Ground Control Coilovers

[vernogt]

After doing some engine mods last year (cams, intake, exhaust) I now want to turn my attention to the suspension.

With the deals going on with Koni, it has been very tempting to go with some Koni Yellows, Lowering Springs, and call it a day.

However, I was recommended Ground Control Coilovers ( http://www.ground-control-store.com/products/description.php/II=666/CA=96 ) by a local shop.

Let me say that my intent for the car is to do some weekend cruises, MAYBE drive it to work on a nice summer day, but DEFINITELY track it (primarily autocross, road course) so comfort is not too high on the priority list.

I have not done track events yet but if I'm going to spend money, I want to do it right the first time especially since it has taken six years for me to do this.

Of course, I will be doing some events this year with the stock setup to see where I stand.

Upgraded tires and brakes are already on the car so the basics are covered.

Budget would be 1200-1500 for the springs/strut combo. Better wheels, tires, brakes, sway bars, and other bracing would be extra and would most likely be going with a watts link (not sure which one yet).

The Ground Control set up is one of my top choices but wanted to see if anyone had experience with them they could share or any other suggestions.

Thanks!

 

[Whiskey11]

After doing some engine mods last year (cams, intake, exhaust) I now want to turn my attention to the suspension.

With the deals going on with Koni, it has been very tempting to go with some Koni Yellows, Lowering Springs, and call it a day.

However, I was recommended Ground Control Coilovers ( http://www.ground-control-store.com/products/description.php/II=666/CA=96 ) by a local shop.

Let me say that my intent for the car is to do some weekend cruises, MAYBE drive it to work on a nice summer day, but DEFINITELY track it (primarily autocross, road course) so comfort is not too high on the priority list.

I have not done track events yet but if I'm going to spend money, I want to do it right the first time especially since it has taken six years for me to do this.

Of course, I will be doing some events this year with the stock setup to see where I stand.

Upgraded tires and brakes are already on the car so the basics are covered.

Budget would be 1200-1500 for the springs/strut combo. Better wheels, tires, brakes, sway bars, and other bracing would be extra and would most likely be going with a watts link (not sure which one yet).

The Ground Control set up is one of my top choices but wanted to see if anyone had experience with them they could share or any other suggestions.

Thanks!

I literally just installed the Ground Control complete kit on my car two days ago (so take that with the heaping grain of salt necessary! ) and I can make a few observations. First, the Ground Control complete kits are going to cost around $1650 shipped to your door. Less if you live somewhere between the midwest and the west coast and more if you live further east than the midwest. Build time was less than a week. I spoke with Adam, who was NOT their Mustang guy but he managed to answer my questions to my satisfaction. I informed him what I planned on for the car (street primarily, with a lot of autocross added in for good measure) and he consulted with the owner of their in house 2005 Mustang and came up with my spring rates at 440 front, 200 rear. I believe he mentioned at the time of purchase that they'd most likely be using the "Track/school" valving option and due to class rules I'd be getting the "Street" camber plates (which are ONLY camber plates) as the race plates require modification of the strut mounting area on the unibody (can't do that in my class).

The quality on the welds and machining is top notch, honestly. These things are works of art considering they are just a set of Koni inserts in GC's strut body and a set of shortened and modified Koni Sports in the rear. Speaking of which, the valving for daily comfort with those spring rates is acceptable. I wont say they ride like a Caddy, but the big bumps move the chassis around you and the little bumps just get soaked up and are barely noticeable. I personally don't mind the ride but if you live in an area that gets a lot of damaged roads during the winter, it might be a little bouncy for the girlfriend/wife/significant other.

Obviously, no autocross events on them, heck I'm still running snow tires due to the temperature. One thing is for sure, these will make your tires the weak link. I can feel those tires squirming under the springs in even normalish daily driving. It's kind of funny but it does cause some issues that putting on my summer tires (Star Specs) would solve. I have an appointment to get the car corner balanced and aligned today.

On to the negatives... I received no spanner wrench. I'm not sure if this was intentional or not, but it is impossible to get the ride height set to the taller part of the range. By hand, the highest I could get the spring perches in the front was a 1.5" drop in the front. In the rear I could wind them all the way up before putting them on, but once installed, the only way to easily adjust them is to raise the whole back end of the car up and off the ground and then undo the rear shocks.

This is an observation thing more than an annoyance, but the rear spring perches use the same spring perches as the fronts do, and the anodized "up" and "down" with arrows telling you which way to turn are upside down. For a company that spends so much time on the details in their machining, this is something that is annoyingly overlooked. You can't flip the perches as that would allow the springs to move too much on the perches so you just have to "deal with it".

There wasn't any rear dust boots on my shocks with my kit. It's not a game breaker for me but I do worry about seal life with the shaft being exposed to the dirt/grime of the road.

Installation of both the camber plates up front and the rear spring perches was a little counter intuitive. The front camber plates use two separate steel "eyebrows" with the bolts welded to them. If you take the nuts off to install the front struts, the eyebrows can't be held in place. Maximum Motorsports uses a rubber band that you cut once everything is installed, I didn't have one on hand so I took them off and installed them manually one at a time. By yourself this is a bit of a PITA but not impossible. With a friend it would be easier. The rear spring perches are also interesting. What instructions I did received said the bolt goes through the bottom of the factory perch. It doesn't, it goes in the hole at the top at an angle and then is brought vertical. Not a huge deal, but the problem is tightening the locking nut down requires you to jam the bottom of the spring perch nut with something. I used a small crescent wrench. Doing this requires some patience, of which I didn't have any! It's a really minor annoyance but necessary. I would rather they did two separate nuts on here, one that wasn't a locking nut that you could get the bolt snug enough to torque by using your fingers, then a locking nut to hold it all in place. The bolt is long enough.

Anyway, the cons, so far, are VERY minor. Nothing that would hold me back from at least telling you that it is worth checking out. Calling them is nearly free anyway and so long as you understand that these will never be a set of Motons, Ohlins, Penske, <insert other huge name in coilovers> you will be fine. For me the decision was financial as much as it was "room for growth" and it's hard to beat this kind of deal. You have options here to grow with. In my opinion, I may not have all the bells and whistles of those top dollar coilovers, but if I have 90% of the performance at half the cost, then I can hold off on the remaining 10% until I can afford it!

EDIT: If you go to this thread: http://www.s197forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=98784 you can see the Dyno plots that I was sent with my shocks/struts as well as a few pictures of the GC units themselves a few posts down.

 

[NEMustang]

Whiskey11 and I have traded a few PMs on the setup...I have been running almost the identical setup as him with great success. The roads around Boston are a little rough on the car. I drive it during spring/summer/fall into Boston every day. It's a little on the rough side as I have the car lowered over two inches all around, manageable.

I agree with everything Whiskey11 indicated, although I forgot about some of a quirks with adjustability. I guess I have changed out springs and shock for some races, that I just used to things like the camber plate bolts when reinstalling the strut...but for most, this is a one-time thing. It's a lot easier with an extra set of hands.

The car was transformed. The handling was what you expected a good set of shocks and spring to do to the stock S197...It got me an immediate 6+ seconds per lap with no other mods. Great value with custom-value Koni Sports. As Whiskey11 mentioned and I am doing...is moving to the next level dampers and spring with this setup.

Customer support is fantastic. Jay Morris is very busy, but he always finds time to call me back, take time to talk about options. I originally received the wrong set of springs...simple mistake. Jay fixed it by taking the expense to overnight the springs. I'm moving to a track only setup and Jay and Trevor have taken the time to help.

Great product, Great service.

 

[vernogt]

Thanks for the input guys.

Really appreciate it!

Living in Chicago, I can relate to the bad roads so I can expect to have a similar experience.

I will be getting in touch with them to get mine spec'd once I decide the rest of my set up.

There are still a few things I don't quite understand when it comes to spring rates and setting up the correct caster/camber but I think it will come to me in time so I will most likely have more questions.