Help request from experienced KW coilover owners pls

[g0ldf1ng3r 15]

im hoping fellow KW coilover owners can offer their thoughts, does this sounds right.....

copy of email i sent to KW:

Good evening

I am hoping you can help me. I called your offices last week & spoke to Richard, who was very helpful thank you.

I purchased a KW V1 inox line coiloverkit for my 1995 VW Corrado VR6 during Nov 2009.

The kit was fitted shortly after delivery. When my mechanic fitted my new brake discs & pads 2 weeks ago he noticed both front struts appear to be leaking, as there is visible residue around the top black part. I have taken some pictures whilst it was on the ramp & have attached them.

As far as i understand the kit was fitted correctly & upon checking both sides on the rear of the car the rear struts look ok & the similar top black parts are dry.

The kit has proven to be excellent & made good many hours of reading on coilover kit choice so i must say im a little disapponited to be experiencing problems within a year :(

I would be very grateful if you could please advise as to what can be done

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the reply i received:

Hi Andrew,

Seepage of oil is normal on all of our coilover kits, the reason for this is because our units contain an amount of oil as well as gas. The oil is used to lubricate the Teflon seal, every time the piston rod returns out of the unit it brings a very small amount of oil with it. If you touch the piston rod you will have film of oil on your finger. So please clean the units and make them dry and then run the car for a few days and report back your findings

 

this has me head scratching as i understand his point but surely if the oil is escaping to the point it is leaving residue round the seal then it will eventually deplete? :shrug:

 

:help: would be very much appreciated

[herisites 0]

Hmmmmm same as my Weitec's :scratch: maybe they're not fucked after all then!

[Rob_B 0]

You do have to rebuild Coilovers after a while. I know the v3's are fully rebuildable but not sure about the v1's. Motorsport suspension gets rebuilt regularly

[Kevin Bacon 5]

My V3s are dry and have been for over 3 years and 10s of 1000s of miles.

 

Wipe the oily residue away and see if the leaking continues. Yours aren't p1ssing oil out, but keep an eye on them. How does the nose feel over bumps? Bouncy or firmly damped?

 

What KW man described there is piston ring behaviour, not hydraulic seal behaviour! If hydraulics lose oil, you lose pressure, simple as that. And like you say, why are your rears dry if this oil gathering is 'normal'? Don't let them fob you off.

 

Have to say, my V3s have been an absolute joy and people are always impressed by them :D

[odub 0]

interesting to read this. my v1s have been on for nearly a year now but i will definately have a look although i am regulary under the car and haven't noticed any residue oil on the coil overs

[Jim Bowen 1]

I will check mine out. They are kw1 and fitted then in Dec 09

 

Sent from my X10i using Tapatalk

[Critical_Mass 10]

I will check my V1s also again fitted around a year :?

[John-M 0]

I'll have a peep at mine as well - been on since early this year.

[Rams 0]

What sort of ride height did you set the coilovers? Have you checked the cv joints/engine for any oil leaks? Just to rule them out......

 

However, I would agree that if theres oil weaping then the kw's will need rebuilt and kw should do that if they are still under waranty? What length of waranty to they come with and have you read anything to say that oil seaping is normal due to the cum discharge, bla bla bla? :roll: