recommended suspension upgrades to accompany KW clubsports

[911r]

I recently purchased a car with KW Clubsports, and absolutely no other suspension modifications. The car has ~ 95,000 miles, so I would like to go through the process of refreshing / upgrading the rest of the suspension to better compliment the KW Clubsports. I'm building the car around daily driving / hard driving in the canyons & the occasional track day.

What would you guys recommend?

So far, I've read that it's important to install adjustable front, and rear sway bar end links to eliminate pre-load in the sway bars caused by lowering the suspension...is there any truth to that?

[M4_GTS]

Monoballs in the front thrust arms and rear solid subframw mount.

[Mr_Reeves]

^ Exactly what I would have said.

[911r]

Originally Posted by M4_GTS

Monoballs in the front thrust arms and rear solid subframw mount.

Originally Posted by Mr_Reeves

^ Exactly what I would have said.

That's definitely on the list! How drastically does it change the feel of the car? I've heard lots about solid rear subframe mounts - but not so much about monoball FCABs.

[M4_GTS]

Originally Posted by 911r

That's definitely on the list! How drastically does it change the feel of the car? I've heard lots about solid rear subframe mounts - but not so much about monoball FCABs.

monoballs will tighten up your steering and you will feel more connected to the road. It's "almost" got the same affect as the solid rear subframe mount, but instead its in the front.

[911r]

Here is my list so far,

Front & Rear Hotchkiss Performance Sway Bar Kit
Turner Motorsports Thrustarm Monoball upgrade kit (pre-installed)
Fall-Line Motorsports E9x M3 Rear Camber shim kit
Fall-Line Motorsports E9x M3 Toe Link kit
Fall-Line Motorsports E9x M3 Front & Rear Sway Bar end link kit
Fall-Line Motorsports E9x M3 Rear upper control arm set
Future Classic E9x M3 Reinforced Trailing Arm set
Future Classic E9x M3 Trailing Arm bearing set
Macht Schnell Aluminum Solid rear subframe bushing kit
Macht Schnell Aluminum Solid rear differential bushing kit
SPL Front Lower control arms E9x M3
SPL Front tension rods E9x M3
SPL Bumpsteer adjustable tie rod ends E9x M3

Let me know if any of this stuff is unnecessary / overkill..! Wont be cheap aha.

[Expressivedrives]

I got:

• KW HAS coilovers
• Millway front camber/caster plates -2.5 degrees of camber
• H&R blue stabilizers
• Powerflex control arm bushings in the front
• Powerflex rear subframe and diff mounts in the rear

[Kelse92]

Personally, solid subframe bushings probably aren't worth it if you're not heavily tracking the car...
I ran my KW's with stock everything for awhile and it was just fine. Recently added a bigger Hotchkiss front sway-bar for some more balance and that is a nice upgrade. (don't forget to get shorter end links for the sway bar)
If anything next I'll be refreshing everything with poly bushings, but no need to go crazy! All the parts listed are some serious track-ready stuff. If you want it, go for it, but thats a very pricey list just for canyon runs.

[BayE30]

Originally Posted by 911r

Here is my list so far,

Front & Rear Hotchkiss Performance Sway Bar Kit
Turner Motorsports Thrustarm Monoball upgrade kit (pre-installed)
Fall-Line Motorsports E9x M3 Rear Camber shim kit
Fall-Line Motorsports E9x M3 Toe Link kit
Fall-Line Motorsports E9x M3 Front & Rear Sway Bar end link kit
Fall-Line Motorsports E9x M3 Rear upper control arm set
Future Classic E9x M3 Reinforced Trailing Arm set
Future Classic E9x M3 Trailing Arm bearing set
Macht Schnell Aluminum Solid rear subframe bushing kit
Macht Schnell Aluminum Solid rear differential bushing kit
SPL Front Lower control arms E9x M3
SPL Front tension rods E9x M3
SPL Bumpsteer adjustable tie rod ends E9x M3

Let me know if any of this stuff is unnecessary / overkill..! Wont be cheap aha.

I think you have overlapping parts here, the Turner monoball pre-installed arms are the same part as the SPL front tension rods.

Also, this car is going to drive like a full race car if you do all of this. Street driving is going to drive you crazy, every single imperfection on the road is going to be felt, and the rear end will have NVH from the solid diff bushings.

[911r]

Originally Posted by BayE30

I think you have overlapping parts here, the Turner monoball pre-installed arms are the same part as the SPL front tension rods.

Also, this car is going to drive like a full race car if you do all of this. Street driving is going to drive you crazy, every single imperfection on the road is going to be felt, and the rear end will have NVH from the solid diff bushings.

You’re right, those are overlapping.

I’m used to driving track prepped cars on the street - however has this is a four door with DCT (and my daily) id like to keep some street-ability. At the moment I’m just planning on doing the hotchkiss swaybars, fallline front & rear sway bar end links & the fallline toe link kit to accompany the KWs, as a compromise.

[//steve\\]

Definitely do it in phases. I think the few must haves people recommended will give you 80% of the improvement of that giant list for a lot less than all of it would cost.

That said, I have a very similar setup on my car and it's still very streetable to me. It's almost my weekend today and I came from a S2000 so I do think my tolerance for NVH is a lot higher than average before it becomes obnoxious.

[Kelse92]

Originally Posted by Expressivedrives

I got:

• KW HAS coilovers
• Millway front camber/caster plates -2.5 degrees of camber
• H&R blue stabilizers
• Powerflex control arm bushings in the front
• Powerflex rear subframe and diff mounts in the rear

Expressivedrives Wanted to follow up on this.
How do you like the Millway camber plates? Could you post photos of how they look inside the top mounts? They advertise the ability to get -4 deg of camber and I'm curious to see how that might look, even if you car is at a lower setting a visual would be a huge help! Thanks

[Mr_Reeves]

Originally Posted by BayE30

I think you have overlapping parts here, the Turner monoball pre-installed arms are the same part as the SPL front tension rods.

Also, this car is going to drive like a full race car if you do all of this. Street driving is going to drive you crazy, every single imperfection on the road is going to be felt, and the rear end will have NVH from the solid diff bushings.

I agree with BayE30 here. That list of upgrades is what I would expect to see on a very serious track setup, or at least something approaching a very serious track setup.

I would say that list of upgrades is overkill for the street. Likely, you will not reap the benefits that they will bring.

[Bartledoo]

Originally Posted by 911r

That's definitely on the list! How drastically does it change the feel of the car? I've heard lots about solid rear subframe mounts - but not so much about monoball FCABs.

Front tension arm monoballs do not change the feel of the car imo. I did 24 track days in 4 months this summer, and the only mod to the car (aside from tires) during this period was swapping in the monoballs two thirds of the way through it. I didn't notice any change in feel. Was disappointing actually.

I noticed a big difference on my first street drive after doing solid subframe mounts and poly diff mounts.

[Redd]

Front monoballs give sharper turn-in and makes the car more stable under braking. But it's not as huge a difference as rear subframe solid bushes give.

[//steve\\]

Originally Posted by Bartledoo

Front tension arm monoballs do not change the feel of the car imo. I did 24 track days in 4 months this summer, and the only mod to the car (aside from tires) during this period was swapping in the monoballs two thirds of the way through it. I didn't notice any change in feel. Was disappointing actually.

I noticed a big difference on my first street drive after doing solid subframe mounts and poly diff mounts.

I often wonder a lot about this stuff. I question how many times people just want to feel good about whatever $$$ they spent. And it's hard to compare too just how much of a gain some of these things would be vs just putting in a fresh OE part. Dogbone has one of the most wild, modified track cars out there is still on entirely stock suspension arms. Full cage, SC, lots of weight gone, run on slicks.

I've even considered removing some of the SPL arms on my own car as it's a mostly street car and if anything they add complexity to alignments/setup. More ways you can do it wrong than right.

[BMWSpeedFreek]

Originally Posted by Kelse92

Personally, solid subframe bushings probably aren't worth it if you're not heavily tracking the car...
I ran my KW's with stock everything for awhile and it was just fine. Recently added a bigger Hotchkiss front sway-bar for some more balance and that is a nice upgrade. (don't forget to get shorter end links for the sway bar)
If anything next I'll be refreshing everything with poly bushings, but no need to go crazy! All the parts listed are some serious track-ready stuff. If you want it, go for it, but thats a very pricey list just for canyon runs.

PM sent!
Requesting a few more details on your setup...(ie. Are your Clubsport 2way or 3way? Endlink lengths? etc!)