I had my GMS camber/caster kit installed and thought I will share some feedback, hopefully valuable for those interested.
If you are keen to have more steering feedback even at normal driving as well as eliminate understeer, than this could be one of the best mods to perform on your Giulia. Of course, after having some very good tires.
What you will read below is only my perspective, therefore don’t quote me on that.
Product: great quality, could easily be placed as well in an auto motive men cave as ornament. I spent some time admiring the finish of those bushes.
Customer service @GMS : amazing, replying and supporting despite numerous questions. Best I have seen so far!
Install: must find a qualified shop as also GMS is recommending in the product description, preferably with some experience towards racing. Must have geometry stand in same shop, to have proper before/after alignment, as well as knowledge in case you will need/decide to put uniball bushes at an angle. Installing in a proper shop will make the entire process so much easy and worry free.
Why I have chosen this upgrade:
It took me some time to truly understand what to look for at a car. Initially it was just design. Throughout my +20 years since I have had a driving licence, I had the opportunity to drive approximately 40 different cars for +350k km. Many were company cars. Not much, but enough to have some experience.
Spending quite a lot of my free time browsing and reading through different forums, as well as remembering the different experiences, made me understand that what I need most in a car: great steering feedback.
Unfortunately, the technological progress is not always working in favor of the passionate driver, especially if wanting to have everything in 1 package/car. And from my perspective, the main issue for this is EPS. It takes away most of the driving pleasure, while giving better profitability for the producer, better fuel mileage and less power consumption. Not the deal I am keen taking, but there are few to no options left on the market with HPS (good HPS, because there are bad ones as well). At least not affordable, new, or with 4 doors/room for 4 + luggage.
So, the only thing left is to upgrade/tune possibly the best EPS handling car: Giulia. And I have chosen this path while having absolutely no intention of ever using my Giulia on a track. Just enjoying more the daily driving, as well as the few moments when I can drive spiritedly. After all, better feedback => better control => safer drive.
About install on Giulia Q4 (Veloce/TI):
- Giulia Veloce/TI Q4 front LCA is slightly different in shape when compared to QV, especially the end towards the wheel, which mounts from up to down instead of vice versa as in QV’s case. Could be the same case for Stelvio QV being 4wd, but this needs to be checked as well, preferably with GMS
- With 10mm shimms used on the chassis part (not more to avoid affecting CV joints), which is little under the Street setup, bushes have been installed at angle (2/10 o clock) to lower caster reduction and remain in line with OEM caster angles, as per much appreciated feedback of forum member @GMcA . Also, I was encouraged by the fact that also GMS was considering it as a plausible variant
- Personal reco/learnings: after install is done, test drive for 5-10 km. And return to shop after to fine tune/double check geometry setting
Geometry measurements:
Before (Front):
- Caster +5.95 degrees (L) / +5.95 degrees (R)
- Camber -0.31 degrees (L) / -0.5 degrees (R)
After (Front):
- Caster +5.85 degrees (L) / +6.18 degrees (R)
- Camber -1.34 degrees (L) / -1.45 degrees (R)
- Toe in +0.06 L/R for better road feedback.
How I would recommend assessing this upgrade: take your time, drive on the same roads that you are usually using to better perceive the changes. And compare if possible with same tire setup as prior upgrading.
Outcome after driving first 400km, mix of all kinds of roads:
- Better steering feedback immediately noticed even at lower speeds and normal driving. I believe that is where the increased feedback is seen the most, now being able to feel the road even in N mode. And please bear in mind that I am currently having on the winter 18’ setup, which cannot match the steering feedback of summer tires. However, the comparison before/after feedback is 100% related to the winter setup, to compare apples with apples
- At spirited driving (in D mode) I perceive a considerably quicker turn in, understeer being eliminated completely at my driving style, which I believe makes the rear more stable as well, which believe that make the electronic nannies to trigger later (on Veloce/TI, I cannot completely disable, not having Race mode). Steering feels a little lighter at higher speed turns, could either be my imagination or because of improved turn in. I don’t mind it much, believe it will be spot on when going back to summer tires
- No additional noise so far, other than the Ackerman’s OEM ones at full turn
- Has it firmed the suspension? A bit, however, bear in mind that all these mods have to firm it, in order to better transmit feedback. Totally worth it in my opinion. Ride is still comfortable. Maybe too comfortable? If only KW would develop a compatible system with the adaptive dampers for the Q4 Veloce/TI…
Hope that this info will be useful for those interested, especially that there are few to no other experiences available for Veloce/TI. At least for now.
Many thanks once again to
@GMS as well as
@GMcA for the great support. Same appreciation to forum colleagues with whom I have chatted on PM about this mod, list quite too long to detail it. Cheers!
