tuned ...sorting it all out been some work
Not sure why your having dramas.
Im lowered 20mm front and rear with -1.5 front and -1 in the rear.
My car drives fine and tyres wearing evenly now, no more buying tyres every 6-8 months.
KMAC told me its probably the dust covers squeaking and I'm a bit confused by this as I didn't notice any dust covers on the bushings ......anyone else notice a black dust cover ?
Another thing I noticed was all our front suspensions sit really strange . The right front is in more out on the top than the left and it's even more pronounced when you go wider hence the reason the top of my right tire just touches the inside of the rt fender . I had not noticed it until I did my brakes ...... as I work for Mercedes I went out to 2 other C63s's on the lot and checked them and sure enough both are the same , the right side front wheel is out further than the left ....I found this puzzling but it must have something to do with handling on road crowns possibly . You really have to look to notice the difference .Stand at the front of your car and look towards the back lining the front to the rear and then go to the other side . You'll notice more of your tread shows on the right than the left . None of the other tech's had noticed that either and not sure what to think ...we work on these all the time and never noticed it
KMAC told me its probably the dust covers squeaking and I'm a bit confused by this as I didn't notice any dust covers on the bushings ......anyone else notice a black dust cover ?
Another thing I noticed was all our front suspensions sit really strange . The right front is in more out on the top than the left and it's even more pronounced when you go wider hence the reason the top of my right tire just touches the inside of the rt fender . I had not noticed it until I did my brakes ...... as I work for Mercedes I went out to 2 other C63s's on the lot and checked them and sure enough both are the same , the right side front wheel is out further than the left ....I found this puzzling but it must have something to do with handling on road crowns possibly . You really have to look to notice the difference .Stand at the front of your car and look towards the back lining the front to the rear and then go to the other side . You'll notice more of your tread shows on the right than the left . None of the other tech's had noticed that either and not sure what to think ...we work on these all the time and never noticed it
My KMACs are squeaking as well. Happens over speed bumps and undulations in the road that cause the cars weight to shift around. Really annoying and disappointing considering the price. Greased then up really good as well!
I also noticed the wheel differences between left and right. I have KW HAS and to get the same ride height on each side (level car - same wheel to arch gap), there is a good 10 - 15mm difference in the amount of exposed thread on the KW sleeve between left and right. Weird!!!
Agree ...... I wasn't expecting to find that . My bushings only squeak when warm after driving for a period of time .It only happens when I turn my steering left or right ,haven't noticed it over bumps . I'm also trying to sort out the weird steering feel .Great on straight roads but go into a a tighter curve and it starts to get tighter as you turn and then falls into the turn . I'm really puzzled as to what is causing this as the alignment is dead on within spec .I retorqued the bushing and it helped a bit but still does in . I don't want to torque it anymore more for fear of overloading / shearing the bolts off
07-26-2018, 05:30 PM
