Any experience with KW for a coilover lifetime warranty claim?

[Jeffman]

My original to me 13 year old / 60,000 miles KW V1s are starting to feel very harsh. I suspect the oil in the struts have degraded / the struts are shot. I’m planning to submit a lifetime warranty claim. I have the original invoice from VAC Motorsports who installed them. Anyone have any experience submitting a lifetime warranty claim to KW? Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[martymil]

You have to find out what kw means by lifetime, most manufactures it means 5 years not 20 years or indefinite as nothing last forever.

 

[pbondar]

I'd imagine any performance damper has a limited warranty on the damping fluid..Ohlins reckons 2-3 years max for hard use..

 

[martymil]

I'd imagine any performance damper has a limited warranty on the damping fluid..Ohlins reckons 2-3 years max for hard use..

I have to say that ohlins underestimates it's life span, mine is coming onto 40k km and 6 years roughly and still going strong.

Brilliant product but customer service really sucks and dealing with them is like getting an ingrown nail pulled.

 

[pbondar]

Thye (Ohlin's UK support) did say that was track use and advisory..in the UK Ohlins has 2 service centres for R+T products..I'll see how i get on when it comes to servicing time..

 

[whyzee125]

KW actually does mean lifetime. I remember reading it in the manual when I bought mine and I've seen a few guys on e90post go through it. One in particular I remember I think had them for 12-13 years and they honored it but with a catch.

KW's customer service is notoriously horrible. They're slow, difficult to deal with, and it obviously has to be on their terms. You have to remove the suspension from the car, ship them to KW disassembled (no springs, etc.), and wait like 2 months for them to inspect them and get back to you. From there, they'll rebuild/replace fluid, seals, etc. so they dampen like new and ship them back. For the guy in question they actually just sent him a whole new set with springs and everything.

Obviously that's like close to 3 months downtime so he bought a new set, shipped his in for warranty, then sold the new warrantied set they sent him. Huge pain in the butt, but lifetime actually does mean indefinitely by KW's terms. Good luck!

 

[pbondar]

I went with my car to one of the two UK Ohlins service centres…they took the shocks off the car..rebuilt them and refitted them..along with fresh top mounts and did a geo realignment…the top and bottom bushes of each shock were worn ..so it was £100 a shock for bushes plus £250 a shock service ..total bill inc VAT was £1,700…