Hi everyone:

I have just lowered my 996 (have 20000km on it) with H&R sport spring.

The drop is about 1.25", and just got alignment done at the porsche dealership.

I noticed that after the lowering, I hear a few clicking sound when I

1.) turn while backing down the curb from my driveway

2.) do lock to lock turn

I told this to my mechanic, and he told me that this is because the spring is suppose to turn with the rest of the strut. However the spring has bearing on the top but it is metal on metal on the bottom. therefore if this doesn't go away in a few weeks, he will need to take it apart and grease the bottom of the springs for me.

I have lowered many cars in the past and never had this problem, and I never knew that the springs are suppose to move around. I am trying to avoid having to take the structs apart again, cause I just spend $550 on alingment.

A.) did any of you experienced this in the past?
B.) how do you fix this problem
C.) if I leave it this way, will this be bad for the car or cause fatigue on the springs?
D.) where is the sound coming from?

Many thanks in advance.

 

By the way, my car is a 2003 996 C4s.

 

The lowering springs do this alot. I tried both H&R and Eibachs on my 993. They were noisy and didn't handle very well. The lowering spring will wear out your stock shocks much faster. Finally gave up a bought the ROW M030 springs with adjustable koni's..No noise and it handled alot better. Just put PSS10's on 996TT, once again no noise. Parts cost about $2,800. I'd also consider the M030 set up from Carnewal or Sunset Porsche. It includes springs, shocks and sway bars for about $2,500 and you know it will work.

 

a) no, because just doing springs is not the proper way to lower your pcar.
b) take off the springs and get a proper set of coilovers or one of the porsche kits. If you take shortcuts with your car you'll just end up having problems and have to do it over again anyway. fyi it actually costs more in labor to install separate springs vs installing coilovers.

There are ton of threads on this so do a search and read up, besides, with the correct setup your car will ride and perform better and it will be much more enjoyable.

 

It all depends on what you started with: My 996 had US M030. I changed the springs to H&R's to lower the ride height about an inch. The new springs were progressive, vs. the straight wound stock 030 springs, hence a proper application. No noise, no problems. The only problem with changing the springs on stock suspension is a mismatch between the valving on the shocks vs the increased spring rate on the new springs. However, they should function properly while turning in the strut bearings, and not make noise.

 

Thanks to everyone for their reply. I will probably change to pss9 the next time I have to take is apart. But for the mean time, is the ticking sound something dangerous? i.e. will this damage the rest of the suspension system, other than premature failure of the strut in a few years? I am worry about something breaking apart while driving...

thank you once again.

 

check for loose droplinks!

 

what is a drop link? what does it looks like? is that why there is a ticking sound?

 

I have the H&R lowering springs on my car and I have no issues. I did have a concern with wearing out the shock/struts, but my porsche dealer said it would be fine. My car handles great with no noise and I drive quite hard in the corners. It will be interesting to see how fast the tires wear out with the camber in the rear.

Mike

 

Recently installed TechArt springs on my 996 and have not yet had any noise issues. Even with some controversial feelings about sport springs, I was actually quite surprised and very pleased with the overall ride since I probably expected the worst. Other than that, I love the drop!!!!

 

Well, other than the noise I am quite happy with the ride quality so far. Again, my worry is also the premature wearing of the strut. Will have to see. Actually did the alignment at porsche, and the told me that the camber angle that porsche factory specify is from +15 to -15. Mine is now at -30, but they told me that it is pretty good for a lowered car.

Note, I only hear the tick sound if I am turning alot on a steep driveway, you sure you didn't get that?

 

I had exactly the same problem with mine. 02 996 C2. What you are hearing is the metal to metal contact of the spring and spring perch. To stop the noise - what I did was to buy some gas piping which is about 1.5mm thick and thread it around the bottom coil making sure that there is some overhang on the end which will stop the end of spring clunking on the spring perch when it's compressed and thus binds up into the perch stop. It's stopped all the noise on mine... however I'm going to go back to stock... partly because I'm not happy with the noise and I'm going to 19's and want the clearance.

 

....hence my earlier comment about buying proper coilovers to begin with.
If you throw 19's on with stock suspension folks might mistake your 996 for a Cayenne.. lol

1. Coilovers (or factory Porsche kit) may cost more up front to buy but will save you time+money+aggravation later on, and give you a much better driving experience.
2. Considering it costs more in labor to have springs installed vs. coilovers, the net cost difference is relatively marginal.

Come on guys, we're not driving Hondas.