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2010 2011 BMW 5 Series Forum F10 F10 Technical Topics Wheels / Tires / Suspension / Brakes Rebuilding KW V1 coilover?
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      04-29-2022, 02:58 PM   #1
gr8brwnshark
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Rebuilding KW V1 coilover?

Hey y'all, I recently picked up a set of KW V1 coilovers off a member from this forum. Realized it a bit late but the front coilover springs seem to be over lapping and not sitting right. The service tech from KW that reached out to me wasn't too helpful and stated there might not be a "center ring adapter" and that they should be rebuilt before installation. I'm attaching an image of the front two coilovers depicting how the springs aren't sitting right. Does anyone have any experience with these coilovers or possibly have any insight on whether rebuilding these might help fix the issue? I tried adjusting the perch to allow more compression of the helper springs but those seemed to stay fully compressed. Any help or insight is appreciated, thanks!
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      04-29-2022, 04:08 PM   #2
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I could have sworn I had pictures of my v3s all assembled with new top hats ready to go on but I can't find them. There's definitely something wrong. I am having trouble 100% sorting out your pictures since all 4 are not pictured and you have parts cut off in every shot. But, I think the front/rear springs are mixed up and the helper springs aren't in the right place.

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      05-02-2022, 07:23 PM   #3
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My assembled V3 fronts. You can see that there's a duller yellow plastic thing between the keeper and the main spring. In your photos, you can barely see it smooshed up between the two springs. They're definitely not sitting right. My guess - there's too much preload on the front springs as the springs are not sitting in the top hat correctly. You can see in my photos that the spring sits up against a stop in the top hat rubber, yet I do not see any yellow in that area for your springs. That suggests the springs are rotated downwards and thus sitting too far down, improperly preloading them. I think the spring perch is too high as well - you can see a lot more thread above the perch on my KW's.

The previous owner definitely installed them incorrectly, you can see all the paint rubbed off on the inner springs where the spring compressed into itself. That's not normal.
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      05-02-2022, 07:28 PM   #4
gr8brwnshark
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Unspec View Post
My assembled V3 fronts. You can see that there's a duller yellow plastic thing between the keeper and the main spring. In your photos, you can barely see it smooshed up between the two springs. They're definitely not sitting right. My guess - there's too much preload on the front springs as the springs are not sitting in the top hat correctly. You can see in my photos that the spring sits up against a stop in the top hat rubber, yet I do not see any yellow in that area for your springs. That suggests the springs are rotated downwards and thus sitting too far down, improperly preloading them. I think the spring perch is too high as well - you can see a lot more thread above the perch on my KW's.

The previous owner definitely installed them incorrectly, you can see all the paint rubbed off on the inner springs where the spring compressed into itself. That's not normal.
My dude, thank you for the insight. You've helped me reassure that these springs are certainly on backwards. The spring signatures don't match up with the strut signature, I'm sure that, and the hiked up perch is causing this to not sit right. Unfortunate that the previous owner didn't have this figured out and messed up the paint but hopefully the set up is still functioning properly after swapping this spring. Thanks for the insight and the pictures man.
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      05-02-2022, 10:21 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gr8brwnshark View Post
My dude, thank you for the insight. You've helped me reassure that these springs are certainly on backwards. The spring signatures don't match up with the strut signature, I'm sure that, and the hiked up perch is causing this to not sit right. Unfortunate that the previous owner didn't have this figured out and messed up the paint but hopefully the set up is still functioning properly after swapping this spring. Thanks for the insight and the pictures man.
Ah yea there you go. They're on backwards, I didn't really pay attention to the numbers in your photo. It should be 1005 on the back and 2508 on the fronts. As further assurance, here is my rear spring. You can see the top looks identical in coiling to your "front" springs.

The springs will likely be fine mechanically, but I'd suggest you give it a clean and new coat of paint to prevent rusting.
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