K Sport Coilovers

^I thought i heard that Tage switched. Well, good on you guys!

I should elaborate on my statement about the Honda guys. A lot of them were running KSports here locally maybe 3 years ago, and there unfortunately were a few failures. Since then, i've only seen maybe two more in person purchase them, and i haven't seen anything bad come of them yet. So that's a plus.

Can you comment on the shock dynos that were posted earlier in this thread?

Thanks for coming aboard with the information!

I'd like to hear more on the shock dynos as well as the alleged (and generally assumed) connection with other brands like D2/Megan. I've heard they're the same and I've heard people say KSports are different.

speedblind wrote: I'd like to hear more on the shock dynos as well as the alleged (and generally assumed) connection with other brands like D2/Megan. I've heard they're the same and I've heard people say KSports are different.

Oh true....

Yep! I want to know if KSport saw my money when i bought my Megans.

93celicaGT2 wrote:

speedblind wrote: I'd like to hear more on the shock dynos as well as the alleged (and generally assumed) connection with other brands like D2/Megan. I've heard they're the same and I've heard people say KSports are different.

Oh true.... Yep! I want to know if KSport saw my money when i bought my Megans.

The issue is more of if they are coming from some of the same factories.

Also in for reports on shock dyno. I ran Ksports on my turbo miata... felt fine, but we all know the butt dyno means nothing. Something in the last issue of GRM about shock dyno ;).

Also, was the change to Ksport the only change Tage made? Did he perhaps change some other setting that may be attributed... could be attributed to noise from other adjustments...

Good morning guys! In response to questions about that shock dyno posted honestly that was supposedly done about 2-3 years ago by a Koni rebuild center in California, we can't verify what shock was dyno'd, if it was new, under what temperature or other conditions so I'm not really sure what to say there.

If anyone is in Arizona, or is going to be visiting our fine state please feel free to PM, email, or call me and you're more than welcome to come down and take a tour of our facilities.

rwdsport wrote: ... Also, was the change to Ksport the *only* change Tage made? Did he perhaps change some other setting that may be attributed... could be attributed to noise from other adjustments...

I just spoke to Tage, and he said that the only change he has made is the suspension,. He is using our Off-the-Shelf Kontrol Pro kit, with custom spring rates. He is using 14kg/mm in the front, and 12kg/mm out back.

I got no answers. I'm genuinely interested in both questions I posted. I've heard anecdotally that people are happy with them, but haven't seen much data/facts.

speedblind wrote: I'd like to hear more on the shock dynos as well as the alleged (and generally assumed) connection with other brands like D2/Megan. I've heard they're the same and I've heard people say KSports are different.

me too

This is real off topic. But Tages car looks MEAN, I just saw a recent pic of it on speedhunters. I wish i could see it in person; that thing always seems to be setting some kind of record.

sorry... back on topic.

KSport_Matt wrote: Good morning guys! In response to questions about that shock dyno posted honestly that was supposedly done about 2-3 years ago by a Koni rebuild center in California, we can't verify what shock was dyno'd, if it was new, under what temperature or other conditions so I'm not really sure what to say there. If anyone is in Arizona, or is going to be visiting our fine state please feel free to PM, email, or call me and you're more than welcome to come down and take a tour of our facilities.

Yeah, how exactly does touring ones factory relate to the other members telling them what they think of a certain product. I for one am personally baffled why a marketing person would go on a forum and tout their product, if the product was that good you wouldn't need to. Look at koni's marketing people, we never here from them....

For honda's my friends that bought the k-sports buy them to drop their cars, NOT track them. If they are putting them on the track they'll go buy some koni yellows and call it a day. It sounds like lots of marketing hype from the k-sport's. The then again its just my opinion!

Andrew

A shock dyno can't be all that expensive, and I'd think it would have already been something a coilover producer would have in R&D if it were serious about quelling the myths about its product.

I think if K-Sport were to up it's game and start making it's products with the options of being ran in track situations, it would fair much better in the hyper-war against Megan, Stance and Koni.

The key is always going to be the price though. Stance is expensive, but worth it. Koni's are more expensive, but worth it. Megan's are cheaper. K-Sport has had a reputation of offering cheap coilovers, not something able to be used on the track.

If they could build something more track oriented (complete shock dynos and adjusters that do something), and offer it all the price of their other products, they'd be back in contention.

KSport_Matt wrote: I'm not really sure what to say there.

You could start by posting a shock dyno for a set of your shocks. You do dyno your shocks before you send them out, don't you?

For simplicity's sake, show us the dyno for the same model shock as Tage is running. And how about a hysteresis plot for the same? You could even wow us by showing us the dynos for four shocks grabbed at random from the assembly line, to show us just how tight your QA is.

Not being evil, just attempting to separate marketing hype from proper design and manufacture.

coming from a fairly lengthy second gen Probe background, I know ALOT of second gen guys who run the K-sports and have only heard good things from them.. I was even looking at sets myself until I decided to move into another car. Are they a full out race suspension- no. Are they better than stock- you bet.

I would buy them in a heartbeat. They offer adjustability and look good on the car.

On a side note- I'm not a fan of the V6 Vulcan sadly... there is not a whole lot you can do to them as compared to the second gen V6 of even the first gen F2T engines (gotta love boost on a FWD.. makes for fun torque steer). They work as a DD car but aren't really much to talk about in the performance department.

You should buy my '95 PGT Throw on suspension and go have fun.

^I'd buy it.... but the girlfriend has mandated that i get an FB RX7, and she doesn't want me to have anything further to do with MX6/Probes since mine scares the bejeezus out of her.

Sadly I've had nothing but BAD experiences with K-sports and Hyundai's. I knwo they can NOT be run year long in the salt belt. they sieze (no amount of antisieze will help) and blow shocks left and right.....

I had a set on my civic, they cost less than a strut/spring combo, and customer service was excellent.

I ordered them with different spring rates (stiffer) which was a bad decision on my part, but they arrived timely and without any extra charge.

Probably not as good as a koni+anything setup, but cheaper, and gave me more height adjustment, which is what I needed to go from winter to summer.

KSport_Matt wrote: so I'm not really sure what to say there.

how about are you an advertiser in the mag? If not..

The only thing I hear about KSport is:

"I hear a lot of good things from local people and people on the forums..."

This is literally the most common statement about all these shocks.

Unfortunately, that is based on many, many inexperienced reviews from people looking for a "drop", or being "slammed". Also, we all know how useless the butt dyno is. Most "cheaper" shock companies have such poor QC that even 4 springs from one of set of coilovers will be different rates (coughteincough). Im also puzzled how someone from the marketing department is dodging a simple request, a shock dyno from a supposedly performance, track orientated shock manufacturer. Hell I'd be happy with even a shock dyno of only the flagship product.

It may be a black art to most, but as with many things, you mostly pay what you get for. And a Ksport does not a Koni make...

Would love to be proved otherwise, very open minded individual here

I'm afraid I'll have to agree with Iggy on this. A sales guy from a company googling the company name and finding old threads to bring up and challenge the negative content is borderline c-anoe. At least he was upfront about who he worked for, which is fair.

And, a company that wants to make a complex product like a performance shock absorber that doesn't have the basic tool to test their product, well, you have to ask youself if they really know what they are doing. There are speed shops with their own shock dynos, and they don't make shocks, just adjust and/or test them.

As for the K Sports themselves, I've never heard of them, so I have no experience with them. Whenever I want shocks for something important, I buy Koni.

Dr. Hess wrote: And, a company that wants to make a complex product like a performance shock absorber that doesn't have the basic tool to test their product, well, you have to ask youself if they really know what they are doing.

Very good point. I'll put money on Gabriel being able to produce mountains of data for every junko shock they produce.

Has GRM ever done an article on shock dynos? Might make for an interesting article.

It would but remember a few years ago when SCC did that "The Truth" feature and some of their advertisers left that could very well happen if you call out the crap shock builders

For those wondering about a shock dyno Intercomp sells a very nice one for $8000

Here is my personal experience with k-sport kontrol pro's on my 94 miata on the street and track.

They look REAL NICE in the box! It ends there...

As for valving, I couldn't find a setting that seemed to suit me or the car. To stiff or soft but nothing that felt right. There just harsh, simple as that. On top of that, for the miata they were so low it was rediculous. I called, took pics(compared to a stock set-up) and emailed, the only response I received(not timely either) was thats how we make them and no one else has complained. They were listed as being stock height to I think down 2.5"s. They "actually" started with the shocks topped out at about 2"s lower and went down from there. We all know what that does for a miata's handeling. When I tried to talk to K-Sports tech line about my concerns with the actual ride height and its affect on real handling he had no clue what so ever of what I was talking about. I did my best to get the point across that my car is not for show and while planted in the weeds looks very cool, it doesn't work for E36 M3 on the race track. As he was talking all he really kept saying was "dude you need nawz and 20"s". He was that unhelpfull!

Long and short of it, if you want a good set-up then buy one, either AGX's and ground controls, bilsteins or what ever. BUT buy a KNOWN GOOD QUANTITY. I don't know about the long term quality as I only had them on for one summer, and sold them on ebay for next to nothing. I now have agx's and fat cats setup and went almost 3 seconds faster per lap around Beaver Run's north course.

If you just need something to keep your car from being a pogo stick, I truly think you would be better off getting what ever is on sale at napa.

On the flip side.... i can easily equal stock ride height on my Megans....

Well, Paul, this is obviously your fault. You called tech support with the problem that the K Sport Coilovers' highest setting was 2" lower than stock on a Miata. They said that you needed 20 series tires or 20" tires (or both) and nitrous oxide to fix this. You didn't get 20 something tires and nitrous oxide, so obviously you didn't try their suggestion. How can we infer from this that K Sport has a product that is market to children and not serious car people? Maybe you had the "old" product and the "old" sales rep or tech support guy on the phone, and the "new" product and tech support guy/sales guy is much better now, and they'll have a shock dyno any minute now too.