Thanks for reading and my questions are at the bottom…
First, a little background. I picked this car up for $24K+ on BAT last winter with 60K miles and it's my first Porsche sports car (I've owned a Cayenne GTS for a few years). It doesn't have many factory options, but the previous owner added the Sport Mode upgrade through a Porsche dealer.
This is 99% a street car for weekend use with the hope of an occasional track day or HPDE. My sense is that the comps for similar examples are in the range of $25K to $30K over the last few months, so I'm using that as a baseline for my investment cost in this car.
As with all fun cars I've ever owned, I don't expect to get my money back - I just want to see what this community thinks is worthwhile when spending on upgrades and maintenance.
I'm looking into a suspension refresh and I'm of the
"do it once, do it right" school of thought
. I'm not going to be able to DIY anything mechanical, so not able save money wrenching myself.
**I know that Ohlins or KW coilovers may be a bit of overkill for my purposes, but I had a really good experience with KW V1's transforming the ride and handling on my MK7 GTI. Anyway, if I go with an H&R springs/Bilstein B8 kit the savings is about $1,500, so I'm aware of that.
Having established the above, here's what my local indy Porsche shop is quoting:
20-24 hours of labor
$195/hr (rate rose from $155/hr pre-2024!)
.
Parts total is $5,728.10 including the Ohlins.
My bottom line questions are:
is this all that needs to be done to upgrade/refresh the suspension to new or better? Anything missing?
How much of this is considered wear and tear/maintenance cost of doing business that will need to be done eventually anyway?
Will the investment make sense when I resell the car a few years down the road?
Or should I drive it the way it is and upgrade to a better 987 S/981 S in a couple of years?
Thanks all...
Steve, where are you based?
Fairfield County, Connecticut
Uhh.. I did replaced the suspension on my 987CS and also on my 981CS (w/alignment..) and was going to offer myself but it would be a long drive for you to SoCal..
when I did sway bars I did not need adjustable rear links only front. My
Porsche
INDY suggested
Bilstein
B16
/PSS9 they get installed along with new control arms
next
week ! I have a new thread going about it.
Somehow the number of $10,000 rattles around in my head, when I see parts prices of $7k+ and 20-25 hours of labor ($135/hour?) plus then a complete set of
Ohlins
.
Does it make sense? If might if you really loved the car and intended on keeping it forever. I don't detect that from your post, so I'd guess you would be selling it in a few years when you're tired of it. You're putting more than 25% of the value of the vehicle back into it, and the return on that amount is likely to be considerably less. If it feels too "racy" it might even devalue the car. If you're independently wealthy, don't have a wife to answer to and just want to have fun, then sure - quick way to spend money... and if it makes you happy.. go for it.
I would say at 60,000 you don’t need to replace your suspension and if you don’t daily Drive it you won’t put that many miles on it before you’re planning to sell it in a couple years. If you are planning to do a HPDE you will have to do brake Work or you won’t make it through the day. I did high temp brake fluid which is a must (and the least you can get away with) stainless steel brake lines, Sebro slotted disc’s, EBC Bluestuff brake pads and GT3 air ducts. Another great place to spend money is on great tires and since you don’t drive it much you could use something like the Bridgestone RE 71s 200TW, I think you would find more enjoyment going that route instead of the suspension work. By the way my INDY shop is charging me eight hours for a Bilstein B16 coil over and lower control arm install (I already had this sway bars done so your 20-25 hours sounds like a lot
Yeah I did coilovers on jack stands in my driveway a few weeks ago, probably took me about 11hrs as a first timer.
My apologies - the total of $5728 for parts actually includes the R&T
Ohlins
(they're about $3,000).
Labor quoted is $3900 (20 hours at $195 per. His rates went up in January from $150/hr. Connecticut is expensive).
So that brings the total to approximately $10,000.
Your
points
still hold though - no, I'm not sure about keeping it forever. Therefore I don't want to make the car feel too "racy" for the
next
owner. I'm not independantly wealthy, I have a wife to consider, if not, answer to. Luckily she likes
Porsche
's too.
The problem isn't her, it's me. I'm a financial planner by trade and it's hard to stop thinking like one.
Having driven the car on weekends now for the last few months, I agree and think the suspension is still in pretty good shape at 60K miles.
And yes, I thought that 20-25 hours for a suspension refresh sounded like a lot which is one of the reasons I posted this here.
Good
points
about the
tires
and brakes. Fortunately the previous owner did some of the brake work last fall (Sebro slotted discs, high temp fluid and pads). The
Michelin
PS 4S's still have a little life left if I am able to get a track day in this year.
Tires
are
next
up on the list but I'm on the fence - but I want to be able to enjoy the car when the temps start to get down into the 40s and 50s here in New England (late October and November). I'm considering UHP All-Season i.e.
Michelin Pilot Sport
AS4, but not sure if the trade-offs are worthwhile since I don't need this car for commuting purposes.
Oh great your brakes are done! Yay!
Note you can't get on track with low tread depth because they heat up to fast so they will just say no, I can't remember the minimum.
Personally I would never go all season
tires
if it's a weekend fun car, the
Michelin
PS 4S Summer are the benchmark and are night and day better than any AS you will find. Maybe just look for nice days in Connecticut or ideally get a spare set of wheels for some winter or AS
tires
. ( I went to college in New Haven and grew up in New Hampshire so I'm not shooting from the hip) ... See I told you there will be plenty of things to spend money on - Ha
