KW Coilovers: V1, V2, V3, Street Comfort and DDC

KW organizes its coilover range by how much of the damping you can tune yourself. The table below lines up the five street-focused kits most shoppers compare.

The KW V1, also sold as the kw variant 1 coilover or kw coilover v1 kit, suits owners who want a lower ride height and a damper setup KW has already tuned for that specific chassis - no fiddling required. It's the simplest kit in the lineup to live with.

The kw v2 coilover keeps V1's height adjustment and factory-based tune, then adds a damping adjustment range, so an owner who finds V1 too firm or too soft on their roads can dial it in instead of living with the fixed setup.

The kw variant 3 coilover, more commonly sold as the kw v3 coilover or kw coilover kit v3, separates compression and rebound control. That's the kit to reach for if the car does double duty as a daily and an occasional track or autocross car, since compression governs body roll and dive under load while rebound controls how the suspension settles after a bump.

The kw street comfort coilover line trades some of V1's drop and firmness for a softer everyday ride, aimed at owners who want a cleaner stance but aren't chasing handling gains.

The kw ddc coilover kit is for vehicles with factory electronic damping, or a DDC ECU retrofit, and lets the driver switch between Comfort, Sport, and Sport+ without getting out a wrench.

KW's closest competition in this adjustability-first space is Bilstein, whose B16 and PSS lines also split rebound and compression control, though KW's Inox-Line stainless housings and 7-Post-validated, vehicle-specific tunes usually sit above Bilstein's comparable kits on price. Ohlins plays in the same premium tier, built around OEM-grade damper engineering rather than the deepest drop numbers. For buyers shopping on price instead of pedigree, BC Racing undercuts KW's street kits while still offering click-adjustable damping, trading some of KW's factory-level fitment validation for a lower price.

KW coilovers install like any strut-style coilover kit: the stock strut or shock assembly comes out and the KW unit goes in on the factory mounting points, which is why KW publishes a parts certificate for each application. It's a multi-hour job best done on a lift with a spring compressor on hand; our coilover installation and cost guide covers the swap for V1 through DDC kits alike.

Height is set with the lower mount's threaded collar, turned with a coilover spanner wrench to raise or lower the car without touching the spring perch. On V2 and V3 kits, the damping adjuster is a separate knob (two knobs on V3, for compression and rebound) near the top of the damper; our coilover adjustment guide covers finding it and counting clicks correctly. DDC kits skip the manual knob entirely and move that adjustment to the dash button or app.