Lowering Springs

Hello all, I’m considering lowering my 987.1 Cayman S , I’ve got the 19” Carrera Classic Wheels and they fit beautifully but the wheel gap is larger than I’d like. Has anyone had experience and/or suggestions on; 1) Brand 2) Cost 3) Ride comfort 4) DIY 5) concerns Best, 987.1 Onyx Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Onyx987S, My suggestion is to read a web articule from Pistonheads re lowering springs. Google Pistonheads, then Porsche , in the search box, request CMOOSE title; 2006 Porsche 987 Cayman S 3.4 Bore Score Edition page 16 through 23 , Once you do that, you will have a better appreciation for the job you are getting yourself into if you are a DIY guy. He is a firm beliver in using 17 inch wheels for back country work and upgraded suspension parts. His story is ugly from the front fitment issue of the B12's. Looks like Eibach, who builds the springs, got a defective spring batch. The photos of the shock upper mount shows almost no spring travel left when sitting on level ground. So, he finally got that issue resolved by buying a set of H&R front springs and installing these. Then he returned to wheels and tires for the rest of the thread. He felt the his 18's were not as responsive and too race like as the 17's he bought for winter use. So, these wheels and tires cured his backroad UK driving issues. He used 6 mm spacers to get the wheels to fit around his Cayman S brake calipers. B12's are both shocks and springs sold as a unit. Eibach or H&R $350 for a set of 4 Install cost varies, $800-$1200 but you must include an alignment $200. What shape are your shocks? The rear end is a real install issue, there are articles about the install on this web site, or just GOOGLE it and find the Planet 9 thread. No real concerns, just decide if you only want just the springs, springs/shocks vs Coilovers.

I have the H&R lowering springs on my 987 Cayman . Cost wasn't too bad but can get pricey if you pay to have them installed. The ride is only slightly firmer than stock. The springs get rid of most of the wheel gap and really improve the looks. I would recommend them. Before getting H& R springs , I considered Eibach springs but after researching, found that they lower the front an inch more than the rear and I didn't want uneven wheel gap.

I remember doing this back in the 80s to a 3 series BMW . The new ride hight, down 3/4", looked great with very little wheel well gap. However, here in Southern California that was the worst decision I have ever made! I scraped going up and down my driveway. I scraped going into and out of parking lots. I had to crawl over speed bumps. In other words it was a pain in the ars and I decided I would never lower a car again! It looks great but unless Washington has really flat roads or you want to track the car, I don't recommend it. Good Luck.

Onyx987s lives in NC not Washington. I live in Washington and have bottomed out only once on a very bumpy back country logging road. I should have been going 20 mph but was going 35 and could not dodge all of the holes at one time. boom, could have ripped off my brake ducts or other stuff. I wll have L&N deep sump installed next month to help prevent oil starvation at the track. LN also makes a metal sheet covering the sump, which I will have installed. My car is dropped 30 mm but the spring rate of the Ohlins and Tarett GT swaybars sort of protect the bottom along with a stiffer compression rate in the shock. My seat and back sometimes get the impact from the stiffer suspension. Sorry to hear that you have trouble with your driveway. A couple of my neighbors have a crest at their side walk then a pitch down and they drag their undercarriage, Mercedes and Tesla . My driveway is flatter.

My H& R springs helped the performance and also the looks. I just read somewhere that lowering the car by one inch produces the same effect as a 38hp boost in power. I also think the upgraded springs do more than just lower the car.

If you lower your car so the wheelwells match the radius of the tires , lets say 27 mm using H& R springs , I would highly recommend you also install Tarett GT swaybars front and rear. You then have adjustable swaybars that can be used to fine tune the balance front to rear. Or say you have two sets of tires , summer and winter, and they have different tire footprints, by crawling under your car in the rear with a couple of wrenches and then opening the front wheel well by turning the steering to the max, you can adjust both bars within a few minutes. In autocrossing last year, my front Michelins started to slide a lot even with 50 % rubber left, so I went with softest bar setting in front and max bar in the rear to balance the car, which helped a lot. Now I have another set of wheels and tires for autocrossing, so I am just using my Michelins to run around town. I have had the middle tread of my Michelin PSS siped by a local tire store for more winter traction, which seemed to work. This process is not recommended for track race tires though as you could chunk out parts of your tire shoulders (which I specifically told the tire shop not to do). The dirt trackers do this all the time to get additional traction and even off road trucks in the winter to get max snow and ice bite. In the end you are lowering your cars center of gravity and also stiffening the roll center of your car. The swaybar help reduce weight transfer and the increased spring rate of the lowering springs prevent the outside suspension compression to some extent. Both are excellant ways to provide better cornering. Then you will need a good alignment with negative camber, as much as possible in front say -1.5 and match this in the rear, which will increase inside tire wear, but by turning your tires around you can add many additional miles to old Michelin PSS. No toe in or out in front and a slight toe in the rear. You will be set up for canyon blasts, PCA touring, autocrossing and starting DE days. You have a 987.1 which will need a deep oil sump with baffles if you track your car with sticky tires and additional brake pads and cooling ducts.