I just got my graduation money and want to upgrade my suspension w/ struts and coilovers. The only brand that I have found so far is Ground Control and was wondering how good are these?

 

coilovers are basically integrated struts/springs
Tein makes some good ones, as well as JIC

 

How are the HKS coilovers?

 

Rishi in the tire and suspension forum can get you a deal on JIC FLT-A2's. And thats a great damper.

 

Ground controls are the best you can get for the money. I spent about $800 for GC's and AGX's.

 

you can get a tein set up for about $1100 - thats only $300 more , and I'm sure its well worth it

 

i wish k2rd would update their damn website.

 

I've heard TEIN is supposedly having trouble with rusting on there coil overs. Ive never seen it myself, but id still buy them if you can afford a grand worth of suspension , other than that the JIC is also good. But for the price id have to say GC's

 

Only thing about ground controls is that you can only lower them 1.5 inches.

 

Einziger,

Says who?

I run Mazdaspeed coilovers with Koni sa shocks, work great for me.

Ground Control is a great setup as well, you'd do well with them.

Dunno on the Japanese parts.

PaulC

 

Anybody got any links for where you can get some ground control coilovers?

 

you can buy ground control coil overs on thier website "www.groundcontrol.com"or through
"www.nopi.com"

 

Ground control is good, but hardly the best you can get. I guess for the price though...you can't beat that unless you go used. As far as new though I'd say Tien easily wins the bet...followed by JIC. Hey silky, where did you get the Mazdaspeed coilovers from?

 

mazdamotorsports.com

Personally i would take a race proven coilover design over japanese brand new stuff. If mazdaspeedmotorsports sells them and recommends ground control, you know damn well that it will work 100% gaurennteed.

 

ground control..... only 1.5......wrong!!!!

 

Actually, I got the short springs which drop the car from 3/4" to 2". Also, after you put on a set of camber plates, you can get another half inch. So I can drop my car a total of about 2.5 inches if I wanted. That'd be stupid, but I can. Mine is right about an inch right now, and it's friggin' low.

The website doesn't do the GC's justice. You need to call them up just to find out how customizable the setup really is, plus you get to choose your own struts.

So I repeat my previous statement, for the money, you really can't beat'em.

 

That's

You can select whatever spring length you want to go with the adj. collars. The collars themselves have an adjustment range of about 2 1/2".

IMHO the Japanese stuff is ridiculously expensive and when you need to replace a worn shock or two it will be much easier (as far as accessability) to slap on another Tokico or AGX.

 

Either TEINs or JIC man...I have HA's on my baby and they are friggin' awesome. However it is a bit inadequate for the track/parking lot. I was at DD5 last weekend and had the fronts set to 16, but still it wasn't stiff enough. Ploughed like a mother!

If you're really hardcore, go with JIC, my friend has them on his 240 and he swears by them. Or Zeal (if anyone in this world can afford them)!

 

JIC Magic isnt necessarily an all japanese make, since they intergrate with McPherson front struts, and thats a VERY well known suspension company.

or is it just made to work well with them, do we have to personally get them seperately? i was always under the impression that it came with it.

 

Not sure how everyone says GCs are great for the money -- unless you already have great dampers in place to put them on. If you have to buy a full set of dampers, springs, and sleeves. You can pick up the Teins for just a little bit more... GC setup isn't cheap if you're replacing everything -- and the Tein setup is matched and built as a full setup -- not a mix-n-match of parts. Not that the GCs are bad, just not sure if they're worth the money if you are buying everything...
my .02

 

I agree with Trav
I found Tein's for just under $1000, while GC + Tokico's (or Koni's, even more expensive) are just under that
throw in the cost of pillow ball mounts, and you're pushing the same price

 

Sorry if that sounds wrong, but I got the info on 1) their website

5020.03 RX-7 86-92 4 0 to 1.5 $ 399

2) from calling them.

They said 1.5 inches is about as far as you can go without messing up your ride - and if you'd like, you're more then welcome to call them and inquire yourself. (530) 677-8600

 

Why do people keep talking about the Ground Controls like they are the best? Not to mention putting them in the same category as real coil-overs. Ground Controls are not real coil-overs, they are just a sping on a sleeve made to work with whatever strut you have. They are a great deal if you already have some nice struts and want a good upgrade though.

If your stock and you want to upgrade go with Tein or JIC. They are real coil-overs. The JIC FLT-A2 are some of the best you can get, much better than the Tein HAs, but you have to pay for it. The Tein's are only $1000 and put the ground controls to shame!

 

Jagd,

F 'real coilovers', that's a bunch of bullshit. Having the threads machined into the shock/strut body does absolutely ZERO to the ability of the design to function properly. It's easier, I grant you, to have the threads cut into the body, it might even be stronger, but if you manage to break a sleeve type coilover setup, you give me a call, k?

Rest assured Ein, you can go further than 1.5. It's all a function of which strut you choose, how much camber you can handle, and the height of the spring you choose. Will ride suffer? Probably. Would I lower the car more than 1", no, I wouldn't.

Trav,

The problem with a matched set is that they are matched for one purpose. What's the purpose Tein matched their HA setup to? Street? Auto-X? How light is the car? How big of a tire? How much power? long sweeping corners or tight twisting transition corners? The GC setup means racers can get the high rates they need (and match them to the appropriate struts to properly dampen them), as well as a street guy who wants height adjustability but isn't looking for 400lb/in springs, with less expensive non adjustable shocks.

Anyway, good luck to the original poster.

PaulC

 

I'm not a big fan of Tein HAs, which is probably what your used to looking at, but good products, like JIC FLT-A2s have one huge advantage over a GC/Strut combo. When you adjust ride height on the FLT_A2 you do not lose strut travel.

Dropping 2-2.5" on a Tockico or similar strut WILL lose quite a bit of strut travel. Dropping 2-2.5" on the FLT-A2s will not lose a bit of strut travel.

Having driven the same car with all 3 (GC, Tein HA, JIC FLT-A2), I can say that there is a huge difference in adjustability, performance, and longetivity between them. The Tein HAs don't have much over a pair of excellent struts matched with Ground Control's, but the JIC FLT-A2s are a huge improvment.

You can order FLT-A2s with different spring rates if desired...