Hi All,
I have an 04' 996TT with 19" Champion wheels (315/40 rear and 245/45 front i believe) with 23,000 miles on it. A few questions please: I recently had my 996TT lowered on H&R springs. As the service department took my car apart, the first problem they ran into was that my front strut mounts were cracked and that I needed to replace them in order to continue with the install. ($900). The didn't charge me labor b/c they were already there. I said OK.

After getting the springs on the car, the service guys then said they were having serious problems aligning the car as the TOE was out over 3 degrees, so they said I needed to add this to my car to have it align properly.

http://www.gmgracing.com/porsche_suspension.shtml (GMG 996-997 WC Toe Steer Kit).

First question:
Is this unusual?

Second Question:
I have a knocking/clicking noise as low speeds in the REAR end of the car. It usually occurs when I accelerate or turn...again low speeds. Is this unusual?

What I thought was going to be a $1,300 job ended up costing over $3,500. I'm pretty annoyed and am curious if I could have been fooled.

Please let me know. I always have a difficult time trusting people in the initial stages of a relationship.

Thanks
NF

 

who did this work ?

 

Company called Autoscope.

The service was top notch, they were very professional, they seemed knowledgeable.

This is all coming from a person that knows nothing about cars. The only ways I know of cross-referencing the reputation of a company are forums and yelp. Yelp didn't have much to say.

I'm not calling anyone out, just trying to get confirmation so i can sleep well at night...

 

Without looking at your car it is hard to tell if the work was done properly. What I do know is that the upper strut mounts for the front should only cost around $200 each if you are running stock dampers with the H&R's. I was running H&R's with 19" HRE's and did not have the issues you speak of. Everything on the front end was stock and did not have any problems with it, and did not need the kit you refer to. Camber was affected, but it can be adjusted out with the factory holes. Any lower, then you would need camber plates or adjustable control arms.

The rear. I am not sure from your description. It could easily be something that was not bolted down properly. First thing I would check is the sway bar mount to the shock assembly on the rear. If that is fine, then check the coilover assembly in the rear.

 

I just installed the H&Rs on my car, and installed the toe links a couple of weeks later. My toe was adjustable into spec, but it threw the camber off. So in order to get the toe, and camber closer, the toe links were needed. I installed everything myself, so I only had$750 in everything.

 

H&R sport springs by themselves would not usually need additional suspension parts provided you are running stock size tires and wheels. (H&R spec sheet even indicates no additional suspension compenents needed.)

You've not been fooled but have on additional modification that contributed to the problem. The wide 19" most likely have a different offset than stock. The rear stock eccentrics can't adjust for too much negative camber or toe in caused by the changed offset wheels, wider tires and spring drop. Since these move inversly with each other using stock eccentrics, fix the toe in and you end up with too much neg camber. The adjustable toe links are a simple solution, easy to install (yet not cheap since you also need to get another alignment) as you can set the negative camber with the stock eccentrics and use the additional adjustment in the toe steer links to deal with too much toe in. They should do the trick with the modest spring drop. The next step is dog bones (rear adjustable upper control arms) which are much more expensive to install and get an alignment once more.

 

Thanks Duane996tt. That makes a lot of sense and falls very closely in line with what i was being told.

yeah, these guys seem like they do good honest work, so i don't want to question their integrity, but i had to get on here and ask the experts to help me accept my situation.

so what about that clicking/ticking noise (i think it's coming from the rear, but could be coming from the front)? is that unusual? it occurs in 1st gear and i can really hear it when i'm cruising around in parking lots and at slow speeds.

 

1. How long have you been hearing the noise?
2. Is the noise speed dependant? IE: The faster you are moving the faster the clicking noise?
3. Did the noise start after the suspension update/upgrade?
4. Which Autoscope location did the work for you?

If you want to bring it by the Autoscope Park Cities location sometime, I'd be happy to get a tech to drive with you, maybe get it up on the lift and we can all look / listen to it together.

Steve

 

I'm assuming the clicking started after the spring installation. I had the same problems with some H&R's (progressive rate) as they make noise as the softer progressive portion stacks and unstacks at low speeds. If in doubt have the springs tube wrapped. There is a special really tuff shrink spring wrap they use that usually quiets things down. Also check your drop link clearance. As the car gets lowered sometimes the drop links are too short and the sway bars touch as the suspension extends. Get it up on a hoist and see there is clearance. If not you'll need adjustable sway bar links and make sure you get the dust boots with them. (Although all manufacturers of these drop linfs say they make no noise, some of them do and the boots help them stay quite and prolong part life. Sorry to be the one to let you know about these potential extra costs, but the suspension on these cars are a bit tricky to get right. You can also have the stocks one cut and weld extension in but they are pretty wimpy to begin with and prone to snapping.