996 turbo .... I need advice pls!

I have a 2004 996 turbo and am looking to do some occasional track days and have been advised that I would greatly benefit from a new sport exhaust & remap, upgraded brake pads/braided hoses/oil and suspension upgrade! Any good feedback would greatly be appreciated, i.e, is it worth it, how much should I be looking at and recommendations local to Hampshire.

I'm in a similar position wth my intents, you might be able to extract a little of what you want to know from this current thread going on on the Pistonheads forum: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=48&t=1000866&mid=45590&nmt=996%20power%20upgrades

So far I have had quotes for; Milltek exhaust and remap supply & fit £3450 all Inc Nitrogen full suspension supply, fit and set up £3100 all Inc Brake pad upgrade, new fluid & braided hoses, supplied & fitted £950 all Inc That's almost a quarter of the price of my car! Is this worth it?

Why would you bother to do any of that for occasional track day use? [8|] Your vehicle is a highly engineereed and well developed sports car, capable of accommodating track days without need for modifications. Just make sure you have air in the tyres, oil in the engine and a reasonable set of brake pads. Later, if you take to it and decide to do a lot of tracks days, upgrading brake fluid and pads would be a good idea, but don't spend any money on mods until you've decided if track days are your thing or not and are becoming accomplished around the circuit. [ ] Regards, Clive.

Welcome Peter! "Is it worth it?". If you mean will it make the car worth £7500 more, the answer is a definite "No", but if it gives you £7500's worth more enjoyment, then its a "Yes". Personally, I wouldn't do it, but if track days were my thing I would definitely get the suspension and brakes tweaked to suit first, and worry about the extra horsepower afterwards. I would talk to Chris at Center Gravity about the suspension. There is nobody better to advise you. He transformed my Turbo for road use.

I agree with what's been said but if you do want to the above: Miltek - read reviews. Good quailty, can do better for less is the impression I get. Not massively looked into exhausts Suspension I'd go for KW v3's (excellent for road and adjustable enough for track days) or Bilstein B16 as they are on offer at the moment (£2k) at Design 911 Pads - look at EBC red stuff. Should be cheaper than that/suitable for road use too.

Some sensible replies there with good advice.

Red stuff is not an upgrade from the standard pads, it's meant for fast hatchbacks and other street cars. As mentioned above, if you're doing this for track days, go and drive a few first, then decide what to do. If you're a normal driver "go to more track days and become a better driver" will be on top of your list. [ ] But since you have a turbo, more power is always achievable and fun so if you have the cash it's an easy choice.

Is that something you've heard or your own expeience? (Curious rather than argumentative) EBC are a new company I know but I've used red stuff pads in several cars in the past and found their performance to be very comparable to the Pagid blue pads but without the 'squeeeking'. Both pads take a little longer to come into full effect on a cold day than standard pads but they do bite very very hard when you really need to scrub off speed! My only real complaint about them is that they tend to eat disks at a rather rapid rate. I found I almost needed to change the disks with the pads each time, couldn't beleive how much metal they had burrowed through!

In reply to Dave Green, I am situated in Andover next to the Wiltshire boarder. The local chap/company is Ray West tuning based at Thruxton behind the race circuit. He is both very experienced and knowledgable but equally he knows how to charge! He is an ex racer himself which says it all. The company I like dealing with is the company I bought from, RSJ in Slough, they are real professionals and great to deal with. Speak to either Darren or Jaul, they own it, www.rsjsportscars.co.uk

I would suggest the first thing you should spend on is a second set of wheels and some track orientated tyres (Toyo R888 for example). The reason for this is you will ruin 'normal' tyres in as little as a day depending on how quick you are through the corners. Find some 2nd hand original wheels, don't spend a bomb on aftermarket ones. If you decide t-days aren't for you you'll sell them on easily.