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| A KW Motorsports 3-way adjustable McPherson strut has many advanced features. This is a heavy duty non inverted model for Rally type applications. It has a lot of features for extreme strength and stiffness. |
KW Motorsports dampers have other cool features. One feature is the inverted construction of their MacPherson struts. Struts need to be stiff because they also locate the front wheel and any flex or play screws up the geometry. KW’s answer is to invert the damper so the large diameter damper body acts like a super large diameter secondary shaft which greatly increases the bearing area. This increases the rigidity of the strut by several orders of magnitude.
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| When the guide shell is removed, it looks like a normal strut. The guide shell is the large diameter cover that goes over the shock rod. It bolts to the top of the rod and makes the strut look like a conventional inverted design. It is actually a high strength support for the rod! |
KW was not the first company to do this but they have figured out a way to combat the major problem of an inverted strut. The major problem is excessive friction between the body and the strut tube. This friction makes the suspension less effective and harsher. KW’s innovative solution is to do away with bushings and utilize linear ball bearings between the strut tube and shock body. This approach is nearly friction free and allows the stiffness of an inverted shaft to be combined with a silky smooth ride.
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| The guide rides in these linear ball bearings in the lower strut tube. This gets rid of much of the friction that a large bushing would normally have and gives play free, full length support. This is super trick! KW inverted struts feature these bearings as well. This is about as indestructible as a strut can get! |
Another feature is easily accessible damping adjusters. This is very important in racing as the ability to make adjustments quickly means better use of limited practice time and the ability to dial in a car faster and more precisely. It is interesting that even highly regarded companies like Penske have some hard to use adjusters. I know one team that never adjusts the rebound on their Penske 3-ways because the shocks have to be removed from the car to do so.
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| Prototype next generation Motorsports damper canister and adjusters. |
The Motorsports shocks are technically monotubes but interestingly enough they are designed to work with low internal pressures, in the range of a typical twin tube. The canisters are pressurized to a maximum of 140 psi, a low enough pressure so air instead of nitrogen can be used. The shocks will function fine at lower pressures as well. 140 psi is a pressure easily reached by equipment found at a track. High pressure regulators and nitrogen bottles are not needed to service a KW Motorsports shock so the shocks are easily serviceable in the field.
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| Another KW innovation, quick release fittings for remote reservoirs that won’t lose pressure. |
