Palmball
New Member
- Messages
- 268
Hi everyone....given this is about more than just the suspension, it deserved a new thread (and it's a long one!)....
Following my drive in an MC Stradale a few weeks ago, I was absolutely smitten by the improved dynamics that were much improved over my GT-S which, whilst OK, was never going to set any standards in body control. The MC Stradale was different in that it was so much more planted with no apparent trade-off in ride quality and so I set about investigating how to get that set-up on my car.
It couldn't have been easier thanks to my contact at Graypaul Nottingham, the workshop manager Paul Ennis, who did some research and found that an officially approved MC Handling Kit was available for the GT-S and which contained all the same part numbers as fitted to the MC Stradale with the exception of the dampers. Now, as dampers are a major contributor to how a car behaves, I took the risk and opted to go for the Stradale dampers (despite my car being over 100kg heavier) and hoped the extra weight wouldn't destroy the great set-up.
Well, after picking it up last Friday having had everything fitted (remember, this is the whole shebang....springs, dampers, anti-roll bars, bushes and geometry from the Stradale), I can definitely say that the weight doesn't affect it. Not one bit. Good job though as the work came to just under £3k in the end (slightly more than the £2.5k fitted price originally quoted as the Stradale dampers were about £50 more per corner).
How does it look?
When I picked it up, the first obvious benefit was the stance - the car now sits at the right height for this car. The standard GT-S could sometimes look too high but the Stradale set up looks just-so (and crucially, not too low)....indeed, it has 3 different ride height settings but I told them to put the same set-up as the Stradale demonstrator that I drove which meant it was put onto it's lowest setting.
How does it drive?
Driving the car and experiencing the ride quality, it initially feels quite nuggety at slow speeds so you feel the big bumps more than standard....but they're still dealt with in a nicely damped and quiet manner so it never feels harsh or brittle. So, the primary ride (big bumps) is a touch harder but the secondary ride (small ripples and bumps you can't really see but feel as vibrations) is hugely improved over standard. On the whole, although it initially feels stiffer, I think it's actually now a more comfortable and smoother car due to how much better the secondary ride is.
In fact, the improvement in ride is probably more obvious than the handling improvements but having said that, the way it goes round corners is best described as.....easier. Springs are 30% stiffer and anti-roll bars 20% stiffer so it just goes round with less body movement and you can push harder before big roll angles develop - yes, it still rolls when you really push it into tight corners, but it's a great set-up for the road as it remains so compliant.
In all honesty, I was more than a little worried about fitting this suspension as whilst it could be seen as relatively 'cheap' for genuine Maserati parts and fitting, it was still a fair whack of cash to blow if it didn't have the desired effect. I'm therefore delighted that the results have been so effective and it does genuinely drive like the MC Stradale did (but I have 4 seats!).
The wheels....mmm
The only downside is that the standard wheels are now definitely not wide enough for a couple of reasons:
- the car sits lower so the already slightly narrow track (compared to the cars' width) is further exaggerated
- the Stradale set up puts a lot more camber on the wheels which pushes them in at the top - this gives the effect of the body overhanging the wheels
The answer is to either put spacers on again (10mm max) or do it properly and fit a set of Stradale wheels which are an inch wider (all in the offset too so the wheels are pushed out). As it happens, I really like the design of the Stradale wheels and they're not too expensive (under £2k for the set) so my wheels are going on eBay/PH for £1750 including tyres (7mm P-Zero's on the front and 5mm P-Zero's on the rear).
Here's some before and after pics of the car:
Before:
After:
The 'Ring!!
When I picked it up on Friday evening, I literally drove home to pick up my case and headed straight off to the Nurburgring. Now, I'm a fairly regular visitor over there but am far from any good on that track so enjoy the drive out there as much as anything.
The suspension continued to impress and on the motorway really does suit the Granturismo's GT status well as it quietly deals with ridges, bumps and thumps whilst staying resolutely flat and composed through fast sweepers. Traffic was a bit heavy on the autobahn so I didn't get much chance to max it out however it had no trouble getting to 170mph before progress got interrupted by traffic! The gearing, combined with the way it pulled to that speed, indicates that it's more than capable of over 190mph on the speedo and it must have some pretty effective aero as it seemed to feel more planted at over 150mph compared to say 100mph. All in all, it proved to be a very impressive long distance, high speed continent crusher!
So, what about it on track? Well, I wasn't expecting any records to be set as it is still ultimately a 2-ton+ car with two people and a tank of fuel but it didn't do too bad. Amazingly, it was quicker on certain straight sections than my M3 was....on one particular section (Flugplatz) where the M3 could manage 140mph and the M6 did 160mph, the GT-S managed 155mph - quite a lot quicker and not far off the 500bhp M6!
It wasn't a touch on the M3 in the bends or for high speed composure but certainly didn't seem any worse than the M6. It's a bit unfair to compare it to my C63 as I had coilovers fitted to that but even so, the GT-S felt better balanced even if it didn't have the tight body control that the coilovers provided.
My personal test-driver!
Now here's the best bit...last year I met one of AMG's development drivers (a guy called Uli)who is based at the 'ring and he's become a good friend of mine. I bought him dinner on Saturday night in exchange for him giving up his Sunday morning to drive us round in our cars (which I thought a great investment).
Now, this guy is a masterclass....forget the 'ring taxi drivers as he's the kind of guy who drives the track all day, everyday. He's a race engineer by profession and knows his stuff so it was great to get some good feedback about the car....whilst he didn't like the gearbox (too slow compared to the latest DCT's), he loved the feelsome steering and the neutral balance and despite that fact the car was 4-up every time he took us out (everyone seemed to want to go out in it), nothing passed us on any lap except for one race-prepp'd M3. He even managed to stay with one of the M3 'ring taxi's in front despite them having semi-slicks!
The incident
What I wasn't prepared for was this years' 'incident'....Uli was following a Russian registered Mitsubishi Evo who would not let him past. When Uli found a space to get past, said Russian wasn't happy and tried to close the door but he couldn't stop the quicker Maserati getting by!
Unfortunately, this pushed Uli out of line who was too close to one of the larger kerb's on a curved brow (we were at Pflanzgarten)...we went over the brow, the inside rear wheel brushed the kerb and sent the back end in the air and sideways. Oh sh!t....I thought we were in trouble but no....Uli had opposite lock applied before the car even landed (we're talking split seconds here!) and had it straight in a couple of flicks of his wrist. All this occurred at a little over 90mph to which he muttered 'stupid f*cking Russian...no problem'. Phew!
I hope you enjoyed the read...here's a few pics of the car going round the ring (only from inside it unfortunately - please excuse the quality which was compromised by the fact I was trying to stay in place whilst Uli tossed it round!)....
Following my drive in an MC Stradale a few weeks ago, I was absolutely smitten by the improved dynamics that were much improved over my GT-S which, whilst OK, was never going to set any standards in body control. The MC Stradale was different in that it was so much more planted with no apparent trade-off in ride quality and so I set about investigating how to get that set-up on my car.
It couldn't have been easier thanks to my contact at Graypaul Nottingham, the workshop manager Paul Ennis, who did some research and found that an officially approved MC Handling Kit was available for the GT-S and which contained all the same part numbers as fitted to the MC Stradale with the exception of the dampers. Now, as dampers are a major contributor to how a car behaves, I took the risk and opted to go for the Stradale dampers (despite my car being over 100kg heavier) and hoped the extra weight wouldn't destroy the great set-up.
Well, after picking it up last Friday having had everything fitted (remember, this is the whole shebang....springs, dampers, anti-roll bars, bushes and geometry from the Stradale), I can definitely say that the weight doesn't affect it. Not one bit. Good job though as the work came to just under £3k in the end (slightly more than the £2.5k fitted price originally quoted as the Stradale dampers were about £50 more per corner).
How does it look?
When I picked it up, the first obvious benefit was the stance - the car now sits at the right height for this car. The standard GT-S could sometimes look too high but the Stradale set up looks just-so (and crucially, not too low)....indeed, it has 3 different ride height settings but I told them to put the same set-up as the Stradale demonstrator that I drove which meant it was put onto it's lowest setting.
How does it drive?
Driving the car and experiencing the ride quality, it initially feels quite nuggety at slow speeds so you feel the big bumps more than standard....but they're still dealt with in a nicely damped and quiet manner so it never feels harsh or brittle. So, the primary ride (big bumps) is a touch harder but the secondary ride (small ripples and bumps you can't really see but feel as vibrations) is hugely improved over standard. On the whole, although it initially feels stiffer, I think it's actually now a more comfortable and smoother car due to how much better the secondary ride is.
In fact, the improvement in ride is probably more obvious than the handling improvements but having said that, the way it goes round corners is best described as.....easier. Springs are 30% stiffer and anti-roll bars 20% stiffer so it just goes round with less body movement and you can push harder before big roll angles develop - yes, it still rolls when you really push it into tight corners, but it's a great set-up for the road as it remains so compliant.
In all honesty, I was more than a little worried about fitting this suspension as whilst it could be seen as relatively 'cheap' for genuine Maserati parts and fitting, it was still a fair whack of cash to blow if it didn't have the desired effect. I'm therefore delighted that the results have been so effective and it does genuinely drive like the MC Stradale did (but I have 4 seats!).
The wheels....mmm
The only downside is that the standard wheels are now definitely not wide enough for a couple of reasons:
- the car sits lower so the already slightly narrow track (compared to the cars' width) is further exaggerated
- the Stradale set up puts a lot more camber on the wheels which pushes them in at the top - this gives the effect of the body overhanging the wheels
The answer is to either put spacers on again (10mm max) or do it properly and fit a set of Stradale wheels which are an inch wider (all in the offset too so the wheels are pushed out). As it happens, I really like the design of the Stradale wheels and they're not too expensive (under £2k for the set) so my wheels are going on eBay/PH for £1750 including tyres (7mm P-Zero's on the front and 5mm P-Zero's on the rear).
Here's some before and after pics of the car:
Before:
After:
The 'Ring!!
When I picked it up on Friday evening, I literally drove home to pick up my case and headed straight off to the Nurburgring. Now, I'm a fairly regular visitor over there but am far from any good on that track so enjoy the drive out there as much as anything.
The suspension continued to impress and on the motorway really does suit the Granturismo's GT status well as it quietly deals with ridges, bumps and thumps whilst staying resolutely flat and composed through fast sweepers. Traffic was a bit heavy on the autobahn so I didn't get much chance to max it out however it had no trouble getting to 170mph before progress got interrupted by traffic! The gearing, combined with the way it pulled to that speed, indicates that it's more than capable of over 190mph on the speedo and it must have some pretty effective aero as it seemed to feel more planted at over 150mph compared to say 100mph. All in all, it proved to be a very impressive long distance, high speed continent crusher!
So, what about it on track? Well, I wasn't expecting any records to be set as it is still ultimately a 2-ton+ car with two people and a tank of fuel but it didn't do too bad. Amazingly, it was quicker on certain straight sections than my M3 was....on one particular section (Flugplatz) where the M3 could manage 140mph and the M6 did 160mph, the GT-S managed 155mph - quite a lot quicker and not far off the 500bhp M6!
It wasn't a touch on the M3 in the bends or for high speed composure but certainly didn't seem any worse than the M6. It's a bit unfair to compare it to my C63 as I had coilovers fitted to that but even so, the GT-S felt better balanced even if it didn't have the tight body control that the coilovers provided.
My personal test-driver!
Now here's the best bit...last year I met one of AMG's development drivers (a guy called Uli)who is based at the 'ring and he's become a good friend of mine. I bought him dinner on Saturday night in exchange for him giving up his Sunday morning to drive us round in our cars (which I thought a great investment).
Now, this guy is a masterclass....forget the 'ring taxi drivers as he's the kind of guy who drives the track all day, everyday. He's a race engineer by profession and knows his stuff so it was great to get some good feedback about the car....whilst he didn't like the gearbox (too slow compared to the latest DCT's), he loved the feelsome steering and the neutral balance and despite that fact the car was 4-up every time he took us out (everyone seemed to want to go out in it), nothing passed us on any lap except for one race-prepp'd M3. He even managed to stay with one of the M3 'ring taxi's in front despite them having semi-slicks!
The incident
What I wasn't prepared for was this years' 'incident'....Uli was following a Russian registered Mitsubishi Evo who would not let him past. When Uli found a space to get past, said Russian wasn't happy and tried to close the door but he couldn't stop the quicker Maserati getting by!
Unfortunately, this pushed Uli out of line who was too close to one of the larger kerb's on a curved brow (we were at Pflanzgarten)...we went over the brow, the inside rear wheel brushed the kerb and sent the back end in the air and sideways. Oh sh!t....I thought we were in trouble but no....Uli had opposite lock applied before the car even landed (we're talking split seconds here!) and had it straight in a couple of flicks of his wrist. All this occurred at a little over 90mph to which he muttered 'stupid f*cking Russian...no problem'. Phew!
I hope you enjoyed the read...here's a few pics of the car going round the ring (only from inside it unfortunately - please excuse the quality which was compromised by the fact I was trying to stay in place whilst Uli tossed it round!)....
Last edited:
