Some Advice Please...Suspension

Wow.. Great site.. Let me get you all a drink at the vitual bar 8) Just to say Hello and pick some of your brains!... Been in the car trade now for the last 15 years and have had lots of fast cars come and go and having raced and been riding bikes for the last 25 years i still feel like i need a fix!! think you know where i'm coming from :lol: ...I took a 03 plated 3.6 C2 in px 6 weeks ago and i must say i think i must have the BUG :dont know:... I love it Have had cars with more horse power but they just dont do it in the way the 911 does... i feel so connected when i'm driving.. like i'm a part of the chassis :thumbs: its great.. But i need some advice...I really dont like the way it sits.. you know..I need it to look more sqwat..But dont want to mess up the great handling... Do i just fit lowering springs..H&R 30mm or should i do coilovers??.. or just leave well alone?? That old saying Springs to mind...if its not broke dont try and fix it... Spoke to some guys today about doing the work.. there advice was.. porsche spend millions developing there cars... so why change it... its not the ride i want to change its just the look!!! and if it handles better well that will just be a bonus... So... what are your veiws... :?: Dave..

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welcome! Lots of other threads about this. Run geometry in the search and reread them!! A few hours worth of reading! I will personally be heading here with my next car! http://www.centergravity.co.uk/ Chris seems to come highly recomended from everyone! Cheers, David

ps. I do know where ypou are coming from as regards it sitting lower! Just think long n hard about ride quality and how you want to use it. Lowering obviously means a ummmm "firmer" "harsher" ride??? Hey but I don't know that much soooo.....

Right first things first, think of a budget and purpose of lowering. Personally I wouldn't put just lowering springs on if you want to improve handling aswell as aesthetics. My car had Techart lowering springs on stock dampers and it was this that I feel compounded the top mounts and bushes deteriorating at only 25k miles. From what I've gathered not matching springs to dampers and with the lowering puts increased pressure/strain on pivot points ie bushes and mounts. The labour involved in putting springs on and having it realigned is aproximately the same as putting full coilovers on. You still have to take everything off and put it all back on again. The increased cost is the difference between purchasing springs or full coilover kit. In my mind it's worth the extra money to do the job right. Coilovers will drastically improve the performance of your car. It's like night and day. If you chose a manufacturer with fully adjustable coilovers then you can tailor the ride to your requirements. Or you could go down the OEM Porsche route with the X74 kit. This won't affect your warranty, drops the car to give a purposeful stance, is fairly cost effective but is not adjustable in anyway. A friend just had it done on his and he's very happy, and he got a good deal as garages are fairly quiet at the moment. I personally went for KW Variant 3's due to the adjustability and anti corrosion benefits of the kit. It's more expensive than the X74 and not OEM but I'm very very happy with them... Granted Porsche spent years developing the suspension of your Carrera and it fulfills what it was designed for. You are now changing the goal posts so need to adjust the suspension accordingly. So much so that Porsche actually make another suspension kit (X74) designed to work with your increased performance/ aesthetic desires. KW also put alot into R&D of performance suspension. Just look at the Manthey Racing team who use a slightly modified version of the KW V3, if it's good enough for them it's certainly good enough for me. Well, hope that helps, this is all just my opinion though but it's a very happy opinion :thumb:

Stuart... thank for that 8) I know it will make more sense to go down the coil over route as its all got to come apart anyway and the fact you really need to mix the right spring to damper so they work in harmony...but what concerns me is to much of a hard ride :? have spent many years setting up compression damping and rebound damping on bikes.. spring preload and static sags and all that :what:.. it can be a right pain to get it just right...its not just trusting someone to set up the geometry..that could be spot on, its the set up in how the suspension is working, dont want to be spending hours/days looking for that perfect balance between performance/ride...I,m really happy with the cars handling and dont want to spoil it or go the wrong way and make it all to focused and choppy..a friend of mine has the KW setup on his mk 1 gt3 and he's always saying its just to firm for are uk roads even on the softest settings :nooo: Have lowerd cars in the past with some good results and a good compromise between the two...not looking at the complete slammed on the floor look!..but just smaller gap between tyre and arch :nooo: Dave..

No problem Dave, I understand where you're coming from. JZMachtech set mine up for 'fast road' and allthough it's a firm ride it's not overly harsh. As a daily drive in London it's fine but really comes into it's own when the road opens up. You do have to watch out for larger than average size holes in the road though, by average I mean larger than a 50p piece It's about time I got those Techart springs out the garage and put them on Ebay anyway, you jogged my memory :thumb:

I have an 03 turbo with Bilstien Pss9's on. The ride is NOT harsh, in fact quite the opposite , that is the beauty of an adjustable damping system. Mine is honestly far better than std on the road in my opinion with the added bonus of a lower stance and adjustability when I want it. Yes Porsche did invest a few quid in developing their suspension but their objective was compromise over a vast array of road surfaces vs cost. An aftermarket solution lets your focus in on what YOU want from it.

Hi- my 2p - I put M030 on mine initially as the original suspension was tired this stiffened the car up and dropped it c15mm, not harsh at all imho - i recently upgraded the springs on the m030 kit to techart, this dropped the car a total of about 30mm from original settings and it looks slammed now, stiffened the car up some more but still totally acceptable (it wouldn't call it harsh just more connected) - i drive it daily as well and I do at least 2x 250 mile journeys per week no problem. its all relative as you have got to factor tyre pressures in as well - i run mine slightly lower on th emodded suspension and i'm sure if i ran recommended pressures it would feel very bumpy. - Simon