Weak suspension??? Cayman 987.2

Hey all, I'm new to the forum so please go easy on me. Tried to find an answer to this from existing threads but didn't see any. I bought my first Porsche (2009 Cayman 2.9 PDK ) a few months ago and have been doing some small repairs, as advised by my local sports car specialist. They are pretty high-end and mainly deal with cars worth a lot more than mine. Anyway, some of the stuff they advised seemed sensible, such as gearbox mounts (I thought I felt a clunk on the upshift when under hard acceleration), exhaust screws (which were missing), CV boot clips (one was missing) etc etc... The car has done 100k (KM) so in terms of mileage I'd say that's quite low for one of these cars of this age. One thing they have advised, which I'm unsure about, is a full suspension overhaul. They said the current suspension is 'weak'. This would be dampers, mounts and all other bushes and brackets contained within the strut/spring assembly, plus an alignment, of course. This is a big expense, so I'm wary about doing it if it's not really needed and it will last a couple of years more. I plan to keep the car for several years and possibly do the odd track day. I'm fairly competent with motors and do minor repairs myself, sometimes, although this is my first Porsche, so I have no experience or driving reference. It feels okay when pushing round bends, not as planted as my Lotus Elise (previous weekend/fun car) was (not many cars are) but confident enough to let the rear get a little loose. The obvious thing would be to get a second or third opinion. However, most garages here are looking to upsell or make money rather than give genuine feedback, that's my gut feeling. There are no leaks from the dampers or broken springs, it's not nose diving under hard braking or bouncing over bumps. At high speed it doesn't feel particularly amazing when cornering, possibly a little unsettled, but again for a 10 year old car on original dampers etc (my assumption) then that would be expected I'd say? What else can I do to test/verify the suspension myself? Appreciate the help, and FWIW I love the car, engine note is lovely when firing up through the gears on the PDK. Looks awesome too in silver with 18" factory wheels Cheers! ?

First, inspect the parts. Look for degradation of rubber pieces, and check suspension parts for play. Next , drive the car and listen for clunks and feel for pulling or vibrations. Finally look at the tires and check for uneven wear, cupping, etc. If none of these are problems, your suspension is probably fine. 100k km is not that much mileage, even though the car is ten years old. Regarding the handling of the car, how old are the tires? Check the date code, they may be old and hard.

Thanks, that's solid advice and I can do most of that myself, might need to look at jacks - I'm guessing a normal trolley jack won't be much use? I think the tyres are at least 3 years old, maybe older. The hard aspect makes sense, but uneven wear, would that not be more liley down to poor alignment or pressure?

Uneven tire wear indicates misalignment, which could certainly influence the unsettled feeling you've described. I'd suggest getting that done ASAP once you've determined that there's nothing worn as indicated by the previously recommended inspection. Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

Thanks! Appreciate the advice. ?

Andy, the condition of the suspension can depend a lot on the roads that its used on and the driving style. It is >10 years old already and the arms will probably need some refresh too. Here is my experience changing absorbers - also about half the arms, drop links, anti roll bar bushes. bumpy journey of changing absorbers

The roads are extremely smooth here, virtually no pot holes at all. Also little rain and never any salt on the roads as 10 c degrees is the lowest it ever goes. There are speed bumps like anywhere but I like to hope the previous owners crawled over them like I do. I think though, unless the the bushes and other suspension parts have been changed recently, then it probably makes sense to do them all at the same time if the strut assemblies need done. Getting a proper look tomorrow so will have a better idea then. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Update: Took it to a different Porsche speciallist and they feel the suspension is good, after an inspection. Two new rear tyres, as the current ones are 2014, plus they are almost at the wear markers and an alignment is all that it seemingly needs. It definitely pays to get a second opinion!

HI Andy, My car is similar in age to yours and while refreshing my car, my left shock was found to be "weak" as in the rebound rate of the damper was very very slow and struggled to reach full height. I have a vid on watsapp but don't know how to show that here. There was also a swooshing noise going over bumps. There was also a rubbing/grinding sound coming from the right rear which turned out to be a hardening of the bump stops and/or an aging strut mount. I've since changed both rear strut mounts and moved to B8s and R springs and all of those issues are now gone. My mech has advised that sooner rather than later my front LCAs may need replacing. Just FYI as you may be coming to a need for replacements if anything due to age.

Andy and friends... Sounds to me like your shocks are fine for street use. Rear tires generally go first, so not too surprising that they advised you to replace only the rears. Some things worth considering for the future, when your suspension actually gets tired, are.... 1. A Cayman R suspension taken off another car. If you check the Cayman / Boxster related classifieds, or even put in your own ad in the "Wanted" section, you might luck out. This would be a very nice update to your car when your current suspension gets old. The R suspension is a little tighter and nicer handling but not harsh. It doesn't have the noisy end links and bushings of some of most of the aftermarket suspensions and it will resist corrosion better. Sometimes, people buy these Cayman Rs and go right into racing, replacing everything when the car is new or has low miles. Sometimes, they aren't racing but just want a better lap time at track weekends or just want a change after owning their R for a while. The Cayman R bits are really nice for a street car. Also should be easy to install for your local tech as they are factory parts. I think trying to buy new pieces might be frightfully expensive, but a racer with a garage full of take-off car parts to get rid of might be able to sell them more reasonably. 2. Front GT3 lower control arms...or adjustable aftermarket ones. allow you to change your front camber easily. The normal Cayman suspension isn't camber-adjustable. This is really nice if you drive like me...or like an insane person whose being chased by Mad Max. Adding just 1 degree of negative camber from stock will increase front tire life for the sporty street driver. Increasing 2 degrees will really make charging corners hard a rewarding experience...and a bit shocking...OMG...How did I do that? More than 2 degrees on the street turns into a negative at some point. Straight line braking starts to degrade as does rear wheel traction during hard accelerations. ...More camber isn't always better. I set up my car, an E36 M3 , with more than 4 degrees of camber for a track weekend ...once. OMG...It was all over the place on braking and acceleration was a very tire-squealing and slow affair, but would it ever corner! If you put more than 2 degrees on the front, you should also increase the rear negative camber by about the same amount as the front...a little less. If you're driving mostly on straight, flat-ish highways, just leave it stock. If you like the bends, a degree or two will really make things interesting. The more camber you put in, the closer your toe settings need to be to zero...to avoid ruining your tires early by wearing out the inside corners. Think about it! Tires not pointed straight and tires riding on their inside edges. The combination just grinds the rubber off those inside corners until there's nothing left. There are some advantages to toeing the tires in a little bit in back and out a little bit in front...but this must be minimized when you have a lot of camber going on at the same time. Almost zero is what you want with non-stock camber settings. You loosen a couple bolts on these front lower control arms under the car and stick in pre-cut shims. Tighten the bolts back in...The arm is now longer...and that increases negative camber (pushes the lower part of the tires outward without pushing the upper part anywhere). It also increases the front track and can give slightly MORE fender clearance if you put wider tires on your front wheels...say 245s instead of 235s. If you do track events or autocross, this makes a massive improvement in the cornering abilities of the front tires and also increases tire life at this sort of event. I like the GT3 arms because Porsche made them and because they have normal bushings in them that don't make noise or add harshness for street driving. Most of the aftermarket ones use uni-ball type bushings that turn your car into a noisy race car...for a small advantage in directness and lap time, potentially. I tour with my car and I want it to be nice on the road. Further, I want it to be weatherproof. I've seen some coil-over setups that collect water and corrode. OK for SW states or for cars kept in all winter...or race cars, not so good for "real" cars. 3. These 987 suspensions have a weak link. It's the toe adjustment in the rea r. "Toe" is whether the wheels point dead-straight ahead (zero toe) or front of tires point outward (positive toe or "tow-out") or if the fronts of the tires point inward compared to the rear of the tires (negative toe or "toe-in"). I hope this makes sense??? ...Anyway, there is a stock system on the rear suspension to adjust the toe using an eccentric mechanism. It's notorious for getting knocked out of adjustment by potholes etc. Then you get rapid rear tire wear... ...It happened to me. I was able to detect that the car felt like it was "crabbing" a little on the highway. Tires were nearly new PSS. I got an alignment just to be safe. They said the passenger's side rear had been knocked out of alignment...probably by a pothole...said they're notorious for this happening in the back. Highway driving with excessive toe is very hard on tires. I'm always reading Tire Rack reviews where Porsche guys complain about only getting 5,000 miles on rear tires. Let me tell you, unless you're doing hole-shots all day long, your tires will last longer than that if the car is aligned well.

Sixisenuff, A lot of good info. Thanks. I'll tke note of your suggestions for GT3 LCAs when it comes time to replace mine.

Andy, & W: fyi: LCAs aren't a wear item. You would only replace these if you decide you want the ability to adjust front camber. Messing around with suspension changes is fun.

the rubber bushes in the LCA can wear out and become "soft" and ultimately can leak oil too.

Thanks, that's good to know. I think (hope) my suspension is ok. Maybe not 100%, but fine for street use as it stands. If I decide to keep the car long term ,then I might consider a full suspension refresh. When they say LCA, they probably mean the bushes.

LCA means Lower Control Arm.

Something to note when buying a new car: Cars drive differently, it pays to become familiar with the car before diagnosing a handling problem. When transitioning from a corvette to my 987 CS the steering felt nervous at high speeds/minor corrections gave larger than anticipated results. If you’re used to driving a regular car, the quicker than average steering rack is something to get used to. My CS didn’t have nervous steering, I was just used to the slow racks. (Comparing with an Elise might give different results)