Ground Control / Koni Review

[SoloNSX]

Figured I'd write a review up since I've had my Ground Control / Koni setup for a bit of time and have ran a number of autox events on them now.

I bought my NSX pretty much stock back in early October 2015. I'm an avid autoxer with 10 years of religious autox experience so I knew where I wanted to go with this car already. With years of autox experience, I know there are a few companies that are at the top of the list for drivers to choose from for a number of vehicles. Koni has to be by and far the most popular shock setup and Ground Control is also a very popular sleeve coilover that matches well with the Koni shocks. I also run these combos on 2 of my Civics that I've been racing and street driving for many years with never a single issue. In my search for the right suspension, Koni/GC was at the top of my list. Great cost to performance. I had others in mind, KW is obviously a very popular coilover for the NSX, but at double the cost for a car that isn't going to really be competitive and not driven much, I didn't find it to be worth it. I researched others such as the popular BC coilovers and Fortune Auto that hasn't had much info out there on, but didn't feel comfortable since I know they just don't have the same reputation and following the others do. So at the end of October I put in my order for Koni/GC with 650# front / 550# rear springs totaling $1,376.89 shipped.

I'll start with the bad... Once I received the coilovers in early November, I installed them and ran into an issue. The suspension was resting on the bump stops even at their highest setting. No room for travel, not correct. Contacted Ground Control, they eventually sent new, shorter bump stops which they should have originally sent.
Front suspension resting on bump stop at highest sleeve setting. Also resulting in raising the car, not lowering it. No suspension travel.

New shorter bump stop. This is what Ground Control should have originally sent. I believe they sent me the wrong bump stops to begin with...

Great, got the new shorter bump stops installed. That helped, but only so much. Now with the new shorter bump stops in, I was able to lower the car. But what I found was that even lowering the car to the lowest possible setting on the sleeves, it didn't really lower the car all that much. I wanted to be a bit lower. Well, after contacting Ground Control again, it seems they also did not send the right sleeves. So they sent me new sleeves. BUT, another problem came with the new sleeves. They were not evenly machined. Meaning, when installed, one side would be lower than the other with all else the same. You can see this in the pictures.

So I had to contact Ground Control AGAIN! This time for them to send me a matching sleeve. They came through and got me the right sleeve. So now it would seem I have all the RIGHT pieces. The right short bump stops matched with the right sleeves to get me at the ride height I want.

In this picture, the left shock has the old sleeve. You can see I was maxed out on the lowest setting which did not allow me to get as low as I wanted. On the right is the new sleeve insalled. Giving me a lot more room for adjustment. This is what I should have recieved from the beginning.

So obviously the bad, Ground Control screwed up, big time. The Konis I received were fine, no problems. But pretty much the whole Ground Control sleeve coilover setup came messed up. They sent the wrong bump stops and the wrong sleeves, twice. This whole mess took a couple of MONTHS to resolve. Tons of email exchanges and a lot of time waiting... Major disappointment in Ground Controls customer service.

On to the good. Overall quality is great. Koni's are known for having OEM like quality and many people have had them run for hundreds of thousands of miles. One attractive part about the Koni's is that they can be rebuilt, so if ever an issue or I just want a refresh, I can have it done. The quality of Ground Controls parts are great. The sleeves are well built, the spring perch is easily adjustable and with my other cars, I've never had a seizing issue. The top mounts are well built and nice quality.

Now that the parts problems were resolved. I got the car set, aligned and ready to rock. Since I've had the suspension on, I've put close to 2000 street(DC Metro) miles on it. I've done 7 autox events with at least 55 autox runs. No hiccups. I must say, even with a rather stiff spring rate(650f/550r), the Konis offer a pretty smooth ride. The car doesn't bounce around, it takes bumps pretty smoothly. I have no problem driving the car an hour or more in fixed back bucket seats, very comfortable. Even my pregnant wife can ride in the car and she doesn't complain. For a bumpy autox course, like I typically see where I run, I feel the car is too stiffly sprung for the shocks. I honestly think a softer spring rate would match these shocks better. Which makes sense anyways since these spring rates are pushing the boundaries of the Koni's valving. But overall I can't complain. No noises, creeks, clunks or anything weird or abnormal from the suspension. All works as it should.

Overall, now that all the issues with Ground Control are resolved, I'm very satisfied with the setup. Had I received all the right parts from the get go, I'd be writing a shining review. But, I just can't... Ground Control left a bad taste in my mouth. It took months to resolve the issues. I have dozens and dozens of emails back and forth, I had to send numerous pictures to prove what was going on.. The only other saving grace was that Ground Control sent me a full front and rear set of sway bar endlinks that they don't even sell. Which I've installed and seem to work fine. BUT even those took like 3 months to get from the time they said they would send me a free set!
The endlinks they sent me. Maybe we'll see them selling for NSX's soon? Don't know..

Ride height that I'm happy with

In action
https://youtu.be/r519AlY2Fm8

Overall, I'd give them an 8/10. It's not the best setup, but they do work very well. For the price, I think they are really great and I have a lot of confidence in it. If you don't have any of the issues I ran into with Ground Control, I think you'll be extremely satisfied. If you want a comfortable ride and don't care about track/racing, a nice soft spring rate I'm sure will make for one very smooth and comfortable every day ride anywhere you go. I would recommend the setup, but I would just advise to anyone ordering to make sure you have all the right parts and document your install JUST in case. I have a feeling Ground Control just doesn't sell many of these setups and they just flat out screwed up on mine big time...

 

[nice_tan]

Great write up solonsx! Danggg... really sucks that you had to go through all that. If it was me, I would've return the whole setup and ask for a refund. But, it's good that you got something free out of it :smile:. For the Sway Bar end links, I only know of Cedar Ridge End links that is in the market (SOS sells them). Hmm but maybe GC will come out with their own set soon.

I, too, am in the market for a good suspension setup. From what I've heard and read, Koni are too aggressive. Seems like most popular setup is of course KWv3 (too pricey), bilstein w/zanardi srpings, or BC coilovers w/ swift springs. I've had koni/GC coilover kit (450F/400R) on my 00 ITR before and honestly, they were a bit rough. Maybe I haven't mess with the settings that much but were really stiff. Or it could be cause its an ITR. Integra is known to be pretty bumpy. I don't autox or do any tracks, just occasional spirited run on weekends, etc. With that being said, I REALLY prefer the ride being smooth as possible and with a moderate but tasty lowered height. I've also considered Koni/GC. Like you, Koni/GC combo has been known since forever. But after my experience with the ITR, I believe what Prime members here say about koni, being too aggressive. I'm really leaning toward BC coilovers w/swift springs upgrade (f 10k/r 8k) which isn't too bad @ $1315 shipped. Saw you mentioned 'DC metro'. I'm in moco area myself. Maybe we can meet sometime soon when the sun decide to come back from its vacation. I'm really interested in your setup and see for myself how smooth you say it is.

 

[SoloNSX]

Great write up solonsx! Danggg... really sucks that you had to go through all that. If it was me, I would've return the whole setup and ask for a refund. But, it's good that you got something free out of it :smile:. For the Sway Bar end links, I only know of Cedar Ridge End links that is in the market (SOS sells them). Hmm but maybe GC will come out with their own set soon.

I, too, am in the market for a good suspension setup. From what I've heard and read, Koni are too aggressive. Seems like most popular setup is of course KWv3 (too pricey), bilstein w/zanardi srpings, or BC coilovers w/ swift springs. I've had koni/GC coilover kit (450F/400R) on my 00 ITR before and honestly, they were a bit rough. Maybe I haven't mess with the settings that much but were really stiff. Or it could be cause its an ITR. Integra is known to be pretty bumpy. I don't autox or do any tracks, just occasional spirited run on weekends, etc. With that being said, I REALLY prefer the ride being smooth as possible and with a moderate but tasty lowered height. I've also considered Koni/GC. Like you, Koni/GC combo has been known since forever. But after my experience with the ITR, I believe what Prime members here say about koni, being too aggressive. I'm really leaning toward BC coilovers w/swift springs upgrade (f 10k/r 8k) which isn't too bad @ $1315 shipped. Saw you mentioned 'DC metro'. I'm in moco area myself. Maybe we can meet sometime soon when the sun decide to come back from its vacation. I'm really interested in your setup and see for myself how smooth you say it is.

The ONLY reason I didn't say screw GC and demand a refund was because I actually had the time to deal with it. So long as I could get the car sorted out before mid March, I could wait. So I worked with GC and tried my best to be a good customer and not rip them to shreds lol. I'm assuming they will eventually sell the endlinks, it took them a while to get the rear endlinks together because of that long lower damper bolt. I will say, these are very beefy.

Koni's in general are a bit rough, but to me that should be expected with a single adjustable performance shock. I think for the price they are hard to beat, but I can see where some wouldn't like the ride quality. To me I feel my suspension is relatively smooth, but I'm sure to others they wouldn't think so. I attribute a lot of it to the 650f/550r springs, so I'm sure with rates around 300# or 400# it would be pretty nice. But again, that's just my "butt dyno" saying so. I'd be more than happy to take you for a ride to see what you think, I'm in MoCo as well. Just let me know.

 

[jwmelvin]

[MENTION=32033]nice_tan[/MENTION] you should ride in my car and AJ's before you order a suspension. I have BC with Swift springs in 10k/8k F/R. That translates to about 550/450 in lb./in. AJ's springs are a bit stiffer at 650/550. I've ridden in his car at autocross only so it's not a comprehensive comparison. I've also ridden in an NSX with KW Clubsports and it was a lot more comfortable than either of these two setups. I believe the spring rates are around 450 for the Clubsports but I'm not sure. I'm in NoVa so I imagine we could work out a meet up at some point. If I didn't use my car for autocross I would definitely want softer springs.