Cayman S: Suspension set-up options?

Hi there, I've been reading lots of stuff about the different options on setting up the Cayman S but whilst i can set up a bike when it comes to cars I'm a bit lost! I have a stock non- PASM 07 Cayman S with 19" wheels and i do about 6000 miles per year on road and a handful of track days including the nurburgring nordschleife when i can. I find that on road the ride is harsh and yet on track the suspension feels soft, i get a fair amount of body roll and the amount of travel seems to make the car feel unstable especially when braking hard from high speed. I would ideally like to lower the stock ride height and if its possible with the wheels i have to make the road ride softer but the track set up more firm and with less body roll. I have read lots of threads reviewing lowering springs, coil overs, sway bars etc but i can't seem to determine what would be right for me. Some of the tuners here in the UK offer lots of different options but there is no consistent theme and i am concerned at spending a lot without really understanding the benefit. One of the things i noticed is that lowering springs don't seem to get good reviews on this site but there is a porsche magazine here that profiled 4 highly modified caymans that cost a lot of money to put together and were all used on road/track but all of them ran lowering springs as opposed to coilovers. So I would really appreciate any advice on how coilovers/lowering springs might affect my car, whether i should consider a sway bar set up instead (or at the same time), or maybe I am not going to get exactly what I'm looking for with 19" wheels? Thanks in advance!

For your application I would recommend a single adjustable coil over such as KW Variant 3, Bilstein PSS9 or 10, or JRZ RS1. These give you higher spring rates than OEM, the ability to adjust ride height, and the ability to adjust the shock damping. Set them soft for the street and hard for the track. If you want to fine tune under/over steer, a set of adjustable sway bars would work. Lowering springs lower the car a fixed amount and usually are a little stiffer then OEM but you use OEM shocks so can't adjust damping.

First, I think we need to point out you are trying to have your cake and eat it too. In the world of suspension, it is very difficult to create a setup that fits a broad range of applications. Chances an individual on the forum, can determine the parameters for an optimal combination & for a given application would be rare. Most of us don't have the experience or access to the equipment to learn how to properly design a better than OEM suspension shock/spring combo. My point is there are a lot of complexities around suspension building; IE several factors to consider. For this very reason, I would avoid lowering springs. Simply because a lowering spring manufacturer cannot know exactly what shocks you may use with the spring. I'd avoid this route at all costs. BUT! That doesn't mean a coilover manufacturer knows what they are doing either! Yes you can "match" a shock to a spring and say it works, but without testing a coilover setup on the exact car, it is almost just as much of a crap shoot as a lowering spring/shock combo. The upside with coilovers is that you'll be able to corner balance the car. If your going to get coilovers, please corner balance your car. I think this is one of the biggest reasons to buy coilovers. Find someone that will corner balance the car with you in your driving position. You'll love it. Oh and don't forget by lowering the car you'll be changing your roll center, roll rate, and many other factors. All of this is a balancing game that you will need to start to play because it will affect how the car drives and responds to inputs. A great example of this, and I don't say this to offend anyone. Several people have installed Cayman R suspensions on their Cayman S . They instantly notice two different part numbers; one for the PDK transmission and another for the 6 speed. Different suspensions for different cars, even if they are 50? 100 lbs? different, Porsche went out of their way to engineer another solution. Now take it a step further. I would wager a guess that the Cayman R suspension isn't completely a good fit for the Cayman S . Is it tuned a bit more aggressively? Yes. But the overall weight and weight distribution of the two cars have to be different. Even changing the exhaust makes me a bit worried about how it affects my CS suspension. All being said, the point is...it can be very complicated. It might feel soft, but it doesn't necessarily mean it is bad. Once you start down the path of touching suspension components, it can get vary hairy.

Thanks for your replies, I will certainly take on board the point about corner balancing. I guess my main fear is that coil overs will make the road ride worse than it already is and that I might get a greater benefit from starting by changing to 18" wheels. It looks like trying to find a set-up can be a bit of a slippery slope so it would be great to get a sense of the compromise others with the same goal as me have reached.

My two cents. You might consider "starting" with adding stiffer sway bars, adj. ones would be nice. This would give you less body roll on your track days and still keep much of your softer ride qualities in a straight line on the city streets in London. I don't think I would drop your ride height more then 20mm for London. I am familiar with the speed bumps on some side streets in St. Johns Wood, not to friendly! I suspect they are there to slow down the oil princes and their super cars in their quest for third gear after a light change to green! Start with the bars, see if you like them, then decide whats next ?

I am actually not that far from St. John's wood and yes unfortunately speed bumps are everywhere in London! I will have to think about what to do, one shop has quoted me £3300 for pss9 including fitting and set up which I assume includes balance and geo. It's a lot when I start to add in plenum, tb, ecu and cat back exh as well, makes me think I could put towards a gen 2 car, that's the price of modding i guess.

For both soft and hard, you'll need a solution that is variable. Coilovers change valving to effect fluid flows between its chambers. On the flip side PASM varies viscosity of the fluid while the valving is constant. In both case the setup tuned to have different profiles, clicks on a shock or modes on the PASM . There are some manufacturers that have developed a shock that has two valving channels. It mechanically is able to select a combination of the channels to provide a soft ride, or stiff ride. Ohlins has this technology, they call it DFV. Dual Flow Valve. The problem, they don't have it for the Cayman S ; 986 , 987 or 981 . I guess you can always give them a ring and see if they might be interested. Hell if they develop a product, I'd buy it. Here is more info on the DFV technology: http://www.ohlinsusa.com/road-track-tech Here is an application list: Öhlins performance suspension, shocks and coilovers But I don't think they are going to be any softer than stock. However, they might be become stiffer than stock at the track. On a side note: I think there are one or two other companies that provide something similar. One of them is Japanese. As for the suggestion around changing sways. A good suggestion and a good compromise here. But word of caution, this is on smooth roads. The roll bar is designed to help keep both wheel planted, whether the force come from compression or lift. The moment the road gets rough there will be a slight increase in a "jarring" sensation. This is a product of the roll bar trying to keep both wheels in contact with the ground, while each wheel is encountering difference forces.

This is incorrect. PASM (and the Bilstein Damptronic shocks, since Bilstein builds the PASM shocks for Porsche) have a fixed-viscosity oil and electronically-controlled valving inside the shock. You are thinking of GM's magnetoresistive shocks, which have very fine iron particles in the oil, which are used to vary effective fluid viscosity by changing the magnetic field surrounding the fluid. However, this is a completely different system from the PASM system.

Why not get the Bilstein PSS9 coilovers? There is enough adjustment range for a compliant street ride that is smoother (less harsh) than OEM and yet gives better ride control. The Ohlins coilovers are a unicorn. Maybe someday you might get them, but you could end up waiting years. :crazy:

OP, you might check out cmoose on Pistonheads regarding suspension upgrades on 987's. He has a very descriptive way of looking at the performance of our cars, which you might appreciate. By the way the R manual or X73 springs would be a good starting point. Then maybe Tarett GT adjustable swaybars and downlinks. With these two suspension additions, you are good to go until your current shocks give out.