morning BAIC

so i got my GC CO set up on this weekend (FINALLY). IF you are not familiar, Ground Control makes there own co set up using there own housing and a koni insert us subaru heads love so much. the set up i got also came with 4 spring rates, and the GC front camber.castor top hats.

the install was a breeze. i did it alone saturday, and it took about 3-4 hours, no air tools. the rear housings are older, so i had to use my camber bolts to take AWAY negative camber. i think i have about 2 as it sits now, maybe a few tenths less(i need a camber tool for home). the fronts were pretty easy as well, short of the brake brackets being in a smidge of a different place than stock. zipties were my friend in this case... I need to re-adjust the camber so it is even on both sides. for now, i used the camber plates to equal out the camber until i can get an alignment.

the ride is nothing short of incredible. i am using 550lbs(~9k) springs up front and 400lbs(~6.7k) springs in the rear. i thought the heavy spring rates would ruin the ride up here on the pothole infested Truckee roads. NOPE! this is BY FAR the best suspension i have had in any subaru i have owned in California. it blows doors on the OTS craptastic CO's. The car before had rattles, squeeks, etc on every little crack or bump in the road. NO MORE. seriously? where did all the noise go? and the Koni's are simply dreamy when it comes to keeping the car under control. no more bobble head, no more hard hitting cracks in the road, etc....i could go on and on.... oh and no TOP HAT CREAK!!!! one thing that i have always loathed about metal top hats is the insane creaking and cracking that you get no matter what. these dont have that. at all. just a bit more NVH and i can really hear the front brakes against the disc now.

OK. So i've only had these on for a few days. but i am very happy and now need to beef up a few things. namely; new rear sway bar and end links (24mm adj with karboy is my thoughts), rear group n top hats, grp n motor/tranny mounts, and short shift kit (kartboy). that and a set of 18's(have tires) and i am done for a while.....

questions? let me know. if you are looking for a great suspension, i thik this could be one of the best out there.

josh

 

Cost?

 

pictures please...

 

WTLW Josh


I've been running this setup for a couple of years, and it's been incredible. The 8610s are just amazing for their cost. That's a higher spring rate than what I'd run for daily driving, but it works fine. I drive my car on the street with the same rates (only in reverse). It's the best combo I've had, although the DMS 40 were better shocks, they were horrible on reliability. I'm glad you jump on the NASIOC bandwagon with tokicos.

I run 7k front and 10K rear (400lb/550lb). I run too much rebound front, and a lot rear. Rear works better for me since I want to inside tire to lift at times. Front, I'll probably back them off when I swap out to fresh units.

For most street driven cars I recommend 250lb to 350lb springs. On a GC 7" work okay and on a GD 6" free length seems to work since the GD's for some reason have less travel in the front. The Koni's just sit higher up. I definitely recommend drilling a bigger hole and letting them sit lower if possible.

I have a help spring in the front to keep the spring tension, but it's not needed. I don't jump my car.

Rear sway bar??? Get the 27mm, and just get used to it. Or do what I did, but, for street it's overkill.

 

Koni's are $600/set at shox.com everyday and the same right now on tirerack (sale).

I don't remember the cost of GC. They come with Eibach springs which are okay, but i've opted for the much better swift race springs. They are about $150/pair I think.

 

pisc will have to come when i can get my wheels off. here is a link to the sale thread on iwsti..

http://www.iwsti.com/forums/brakes-s...up-05-sti.html

gags

why the reverse spring rates f&r? i sort-of remember the logic, but i would think in the stiffer chassis gd i would be way too pushy with the greater spring rates. although i suppose the fronts end up with more weight on them with that high a spring rate in the rear.

and right now, i am pretty shocked at how comfy the bigger spring rates are. although i might have put the wrong springs in (not wrong, just different i guess).

and are you saying a 27mm is TOO much for the street? i had a hard time getting what you meant.

and yes, th koni/gc housing sits higher in the suspension. i had to pull the whole thing up against the sway tension to get it to line up with the GC housng. the rears are just 04 housings(right?) hence the extra camber in the rear. they lined up under slight tension as well.

cost? i paid 1300, new the set up runs 1900.

now if i could only decide on what 18 wheels to get...

josh

 

Higher in the back so there is more bite upfront and more oversteer overall.

I feel the 27mm bar is great for a street car. It's basically the biggest rear bar one can buy OTC.

I don't recommend my sway bar for the street:
https://www.i-club.com/forums/bay-area-15/my-new-rear-sway-bar-215671/

 

Just clicked your link. I see that the fronts look like Steel Koni housings, and the rear look like OE housings.

 

correct on the housings. although the rears are 02-04.

i read about ur bar. good lord dude. that would have been suptin' else back in the day @ the SF solo2's.....

 

I've been running this setup for around 5 or 6 years. Unfortunately, when I did the research, a lot of the spring rates for the WRX were a lot lower than they are now, so I opted to be at 300/300. It's for my daily though, so it seems to be okay. Love the setup, and I'm glad you're enjoying it as well.

Gagan, does Swift allow you to get any spring rate you want? Since I really liked that option from GC's Eibachs, and I believe there is (or at least used to be) a guy that had a WRX who worked there, so he helped me pick out my spring rate.

 

I'm running 375/275 F/R on this same setup, with the D_rex travel extension at the front. It's not harsh and it works well. I run things relatively high and have 8" in front and 9" in the back. Currently have helper springs on the front but they're really just eating travel for the heights I tend to run at, so they'll be coming off at some point.

I agree with the OP's points about regular top hats vs. camber plates for daily driving. Camber plates were just a bit too harsh for long rides, but group-N tops are great. I'd be interested to hear if anyone has tried a set of the Whiteline Com-C mounts, since those look like the ideal combination of camber in the -2 to -2.5 range without going to solid mounts.

(And as a plug, I'm also selling a set of strut housings for just such a setup over in the classifieds...)

 

i have a stiffer rear than front in my GD. Works wonderful, im even considering going even stiffer in the rear in a short time.

 

yes. Their linear rate race springs come in multiple rates and free lenths. What I like most about the springs are the coil spacing is about half of eibach. so you don't get spring bind, EVER. So much more spring travel. They are 2/3 the weight and always within 1% of the advertised rate, unlike eibach with shows as +- 15%. many will have some progressive rates in there too, which i hated.

If you know the I.D., rates and free lenth, they are worth it if you are looking for the above qualities.

 

I run DMS plates, but have a set of Bakemono plates waiting to go in. These Bakemono plates are the mother****ing ****!

http://www.rs25.com/forums/f14/t1102...-imprezas.html

Crazy, crazy adjustable. Look at pics on pages 1,3,6,7...

 

I'm glad to know the ground control coilovers are having good reviews. I plan on getting myself a set for auto-x. I'm not very suspension savvy as I'm still trying to learn off of several threads, so I was wondering how stiff I should go? I have an 04 wrx, with a cusco 24 adj. rsb (although I plan on going 27mm), stock fsb (not sure what size I should get for the front), and I don't daily drive the suby so stiff springs wouldn't be an issue.

BTW Gagan, I don't know if you remember me, but I introduced myself to you at Boondoggle during registration.