Family Issues
Like the Holden that it is based on, the American GTO has a few issues with its suspension from the factory. For one, excessive tire wear runs rampant. Because of the car's porky curb weight, the tires are already under a lot of pressure (pun intended) and even with a good wheel alignment at the neighborhood tire shop, the tires seem to cup and feather quite fast. In many cases, we hear of GTO owners getting just 15,000 miles out of a set of tires, even with a regular rotation. As we found out from GTO expert Frank Beck, the proprietor of Rocksand Racing, the primary cause of the excessive tire wear is due to the excessive play in most of the suspension points as alignment specs can vary from all the slop. And more often than not, the front and rear suspension crossmembers are not in alignment with the chassis, which causes subsequent suspension wheel alignment adjustments to toe and camber to be less accurate, as they can't make up for everything else being off alignment. It's kind of like a self-fulfilling prophecy as the more you align your car, the more it can be off.
The other issue we find with bone-stock GTOs is that the car seems to get a little nervous at the limit when you're tackling the turns. We feel that the handling ability is limited primarily because of the mushy suspension pivots and light spring rates. Suspension travel is quite adequate on these cars, so to take full advantage of the competent MacPherson front and semi-trailing arm/multi-link rear suspension design: we're confident that our Pedders upgrade will give our Head Poncho a serious performance boost for the curves.
Since the GTO platform is new territory to us, we decided to let the experts at Rocksand Racing handle the installation. This is because the GTO, like many high-end European cars, requires special finesse when it comes to suspension work-and attention to detail goes a very long way. So we made the short trip over to Frank Beck's installation facility and within a day, our GTO was transformed from a good-handling coupe to a world-class performance GT. The Pedders suspension made our GTO feel about $30,000 more expensive with the oh-so-difficult-to-achieve combination of ride quality and handling prowess. Coupled with the incredible steering feedback and composed stance, the GTO felt like it had shed 1,000 pounds on our favorite backroad in upstate New York. Who'da thunk that a 3,800-pound gorilla could dance like a ballerina? And even better, our car did not lose one bit of dragstrip ability as we were able to slam off a 12.28 on a recent track outing, which is consistent with the 12.26 we ran before we upgraded the suspension to the Pedders components. Sweet.
It may be easy to dismiss a suspension upgrade on your GTO because it's already a good-handling car, but after having driven plenty of these fantastic coupes in both stock and modified forms, we consider a Pedders suspension upgrade mandatory. Aside from better appearances, handling, and improved tire wear, having a car that can handle anything you throw in front of it can also prevent a collision, which makes this modification a potential safety asset. And if the autocross or drag-racing bug bites you, you're now prepared to do battle. Now go out there and turn and burn!
 The Pedders GSR strut utilizes...  The Pedders GSR strut utilizes a different mounting design for the sway bar endlinks. Instead of a conventional rubber bushing that is used on the factory and Pedders' own entry-level suspension kit (right), a more direct ball pivot is used (left). This results in greater anti-swaybar response during transitional maneuvers. |  With the new front struts...  With the new front struts and springs mounted in the spring compressor tool, Walter fastens the internal dust boot over the bump stop, which were both pirated from the OEM strut assemblies. |  The factory upper mount bearings...  The factory upper mount bearings have been known to fail in little as 25,000 miles, causing clunking and groaning noises while driving. But with the new Pedders pieces, we can expect a very long life with improved road feel, thanks to the high-durometer rubber construction and improved bearing design. With a new top mount bearing in place, Walter then tightened and checked everything for correct assembly. |