GKtech Angle Kit REVIEW S13

[steveff]

What's up guys. Finished the install and did a quick shake down of the GKtech angle kit earlier today. Wanted to make a post here giving as many details as I can and my opinion of the kit as I haven't really seen much feedback on GKtech's products. I did not get this kit for free. I paid full price for it, so this is 100% unbiased and unsponsored. Cost was roughly $800-900 USD at the pre-buy price. I did wait about 5 months for my pre-order to arrive though. So take that into consideration before purchasing. Chances are, you're going to wait A WHILE for them to arrive.

My set up on my S13:
GKtech v2 front knuckles
GKtech Super Lock lower control arms extended +74mm
GKtech offset strut tops. The "no-cut" version
2000 maxima inner tie rods
1990 sentra outer tie rods
PBM eccentric steering rack bushings

SO throwing a PBM product in there is weird right? Well, I had the GKtech offset steering rack spacers but they didn't fit my steering rack correctly. My rack didn't have the same notches that the GKtech spacers had so they didn't sit right. So I decided to just go with the PBM rack bushings to move the rack forward instead of the offset spacers.

GKtech offset strut tops:
-These things are sweet. They kick the camber out to roughly ZERO if you set it so it's maxed all the way out. Now, with my BC coil overs, I actually had to cut my strut tower to clear the damper adjustment knobs. I was pretty pissed about that considering they were advertised as "NO CUT" but once I cut it out - no issues. All in all, not a huge deal, but I would've liked to not hack up my strut towers.
-The studs included were different thread from the factory strut top studs, so I needed to order M10x1.5 nuts from Fastenal because they weren't provided with the kit.
-I opted to run them similar to the Wisefab kit, moving the strut top forward to reduce castor.

GKtech V2 front knuckle:
These look beefy as hell. Everything is boxed and reinforced. Pretty solid looking design.
-For some reason my hubs didn't want to go onto these. Destroyed 2 wheel bearings in the process of installation. Had to grind down the very tip of the spindle to taper it in order for the bearings to slip on.
-The way they made the back side of the knuckle almost boxes in the ball joint nut, so in order to install the ball joint, you need to disconnect the coilover in order to fit an extension down the halfway enclosed part. So, not a huge deal, but definitely a hassle if you need to swap lower control arms or ball joints at any point.
-The brake caliper position is VERY low on these knuckles. Moves the caliper down to about 4-5 o clock on the rotor. I didn't think this would be an issue until I installed the kit. The brake caliper limits trailing wheel angle to roughly 40-45 degrees because it makes contact with the lower control arm. I have z32 calipers so I don't know if you'll have this issue with stock s13 calipers, but big brakes are a no-go with these v2 calipers IMO. So for right now I'm settling with the 45 degrees of angle on the trailing wheel. Lead wheel makes roughly 65 degrees before tie rod over centers on my setup. So that's a shit ton of ackerman. Definitely not low ackerman knuckles.
-The V3 knuckles actually remedy this issue. Moving the brake caliper up significantly and greatly reducing ackerman. Definitely recommend the V3 knuckles over the V2.

GKtech Super Lock LCA's:
-Super rad design. Soooooo much clearance everywhere. The joints are beefy as hell and I trust them 100% fully extended.
-I opted for the standard length balljoint shanks for a total of 50mm roll center correction when combined with the V2 knuckles. But Greg from GKtech is sending me the 20mm extended ball joint shanks to help the brake caliper clearance issue I mentioned earlier.
-So 70mm total roll center correction. Which is pretty crazy.

Driving impressions:
-I previously had cut knuckles and extended lower arms. The alignment settings up front were roughly -5 degrees camber, 10 degrees castor and 1/4" toe out. With this kit it's roughly -2 degrees camber, 5 degrees castor, and 1/4" toe out. And I like it a lot more than I thought I would. With these settings and the roll center correction, the tires stay almost completely flat from lock to lock much like the Wisefab steering kits. Super smooth transitions and crazy grip. Turn in response is great and self-steer feels super smooth. I run 235/40 Nitto NT05 on a 17x9 +0 and clearance is spot on. No rub on anything with the LCA's extended all the way out.

So overall the kit is incredible. There were a bunch of little things along the way that pissed me off that I shouldn't have had to deal with. But it's to be expected with car parts. Everything needs a little bit of modifying here and there. Nothing I wasn't able to fix or work around. Customer service was awesome. Received email responses from Greg Kruse almost immediately. Answered all my questions along the way.

I'll include pictures of everything tomorrow when the rain stops.
Feel free to ask any questions.

Cheers!

[GKTECH]

Hi Steve, thanks for the review.

Just a few notes that I thought worthwhile to make:

- We are virtually caught up with all pre orders and have some models of the LCA's on the shelf now so in some cases there is now no delay and worse case we're looking at around 4-6 weeks for future orders but obviously the idea is to get stock on the shelves ASAP. Early batches are often delayed and although we try and compensate we always want to ensure that we're not sending a subpar product.

- With the offset rack spacers if the rack doesn't match the rack spacers, the rack can be notched to suit. The idea is that both sit horizontally facing forward. Obviously some customers don't want to do this and that's totally understandable. If for some reason a customers rack doesn't match the rack spacers and they don't want to notch their rack we will happily offer a refund.

- With the dampener adjusters removed there is no need to cut anything however understandably some customers may want to keep the adjuster on all of the time and in this case cutting would be required. We have since made a note of this on our website to avoid disappointment.

- The first batches of the offset strut tops didn't come with the nuts required which was an oversight on our behalf as somewhere along the line our production manager switched to m12x12.5 studs rather than the 1.25's which obviously wouldn't have required new nuts. This has since been updated and any new orders will come with corresponding nuts. Note that to anyone that did have trouble getting nuts in their area to suit we did offer them at no cost.

- The V2 knuckles did have the brake caliper sitting down further than the OEM position although it wasn't an issue for most customers as the lock runs out around this amount. In your case it seems that you have a litlte more lock in your setup (the high clearance LCA's help with this) and this has since been revised in the V3's which are good for 70 degrees.

- The V2's have less ackerman than the OEM knuckles but you're right in that they are not zero ackerman. They're around half way between OEM and zero ackerman.

- I'm surprised that there was an issue with the bearing that was overcome by putting a chamfer on the end of the spindle. I'll have a chat to our engineer as to whether that's a good idea in assisting installation in general. If we can make things easier without compromising function we're all for that.

Thanks again for your purchase and if there is anything at all that I can assist with, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Regards,
Greg

[steveff]

I'll definitely be ordering products from you guys again. A little bit of grinding here and there isn't the end of the world if everything comes together nicely in the end. So far I have nothing but good things to say about handling. We'll find out in 2 weeks when I hit the track with the full set up.

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[Mister.E]

Great review. I've been taking forever to get all of my GKTech parts installed, but Greg has been great with assistance every step of the way. I have the V2 fronts as well and I'm hoping I don't run into issues with the Z32 brakes like you did.


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[steveff]

I mean, if you're content with the 45 degrees trailing wheel then you're fine. But I'm a perfectionist and always want the best of the best whether I need it or not. So it bugs me haha haven't installed the extended shanks yet so I can't report on those. Trying to trade for a different set of knuckles just because of the brake contact.

Testing everything at the track this weekend

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[Mister.E]

Originally Posted by steveff

I mean, if you're content with the 45 degrees trailing wheel then you're fine.

Yeah I'm really not fine with that at all. IIRC the V2 knuckles were advertised at 60 degrees. If they can't achieve that due to a design problem then I may start looking elsewhere. I've had some issues with the rear knuckles as well but haven't contacted Greg yet because I haven't had the time to address it.




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[GKTECH]

Originally Posted by Mister.E

Yeah I'm really not fine with that at all. IIRC the V2 knuckles were advertised at 60 degrees. If they can't achieve that due to a design problem then I may start looking elsewhere. I've had some issues with the rear knuckles as well but haven't contacted Greg yet because I haven't had the time to address it.

Sent from my iPhone

The V2 knuckles were advertised as being good for 60 degrees are good for 60 degrees lead and circa 50 degrees trailing. Steve wanted more out of them, hence his disappointment that the caliper position was a limiting factor. Note that the steering arm position maxes out right after the caliper hits so for most setups the caliper hitting isn't really the limiting factor as you need to back it off a little for your lock stop anyway.

If you've had any trouble at all please email us. Ive installed many sets of these parts on cars myself so know the product very well.

Regards,
Greg

[tacotacotaco]

I was running the V2 front knuckles.

I also had to sand down the spindles to get the hub onto the unit.

Shims had to be used on the caliper to correct the alignment to rotor.

There was a caster issue between the left and right knuckle. with even caster one side the wheel was set further back.

[GKTECH]

Originally Posted by tacotacotaco

I was running the V2 front knuckles.

I also had to sand down the spindles to get the hub onto the unit.

Shims had to be used on the caliper to correct the alignment to rotor.

There was a caster issue between the left and right knuckle. with even caster one side the wheel was set further back.

The V2 front and first batch of the V3 knuckles didn't have a stepped down spindle like the oem ones do which is what made ours more difficult to install. I installed a few sets (near 10) myself without issue but this stepped spindle will certainly make things easier for the future.

Some early V2 knuckles did have some issues with the caliper spacing due to being taken out of the jig too soon after welding and deforming slightly. If any customers did have issues and we were made aware we either supplied shims or they could send them back for us to modify (the balance of the batch we had the surface machined and shims supplied so that the caliper mounts were true).

I can't possibly see how there could be a caster difference from left to right. The jigs are cnc machined and are CMM'd to ensure they're true. There is a chance for slight movements as seen with the brake caliper mounts but 1 degree caster difference, I think that's impossible.

[tacotacotaco]

I have the V2 fronts of the car. The knuckles were installed then aligned. This is when the clearance issue from caster came around. To verify we swapped back to the stock knuckles , realigned and that verified it.

The alignment machine also verified the fact that even visually you can see a difference in angle to the shock mount from ball joint.

[GKTECH]

Originally Posted by tacotacotaco

I have the V2 fronts of the car. The knuckles were installed then aligned. This is when the clearance issue from caster came around. To verify we swapped back to the stock knuckles , realigned and that verified it.

The alignment machine also verified the fact that even visually you can see a difference in angle to the shock mount from ball joint.

I'm not sure how it would be possible however you're welcome to send them back for us to inspect and if necessary we can swap them for another set.