General > Product Reviews
ST suspension review
rich83:
--- Quote from: Pudding on April 23, 2021, 08:58:38 pm ---
--- Quote from: rich83 on April 17, 2021, 06:00:24 am ---What happened to the ohlins?
--- End quote ---
They use a nylon sleeve as a bearing surface on the front dampers, which wears out and causes and almighty knocking/clunk. They've since upgraded it to a better material but it's too late on one of mine. Metal on metal has chipped away some of the chrome plating, so that damper is written off. Out of warranty, typically.
To be fair, all mono tube struts wear out faster than OEM style twin tubes. Bilsteins have done the same thing to me in the past. I should have known better really :grin:
--- End quote ---
Well that’s a load of crap. If it’s any consolation one of my rear PSS10 shocks has rusted on the adjuster so it’s stuck on setting 7 :laugh:
bobby_fodge:
hmm, good info on the relationship between ST and KW, I just thought they were a lower spec coilover by KW under a different brand name.
I had the KW v1 on my old Jetta, they were more comfy than sporty.
LC5F:
Nice write up Pudding - I am saddened to hear some of your ohlins have died.
On thing I have to correct is ST are owned by KW:
"In 2005 KW took over the US-American suspension brands Belltech Sports Trucks and ST suspensions"
https://www.kwsuspensions.com/company/history
This brand replaces their middle of the road Weitec suspension - suspect the name does not have the history of billies or koni to trade on - nobody knew what or who they were. It makes sense to start again, with a re-brand and big marketing push.
The important thing to remember that like VW the KW brands operate as a group with all their brands.
Unlike other manufacturers, who apparently now only design suspension from their desk - KW still do a lot of testing on track with the real cars - the results are valving and spring rates shared within the group - but quality of materials reducing with price point for each brand.
pudding:
Yeah it's super annoying as Ohlins have an unshakeable reputation in the bike world, but clearly they have some more R&D (and testing!) to do in the car world.
Never mind. This is the cost of modifying cars. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose :grin:
I wish Fox would make suspension for road cars. Like Ohlins, their bike forks & shocks are incredible. Nitron are another good brand for cars, but I suspect they're another candle in the wind suspension - great for 5 minutes :doh:
That's why I took a step back from the big bucks brands and looked at what the cheaper end of the market had to offer. The ST achieves a lot of what the dearer stuff does, but that extra level of control and consistency at the limit is where it falls short, but at 500 quid, it's to be expected.
I've put 3000 miles on them now and no nasty surprises, wet or dry :happy2: They're a bit choppy at town speeds as per most kits, although some of that is down to the F1 SuperSport tyres, but at high speeds they're great. No aquaplaning or weird front/rear mismatching and more importantly, no veering under heavy braking. I'm not a fan of progressive springs as they can be unpredictable, but these ones aren't too bad.
If I have one complaint, they don't deal with closely packed bumps very well. I can feel the road wheels flapping about when things get busy down there, but not to the point where they lose grip. Again, they just lack that extra level of iron fisted control the more expensive dampers have. They also have the extra weight of the MK7R brakes to deal with, which ST/KW didn't factor into their tuning.
I'm normally go/no go within 100 miles with suspension, so the fact they're still on the car after 3K says something :grin:
Cheers for the correction on the company history. I got the 'Suspension Techniques' name from a video about them on MotoIQ's YouTube channel (Mike Kojima, he is quite the automotive engineer :notworthy: ) so I guess that was a rebrand of Sports Trucks at some point.
pudding:
--- Quote from: rich83 on April 23, 2021, 09:26:03 pm ---
--- Quote from: Pudding on April 23, 2021, 08:58:38 pm ---
--- Quote from: rich83 on April 17, 2021, 06:00:24 am ---What happened to the ohlins?
--- End quote ---
They use a nylon sleeve as a bearing surface on the front dampers, which wears out and causes and almighty knocking/clunk. They've since upgraded it to a better material but it's too late on one of mine. Metal on metal has chipped away some of the chrome plating, so that damper is written off. Out of warranty, typically.
To be fair, all mono tube struts wear out faster than OEM style twin tubes. Bilsteins have done the same thing to me in the past. I should have known better really :grin:
--- End quote ---
Well that’s a load of crap. If it’s any consolation one of my rear PSS10 shocks has rusted on the adjuster so it’s stuck on setting 7 :laugh:
--- End quote ---
On previous cars I ran H&R Coilovers (rebranded PSS10s) and Billy Bob PSS10s and they both seized solid. Couldn't move the adjusters at all after 2 winters :grin:
The H&Rs also blew their seals and dumped damper oil out after only 40K, so nearly as crap as the Ohlins :grin:
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