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Hello folks, this is meant to be a walkthrough and review of my installation of my KW V3 coilover set on my 2018 Alfa Romeo Giulia Ti Sport Q4. I don’t have adaptive suspension. But the installation process for those is similar except for needing a special tool to remove the middle bolt from the front strut top hat (In order to get a socket around the cable)
Ease of installation: 7.5/10
tools needed:
hydraulic jacks (car)
jack stands (safety)
bottle jack/ scissor jack (control arms)
impact gun (lug nuts and spring compressor
full set of 3/8 metric socket 6 or 12 point (ideal)
break free lube / deep creep (old or rusty bolts
socket wrenches
pass through wrenches with pass through sockets
pry bar set
offset spring mcpherson strut sprint compressor
torque wrench
e torx socket set
star bit set
allen key set
vice grips
So im moving overseas soon and needed a more quality suspension for my car, as well as the ability to raise and lower it as needed. The H&R springs previously on my car were starting the wear and the shocks were degrading as expected after many miles and hard use, so time to upgrade.
Quality of the KW V3 kit is amazing, as expected. Looks like that have upgrade their initial design by adding some reinforcements to the front lower shock mounts, which is good. Everything feels solid and very well designed.
I highly suggest you read the entire instruction manual before setting ride height or messing with rebound/damping settings
Step. 1.
Jack the front of the car up safely, take off the wheels and identify the bolts that need to be removed. Should be the top 3 nuts/bolts holding the strut to the chassis visible inside the engine bay, the UCA to LCA pinch bolt, the upper sway bar endlink bolt and the LCA to shock bolt
The strut is a little bit of a wiggle to get out but should should come out pretty simply as long as you let the lower control arm hang as low as possible and raise the upper control arm as high as possible. Top of the strut will come out first, followed by the bottom. Re installation is the opposite, seat the bottom of the strut first over the drive axle and lower control arm, then swing the top hat of the strut up and under the the U shaped upper control arm
Step 2. Remove and re-install the old top hat onto the new strut
Using the McPherson strut spring compressor with the golden cups attached, compress the oem spring until the top hat is loose, then remove the top hat with a burst from an impact gun. Spring compressor takes a 21mm socket.
*PLEASE READ MCPHERSON STRUT SPRING COMPRESSOR INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE USE AND ASSEMBLE CORRECTLY
Re-align the old top hat with the new strut making sure to line up the detent with the end of the new coil. Then torque the top hat down to spec using a vice grip and towel to hold shock from moving, or use the proper pass through socket
Kw shock strut next to oem + hR springs. Both 100% made in Germany lol
Re-install new front suspension, check torque and bolts, re install wheels and lower the car
Step 3. Remove rear suspension
jack up rear of the car and remove the rear wheels.
remove 3 nuts holding the top hat of the rear shock in place
loosen the lower shock bolt as far as it will go until it has cleared the shock, this bolt doesnt need to be fully removed
( old guys/gals so the forum has said ive exceeded the maximum number of attachments, so ill continue down in the comments, forgive me)
Ease of installation: 7.5/10
tools needed:
hydraulic jacks (car)
jack stands (safety)
bottle jack/ scissor jack (control arms)
impact gun (lug nuts and spring compressor
full set of 3/8 metric socket 6 or 12 point (ideal)
break free lube / deep creep (old or rusty bolts
socket wrenches
pass through wrenches with pass through sockets
pry bar set
offset spring mcpherson strut sprint compressor
torque wrench
e torx socket set
star bit set
allen key set
vice grips
So im moving overseas soon and needed a more quality suspension for my car, as well as the ability to raise and lower it as needed. The H&R springs previously on my car were starting the wear and the shocks were degrading as expected after many miles and hard use, so time to upgrade.
Quality of the KW V3 kit is amazing, as expected. Looks like that have upgrade their initial design by adding some reinforcements to the front lower shock mounts, which is good. Everything feels solid and very well designed.
I highly suggest you read the entire instruction manual before setting ride height or messing with rebound/damping settings
Step. 1.
Jack the front of the car up safely, take off the wheels and identify the bolts that need to be removed. Should be the top 3 nuts/bolts holding the strut to the chassis visible inside the engine bay, the UCA to LCA pinch bolt, the upper sway bar endlink bolt and the LCA to shock bolt
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content
The strut is a little bit of a wiggle to get out but should should come out pretty simply as long as you let the lower control arm hang as low as possible and raise the upper control arm as high as possible. Top of the strut will come out first, followed by the bottom. Re installation is the opposite, seat the bottom of the strut first over the drive axle and lower control arm, then swing the top hat of the strut up and under the the U shaped upper control arm
Step 2. Remove and re-install the old top hat onto the new strut
Using the McPherson strut spring compressor with the golden cups attached, compress the oem spring until the top hat is loose, then remove the top hat with a burst from an impact gun. Spring compressor takes a 21mm socket.
*PLEASE READ MCPHERSON STRUT SPRING COMPRESSOR INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE USE AND ASSEMBLE CORRECTLY
Re-align the old top hat with the new strut making sure to line up the detent with the end of the new coil. Then torque the top hat down to spec using a vice grip and towel to hold shock from moving, or use the proper pass through socket
Kw shock strut next to oem + hR springs. Both 100% made in Germany lol
Re-install new front suspension, check torque and bolts, re install wheels and lower the car
Step 3. Remove rear suspension
jack up rear of the car and remove the rear wheels.
remove 3 nuts holding the top hat of the rear shock in place
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content
loosen the lower shock bolt as far as it will go until it has cleared the shock, this bolt doesnt need to be fully removed
( old guys/gals so the forum has said ive exceeded the maximum number of attachments, so ill continue down in the comments, forgive me)
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