Ground Control Coilover Conversion Kit

[x.shell]

Thanks to Amgeater2, I've learned about Ground Control's Coilover Conversion Kit. It's a sleeve kit and looks to be another great alternative to the KW HAS kit.

One of the best things about this kit is that it comes with GC's camber plates.

Does anyone have any experience with this kit? How is the noise level, comfort, performance etc?

http://www.ground-control-store.com/.../II=981/CA=295

[CanAutM3]

Seems pretty awesome. With Eibach spring included .

Considering the camber plates are also part of the package, it seems to be a pretty sweet deal.

[mact3333]

I had the GC kit with my e92 M3 and I didn't like it...at first it felt decent but once it broke in, was way too bouncy for me...I have had Bilstein and KW coilovers before on previous Porsches and M3's and this sleeve kit didn't feel like that all...sorry for negative review but thats how I felt about it.

On side note, I will never ever buy Bilstein anything anymore either. Bought B16 Damptronic coilovers and and PASM wire cut out of box and Bilstein wouldn't warranty it and I bought from a vendor on 6Speedonline MB but evidently he wasn't a authorized vendor but he bought from authorized vendor but to no avail...After weeks of my car being in shop with no replacement, my vendor had to eat 700.00 and personally buy me a single damper.

Bilstein makes good products but their customer service is the worst ever.

[x.shell]

Originally Posted by mact3333

I had the GC kit with my e92 M3 and I didn't like it...at first it felt decent but once it broke in, was way too bouncy for me...I have had Bilstein and KW coilovers before on previous Porsches and M3's and this sleeve kit didn't feel like that all...sorry for negative review but thats how I felt about it.

On side note, I will never ever buy Bilstein anything anymore either. Bought B16 Damptronic coilovers and and PASM wire cut out of box and Bilstein wouldn't warranty it and I bought from a vendor on 6Speedonline MB but evidently he wasn't a authorized vendor but he bought from authorized vendor but to no avail...After weeks of my car being in shop with no replacement, my vendor had to eat 700.00 and personally buy me a single damper.

Bilstein makes good products but their customer service is the worst ever.

Thanks for your feedback on the GC kit and also sharing your experience with Bilstein. And you should not be sorry for giving an honest review.

The GC kit seems to be a kit pieced together. When it comes down to it, these sleeve kits will only perform as well as the dampers are designed to perform; which is OEM specifications. Any changes become a balancing act that few products get right. I'd definitely love to hear if anyone's had experience with this M3/M4 kit in particular because a lot of folks seem to like the F8X dampers leaps and bounds more than the E9X.

As far as the Bilstein experience goes, I feel for you. It always sucks to go through that. I went through a 6 month ordeal like that with KW. It's why I can't get myself to buy any KW products. Their customer service (IMO) was the worst ever. But I think you'll find this issue across all manufacturers and even vendors. I don't know of any product that doesn't have a negative review/experience attached to it. We as consumers end up making an informed decision and hope that we end up with problems.

[wkndracr]

I like the looks of this kit. I also like the fact that you can specify spring rates and the ers springs are linear, iirc. On my passive suspension car, I'm looking to lower the car slightly without ruining the ride on the street or handling at the track and this seems like the ticket. Looks like you could specify a slightly stiffer spring rate to compensate for loss of suspension travel without going overly stiff and out of range of the stock damper. Wondering what other people's thought are on this approach.

[larryn]

I also had it on my old E92 M3. They offered two different spring rates, based on your driving preferences. I went with the more track focused setup, with stiffer springs (which, of course, I forget the spring rate now).

I got them because it retained the adaptive damper function on that car, which still functioned. Because the springs were somewhat stiffer, the three damper settings were more difficult to feel a ton of difference betwee settings, but it was still there. I daily drove the car, and did not receive complaints from my wife with the ride.

As stated, I purchased it primarily for the track, and I feel that it worked well for that purpose. I had -3deg up front, and never had to readust the end links or camber plates. It just worked for me - with no added noise that I've heard others mention. I'm also pretty agressive with my cars at the track and run in the advanced/instructor groups, and in comparing it with my friend's car who had a pretty nice and more expensive coilover setup, my car felt darned close in poise as his, though not as adjustable.

Any of these coilover conversion kits are a compromise to a true quality coilover system, but this system comes with high quality camber plates, and you retain EDC functions. I think I'm going to have this in my new car for the upcoming track season.

[TRZ06]

Originally Posted by exo

Thanks for your feedback on the GC kit and also sharing your experience with Bilstein. And you should not be sorry for giving an honest review.

The GC kit seems to be a kit pieced together. When it comes down to it, these sleeve kits will only perform as well as the dampers are designed to perform; which is OEM specifications. Any changes become a balancing act that few products get right. I'd definitely love to hear if anyone's had experience with this M3/M4 kit in particular because a lot of folks seem to like the F8X dampers leaps and bounds more than the E9X.

As far as the Bilstein experience goes, I feel for you. It always sucks to go through that. I went through a 6 month ordeal like that with KW. It's why I can't get myself to buy any KW products. Their customer service (IMO) was the worst ever. But I think you'll find this issue across all manufacturers and even vendors. I don't know of any product that doesn't have a negative review/experience attached to it. We as consumers end up making an informed decision and hope that we end up with problems.

You hit the nail on the head. The stock dampers on the M (by today's performance standards) are not that great. Maybe they are good on the passive system, but the adaptive system uses old technology and there is much better out there. So adding a sleeve kit, will only yield marginal performance results (if any), IMO it's more for looks IMO.

I plan on going full B-16 Coilover when they are out state side.

[RocketBoots]

Do we know for a fact these are linear spring rates? I wonder how these compare to the upcoming M-perf spring kit.

[rubber_ducky]

There is at least one forum member with experience with this setup for F8x cars. He was selling the kit in the classifieds as I believe that he was parting his car out before unloading it. I was tempted to buy the kit, but I wanted a solution that allowed me to not lower the rear at all and the seller wasn't sure of the range of adjustment. The GC site didn't have any info on the kit at the time.

[jackkk]

Originally Posted by rubber_ducky

There is at least one forum member with experience with this setup for F8x cars. He was selling the kit in the classifieds as I believe that he was parting his car out before unloading it. I was tempted to buy the kit, but I wanted a solution that allowed me to not lower the rear at all and the seller wasn't sure of the range of adjustment. The GC site didn't have any info on the kit at the time.

Info from the site:
Expected ride is 0 to -1.5".

I'm also looking for a some solution for DD+track with camber plates. So this solution looks good, but how it feels in real life... The good solution is to go with BILSTEIN B16 DampTronic system plus GC camber plates, but it will cost like 3 this kits.

[schnazzy]

I had a full GC coilover kit (with camber plates and all of the goodies) on my e36. It was great! car was very responsive without being harsh. It was less harsh than my m4 on stock "sport" setting.

[jeff@autocouture]

i had the Gc kit on my e36, it was a pretty popular option, it was a full coil over kit though.

Based on that kit i would give another kit from them a shot, but thats me

[double_R]

Can someone with this kit provide more feedback? I'm leaning towards buying it but would like to hear more reviews first.

[Amgeater2]

Originally Posted by double_R

Can someone with this kit provide more feedback? I'm leaning towards buying it but would like to hear more reviews first.

The worse suspension system ever, not kidding here dont buy its junk !!

[chrisjguzman]

Originally Posted by Amgeater2

The worse suspension system ever, not kidding here dont buy its junk !!

Details ?

[Amgeater2]

Originally Posted by chrisjguzman

Details ?

The camber plate are made poorly to the extend that one bolt complete came off the bearings or the coil system is always going to make noise not matter what you do to it.. and lets not talk about the main Reason WHY you will buy a coilover set/ lowering set - to LOWER your car right !! NOT the case with them, the car stays pretty much at stock height at the lowest setting... Long story short STAY AWAY !!!!

[double_R]

Originally Posted by Amgeater2

The camber plate are made poorly to the extend that one bolt complete came off the bearings or the coil system is always going to make noise not matter what you do to it.. and lets not talk about the main Reason WHY you will buy a coilover set/ lowering set - to LOWER your car right !! NOT the case with them, the car stays pretty much at stock height at the lowest setting... Long story short STAY AWAY !!!!

Thanks for your review. I'll have to look at other options.

I've had their camber plates with the MCS suspension on my e46 and had zero issues so i'm a bit surprised you had that experience.

[elmerzasty]

What are the spring rates in this kit?

[Flying Low]

GC will provide just about any spring rate you want, based on how you are going to use the car. Since I do a lot of track days, they recommended, and I got, 525 lbs/in in front and 750 in the rear. I have adaptive and on the street it is very tolerable even on the crappy roads in northern California. Love it on the track.

[bracer]

This seems like a great HAS kit. pick you spring rates, and the springs are standard 2.5", so it's tuneable.