I’ve spent the last few weeks looking all over the internet and talking to local Porsche shops about what to do about my H&R coil over sport suspension. We have my 987.2 Boxster set at it’s tallest ride height (according to my mechanic), but the car is still too low for driveways and even the crown of the road at some intersections. The front end scrapes on everything, and it’s stressing me out.
What are options:
1) can I just put in some taller springs? Nothing dramatic, just enough to get 1-1.5 inches.
2) switch back to a non-adjustable suspension, like the B6 option from Bilstein? Yeah, it works, but that’s just so damn boring.
3) keep searching for some proper coilovers that give me actual adjustable damping AND a factory ride height? One mechanic said he can set the oh-so-difficult-to-find PSS-10s to factory ride height. But then another says no one makes a coil over that can do that. Every manufacturer seems to think my car needs a 1 inch minimum drop.
So give me some opinions. Does anyone have coil overs that give you a tall factory-like ride height? What’s out there that isn’t on EBay and Amazon? Are there any shops that will build to spec?
Thanks for the help!
-Scott
You may want to consider a Cayman R suspension. These come-up for sale used sometimes on ******** and Panjo classifieds and I believe you can still order a new set from Suncoast. This is what I installed on my 2010 Cayman. The drop is about an inch, which makes for a much nicer stance than stock, yet still high enough to avoid scraping. Well, I have an aftermarket front lip on mine, so it still kisses pavement sometimes, but its not bad at all. With this setup I get excellent performance on city streets and acceptable ride for track days as well.
Hey Scott,
Sorry to hear you're having issues with those. Our
Ohlins R/T packages
allow you to go from basically stock height to 1.5" lower. We can also build you some
Ohlins TTXs
to any spec you want but they are way overkill for a street application.
The issue with the H&Rs is the only height adjustment is in the spring preload. So you really can't raise it without making it super stiff. If you put in a taller spring you'll wind up with a ton of preload and the shock will be maxed out leaving you no droop travel. Whereas our Ohlins coilovers allow you to set the preload correctly then adjust the height of car independently via the lower shock body. They are also adjustable for compression and rebound.
I'm at the shop for a few hours today catching up on paperwork if you'd like to give me a call [phone removed]) and chat about options.
Cheers,
Josh
Justaddcoffee- I second Joshuaj's recommendation about Ohlin's R&T. If you go that route, I would highly recommend adding GT3 LCA's with Tarett solid thrust pucks. You can then increase your ride height to OEM levels, add internal track width from shims, firm up the forward/aft motion of the LCA's with solid thrust pucks and add camber from the arms alone. Say you pushed out the arms out with 15mm shims which equates to -1.5 camber front and rear. Add to this about 5 minutes of toe out in front, which you can do with a solid thrust puck, and 12 minutes of toe in in the rear, Your tire wear on the inner shoulders will be very slight, your turnin and trailbraking with be fantastic. The solid thrust puck allows for very accurate toe adjustment that do not wonder under braking or turnin. The added track width will give you better weight transfer in cornering that is cleverally managed by the Ohlin's higher springrate and DFV (dual flow valve) internal valving.
I went this direction by using Ohlins and Tarett Cup LCA's, but without racing, no need for the additional expense, GT3 arms would work for your application and still give you the Porsche/Ohlin's cornering response you desire, while keeping the daily driveablility of a softer ride.
Apex1 is spot on. The one thing I'd add is that if you're going to upgrade the pucks (thrust arm bushing) on a new set of GT3 LCAs we can get you into the CUP LCAs for less $$.
Thanks everyone for the input. I’d love to choose the Ohlins, but those may be beyond my budget unless I forego the seats and track time. But seriously, they do factory ride height? Just seemed like everything I looked at was a 1inch drop guaranteed. But if the Ohlins really do have a factory height, I will give them serious consideration.
And Josh, still might give you a call sometime with questions. I never turn down a knowledgeable source of information.
Cheers!
Feel free to call any time, no purchase required
There's nothing worth putting on the car (coilover wise) that is cheaper then Ohlins IMHO. So I'd go back to stock or a derivation of OE suspension. Cheap coilovers just do not work.
One thought is if you really want stock height you can at least get an OE alignment with adding the LCAs. That puts you in the the $2995-3695 range depending on the Ohlins package...
