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BMW X1 (F48) and X2 (F39) Forums General BMW X1 Forum (F48) KW Coilover V1- First impressions

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      05-17-2019, 12:39 PM   #23
knightarmor
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So after our 300 mile trip I'm happy to report we had no issues overall. Ride was nice, however it feels like we started to get some random vibrations at speed which I think is the tires cupping at opposite corners which I have never seen before.
The standing stop take off shimmy feels like it got worse though, obviously due to the vehicle being heavily loaded with three adults, a kid and luggage. I was so annoyed by the end of the trip I reinstalled the factory suspension and the ride is back to normal with smooth take offs.

I should also note that I checked all CV joints for any excessive play and everything was tight. That's been my main concern is damaging CV joints as I have replaced plenty of those in my lifetime to begin having to do it to our reliable hauler would not be good!

The handling compared to the KW's sucks though, and the ride height, well everyone knows how high it is from the factory.
I have a call in to KW to see if they know anything about this issue. I was thinking in hindsight I should have just reinstalled the OE rear suspension and raised the front with the KW's closer to factory height to see what happened.
OVERALL though just for reference, I only had the X1 lowered 1.5" from stock, the standing start shimmy begins to go away around 1" drop height.

One last pic of it lowered. Will play around with the suspension again in a few weeks when I have time and hopefully KW has a good answer to our question of why there is a shimmy in the first place!
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      07-23-2019, 06:44 PM   #24
knightarmor
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Figured I'd follow up on this.
Finally had time to reinstall the KW's. Ordered a second set of upper strut mounts for the front so I wouldn't have to keep disassembling and reassembling the front strut assemblies.

I've been taking a slow methodical approach to sorting this out but unfortunately based on what I have found in the Mini forums it seems like a problem with Mini sourced half-shafts. I can only assume that because our X1 shares a Mini chassis we are getting half-shafts that have a tight operating range.
Here's just one example of a thread I found where people are complaining about the same issues Proper and I are having.

https://www.minitorque.com/forum/f84...owering-11406/

And that goes all the way back to 2010!! So this issue has been going on for over ten years almost! Surprised KW hasn't at least put out a bulletin or something.

So back to what I am doing, I reinstalled the front KW's only and lowered the front approx. 2.5" and the vibration was still there although it appeared to be more subtle. I ended up reinstalling the rear KW's and set them about 90% to their full upper ride height. The vibration still stayed subtle. I am now playing with lowering the ride height in the front since our other member here (Proper) is riding quite low and states his vibration starts to go away as his fuel is depleted.

It'll be the weekend before I can play with the ride heights more but I set the fronts at full max upper ride height and the rears at about 110% full upper ride height (this means the collar is hanging off about 1/2" of the rear perch) and for reference the max overall ride height you can get (all the way up) with the KW's still give you 1.5" drop in the rear and approx. 1.25" drop in the front. And the ride becomes super tight!
I'm literally almost to the point of just dumping the KW's but I really want to see if we can sort this out somehow.

Attaching a pic of KW fronts installed only.
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      08-23-2019, 09:21 PM   #25
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Okay final update on this!

Well after trying out different ride heights I ended up being able to level out the X1 at approx. 1.2" drop. This was basically with the rear spring perch just a little over half off the threaded sleeve and the front pretty much 98% maxed out to the top (BTW according to the KW literature included with this kit this is way out of spec but I was just testing stuff out to see how everything would go). Got a good ride height, no shimmy from standing stop so all was good... Until.

We loaded the X1 up with three adults and a baby w/babyseat, roof box, stroller, pack and play, a bunch of luggage and some coffees! Then the wobble slowly presented itself and depending on the size of the dip or bump in the road we started to get coil bind (which basically feels like a shock bottoming out but worse!) So in the end I've decided to dump the KW's. I need to ensure the X1 is reliable and comfortable not only for me but for my wife and kid so I've reinstalled the OEM setup for the time being. I'll be posting up the KW kit for sale if anyone else is interested in dropping their X1 approx 1.5"~2"+ and is willing to live with the standing start shimmy.
Including photos of the springs at the highest point to achieve a standard 1.2" drop from stock.
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      08-24-2019, 02:34 PM   #26
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Looks like my pics did not attach to the last post. Pics of the maxed out ride height spring settings (highest setting) which gives approx. level 1.2" drop from stock.
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      12-02-2019, 02:51 PM   #27
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Bump for R&D in progress...
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      01-03-2020, 10:51 AM   #28
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So in our quest to find out how to remedy the standing start "shimmy" I've been doing more investigation into the front end of the X1. I finally had a chance to take some video with my GoPro of the left front axle (I also got some video of the right front but it wasn't as good due to poor mounting location which was a result of the location of the leveling sensor being in the way!)

It's very clear in the video the "shimmy" or wobble (as it's known throughout the interwebs because this actually shows up in alot more vehicles than you'd think based on how many lowered cars there are out there) that this is likely due to the angle of the inner CV joint on the front axles. You can see the entire engine shake directly after take off (which is about 15-20mph).

Basically what we are feeling (and users Proper and Vince who are also on KW's feel this too) is the engine engine shaking "due to the axle angle causing binding?". This is my theory anyway.

What I plan to do next is take video of the axle at OEM ride height just to confirm the lack of shake in the engine. We have a few possible fixes but nothing that we know for sure will work. This is a long and extensive dive into trying to make something work that was never designed to work this way. Based on the search results on the web no one has successfully found a "cure" for this problem.

Video below.










I am also surprised to see how much movement there is in the engine mounts just putting the vehicle into gear!
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      01-05-2020, 02:47 PM   #29
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Thanks for the due diligence and update. Seems a bit impossible to have your cake and eat it too. 10 ur old issue still not addressed means we’re not going to get it sorted.
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      12-06-2020, 10:06 PM   #30
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Would you say there’s any value in getting coilovers at this point over lowering springs, given the restrictions mentioned? The H&R springs claim they lower height by 1.5-2” which seems comparable to what coilovers can achieve before the wobble starts playing a factor.
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      12-07-2020, 07:50 AM   #31
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bimmoris View Post
Would you say there’s any value in getting coilovers at this point over lowering springs, given the restrictions mentioned? The H&R springs claim they lower height by 1.5-2” which seems comparable to what coilovers can achieve before the wobble starts playing a factor.
H&R, as well as Eibach, are a 1" drop. I picked up a set of Suspension Techniques that got me a little closer to 1.5". For the reasons detailed in this thread, any lower changes the rotating axis of the axles. I'm sure Proper can share his wisdom on what you're going to accept going any lower.
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      12-08-2020, 08:26 PM   #32
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Talking

Quote:
Originally Posted by bimmoris View Post
Would you say there’s any value in getting coilovers at this point over lowering springs, given the restrictions mentioned? The H&R springs claim they lower height by 1.5-2” which seems comparable to what coilovers can achieve before the wobble starts playing a factor.
If you can get passed the 15/20mph wobble I still think it's worth it. You can't beat the KW valved dampers. I warn you though it can get extremely annoying. I've gone back and forth between the KW's and stock trying different things out and currently playing with ride heights. I'm currently at ~1.8"F/1.9" rear lowered from stock and the shimmy comes and goes randomly. Sometimes it's subtle, sometimes it's not there and sometimes it's very much there. For me though the handling and comfort at speeds above 20mph make it worth it.

I am totally changing the dynamics of the vehicle though as I now run 235/50-18 Pirelli Scorpions (Volvo spec) on OE wheels with 10mm spacers all around. For me this gives me the handling and comfort I am looking for (shimmy shakes excluded of course). I (and everyone else) should keep in mind that the X1 is not a performance/sport vehicle by any means.
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      01-07-2021, 01:31 PM   #33
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Go coils, I had the H&R springs and ending up getting the KW coilovers very soon after.
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      02-23-2022, 03:29 PM   #34
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Quote:
Originally Posted by knightarmor View Post
Figured I'd start a new thread with KW in the title to give my feedback on the KW V1's I installed a couple of weeks ago.

Right off the ride has improved greatly compared to the OEM standard suspension that came with the M-Sport package. All of the roughness and jarring that was present with the OEM suspension has now been smoothed out. Even my wife agrees that the X1 rides much nicer with the KW's, even withthe 225/50-18 Pirelli runflats.

Handling is awesome. I got to drive it at speed (approx. 60mph.) on some long windy roads yesterday and the X1 was planted all through the turns. The valving, as always on KW's, is superb. The compression setup they have on the V1's just inspires confidence and gives no evidence of any type of dive into a corner and there is no nose diving on hard stops.

My only gripe currently is that shimmy we get accelerating from a standing stop or after making a turn into a street and accelerating. I've been able to narrow the shimmy down to it happening between 10-20mph, it is not felt through the steering and literally feels like drive shaft wobble as we can feel it through the floor and into the seats at times. It doesn't happen always which is very odd. There are no other vibrations up to 80mph and there is no vibration during hard acceleration under speed.

Will keep everyone posted on what I find. We have a long trip coming up in May so we'll see how it does.
Did you have to install new endlinks or any other mod with the install or just swap to the KWs?

Thanks! Looks great btw
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      02-25-2022, 11:00 PM   #35
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TSD Cliff View Post
Did you have to install new endlinks or any other mod with the install or just swap to the KWs?

Thanks! Looks great btw
The vehicle was almost a year old when I installed the KW's so the droplinks did not need to be replaced. The KW's drop right in with OEM upper mounts front/rear.
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      08-28-2023, 04:11 PM   #36
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Recently took a trip from Seattle to Monterey for Monterey car week and it was the first time we've taken the X1 out of state. Still running the KW's after the last (final?) install and happy to report that while there is still a bit of a shimmy at low speeds it's for the most part not noticeable (or maybe we just go used to it). In either case, was very happy to be running the KW's on this epic drive. We took I5 down to grants pass than headed to the coast via 101, and took HWY-1 from Leggett over to Fort Bragg. Amazing drive, even in the X1. Just about to hit 65K miles on this thing and working like a champ. Had been experiencing a bit of a stumble/misfire a while back and was hoping a change of spark plugs would help but learned quickly that high temps seem to affect this (highest ambient we saw was 110°F).

Was very happy I recently fixed the plugged up AC drain as we experienced no musty smells from the AC during our trip and after returning home. Drove though a lot of smoke o the way back up as Oregon was on fire from Ashland all the way up to Seattle.

Adding a few pics for your enjoyment. I actually signed up for display at Legends of the Autobahn. And I love the fuel economy on this thing!
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      12-16-2023, 03:50 PM   #37
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vince1288 View Post
how's the ride on V1? I am with V3 on my F48 X1, i think V3 is too waste on F48 X1...

this is awesome, what's the wheel and tire size and what height is your suspension on?
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      12-16-2023, 03:52 PM   #38
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Quote:
Originally Posted by knightarmor View Post
Recently took a trip from Seattle to Monterey for Monterey car week and it was the first time we've taken the X1 out of state. Still running the KW's after the last (final?) install and happy to report that while there is still a bit of a shimmy at low speeds it's for the most part not noticeable (or maybe we just go used to it). In either case, was very happy to be running the KW's on this epic drive. We took I5 down to grants pass than headed to the coast via 101, and took HWY-1 from Leggett over to Fort Bragg. Amazing drive, even in the X1. Just about to hit 65K miles on this thing and working like a champ. Had been experiencing a bit of a stumble/misfire a while back and was hoping a change of spark plugs would help but learned quickly that high temps seem to affect this (highest ambient we saw was 110°F).

Was very happy I recently fixed the plugged up AC drain as we experienced no musty smells from the AC during our trip and after returning home. Drove though a lot of smoke o the way back up as Oregon was on fire from Ashland all the way up to Seattle.

Adding a few pics for your enjoyment. I actually signed up for display at Legends of the Autobahn. And I love the fuel economy on this thing!
looks amazing, what's the wheel and tire size and suspension height?
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      12-16-2023, 07:31 PM   #39
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I'm on 18" oem wheels wrapped with 235/50-18 Pirelli Scorpion (Volvo spec off the S60 Cross Country for year round use). It's lowered approximately 1.5"
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