Suspension and daily driving

Hello, vehicle is a daily driven 2011 987.2 base without PASM , 235/40/18 and 265/40/18 for the tires , 97k miles. Suspension seems to be working fine as the current moment, but the age of the parts is what concerns me. Also the protection boot for the shock absorber is deteriorated if that's any concern for any of the parts. The a gasket I believe for the rear looks to have the same wear and tear. Not sure if it's important, but there is also a small creak after I put pressure onto the the front driver's side fender and push up and down on it. But it goes away a few shoves and it only happens sometimes after the car was driven. And I was curious as to what would be the best choice, suspension wise, to improve ride quality a little bit but add/keep a little bit more sportiness . I also wouldn't mind lowering the car just a little bit, just not by much (I'm still young, stiff suspension beating me up isn't going to take that big of a toll on me). Roads around here are a little rough, but nowhere near of being filled with potholes anytime soon. Not many steep slopes either to worry about either. If I were to get new suspension parts, do you think I would need to replace the strut assemblies and/or the shock absorbers and/or springs? And how hard of a job is this to do on my own?

Depending on what replacement kit you get, you may need to compress the spring for removal and again for attaching it to the replacement part (e.g. In my shopping I've seen a lot of replacement struts that don't come with springs installed). This is just my own 2c and personal paranoia about the process, but unless you know what you're doing and have the proper tools, I'd lean toward having the pros do at least that part. If the compressor slips off or some other sort of accident happens, you can injure yourself. You can probably do the R&R for the complete assemblies yourself if you have a lift or jackstands and an impact gun, then take them into a shop to have the springs swapped. Ditto if you change to lowering springs. If you get a full coilover kit or something that has springs pre-installed, obviously this doesn't apply. As for parts themselves, I haven't pulled the trigger yet so I can't vouch. Bilstein makes a few different grades of strut for these cars that range from OE (B4) to high-performance. The B6 parts look like a nice compromise to me on paper - stiffer than factory, but not crazy, and reasonably affordable. I haven't looked into really high performance stuff since I want to keep a reasonably comfortable ride.

I would think about what is my typical daily use of my car. If you use your Porsche even 10% on back country roads during the day, I would suggest R springs and an upgraded shock. Or, Ohlins , with their standard spring rate of 400 lbs/in f and 458 lbs/in r. There are plenty of google sites showing the details of how to take off the old suspension and replace with Ohlins . The key is to change the rear shock mounts and mounting gaskets. With Ohlins , you get to choose your cars ride height, so you can be at a slammed position, normal OEM height or as Ohlins recommend about 30 mm lower than OEM. There is a recommendation chart in the install manual for setup of preload, and initial compression/rebound settings. I would follow those recommendations then change to your hearts content as you get to know the new feel of your car. Take a careful look at the LCA's end bearings and replace these if there is any question as they are your foundation of your ride. You do not want any sloppyness on turnin or on bumpy roads as your car will drift around, especially if its lowered 30 mm. You also have the option of adding camber, which I would do as an after install alignment is mandatory to -1.5 degree f and -1.5 degree r. With this setup, you should be happy with your new lower, quicker handling suspension. Then comes stickier tires to put the quicker suspension to its new found effectiveness. Let us know your decision.

Apex1 pretty much nailed it. If you need some Ohlins we're happy to help out. We have free shipping at the moment too

Those parts look pretty typical at that mileage. The creaking may be due to worn strut mounts or strut bearings as well. It would be good to do a full suspension evaluation as Apex1 mentions. How are all the ball joints, tie rods, torque arm bushings, sway links, etc. The Cayman R kit is popular but expensive if you are looking to lower. Tire rack , and others, have a Bilstien strut and lowering spring kit that is reasonably priced. My car is a 987.1 but went for LCA and coil overs since I have been tracking it and like the adjust-ability.

So my choices I suppose are Bilstien PSS9's (or B4/B6/B8) or Ohlins Road and Track or Cayman R kit. And for the rest of the parts, if I'm not going to replace with OEM, I was also thinking about getting GT3 LCAs and also replace the other suspensions components as well. Then on top of that, get some 18" Titan 7 T-S5 wheels (A 4.6 lb weight reduction for the rear wheels compared to my 18" Boxster S II wheels, still unsure how much the front wheels weigh) or Apex SM-10 wheels (not nearly as light as the Titan 7s it seems). Fit either them with 245/275 (or wider) Pilot 4S'. All and all, it seems like a lot of money and I'm not sure if it's worth spending all that money if that money can be used towards a 981 which will have better everything. Of course the 987 is a great platform, it's just that option of having a newer car with better technology that would make these upgrades not as relevant I suppose. But a Cayman is a Cayman, the car is all about handling, so money spent towards making the car handle better will be better rewarded I guess. Logical side of me arguing with fun side. The car is a daily driver that I wouldn't mind taking to some Autocross events (I bought a NC Miata if I do ever venture out towards the track). I live in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, everything is mostly flat and straight here, so not many curvy roads. I do plan on keeping the car for awhile though.

I think I finally decided on getting on Cayman R springs paired with Bilstien shocks as well as GT3 LCAs. Now I have a few more questions regarding it. Which Bilstien shocks to get? Seems like a tossup between the B8s and B6s. GT3 LCAs for the front of the car or the rear or both? Should I go with Tarett or TPC swaybars or OEM ones that came with the Cayman S /R? Tarret droplinks as well when working on suspension?

For street you can get away with LCAs just in the front. We use a the Tarett bars on lots of street and race cars with great results. The drop links are mainly for corner balancing, which you can't do with fixed ride height system.

Don't have to mess with for negative camber too much on the rear tires with the Cayman R springs I'm guessing? Would it be a good option to run the Cayman R swaybar (have no idea what size) in the back and the Tarett 26.8mm sawybar for the front? Or Tarett swaybars for both ends? Also thank you for the detailed response!

Depends a lot on what you're doing with your car but roughly -2 degree all around works well on the street. We run -3 to -3.5 on track cars. The higher negative camber requires more hardware to work; LCAs front and rear along with TREs and toe links potentially. With front only LCAs you should be able to get -2 up front and at least -1.5 in the rear. The rear becomes a balance between toe and camber adjustment. I'd suggest Tarett front and rear as it's a proven setup that we've used a lot. Mixing with other bars may work well but we haven't done it so I can't comment on the effectiveness or manors.

The Cayman R suspension does seem like a good deal at $1756, but still thinking about coilovers (specifically Ohlins Road and Track) being that much better for daily use as well, but being nearly double the price... (Also would have to deal with the maintenance on those, for as infrequent that is).

The idea with Ohlin R&T is that you can change the compression rebound setting to match your activity levels. So, for daily you have a setting of 14 clicks from stiff f and 16 clicks r. For a bumpy race surface you have a setting of 5 f and 8 r and for a smooth racing surface you have a setting of 2-3 f and 4-5 r. Also, you would most likely have adjustable swaybars so you can change the balance from understeer to neutral to oversteer which will match your tire pad grip. so you can get wider tires in front to match the wider rear footprints. Say you like to remove the understeer slightly, so you go with 255/35/18 f and 275/35/18 r tires . You can tune your balance with the swaybars to suit your driving style. Also, your ride height is up to you, so if you like slightly lower ride height to lower the center of gravity, you certainly can do this with the Ohlin's without affecting the spring compression. Ohlin's also allow for a slightly higher spring rate and valving to match for the track as well through a few vendors like joshua@arcflash.

If I'm not tracking too often, I don't feel like I would be able to make full use of coil overs. So I suppose just sticking to getting Cayman R suspension and upgrading to coil overs later if needed be a more viable option? Or if I do change my habits up in the future and started tracking more, would've it been worth it to get the coil overs now? Rather not spend money twice in one place if I could've just spent it once. It does seem nice to be lower and have better ride quality and I know the Cayman R can be a little stiff. Also for daily driving and track use, how does it compare to stock?

I just went through this same set of decisions on my 987.1S Boxster . Ended up with the Ohlins , and have been happy so far with how they perform on the street. Haven’t tracked it yet. I got the Ohlins for 2700ish, which is just a 100 or so more than what Suncoast was selling the Cayman R kit for. Did you say you found the Cayman kit for 1800? That probably would have changed the calculus for me—that seems like a great deal. I had a friend with a garage and tools help with the install. It’s not super difficult, but there are a lot of parts you have to take apart to do it, especially in the rear, so it’s fairly involved. And yes, the spring compressors are daunting.

Yeah, I can get the Cayman R suspension for about $1500. I suppose I could always upgrade to coilovers if I feel like the setup isn't enough. What camber do you run to fit those tires? Checklist of parts to get for Cayman R suspension and some things to make it more, anything else needed?: Cayman R Springs Bilstien B8 shocks Front GT3 LCAs Tarett front and rear swaybars Should I buy OEM rear LCAs to replace them (not sure how well they are at 100k miles)?

Currently running -2.9 f and -2.5 r. I am using Tarett Cup LCA's f and r. You can get -2.1 out of an OEM setup in the rear without Tarett LCA's. Fronts max out around -2.7 with the Tarett adjustable LCA's. I used slotted shock attachments holes for the rest of the camber in front. Some racers use both camber plates and LCA in f to gain more camber above -3.0.

Just an FYI; the SPL LCAs allow significantly more camber just from the LCA. I run the Tarett upper mounts all around allow with SPL LCAs.