Ground Control Coil Overs

[AC13_JohnG]

I'm talking about the full made to order setup; pick your spring rates with matched dampers. Did a bunch of searching and could not find anything current. I know there are a couple guys running this setup. I am just curious how they are holding up and your long term impressions.

[sprintamx]

I can't personally compare the GC setup to any other options for the BRZ, so take this in that vein.

GC quality and customer service is excellent. Housings and mounts are well engineered and well fabricated from quality materials. Fit and finish is very good, if not always perfect. Mounting was spot on. Camber plates work just as intended and advertised (love that they're top mount; very convenient) and their truss bar is frankly a nice piece of art. The choice of colors is a nice touch, if irrelevant to the primary purpose of function. Everything mounted up and I haven't had any problems over the several months the units have been in the car.

The real question is whether you want Konis (specially valved for GC, so they say). If your answer is "yes," then GC is an excellent choice and you should have no doubts about their quality. If you do not want Koni, then move on. The debate of Koni vs Bilstein vs ??? will rage on, and ultimately you'll have to make a decision. I "personally" have not liked typical Bilstein sport or HD replacement shocks on street cars, have been able to massage good performance from their PSS 9s and 10s (on track) and will not even consider dropping $$$ for JRZ or Ohlins on this car at this time. Other than these manufacturers, I've had some good fun with various OE Porsche dampers but that doesn't translate easily into any comparison here.

Bottom line: I would purchase the GC set up (and I did) any day of the week vs. cutting up stock components to fit Koni inserts. I opted for this setup as a price-point option to cure some things I don't like about the stock components. Konis are reasonable, but they're not magic and not the "best"; but they do work.

Adjustment range for lowering provides more range than you'll want or need on a street car. I dropped 1 1/4 in front and 1 1/8 rear and would not go any lower. Spring choice is pretty wide and you can simply let GC choose for you or personalize what you want. I opted for 375 F / 350 R and have the shocks adjusted to the middle of their range for compression / rebound. While the ride is nowhere near plush, neither is it harsh and the Konis have smoother out chassis management considerably. Marked improvement over stock, though not a completely different world of difference.

The combination of improved compression and rebound modulation, lowering and with the addition of rear subframe inserts a good bit of the stock slop and jittery-ness is now gone.

Hope this helps.