The full KYB Excel-G review is delayed by a week or two.
There was an installation issue with a rear damper which led me to do a warranty claim with KYB which is currently pending.
Bit of Background
If you have been following along you’ll know that I have fitted KYB Excel-G to the front axle to compare it to the Bilstein B8 and to assess what happens when you mix sport and original dampers.
This is the problem.
On this specific car, the KYB rear dampers use wire clips/circlips to support the damper at the top mount.
After fitting to the car, the clip on the damper has failed (for whatever reason). The damper has entered the car leaving the rear right corner with zero damping effect.
I have done a bit of research on the whole wire clip/circlip fastener situation.
This type of fastener should be completely replaced if it is ever removed from the groove and couple that with the massive forces that it needs to support when the car goes over a bump, I decided to err on the side of caution and return the unit to KYB as a warranty claim.
Long Story Short
Because of the issue and while I wait for an answer from KYB, the KYB Excel-G review will be delayed. Hopefully it will go ahead within the next week or two.
I’m not sure what KYB will say, maybe they say it’s my fault, maybe something else, subscribe to the Drive Tune Media YouTube channel if you want to find out what happens.
Full KYB Excel-G Review (if/when it happens)
The next video in the series will be a full KYB Excel-G review with the dampers fitted to all four corners with the H&R springs.
The purpose of the KYB Excel-G review is to find out how the dampers compare with Bilstein B8 dampers when used with lowering springs, specifically H&R lowering springs.
The H&R springs with Bilstein B8 were a fantastic combination of comfort and performance. However the Bilstein B8 dampers cost around three times as much as the KYB Excel-G.
The question is, what sort of performance penalty do we have, if any, with the Excel-G and if the performance of the B8 is worth the extra cost over the KYB Excel-G
Subscribe to the Drive Tune Media YouTube channel to see what happens with the claim and to see how the Excel-G perform when the review happens