Review: Ksport Kontrol Pro coilovers

[turabaka]

Alright guys, I was putting off this review until I got the chance to test them at an autocross. Needed to put them through some street time, and some track time before I could give an honest review. Anyway here goes.

Pros:
Awesome for track duty. Very stiff. I had almost no body roll whatsoever. Way better than my previous setup.
Being able to adjust ride height, and spring preload is a nice feature. I haven't corner balanced the car yet, but even with just slapping them on there, and going they did a wonderful job.

I know there has been some concern about the shocks not being up to par, but I didn't seem to have any problems. Ran my first run with the rear shocks a little soft, and had some oversteer problems. Bumped up the shocks five clicks, and the problem went away. So, obviously the adjustments work very well for fine tuning. I did not however get the chance to dyno them, so I don't know how close together they're all valved.

Cons:
Stiff. The springs are really heavy at 12k/f 7k/r. It's not something I personally care about, but someone looking for a soft ride that's lowered should probably just stick with something like my old setup. Sprint springs and tokicos.


Here's some results from two autocrosses. They try to give a comparison of what it's like before and after I changed suspension.

The class number to look for is SMF 421

July 24th. Tokico blues, and sprint 2.5 inch drop springs.
overall raw (http://srrscca.com/SCCAEventResults/July%2024th%202010/20100724_raw.htm)
overall pax (http://srrscca.com/SCCAEventResults/July%2024th%202010/20100724_pax.htm)
separated by class (http://srrscca.com/SCCAEventResults/July%2024th%202010/20100724_fin.htm#SMF) (I'm in SMF)

August 14th. Ksports installed. Nothing else changed.
overall raw (http://srrscca.com/SCCAEventResults/August%2014th%202010/20100814_raw.htm)
overall pax (http://srrscca.com/SCCAEventResults/August%2014th%202010/20100814_pax.htm)
separated by class (http://srrscca.com/SCCAEventResults/August%2014th%202010/20100814_fin.htm#SMF) (again running SMF)

Final comments:
Hopefully this gives a decent idea of how well this setup performs. I was honestly blown away by how much faster I got. They feel great both on and off the track. A bit stiff for daily driving if you like a soft ride, but I daily mine and it feels great to me.

Questions? comments?

[Oldblueaccord]

Whats your ride height like compared to stock?

Do you think you can use other springs with these shocks or are they a wierd size. Im thinking like using a Ebaich spring with them or something like that.

[BITESIZE]

I'm so proud of you my young padawan. We need pictures.

[turabaka]

lol bitesize. I went out there and dominated last autocross. It was freakin' sweet! I'll see what I can do about pictures of the new setup.



Whats your ride height like compared to stock?

Do you think you can use other springs with these shocks or are they a wierd size. Im thinking like using a Ebaich spring with them or something like that.


wp

I'm sure you could use eibach's if you really wanted too. Not sure why you would though since you can order the springs in whatever stiffness you want, and the shocks will be matched to that.

As for ride height I'm about 2.5-3 inches lower than stock. I've got the height adjustments threaded as short as they'll go, but if I messed with the pre-load on the spring I could go low enough to scrape the ground. Conversely you could also go the other way and have a car that sits at stock height, or maybe even higher than stock.

[Bglad420]

A stiffer rear with a looser front in a FWD will increase Over steer/ And realistically you cant compare two separate events. Course and weather changes need to be taken into factor as well.

[turabaka]

A stiffer rear with a looser front in a FWD will increase Over steer/ And realistically you cant compare two separate events. Course and weather changes need to be taken into factor as well.

This is true, but you can compare me with the rest of the pack. I went from placing near the bottom of the pack to placing near the top. I also went from dead last in my class to first by over a second and a half.

edit: I used to consistently place in the bottom half of the pack, and am pretty much always last in my class, or second to last. I just thought it would be a good showing of what difference a proper suspension setup can make.

[Oldblueaccord]

Still riding on these? and where were they made ?

[bryan6732]

Pretty interested in that as well!
I've got mine laying around now, gonna mount them next spring.

How are they performing after almost a year and a half of street and track use?

[MessyHonda]

how are they when they are full soft? still stiff?

[ShyBoyCA6]

well no has D2's on their cars? im guessing they are the same aren't they? i read alot of good things and bad things with ksport, also D2's. I also wonder if they bothered to fix the problem they have? but i doubt they will tell the truth if they did or not.

But yeah ill be picking up a set of each to see which ones are "better" but i will never test out their ability's in cornering or track since it will be mainly for DD.

[turabaka]

Still riding on these? and where were they made ?



wp

Yep. still runnin on them. No problems at all. ran half a season of autocross, and a time attack event. Only issue all year was a blown motor, and shredded a set of tires.

shocks performed excellently keeping up with the fast cars in smf. I was holding on to 3rd place until the motor and tire issues. 1st and 2nd was an 06 civic si with full blox underbracing kit, and skunk2 coilovers sponsored by skunk2, and well as running better tires than my season old chewed up ones. Other car was a 350hp mazdaspeed3 on slicks as well.

cars behind me in the rankings ranged from 70's scirroco, mid 90's integras, other mazdaspeed 3's, srt-4's, etc.

The only bad thing I've had happen to these is that I wasn't paying attention washing my engine bay, and I had the adjusters lightly rust into the holes. I would strongly recommend some white lithium grease or something to keep those from rusting in there.

@Messy. yeah they're still pretty stiff at full soft. I would consider them on something used for track duty only. Although you can order them with custom valving and spring rates. I'd definitely go softer for a street car.

[Oldblueaccord]

Thanks for the update. I turned 40 and want a nice birthday gift to myself that's not only somewhat practical but also somewhat "not what I really need" and around 1000$ budget.

You think there made in China?

[Legend_master]

Yep. still runnin on them. No problems at all. ran half a season of autocross, and a time attack event. Only issue all year was a blown motor, and shredded a set of tires.

shocks performed excellently keeping up with the fast cars in smf. I was holding on to 3rd place until the motor and tire issues. 1st and 2nd was an 06 civic si with full blox underbracing kit, and skunk2 coilovers sponsored by skunk2, and well as running better tires than my season old chewed up ones. Other car was a 350hp mazdaspeed3 on slicks as well.

cars behind me in the rankings ranged from 70's scirroco, mid 90's integras, other mazdaspeed 3's, srt-4's, etc.

The only bad thing I've had happen to these is that I wasn't paying attention washing my engine bay, and I had the adjusters lightly rust into the holes. I would strongly recommend some white lithium grease or something to keep those from rusting in there.

@Messy. yeah they're still pretty stiff at full soft. I would consider them on something used for track duty only. Although you can order them with custom valving and spring rates. I'd definitely go softer for a street car.

I ran in to the same problem with my D2 (k2 knockoffs) coilovers, unless you live in a bump free city they are to stiff. I contacted No limit motorsports about lower rate springs, and they can pretty much get you spring replacements at any rate you like. The only downfall is they are $150.00 each, which comes out to almost as much as a set of new coilovers. Nice write up, this definitely needed to be out there for people to read.

[RobT5580]

I have the K-Sports but only put 30 miles or so on them before i tore the car apart to its current state. They were stiffer than my Koni/H&R setup but i didn't think it was crazy but that was with little road testing.

[mushroom_toy]

Anyone got a good link to decently priced ksports? They were getting pretty cheap...like close to $650, but then jumped back up to like 800 and I cant seem to find a deal? Anyone got a link to some under $800? or under or close to $700?

Also anyone completely slammed their car on these and seen how the valving is? Im wondering if lowering a car to the height im at will just be a waste of money to buy these, and if theyll blow in a matter of months. Im not super low but low enough under engine subframe 2" off ground for example.