Track Minded Suspension Overhaul.

My Cayman is now 12 years old and has 103,000 miles (and 100% stock). Driving around town she feels fine, but I attended a HPDE at VIR last November and high speed floatiness and instability was a bit of an issue. In particular the car was not a fan of the Uphill Esses or the dip just after the slight kink on the front straight. With that in mind, seems to me that the car is due for a suspension overhaul now if I want to return to the track (well, at least any track that isn't flat :hilarious: ). Replacing all these parts is an opportunity to improve the performance. My Cayman is a part time DD with about 10,000 miles driven per year. Previous DDs are a BRZ and S2000 , so I'm no stranger to stiff suspensions and am aware that the parts I've selected for upgrade will result in a stiffer ride. I'm basically sharing my parts upgrade list to gain others' (with experience) advice and/or to point out any items I've accidentally omitted. Here's what I came up with: Coilovers - PSS9s by Bilstein - already ordered Front & Rear Strut Mounts - OEM Front Strut Mount Bearings & Rear Strut Mount Washers - OEM Polyurethane Front & Rear Control Arm Bushings (Inner & Outer) - PowerFlex Polyurethane Rear Toe Control Arm (Track Rod) Bushings - PowerFlex Polyurethane Front & Rear Sway Bar Bushings - PowerFlex Front & Rear Sway Bar End Links - OEM equivalent by MOOG Did I forget anything? Currently the suspension is mostly fine other than worn dampers. The bump stops are ravaged/falling apart and the front strut bearings started making noise a few months ago. I'm looking to keep the parts cost right around $3000 (which is actually where it stands right now). As is known, the PSS9s will drop the car between 20-40mm. I'm not interested in being too low (and worrying about scraping everywhere) so 20mm is fine with me. At that lowered height I wouldn't imagine the increased camber will be an issue. Or am I wrong about that? (also I'm fully aware that after I install all these parts I will need a shop to align and corner weight the car) None of the above parts that I plan to purchase include any sort of alignment adjustment capability. Is that a mistake? To be clear, my planned use for this car is roughly 10,000 street miles + 2-3 HPDE per year. Thanks in advance! Hope this thread isn't repetitive. PS: I suppose it's important to list my brake & tire set up. Car is currently equipped with Michelin Pilot Super Sports in stock sizes. Any tires I run on this car will be for street and track use. In the future I may not keep the MPSS's, but any change would be to something with equal or superior performance capabilities. On street my brake pads are OEM. On Track I run Pagid Yellows.

I'm at 124K miles and need to update just like you. A few questions: Are you doing the work? where did you order the bilsteins from? thanks Rudy

Hey baja rudy! Yes I plan to do all the component installation myself. I ordered the PSS9s from Discount Performance and OEM Auto Parts, 100% In Stock | Autoplicity . Was the best price I could find, and shipping was included.

Were you with NASA-MA at VIR last November? I bring my Boxster out to DE events with them, as well as work with them in my free time.

Since you don't put that many miles on the car, try Michelin Cup 2s. Amazing improvement over the PSS. I went up a size and they still fit. You focused on suspension, but in the broader topic of car control, you might try track pads.

Not having camber adjustment at the track is going to really take a toll on your tires. Not to mention handling. If you keep the lowering to minimum you can get away with stock alignment range in the rear. On the Front there is roughly 1 degree of adjustment at the top mount, which really isn't enough. Especially if you're using some of that to make the camber symmetrical now. You really need an adjustable LCA like the GT3 or Tarett Cup LCA . The Cups have mono-balls and the GT3s use OEM rubber bushings. The GT3s will be fine for your application but if you are thinking about upgrading the bushings I would go for the the Cups, we can get you into those for the same price or less at that point. I would recommend against poly bushings as they are maintenance intensive, squeak and wear out rather quickly. Pagid yellows are great! As was mentioned the Cup 2s will be a good tire upgrade when the time comes.

If you're looking for a good dual purpose coilover you might want to check out our Ohlins setup . We offer the Ohlins off the shelf valving or our track package with custom valving and spring rates depending on the application. The Ohlins give you height adjustment without changing spring preload as well.

I agree with Joshuaj about Ohlins DFV and being able to use this shock/spring rate for daily usage as the spring rate is 450 lbs/in r and 400 lbs/in f, which requires a better shock to minimize the spring rebound on bumpy back country roads. The camber issue is real in front and solved nicely with Tarett Cup LCA's. Once you make that decision, you might as well have Cup LCA's install in the rear. The reason is the solid feel that the monoballs give the suspension and the lack of motion forward and rear caused by the OEM thrust puck. The Tarett Cup LCA uses a solid red thrust puck that is caster/wheel base adjustable and prevent the arm from moving forward or back as when braking and accelerating. The usefullness is in trail baking and mid corner throttle modulation response. In the front the Cup control arm gives instant response to steering imput as in turn in and steering control either on bumpy or smooth track. The red thrust puck in front also prevent motion so your toe can actually be toe out 6 minutes, which will allow much faster tire reaction to your input. The camber can be adjusted with internal shims in the Cup lower control arms to give -2.0 degrees of camber, the rest being from the OEM adjustments. This LCA camber adjustment also pushes out your tract 20 mm per wheel without affecting the wheel bearings. The combination of Ohlin's, Tarett Cup LCA's and Tarett GT sway bars with down links is a great mixture of parts. Once you do this, you my want to add adjustable toe links, especially if you car is lowered 30mm from OEM ride height and corner balanced. Elephant adjustable front and rear toe links prevent bump steer, especially under threshold braking causing rear end wiggle. Also a Pedro's Technobrace will help tighten up the rear frame rails as well. Finally, your brake ducts need updating, GT3 or better ducts in front and 997 Turbo ducts in the rear. Others including my car now have GT2 rear brake ducts lashed to the Tarett LCA's to cool the rotor and the 997 Turbo ducts to cool the caliper and rotor. These ducts are very important as there are no OEM rear ducts on a Cayman 987. Also, with PSM, your rear brakes will get lit up pretty well, especially if used for trail braking. Just some thoughts.

What is the price on the Ohlins setup? I don't need custom valving. I do neet 4 new springs and coilovers. rudy

Hi Rudy, Ohlins R&T coilovers include 400lb f/458lb r springs, which is a good street and occasional track rate. 400/500 is the next step up from there (and one we really like). Then we keep the 100lb stagger and go up in 50lb matched increments from there. In any case we have these for $2995. Use "Planet-9" at checkout for free shipping. Let me know if you have any questions!

thanks Joshua, I can't view your web site as your security certificate is expired and my work does not alow me to view. Rudy

Thanks for heads up Rudy, sorry for the trouble, I'll get them on fixing that right away. In the meantime you're certainly welcome to call an order in too. [phone removed] Cheers, Josh

No it was for the PCA event. With Cup 2's should I be concerned about engine oil starvation issues? I feel like those tires are sticky enough to possibly conflict with that design flaw. Thanks for your input Joshua. I had looked over your online catalog. Likewise, I read a fair amount of Apex1's thread about Ohlin's coilovers. However those and the LCAs you spoke of are outside of my budget. Sounds like I should consider Elephant Racing's rubber bushings instead of the polys I mentioned above. What I'm gathering from these comments is that I should be concerned with front camber and rear toe after installing the PSS9s? Perhaps installing front camber plates and those Elephant Racing eccentric adjustable rear track rod bushings is something I should consider?

Thanks joshua Will Cup 2 tires cause oil starvation issues on track?

Our cars do not have oil pressure or oil temp gauges. Both of these are really needed for extended track use. Yes a LN deep 2 1/2 Qt sump with windage tray provides much more protection from oil starvation than standard. But like many of us who are reliant on these M97 motors, we simply do not know how they were treated during their life time. We can not afford to have a rod bearing scar from sucking up air/oil mixture through out the engine, especially when it hot. That combination is really what causes the damage. So, if you want to play with stickier tires and do not want to invest in the deep sump oil protection, use a motor oil that at least will provide some assistance when oil film PSI protection is key, like Driven XP9 10-50W. We are not talking about the same thing though, as this is a band aid to the real issue as you might get burnt in a very real way some day.

If I plan on lowering my car with simply springs, what camber plates or other parts can I get that would be beneficial for a track minded suspension thats still being used as a daily driver? I have H&R springs that came off a 987 Spyder but haven’t put them on yet. Now i’m thinking I should do more than just the springs while I’m under the car. Any suggestions?

Two suspension parts are really necessary to liven up your OEM system. Starting at the foundation is your lower control arms. Use GT3 control arms front and rear to give camber control and firm up the thrust bushing and inboard and outboard bushings as well. The additional benefit from the internal shim camber adjuster is added track width to reduce weight transfer side to side in cornering. A definite upgrade to these is Tarett CUP LCA's which have much more robust inner ball joints and a very large outboard monoball joint. The key is the solid thrust bushing with caster/wheelbase adjuster as well. This bushing changes the suspenion by not allowing front/rear wheel movement which allow for much more aggressive toe in the front for great turn in. Then the shock/spring combination should be looked at as a combination, which means that really you need to find an old set of JRZ's, Ohlins , or PSS9's. Then have them revalved with updated springs geared to your use. Off the self new coilovers are available as package deals are available as well. I would do these two modifications as a group, springs/shocks and LCA's, as the suspenion is totally apart for either of these. The front swaybar, which can be done later, but still does need a change to bring adjustablility. The rear is a 30 minute job to change out. Down links should be considered to allow the swaybars to give the ride adjustment without preload when corner balance is done. After these items, a competition alignment and corner balance should be done to bring all of these components together. With this combination of parts, camber can be set to -2.7 f and -2.5 r, with front toe to toe out 5 minutes and toe in 12 minutes rear. The track can be changed to 20 mm wider each corner with the LCA internal shims. Ride height can be adjusted to your specifications, so lower is better to reduce side to side weight transfer, change the roll center and front to rear rake as well as long as you do not have ride height issues going into your driveway and garage. Shocks can be adjusted to your usage for daily driveability or track use. I use 2 clicks from stiff f and 4 clicks rear on my Ohlins for a smooth track, and 4 and 6 for bumpy tracks. For daily drive I use 6f clicks front and 8 rear with middle hole f Tarett GT swaybar and 2 from stiff r. The idea is that all the rest of the suspension is set up for competition which is transferred through the tires. I use 18 inch either Michelin S4's and OEM wheels for daily and RE71R's and wide light Signature monoblock wheels for track. I try to match the tire footprint front to back so the car basically feels the same from daily drive to track by using 255/35/18's f and 275/35/18 r to allow the swaybars to work the same way in balance even with the difference in grip between the two sets of tires.

Man, that’s a a laundry list of things I wish I could afford right now. What cars could these parts come off of and fit my 987.1 Boxster, as I think my only way right now would be to find these used from other cars?

Cayman and Boxster 06-12 are close to the same springs/shocks components or you may use the R shocks/springs. After that you have to look at the parts specifically. A way to get you going is to get GT3 lower control arms and lowering springs. Be sure that the shocks are in good shape as they will be asked to work harder in a lower position with stiffer springs. That combo should work for a year or more and give you camber for the race track. Keep in mind that using a second hand set of springs that were designed for another application does not do you a lot of good was it changes the roll center, weight transfer, rake, and other unique features of the Boxster . So, look for a set of spider take of springs. The single important suspension part I would replace is the OEM thrust puck, its the center bushing in the LCA. I would recommend using the Red Tarett solid thrust puck. This single item keeps your wheels from moving forward and aft almost 3 inches in the rear and a couple of inches in the front. When they move around, they change the toe and camber of your suspension, which makes trail braking, mid corner throttle modulation, turn in on bumpy roads much more of a challenge. Lastly, a very inexpensive lower suspension part is Pedro's Technobrace, which connect your two side sub frames in the rear. This brace helps prevent threshold braking wiggle, adds to accurate turn in, mid corner throttle response and trail braking. So, find a takeoff spider springset, red Tarett solid thrust pucks, Pedro's Technobrace and max out the OEM camber with a competition alignment. You should be able to get -1.6f and -2.1r. Toe in front 0 and rear toe in 12 minutes.

Started disassembly of the suspension this past Sunday. Front suspension work was (as expected) about as easy as it gets. Rear was a PITA. Accessing the strut tower bolts wasn't too bad, but I ran into a problem down below. I haven't yet figured out what to disconnect, that will give me enough space clearance for the strut towers to clear the wheel well lips. I think I know which part I need to disconnect to make that work, but this realization was made after 10 hours of work and I didn't own the proper size wrench (18mm). So I stopped for the time being. And Monday was spent drinking at the pool. Labor Day weekend after all :beer: Analysis of the parts I removed shows that the ball joint for the driver's side LCA is torn. So it would appear that I will need to replace the front LCAs (wouldn't dream of not replacing in pairs). I cannot afford the $1200 cost of GT3 adjustable LCAs. Looks like Elephant Racing's LCAs are a good OEM substitute. Anyone have experience with their products?

thanks for the update, I'm cheering for your success so that I can start my overhaul based on your lessons learned.

BTW I also noticed that front brake pad wear does not appear to be even. Inside pads on both sides (driver's and passenger's) are worn more than the outside pads. Is that normal? If not, am I looking at a brake caliper rebuild?

Wolfpack987-I have experience with Tarett Cup LCA's, which I rate five stars. Cantrell Motor Sports and I made the decision to go with Tarett Cups over Elephant LCA's due to the idea that shim's for camber on the Tarett Cups would be more solid vs the single large bolt used to extend the length of the arm. Either way, both of these arms have stiffer end joints, although the Cup's have a bigger monoball and bolt on the outboard end. If you are doing this work, you may want go with Elephants arms as the Cups require you to drill out the mounting hole on the uprights, going from a 12 mm to a 14 mm bolt. Cantrell said this work was not hard to do and you get a much larger ball joint on the outer end of the LCA reducing the probability of one that was split on your car). The red thrust bearing is solid, with really aids in turn in and braking in front, braking and mid corner throttle modulations in the rear. The solid thrust puck also provided caster and wheelbase adjustibiltiy. With the Cup arms you can use up to 20 mm of shims to increase your camber -2.0 degrees front and rear. The rest of your negative camber will be with the standard camber adjustments f and r. I really could not believe the difference these LCA's made in handling, turn in is much more direct and positive in the front, braking very accurate front and rear. With the internal camber shims pushing out the track 20 mm on each wheel (without additional wheelbearing loading), I can use a stiffer Ohlin compression/rebound settings for even more wheel control at the track and daily usage. Its almost like the Cup LCA's and the Ohlins are made for each other, rather than just parts thrown together giving additional synergy to the suspension system. Just my $.02 on Taret Cup LCA's on a Cayman 07 S.

Thanks Apex1, will take all that into consideration! Anyone have a "preferred" method for removing the rear strut assemblies? I referenced a few DIYs I found online and I'm not able to translate their success into my own. I can't seem to get enough clearance for the strut towers to clear the wheel wells. I really don't want to have to disconnect any ball joints to accomplish this as I worry about tearing them. Upon re-examination, looks like the only way to remove the strut is to actually disassemble (more or less) the entire rear suspension?

I pull the upright with the LCA, toe arm and driveshaft. Takes 20-30 minutes a corner to pull them and doesn't mess with balljoints. Use a sharpy to mark the alignment on the eccentrics. You'll obvioulsy want to align it after but that'll get you to the alignment shop.

Thank you Joshua, that makes perfect sense. Will try that out ASAP!

That's the same approach I used with good success. The only annoying part was getting the LCA wrestled back in place. Be cautious on the driver side. At least on my 987 there's a leveling sensor attached to the arm that needs to be disconnected and avoided. Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

joshuaj, how in the world do you remove the control arm inner bolt? I got the nut off easily enough, and the bolt will rotate freely (in an eccentric rotation, naturally). However I have no longitudinal play whatsoever. There's not enough clearance on the nut side to tap the bolt with a hammer. How does this come out? :helpme:

You need to get creative with leverage and/tapping. I think I used a 1" wrench to press it out from the side and may have tapped the wrench with a hammer. Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

Thanks for quick reply! I figured out what I did wrong. I let the bolt rotate too much, and it was stuck on the wrong part of the washer (on the nut side). Had to hold the washer down against it's mount with vise grips and then rotate the bolt into it's "key" position so it could slide off. Already got both of the strut assemblies out. Now I should probably go return these spring compressor tools, as the "48 hour" rental period ended on Monday LOL.

Sorry I'm late... As you figured out there's nothing special other than the rotation of the eccentric.

My supplier for the Bilstein PSS9s, which I ordered 2+ weeks ago, just fell through. After being assured twice that they would have them in stock two days ago (9/5) they just told me they won't have them until 11/15 at the earliest. Suffice to say, since my car is in pieces, I'm somewhat livid at the moment. I'm guessing PSS9s are going to be difficult to get anywhere, so might have to look at another solution. Perhaps KW Variant 3 or these Ohlins everyone is raving about? A bit more than I want to spend (I realize they're an upgrade over the Bilsteins ) but since all my bushings are in good condition I don't have to spend any of my budget on those items...