MC Suspension Kit cost - cast your votes!

What will it cost to retrofit the MC springs, dampers and anti-roll bars to my GTS?

  • Under £1500

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • £1501 to £3000

    Votes: 3 17.6%

  • Over £3000

    Votes: 14 82.4%
  • Total voters
    17
Palmball

Palmball

New Member
Messages
268
OK, I'm not shy when it comes to discreetly modifying my cars and regrettably, a new GTS with the slightly lower MC suspension kit and stiff anti-roll bars was outside of my budget.

However, I DO like the stance of an MC kit suspended GTS and it appeals over a set of aftermarket lowering springs for a couple of reasons:

1. The MC Kit doesn't look lowered or modified - it looks right. Pictures I've seen of GTS's with aftermarket springs just look too low.
2. It's not just for looks - I think the whole set-up inc. dampers and roll bars would make what is a nice handling car into something quite sharp (well, relatively for a 2-ton car)
3. I'm a sucker for originality and using the official parts
4. I am mad

So, maybe for amusement purposes or maybe it's something I'd seriously consider if the price isn't astronomical but I've asked my new best friend at Graypaul to price up the lot - MC springs, dampers and roll bars.

He'll have a price for me next week so for a bit of fun, let's see who can get closest. I've put a poll on this for an at-a-glance view of your opinions but feel free to reply with actual figures!
 
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Parisien

Parisien

Moderator
Messages
34,927
....PB....prize for nearest guess within a £100?

Put me down for £6500.......

P
 
Andyk

Andyk

Member
Messages
61,189
Come on this is a Maserati .... 3k is just not enough ....

I can understand why you would want to do this though as without the car does have a little too much air between the tyre and arch ....
 
Palmball

Palmball

New Member
Messages
268
Well, the results are in!

From all your thoughts, I thought I'd got my pricing options in the wrong spectrum but most surprisingly, they're not that far out! In fact, for the parts alone (that's new springs, dampers, bushes and anti-roll bars...yes, all that!!) I'm looking at £1275 +vat!

OK, they want another £1200+vat for fitting so all in it still comes in at just under the £3k mark, with vat, fully fitted and aligned at a main dealer. They reckon on 2-days for the fitting and set-up which is a bit steep so I reckon I could knock a couple of hundred quid off that by getting an specialist to do it. The best bit is, if I get a cheaper quote then they'll review it (incidentally, the dealer doesn't think I will be able to get it all done cheaper than their all-in price hence this is their 'current' best price).

So what do you make of this then chaps?

If I can chip off a few more hundred quid then I might consider this in a couple of months - after all, it's only the suspension that I'd have optioned differently if I was buying a new one (I would have chosen the MC Sport set-up) so to be able to get this fitted for £2.5k on top of the reasonable price I paid for the car then I've got exactly the car in the spec I wanted!

Who was closest then (although I don't think any of you deserve a prize for being soooo far out!)?
 
B

bigbob

Member
Messages
8,972
Incidently how is this different to what was standard?

PS What I mean is that I thought that the GTS MC Shift had hard arsed suspension as standard?
 
Palmball

Palmball

New Member
Messages
268
bigbob said:
Incidently how is this different to what was standard?

PS What I mean is that I thought that the GTS MC Shift had hard arsed suspension as standard?
Click to expand...

No, it's quite different again....the MC Sport is 10mm lower (which it needs to be honest...but no more, hence I don't want a set of lowering springs that drop it 4x that amount!), the front end is 16% stiffer and the rear end is 32% stiffer and the anti-roll bars help reduce roll by 20%.

Does it need this....no, of course not!!

Doesn't stop me wanting it though....you know, for that N'th degree of extra handling that I need on the daily commute
 
Palmball

Palmball

New Member
Messages
268
bigbob said:
Was reading this and it gave a few more thoughts:

http://www.maseratilife.com/forums/granturismo/11986-skyhook-adjustable-vs-mc.html
Click to expand...

Yes, some differing views on that thread. Predictably, those that have Skyhook rate that system and those that don't prefer the fixed rate system!

I read this before getting the car as I wasn't sure about it not having Skyhook but then I tried both and to be fair, despite being someone who likes adaptive systems normally (M3's EDC and 911's PASM were mandatory in my book), I was sold on the standard fixed-rate set-up. It's definitely firmer than the Skyhook set-up, even with that in it's firmer setting IMO, and it appeared that Skyhook made it even more of a GT meaning a bit softer in everyday driving. I guess this is what it was predominantly designed for and in contrast, the fixed-rate suspension comes across as a bit more hardcore (well, it's hardly that....but you get what I mean!).

Indeed, the more I drive the car the better I think the chassis is - indeed, I reckon it's quite underrated given what the press say about it. Despite it being a heavy beast, it's incredibly well balanced - easily the best balanced chassis I've driven since the M3 (the 911 understeered far too much, the C63 oversteered...well, that did everything all at the same time lol!).

The Maserati is quite pointy, if still quite heavy in feel when you turn in to tighter turns like roundabouts. It generates lots of front end grip which then transfers gracefully into nice controllable oversteer in a smooth, consistent motion. I reckon the slightly firmer set-up, whilst compromising it's ability to maintain speed on broken, rutted surfaces (not the GT-S's strong point in the first place) will make it feel even sharper. It'll also help contain some of the vertical body movement on undulating surfaces at speed - again, I put this down to the weight of the thing as it generally does have good body control yet under the specific circumstances of fast roads with long-frequency bumps it can generate a fair bit of movement - a slightly firmer set-up should help dial that out.

£3k though....mmm, I'm contemplating it but have to consider that I'll also be needing a £2k+ extended warranty in a few months. Choices, choices.....
 
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