Change Springs

Gp79

Member
Messages
1,393
Not too bad.

Fronts
4 nuts inside engine bay and sky hook plug
Then one through bolt on lower arms, I found strut still trapped so had to remove lower wishbone at one end to drop strut out.

Rears
Remove boot lining and reach through with a 13mm on various attachments to undo the 4 nuts on top of each strut.
Unplug skyhook plug, then one nut on the lower wishbone

Once out the normal spring compressors to take load off the spring seat then can remove, make sure threads are very clean as they’re fine and seize up easily.

If I was to do it again I’d ask my local garage if I could use their professional spring compressor as it would have saved a lot of time.

Measure where the spring seat is currently so you know where to set it back to.

Are you fitting after market springs? Or cleaning up the originals?
 

voicey

Member
Messages
660
For getting the front shock out, I find it easier to split the top arm at the camber shim than mess around with the lower arm.
 

Tufan

Member
Messages
233
I wanted Coilovers but had negative feedback from an 4200 owner in Greece with KW3 as it didn't cope with the weight of the car. Now my move is FD springs, sway bars and add dbw.

Also changing front brakes to 6 large Piston new calipers from Akebono, 350mm much bigger air vented discs. Normally they are not 5x108 but we have a cnc trick for that.

My local garage will do the changes but I want to show him the most practical way. Your help much appreciated, many thanks.
 

Gp79

Member
Messages
1,393
I wanted Coilovers but had negative feedback from an 4200 owner in Greece with KW3 as it didn't cope with the weight of the car. Now my move is FD springs, sway bars and add dbw.

Be interested to hear how much difference all that makes, a fair few $$$$ aswell.

The rear sway bar will be a pain as the subframe will need to be lowered...
 

TimR

Member
Messages
2,654
Mine has no ARB across the back axle at all....(from factory?)
It's "wayward" to say the least....:p

Im slightly disappointed to learn that you have managed to rubbish the KW V3s...! Surely coping with weight is a question of using the right spring rates
FD are alot more money. Im sceptical if they are really that much better having seen their pricing structure for most everything they produce, frankly !
EDIT- I see you mean to simply put their lowering springs in- not their coilovers...? I might have misunderstood.;)

Is it for track use ?
 
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Tufan

Member
Messages
233
Yes, only springs will be replaced and yes, due to track focus but won't lower more, maybe another 5 mm max. Not sure what you mean about me managing to rubbish the KW V3?

H&R springs also available cheaper but with Xmas sales, FD will get to a more sensible gap. And no one reported how H&R fit GS character both on road and track while FD has many positive feedback worth the extra money. Loosing the car control at very high speed would also be quite costly so this is preventive.
 
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Tufan

Member
Messages
233
Maybe not as worse as QP but this is a GS that needs to be a lot sportier then QP and even better than GT, at least from most versions. IMG_20181104_234306.jpg3
 

TimR

Member
Messages
2,654
Yes, only springs will be replaced and yes, due to track focus but won't lower more, maybe another 5 mm max. Not sure what you mean about me managing to rubbish the KW V3...

I think I mean anecdotal evidence from one owner seems somewhat unscientific !
I understand FD springs drop the car significantly...( > 5mm ) A key reason to not chose this option for my own 4200 facelift car.

Can’t help thinking coil overs are the way to go. ( hence the disappointment on hearing they arent up to the job!) Spring rate is easily changed. Even valving isn’t that difficult to adjust if necessary.
 
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Tufan

Member
Messages
233
Unfortunately that was the only feedback about KW V3 I coud find in this forum and the other forum at NA. The guy in Greece had support directly from KW Greece to get things right but never managed to overcome the rubbing issue and proper settings. He was taking the car to track as I do. FD information is that I don't need to lower any further my car then standard as it's already lower unless I personally choose to do so. If I'm not happy with springs, I'm sure I'll find someone who would like to buy it and I would loose less pennies vs selling a second hand coilover if things go wrong. So my first direction in my way is also economically justified. I was thinking absolutely the same way like you TimR but I decided differently at this point.
 

TimR

Member
Messages
2,654
Unfortunately that was the only feedback about KW V3....
I was thinking absolutely the same way like you TimR but I decided differently at this point.

Its just too bad there isnt an Ohlins solution for our cars. Or a Nitron kit perhaps..?
Skyhook isnt something I want to keep longterm...:)
 

alfatwo

Member
Messages
5,517
Maybe not as worse as QP but this is a GS that needs to be a lot sportier then QP and even better than GT, at least from most versions. View attachment 523573
If you measure from the outward shadow in degrees up to the outer edge of the bumper ,this gives you the roll angle

In this case It's far too much, the inside front tire would over heat in no time and cause massive understeer!

And the drivers on the wrong side for clockwise tracks causing even more weight transfer!

Dave
 

alfatwo

Member
Messages
5,517
Only negative I have heard about the KW V3s is that they are difficult to set up on the 4200 something to do with the fuel tank location.

I created a thread on them asking for feedback and one owner on Belgium came back singing their praises: https://www.sportsmaserati.com/index.php?threads/coilovers.23538/post-564761

Fifty, Just think race cars setups, corner weighting and stuff
It doesn't really matter who supply's the springs.. in fact as anyone asked KW what the spring rates they supply for a 4200 actually are!

Dave
 

Mr.Cambio

Member
Messages
7,096
Tufan, i believe that i do know who is the guy from Greece. If we are talking about the same person, i have seen his car in the flesh, he had lowered it very, very much, much more than 6 or 7 cms from standard. Some years later he was selling his kw suspension.
Many thanks for your feedback though, as i always looked for it.
Personally i would not look any further than fd products. It's true, they are a bit expensive, but they are built exactly for the 4200. My latest investment was the sway bar kit, which i truly admire and adjust at the moment. Sport springs was the first upgrade on my suspension.
Hope this helps.
 

TimR

Member
Messages
2,654
I'll do FD sway bars...expensive? Oh yeah...but in terms of the outlay, it wont bankrupt you.
As for their coil over kits...they are way more than the KWs....Im starting to repeat myself. To reiterate however, FD's pricing structure errs on the side of "over priced." Do you really get so much better than KWs ( who are used trackside widely ) ? Perhaps Im being too cynnical ...
Im still in the research stages. Thanks for spilling the beans on the crazy Greek who wanted to slam his car. I dont want any such thing ! ;)