FYI, Ground-Control offerings for the S550

[madsedan]

Ground-Control should have their line of parts up for the S550 in the next couple of weeks. For anyone that isn't familiar with them they are very popular with the autocross and road-racing groups for making great basic and complete coil-over kits. They are big on Koni's and I'm sure that had something to do with their delay in releasing bits.

I have run their basic and complete coil-over kits on several of my M3's over the years and they are great and GC has great customer service. I was able to specify what spring rates I wanted with my kit and also buy extra springs of different rates in order to swap out for HPDE weekends and daily driving duty.

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[Competition Orange]

Ground-Control should have their line of parts up for the S550 in the next couple of weeks. For anyone that isn't familiar with them they are very popular with the autocross and road-racing groups for making great basic and complete coil-over kits. They are big on Koni's and I'm sure that had something to do with their delay in releasing bits.

I have run their basic and complete coil-over kits on several of my M3's over the years and they are great and GC has great customer service. I was able to specify what spring rates I wanted with my kit and also buy extra springs of different rates in order to swap out for HPDE weekends and daily driving duty.

This is excellent news. Their prices are usually good too.

 

[madsedan]

Agreed, I would expect a solid kit with camber plates in the $1,800 range and it will be quality.

 

[qtrracer]

Not a huge fan of the material GC uses for their CO pieces. Mine tends to corrode making it difficult to adjust over time. The MM pieces I use don't corrode. I'm also not a fan of the SA Konis. Had better luck with Bilsteins.

 

[tyshenry]

Ground-Control should have their line of parts up for the S550 in the next couple of weeks. For anyone that isn't familiar with them they are very popular with the autocross and road-racing groups for making great basic and complete coil-over kits. They are big on Koni's and I'm sure that had something to do with their delay in releasing bits.

I have run their basic and complete coil-over kits on several of my M3's over the years and they are great and GC has great customer service. I was able to specify what spring rates I wanted with my kit and also buy extra springs of different rates in order to swap out for HPDE weekends and daily driving duty.

Ive been emailing with them for a little over a month now trying to figure out when they will be releasing the coilovers and camber plates. They are redesigning their camber plates, so I am not sure they will be available in the next couple weeks. Maybe the coilover kit though.

 

[Nick610s]

I have been in touch with them as well. They are waiting for their machine shop to finish the camber plates as they are a complex piece for our cars. Also, the koni shocks being used are not the OTS variety as I've been told. They may offer two different versions of the rear coils. One a separate pair and then a complete coilover piece like some others on the market. All koni based pieces. I'm pretty excited as I've had their stuff on my ESP prepared Camaro, E30 bmw and a few others.

 

[Bbarfoot14]

On the wait list as well, great company

 

[Nick610s]

Have an update today. After redesign of the camber plates, they should be figuring out their complete kit sometime within the next two weeks. They are not a huge suspension company but they make quality kits. Which all their springs are eibach linear rate springs with the kit built to customer specs. (Street/track/middle ground setup) I am lucky enough to live an hour away from them so I have already made arrangements for the first set to be put on my car. I'm pretty excited. I will be doing a review etc. just FYI I have a base GT which I will be looking for a good all around street/autox setup. Coming from basically a stock suspension I'm guessing I will see drastic improvement. I'm already on 285/35r19 squared wheel setup. Which was a great improvement as well.

 

[Nick610s]

So I dropped my car off at Ground Control yesterday for them to use my car for initial product install and test fitting. I have done business with them before so i know what to expect. And that's nothing short of awesomeness as they are a great suspension company to work with.

They showed me the parts going on the car as well as how they all work. And I must say, from what I've seen, their camber/caster plate design is better than anything I have seen thus far. Camber/caster both adjustable without removing the strut from the vehicle. Which isn't available from other camber plates on the market yet from what I've seen. If I am wrong than correct me.

The rear stuff is pretty standard, they have plenty of experience with the separate shock spring suspension as they are deeply rooted in BMW tuning. They are going to test both ways to decide what they believe works better while they have my car.

Last but not least, the kits will be koni S/A based and you can chose your spring rates when ordering. Or they can reccomend rates depending on your application. Can't wait to get my car back next week!

 

[GCSystems]

So I dropped my car off at Ground Control yesterday for them to use my car for initial product install and test fitting. I have done business with them before so i know what to expect. And that's nothing short of awesomeness as they are a great suspension company to work with.

They showed me the parts going on the car as well as how they all work. And I must say, from what I've seen, their camber/caster plate design is better than anything I have seen thus far. Camber/caster both adjustable without removing the strut from the vehicle. Which isn't available from other camber plates on the market yet from what I've seen. If I am wrong than correct me.

The rear stuff is pretty standard, they have plenty of experience with the separate shock spring suspension as they are deeply rooted in BMW tuning. They are going to test both ways to decide what they believe works better while they have my car.

Last but not least, the kits will be koni S/A based and you can chose your spring rates when ordering. Or they can reccomend rates depending on your application. Can't wait to get my car back next week!

I'll be happy to post some pictures and answer any questions as well, but I'll wait for your review fist.

We're also putting together a video that includes some of the install as well as some footage of the suspension during the initial test drive. I'd be happy to post it on here if there's interest in seeing it.

Thanks again Nick! I do have to say I miss the car already.

 

[Nick610s]

So I got my car back Wednesday and I must say its a night and day difference! The rest of my suspension is stock just for reference and the kit makes the car feel so much more connected to the road. Anyhow I will post a full review with more pics since I haven't gotten to hit any twisties yet to really test it out. Around town it is still smooth and comfortable enough to DD. and I can go soft on the shocks for added comfort. But for the sake of going to drive hard soon, I'm leaving them on the stiff setting.

 

[tyshenry]

What spring rates are you running? And can you take some good pics of the camber/caster plates?

 

[Nick610s]

What spring rates are you running? And can you take some good pics of the camber/caster plates?

Right now I'm 450 front 850 rear. You can see the camber plates on the pic below.

Disclaimer: this is the kit that is on my car. They painted it per the color of my car since I was the first and my car is comp orange. The final product will be powdercoated/anodized and can be done per customer choice, so really you can have whatever color you want under there. But the standard stuff will be red/black/gold.

Oh and I am in no way associated with ground control aside from having them install the kit on my car. I do not work for them.

 

[GTP]

What is the max/min ride height you can set them to?
Are linear springs available?

 

[tyshenry]

Rears are progressive? And 850 seems awfully low. Barely more than stock. Seems like running 450 front with that low of a spring rate in the rear will throw off balance.

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