How difficult is it to change springs

Im looking at fitting -30 mm lowering springs to my 02 carrera 2 convertible, how much work is involved in cahnging the springs, does any of the interior etc have to be stripped out to allow the rears to be changed?

Hi, rear carpet just pulls out, it's foam backed, allows access to strut tops.,. fronts obvously straight forward. Change springs & re fit, followed by full geo setup, job done! Maybe consider udget allowing some adjustble coilovers for a better drive, see the usual places design911 & porsche shop

Porsche Shop did a good job on mine springs, fitting and geo setup, i think around £600

which springs did you fit, i spoke to design911, they had spax springs -30 mm for about £160 and H & R springs for around £360, would the spax springs be adequate? can anyone recommend anywhere in aberdeen area to fit the springs and set up geo, i was going to fit coilovers but think i will just fit springs for now as im away to change the wheels aswell to Lm style alloys.

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:

I also would not advise lowered springs agains't standard shocks but if you do really want to try it then the job isn't that easy however still a feasable DiY. One special tool will be required, it looks like a 1/2" drive socket but has an opening in one side for a torx/allen key or like a Lambda removal tool see here: http://www.allproducts.com/handtools/cosda/Product-200853014436-s.jpg Never use air tools to undo the top nut on a shock abs, the shaft will spin at silly rpm destroying the internals of the shock This is the hardest part of the whole job, the initial cracking of the 4 top nuts. The rest is self explanitory. Geo will be altered as the lowered height fools the rest of the suspension into thinking you are cornering heavy. It also puts additional pressure on drive shafts / seals The shaft of the standard shock will be pushed in by say a further 20mm, this puts the shock under load all the time so life expectancy is shortened greatly. It may even bottom out totally throughing the balance of the car. So springs only is for looks only, it will not only be a horrid ride but potentially leathal. Ok on a Corsa 1.2 but not a muscle car Are you put off yet??

Forgot to mention: I used to sell suspension when I ran a motorsport company. Quite often when we sold 30mm drop springs we would get complaints that it only dropped 5 - 10 mm max. This is due to the fact the springs drop the car 30mm from factory height when the car was brand new. After only 10k miles the car starts lowering by itself due to wear & weakening of the springs, therefore a 60k, 8 year old car could have dropped 20mm+ by itself. P.S Hope you don't think the advice is being nasty, we are just watching out for a fellow member :thumb:

+1 on the good advice above, you will get more performance and satisfaction doing a proper job, either stock pork lowering kit, shocks/springs if it's under warranty if not KW's seem to be the favourite aftermarket upgrade, more £££ but well worth the spend. brumbrum