Inside The KEAN Suspensions Garage
How It All Started

I do enjoy a bar of fine chocolate, but it wasn’t confectionary heaven I was searching for during my first visit to Belgium. I was headed to Evergem, a small town just outside Ghent, to visit brothers Kenny and Andy Neirinck.

For almost 10 years now, KEAN Suspensions (the name a combination of KEnny and ANdy) has been a go-to place for many car enthusiasts in this traffic code-obsessed country. Belgium’s vehicle code doesn’t allow any sort of engine tuning, aftermarket air suspension, and not even a wide-body kit or stretched tires.

Still, the Neirinck brothers have made a living from their hobby, now working on around 300 customer cars every year.

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Cars run in the family blood; Kenny and Andy’s father had a big love for cars, and his passion helped the youngsters begin working on their own and clients’ builds.

Fifteen years ago, the brothers started a a club called ‘Concept 983′ for people with an interest in modifying cars and cruising to events. Back then it was the early days of aftermarket air suspension, and a lot of people had problems with their airbag setups. With a vast amount of mechanical knowledge and practical skills between them, at almost every meeting Kenny and Andy would lend a hand to those that needed one.

Eventually, working on cars grew into a bonafide business.

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For a long time it was a second job for the brothers, but around two years ago Kenny and Andy decided to take it to the next level: They bought a big garage and dived in full time.

KEAN’s expertise is suspension, but not just shocks and springs. They work with coilovers, air bags, wheels, spacers, top bearings, camber plates and so on.

Second Floor Showroom

Andy mentioned that although the workshop space seemed huge when they first moved in, after two years there’s not a lot of free room left. The first floor is dedicated to the service area, while the second floor features a guest room where customers can sit down, glance through a catalog, or do what every KEAN visitor does: appreciate at least 10 or so project cars in the shop at any given time.

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Not every car is customer-owned, though. The carbon fiber Pandem wide-body BMW M3 and the bagged Ferrari 308 GTB are the brothers’ own cars. Both have seen plenty of road miles over the last year, and they’ll be doing plenty more this year going show to show, too. Look out for features on both cars in the coming months.

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Something that piqued my interest were the number of Peugeots around the workshop. On top of the two parked in front of the building was a rare 505 GTi, a clean 206, and a vintage 301. It turns out that the 206 was Kenny’s first car, and the one that he and Andy cut their project car teeth with. Twenty-one years later it’s still in pristine condition.

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This turbocharged Honda S2000 belongs to a friend, and the guys are currently fine tuning the air ride package for this show car. The same thing goes for the bagged Porsche 964.

The Honda Legend had its air ride system fitted around a decade ago, and it’s still going strong.

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This RUF BTR – the first RUF model to have its own VIN number – was a barn find and will be restored to original condition, complete with its factory-fitted 500hp 3.8L engine.

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At first glance this hot rod looked very familiar, and it turned out to be that BMW-powered 1928 Ford Model A that StanceWorks’ Mike Burroughs built back in 2012/2013. Of all places to see it in person, I never thought it would be in a Belgium garage.

A friend of KEAN bought it from Mike, and the guys keep it in good running condition for him. Obviously, the pickup can’t be legally driven on Belgian roads.

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With the summer car show and event season in Belgium just starting, things are getting really busy in Kenny and Andy’s workshop.

Over the coming months you’ll be able to see many of these builds and other KEAN projects at events like Wörthersee, Raceism, Players Show, and All Down among others.

Vladimir Ljadov
Instagram: wheelsbywovka
because@wheelsbywovka.com
www.wheelsbywovka.com

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1
Sebastian Motsch

Great article, Vladimir. This really is a neat and tidy workshop with a very interesting selection of modified cars. I tip my hat to the Belgian brothers. Best regards, Sebastian.

PS: Love that 505 with the period-correct rear window louvers.

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2

I knew that the Stanceworks Hotrod ended up in Belgium, but I didn't know where. Evergem of all places!?

As for spacers: Not in legal form: Illegal in Belgium....

3

More on that 505 GTI please!

4

"Barn find" how do you barn find a Ruf good God

Author5
Vladimir Ljadov

Story was like that.. their father went to some shed to do piping or plumbing and later said: "damn, there wasn't any free space between a wall and a dusty old Porsche" and guys got interested in the later part of the story ;)

6

Wow! Too good to be true.

7

God, when is some European hot rod shop just going to call itself "The Resistance?"

The Third Reich never went away, it just became the DMV.

8

more more more ^_^

9

....my name is Mark & I have a problem (maybe not just myself though) & I absolutely adore the Pug 505 on Borbets

10

nice s2k

11

That 308 GTB looks FANTASTIC.

12

Aah yes, Belgium. The country where aftermarket exhausts legally can’t be louder than the factory item and lowered cars still have to have at least 10cm of ground clearance. Airride is the antichrist (unless it’s factory of course) and stretched tires get you sentenced to death. Every mod has to be accompanied by 5 chapters of paperwork to prove that it’s legal, and you get to pay extra for a tuning report at the annual inspection. Only for them to deem your car illegal despite the necessary paperwork, so you can pay them again once you’ve rectified your ‘illegal’ mods.

Still, despite all that, as fellow Belgian, i’m proud to see the quality of the projects of KEAN and other likeminded enthousiast in this country. Keep it up boys!

13

So, do some people register their cars in other countries and drive them in Belgium? like what happens in the states with Montana i think (note in the states it is mostly to avoid taxes and sometimes emissions and yearly inspections)

14

Some of them do, for sure. Most of them take off the parts that are ‘obvious’ offenders, such as wheels with stretched tires, airride and the such every year when inspection time comes around. Currently, there are a couple of exceptions though. A brand new car gets 4 years before they have their first inspection. ‘Oldtimers’ are currently completely exempt as well, because they’re viewed as cars that don’t see public roads every day. You do have to register them as such though. Any car that’s 25 years or older is regarded as a regular car with yearly inspection unless registered as oldtimer, in which case you get a special licence plate as well. That’s the reason car shows in Belgium usually feature a mix of very new and reasonably old cars. Legislation regarding oldtimers has changed recently though, so even cars with oldtimer registration that were exempt in the past (i.e. free pass to do some crazy stuff) have a yearly inspection on their hands. They’re loopholes the government is aware of obviously, and frankly i’m surprised people have been able to exploit them for as long as they have. I myself just ‘know a guy who knows a guy’. Plus I’m lucky my car isn’t all that common and most of my mods are in fact legal :-)

15

Today I learned! Thanks for the explanation, i guess every area has its own rules and there is always someone trying to find the loopholes. I guess it also depends on the people enforcing the laws too, I live in an area with bumper height laws (both a maximum and a minimum) and they are usually enforced heavily on the minimum side and lightly on the maximum side. Then there are the fender laws which are usually used to go after tuners who prefer to have poke on their lowered cars while off road trucks and jeeps often get away with having half the tire outside the fender. Do you see a lot of targeted enforcement in Belgium? where the police go after one group of enthusiasts over another?

16

You're welcome man! I love talking about the ridiculous rules involving cars here in Belgium if I'm honest. I think it's fun to see people's reactions, especially if they have a lot more freedom to modify than we do. Speaking to other people with the same passion for cars and modifying them, the strictness of the enforcement and the technical inspection does seem to depend on the region you live in. As luck has it, I'm in one of the stricter parts of the country, but have been lucky up untill now that I haven't been pulled over. Some of my friends in the neighbourhood, on the other hand, have been forced to follow the police to the technical inspection multiple times, having their car deemed illegal for road use. They then need to convert the car back to legal spec, show it at the police office and at the technical inspection to have it approved again. From my experience though day to day driving is reasonably safe as long as you don't drive around like a jackass. It's usually when there's car meets or car related events going on that you see the patrols ready at the exit to pull people over who are attending or visiting the show. Depending on the event, they tend to walk around on the show grounds, checking out the cars they'd like to try and stop when they leave the private property of the event. Tuner cars tend to get the most attention, as they usually do. Stock (or stock looking) oldtimers and offroaders usually get away scot-free. For examle, like you said, poke and ride height on jeeps is usually ignored, while poke and camber on 'stanced' cars is likely to get you at least a ticket.

17

Thoroughly looking forward to driving through your country next week.

18

Passing through or having a short stay shouldn’t really get you in to any trouble frankly. Unless you bag yourself a chance encounter with a cop who really thinks he needs to prove a point that is. Your car having a foreign registration will usually give you some extre leeway as well. I’ve seen local authorities have a chat with owners of tuned cars from Holland and such, and they almost always seemed genuinely interested in how our legislation differs from theirs, allowing mods that aren’t allowed here. In fairness, they do only enforce what the goverment dictates as well. Some are lenient when they see your car isn’t a public menace (even though your car happens to be on air for example). However, there will always be ‘tuners’ that feel the need to challenge the police, just as much as there are ‘those guys’ with a police badge who have the need to prove their point.

That said, safe travels man! I hope I’ll be able to quickly say hi at Players Classic this year. I got in on the track day activities, so stoked!

19

This has sparked my interest, so as you said 'Belgium’s vehicle code doesn’t allow any sort of engine tuning, aftermarket air suspension, and not even a wide-body kit or stretched tires' then what do the owners of the cars in this article do? Park them up and never drive them? I don't quite understand how it works lol

20

Hi Eddy, as I explained a couple of posts before, brand new cars are exempt from inspection for 4 years. So unless you run info a cop who’s out to get you, most people just take the risk. Oldtimers (cars of 25 years and up registered as such) were exempt as well, untill recently when the rules around it changed. People usually revert illegal mods come inspection time or when they get caught by an officer. Very few of them are registered in another country, some aren’t registered at all!

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