Thanks for the good words, I was having fun writing this. There even may have been some single malt involved...

One thing I want to make clear is that I was in no way trying to discourage anyone from tuning the suspension on their car as it can be a lot of fun.

It is just that many vendors sometimes make things look much simpler than they are. So I highly recommend talking to a reputable suspension shop that specializes in Porsche cars like GMG, TRG, TPC, etc. before getting into this sort of thing unless you are willing to do a lot of trial and error.

So, if all you want to do is get the car lowered a little bit to loose the hummer look (note that it will also be a little stiffer - that is just the way it is), here is the minimal setup:

- F/R Springs (Eibach or Techart) or coilovers (Bilstein seem to be the favorites for street applications around these forums)
- Rear adjustable toe steer kit (to bring rear toe within specs so you don't shred tires)

But that will leave the car with a bit more F/R camber which you may or may not like - it will probably be just fine. But if you want to bring everything back to specs because you like things more neutral for the street or want more adjustment for the track, you will need the following:

- Rear adjustable link kit (to adjust camber in the back)
- Front adjustable lower control arms (use shims will adjust camber, off-center caster bushing will let you adjust caster)
* I believe camber/caster plates could also be used instead of LCA's, particularly if you do not intend to track (but I have not tried it that way)

Lowering the car will put more tension on the droplinks but, in my experience, not enough to create pre-load on the sway bars so you should be perfectly fine for street driving at this point. But if tracking the car, the next step would be the following:

- F/R adjustable sway bars
- Front adjustable droplinks
- Rear adjustable droplinks

Put all this together and you will understand why GMG, TRG, TPC, etc. have what they call "stage 1 kits" that put all this together in a nice box.

If you shop for suspension control arms, you will notice that most of the after market stuff use solid bushings, keep in mind that this may add some noise.

For street use, I would suggest staying with Porsche recommended alignment settings or maybe going with a RoW or GT3 setting if you want something a little more aggressive (a little more camber, a little less toe and caster) which makes the car turn better but also makes it a little more unstable at lower speeds.

If you are going on the track, keep in mind that just buying the components is not enough, you will need someone that can give you their super-secret-settings, or discover them by yourself... It never ends.

Hope this helps you a bit, do not hesitate to ask any question you may have, there is a LOT of collective knowledge in these forums and a lot of people are willing to share their experiences, to a point... (just don't ask a true racer what his winning suspension settings are - or you will end up with a car that runs backwards!)



T.

 

I would save your money until you can get a good set of coilovers. Springs aren't a good solution IMO, had them on my first C2S, the 2nd one went with Bilstein's, they were great. Keep you eye on the classifieds for a set of used ones. I did a OEM ROW alignment, and the tire wear was even across both F & R tires.

 

I fully agree. This is sound advice NorthVan.

IMHO, springs are strictly a cosmetic enhancement and should only be considered if you will not track the car. The Bilstein are a great street/track compromise from what I hear on these forums. Being coilovers, they will also allow you to adjust the height exactly the way you want it instead of just getting stuck with what the spring manufacturer decided for you.

But if you are seriously thinking about the track, save your money, you will need it later since AFAIK, lowering the car by a fixed amount (like shorter springs will do) is purely a matter of taste and is inconsequential on the track. On the track, you need to be able to play with F/R height balance to change the behavior of the car.

You should also note that many people have also said that the stock setup is perfectly fine for the track if you drive it properly (i.e. with a lot of trail braking to cure turn entry understeer), but I guess I either just can't drive that way or the tracks I go to have too much camber and elevation changes to allow for trail braking everywhere...

FYI, "tc" first did springs trying to save some money, he is now looking for funding for a full MCS coilovers setup.

HTH,

T.

 

To stay on budget - do not do coilovers, instead order eibach spring set to lower your car, order and put in both front and rear GT2 sway bars, suncoast sells them as gt3 bars, then I would put on rss lower control arms for camber if you plan on tracking your car or doing ax events.

 

If you want rebuild car for track events - skip DIY efforts, give car to good local shop that works on cup and gt3 cars and let them put it all together for you and then keep coming there for adjustments, alignment and DE forms. Expect full project to be in $10k-$15k range.

 

If you're not looking to do track events, what specifically are you looking to improve? I would imagine that the Porsche engineers have the suspension sorted out pretty well in stock form.

 

Good advice. You need to sort out why you are looking for a change.
I have springs only. It's cosmetic. It looks better and it feels a little tighter due to the lower cg. If I were going to track the car it would be down at Gmg getting a proper setup. For track you need adjustability I learned long ago it is better to do it once the right way.

Decide what you want and why first. That will set the path for improvement.

 

I certainly know that kw3 offers a great performance/handling ratio comparing to my 4s stock suspension...

 

NorthVan - I did a quick search and can't find what OEM ROW alignment is... can you enlighten me what the "ROW" stands for?

 

i believe its a European spec suspension.

example:
http://www.suncoastparts.com/product/996row.html