Suspension parts help and advice

Hi I am going to need to replace some suspension bits but obviously only want to replace what's needed rather that throwing everything at it. I have a few questions if I may draw upon people's wisdom and expertise. Questions for the front are 1) with the car jacked up holding wheels at 3 and 9 position there is a bit of movement which I understand will be the tie rod ends. The symptoms are a bit of wheel wobble / judder at motorway speeds. Does this sound correct or could it be anything else? Also is there any other way to check the tie rods. 2) the coffin arm ball joint boots have some small tears in. Can these be replaced (boots) or is it new coffin arms? Rear 3) over bumps there is the squeak old pram spring sound. I think my engine mounts have dropped so could it be these causing the squeak or something else that squeaks? 4) the rear feels a bit loose as if it's sliding from side to side at times or drifting a touch at slow speeds. What could this be? 5) there is a bit of oil misting on the rear dampener. Is this totally shot or as in some other cars there will always be a small amount of misting? Sorry for all the questions but thought it best to get them all on one post. Tia

1 / Track rod ends or inner steering arm ball joint .. i would favour this , track rod end and you can see it move relevant to the ball joint . 2 / coffin arm bushes debonding .. new coffin arms .. it depends on how bad though .. they will pretty much never fail an mot . 3 / It won't be the engine mounts .. they never make a noise .. they may drop but no noises .. its normally a ball joint so coffin arm or track rod ball joint . Dropped and you will see the tail pipes sitting rather low in reference to the PU ( bumper ) 4 / Difficult but tyres and wear play a large part in this .. or some suspension component pretty dam worn ... ill also add a geo helps a lot . 5 / Misting is not uncommon shall we say .. not perfect but not an actual leak .. a leak is pretty obvious .. it can be left or if doing a refresh then you would replace ... but not a reason to do so atm .

Thanks demort. Will get the front on axle stands so I can get a good look with someone wiggling the wheel. Re the rear the tyres are new and plenty of tread left and everything looks fine component wise. Nothing obviously worn to the extent it's totally gone. Would worn arb bushes cause this type of feeling?

If the front arb bushes had worn you would have one hell of a knock but actually very little play in them .. rears and you can check when you have it jacked up but off hand no . If nothing obvious on the suspension then a geo check is best .. i'm pretty sure some places will do just a check so if any Halford free checks come up in your area then that's worth a go as it will soon say if its out . My gut feeling atm is the thrust angle is out on the geo or possibly a worn component like the track rods .

Thanks. Didn't get chance to check this over the bank holiday but hopefully can get onto it this weekend then get a list of parts to replace then it's off for alignment. :thumb:

Just looking at engine mounts and value for money wise the rs 993/996 mounts seem to be the best. A bit stiffer but not massively so based on what I've read but a lot cheaper even with the longer bolts etc needed. However another idea is non shot second hand genuine ones from the bay and then can you add in something like tiger seal / some form of polymer to prolong the life and essentially give a bit more stiffness? Not sure if this would be a crazy idea, or just plain stupid, or a good one. Any thoughts anyone?

Hmm .. er.. i can .. er .. hmm ............. Can i just say No on this one and recommend you fit original Porsche engine mounts . They tend to last about 15 years , they are not a solid rubber mount but oil filled .. if one truly let's go you will have thick black oil running down onto the exhaust ... but this normally happens when people like me are undoing them to drop an engine so its very rare in the real world . Just IMHO

So had some success today tightening up the handbrake went well. Cannot remove the pin on the nearside rear caliper so can't replace the pads just yet but they are ok at the moment. So the wobbly front isn't solved. Have new inner tie rods and had it jacked up all ok but couldn't get a spanner in to undo it from underneath. Ordered a removal tool to try again. My next question is when wobbling the brake disc the inner tie rod dirt seem to move and it looked like it was inside the steering rack. Could this be the issue? No movement on the wheel or noises just this wobble / rattle?

if you wobble the wheel .. 9 and 3 o clock and have some play then it's often the inner steering rack arm .. the ball joint there . if at the track rod end you can usually feel it and see the movement .. you can't with the inner arm . I've just answered this on a 997 so i'm not sure if it helps .. http://911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=133978 I'm afraid i can't remember the sizes of the arm nuts on a 996 .. i think they are the same and on a full lock you can just about get a spanner on it .. I'm afraid this play is more common on a 997 so i remember these but not a 996 .

Thanks DeM whe you say inner steering rack arm I assume you are meaning what I am describing as inner tie rods? The ones that screw into the steering rack and then have the outer on with the ball joint? The spanner size is 32mm on mine. Didn't think about putting it on full lock but I have ordered the tool thats for them now so will make it a bit easier. Will replace them anyway and there is definately movement in that area and I have the parts. Do you have any other tips for getting the pin out of the rear calipers at all as I've used penetraiting fluid, a big punch and a very large hammer and it will not budge!

Just had a struggle with my pins a few weeks ago, hammer out a bit then back in and out again worked for me as I think the corrosion build up the first time out makes the pin very tight fit.

Thanks. I can't even get it out a bit! Absolutely nothing at all. The offside is fine but nearside is just solid.

Inner rack arm is the item that bolts onto the rack .. the description of how hard it can be on the linked thread is the same as yours .. A garage will change it in situe on a ramp but on stands then you might be more into dropping the subframe so a much larger job. This was why on that post i said your better off getting a garage to do it as its about 1 hr labor charge plus a geo . Caliper pin .. i've not yet snapped a caliper removing this pin but i have herd of it .. What i do .. a small screwdriver and scrape off the rust a bit , penetrating fluid then beat the crap out of it !! There is actually a trick .. the punch you use .. it needs to be almost exactly the size of the hole ..big and chunky .. if you use a small one it wont transfer the shock as well . Also a club hammer . Your options if you don't want to do this .. and bearing in mind im at work and don't pay if things break on taking them apart is .. Cut it out basically , a little tricky and you will still be left with part of the pin rusted in that has to be knocked out but you will have 2 seperate parts which will lessen the force needed . You WILL need to cut it close to the caliper hole both sides though .

Thanks I've been going at it with a large punch and club hammer but so far no good. Might try some different penetrating solution before resorting to the angle grinder. Re the inner tie rod I've bought one of these in pic which should do the job easy enough. I hope 😂 will give me the satisfaction of a job done myself, even if it only saves a bit of labour. Then I can get it geo set up afterwards.

Had some progress on the inner tie rod. One down one to go. Managed to get it without the need for the new tool got a 32mm spanner with the wheel on full lock. The outer rod was fine but the ball joint was hellish to get out. When it came out it had a neck with some teeth on it which is different to the pictures on the web. Does anyone know is this a different type to the norm or standard?