Talked to KW for a while today and sent pics. They said that there is no plate that goes between the helper spring and the main spring. If there is a bind because of too much stress, it will pop to relieve stress. This happens on the BMW setup all the time. Any elastic band sound is normal as well. This is the axial bearing doing its job when it rotates the shock when you turn and is completely normal. Believe it or not, I got new all season today (Continental Extreme Contact DWS 235/40/18) with a new alignment which was off to begin with. I was running Yokohama Advan 245/45/18. Apparently these tires were bad because I feel like I am driving a different car. More absorption now because my setup was ridiculously hard with the Yokohamas and now its much more comfortable and controllable. I think I am cured.