Ground Control Coilovers?

[SimonTuffGuy]

My friend ran a set of them on his Saturn a few years back... It looked sick because he could drop the car pretty much 2" from the ground... But the ride was just unbearable.

[Silv3rBull3t]

Ok, well here is the write-up and review...

I went with the lowest rate off the shelf springs I could for the rear which happened to be 200 in/lb and for the front due to the extra rear spring I went with a 250 in/lb. I went with a 7" length front and 7" rear spring. They were of the highest quality and could not ask for more. Not only was the service at RedShiftMotorsport top notch but the product from Ground Control was as well. They fit perfect except for the rubber sleeve that fits over the strut and then the coilover sleeve fits over that. The rubber sleeve needs to be ground down/trimmed down about 1/8" but fit awesome once trimmed. The installation went smoothly and the adjustability is a very nice feature. Although some may think that due to the threaded sleeves that you can lower the car to the ground, it is not true with the 7" spring lengths that I went with. I can lower the car plenty, meaning even more than I would ever suggest, just that I do not want to give the impression that you can lower the car to the ground. I can lower the car another 1" to an 1.5" lower than the FMS Springs. I personally do not run more than 3/4" lower due to the wide tires I run for AutoX but you could if you wished.

Now to the review of the ride quality... They ride quite a bit more harsh than the FMS springs which are a little bit more harsh than stock. They are very firm even with the soft sidewalls of the 195/60/13 Sumitomo's. Due to the spring rates being significantly higher than stock, the KYB Supers that I have do not have enough dampening and cause a very ricer-like bouncing effect over rough roads although on smoother roads it is not bad at all. As some others have said with coilover sleeves it does make the ride very bouncy or underdamped, but I do believe the rates they have run for even Civics were much higher and so in effect would cause considerably more "ricer" bounce. Eventually I am going to try and have a set of custom damped struts made so I can finally use these springs to their fullest potential. Now on another note, they work very very well at making the car handle much better (flatter) in turns especially with stiffer tires like my Kuhmo V710's 215/50/13.

I def. suggest these to anyone looking for a lower ride height than the FMS springs that does NOT drive their Festiva everyday. -Kyle