Front spring compensation part needed for RoW M030 install?

I just received my ROW M030 kit from SunCoast today and have a question. I have seen several places where there is a front spring compensation plate used in the front strut assembly to apparently compensate for variances in coil spring height. I see that if you have a white single upper dot on the spring you use the 3.0 mm plate, if you have a green single upper dot you use the 6.5 mm spacer. Well, my M030 front springs have a blue dot and I do not see that identified anywhere. It seems that the RoW M030 install is very popular so I am interested in what people did, meaning did you use the compensator plate that came out? Did you leave that part out? Is there another plate to be used for the RoW M030 combo? It seems that recently there have been several threads about front ride height variances after this mod and I wonder if this may be one of the reasons. Sorry if this is long-winded.

Interesting question. My indy is installing my ROW M030 suspension on my 03 996 coupe right now. I wasn't aware of the compensation plates. I got my kit from Suncoast also. I remember seeing a green dot and a white dot but I don't remember a blue dot. Sorry, I know this isn't much help but I will most likely get the car back tomorrow and I can ask my indy then.

VA951: What is the thickness of the compensator plate?

It may be worth a question Soverystout, I would be interested in his answer. Down South, I know of two thicknesses, 3.0 and 6.5 mm, listed in my original post. Those appear to be for the standard suspension. For RoW M030, who knows... I plan to do my install shortly and hope that someone has run into this before me.

I have been researching this issue for over a year now. I had the RoW M030 suspension installed last April. I immediately got a 3/4" drop in the rear (26 1/2 to 25 3/4) but virtually nothing in the front (maybe 1/4"). I read on many threads that it would settle after a few weeks or months, but mine never changed at all. I have verified that all parts; springs, shocks, and sway bars are all correct for RoW as well as the part number on the kit. The only thing that makes any sense is something to do with these compensator plates, although 3mm or 6mm is not a lot of difference, but would account for some of it. If anyone has had the kit installed and got 26" front and rear (which is supposed to be what you get), please let us know if those compensator plates were used or not. Thanks!

I have been researching for you as well. I am coming up with the same results. Only 3.0 and 6.5. Trying to find out more. If I come up with anything, I'll let you know.

Thanks. 6.5 mm is about 1/4 inch so that would make a difference you could probably notice. I would love to know what is supposed to be used for the sport springs with the single blue dot. If anyone is not sure what this is about and has a copy of "Porsche 996, The Essential Companion", take a look at page 643. And not to further complicate the issue but it appears the rears also have a compensation plate, but they are 0.5 and 4.0 mm thickness. Again, any and all info would be appreciated.

Would love to know the answer of this question as well. I am still at 26.5" on all four sides even after having the suspension on for one week and going through an autocross.

I talked to two local indys here in the DC area about this. One did not give me confidence he knew what I was talking about but the other seemed to know. He said he thinks they leave the spacers out when they do this mod, he said they have done a few. I think the spacers will not be used when I do the mod.

Well, I had the ROW M030 installed but I was in a rush and didn't get an opportunity to ask my indy (he was busy also). My car is a bit lower in both the front and rear. Not much mind you. I went from 26.5 to 26.25 in the rear. Never got around to measuring the front but I can tell visually that the front tires "sit" more in the wheel well. Handling is superb. Quite happy with it.

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Wow that isn't really much of a drop. So I guess the newer ROW M030 don't drop the vehicles quite as much? Oh well, as you mentioned handling is vastly improved but the car just doesn't look very different. I haven't measured mine this week but will do so after my DE event this weekend. If it doesn't go down after that then I'm stuck with whatever I have as a ride height.

Just did my install today, ran it around the block and mine did not drop much either. I went from 26.5 to 26.25 in the front. Rears stayed at 26.25. Feels great however, much tighter but not harsh so I am happy. I did not have any compensation spacers in mine that I could see. My stock springs were color coded with a single blue upper dot, same as the RoW springs that went in. Now off to get it aligned...

How is this still a mystery? This kit has been around for how long?

My thoughts exactly...

Don't mean to hijack your thread here, but are the struts that come in the kit OEM struts? Koni? Boge? Just curious as I am thinking of just getting new springs to achieve the lower stance and buying better aftermarket struts. Thanks

Updating this old thread...did anyone ever get the answer here? Appears that: White Dot = 3.0mm spacer Green Dot = 6.5mm spacer Blue Dot = ????? I am about to tackle this project on my Dad's 2003 C2, trying to figure out which to use.

I didn't use any spacers with my ROW 030. Got the kit from Gert. Suspension worked great. I would say it lowered close to 1/2" f & maybe a little more in back. Unfortunately, I never took measurements. Sorry, doesn't add much, just my experience.

I found this thread with some answers, assuming they are true - https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...0-springs.html Per this thread in 2002 Porsche changed the color code on the M030 springs to the following: Green changed to Blue - so both Green and Blue call for a 6.5mm spacer (compensation plate) White changed to Orange - so both White and Orange call for a 3.0mm spacer (compensation plate) Part numbers stayed the same for the springs.

I just checked the springs that are in my ROW M030 kit (purchased 8/16 by the PO) that i plan to install this fall. Front springs have an orange dot at the top and two dots, a light yellow-green and a dark green, at the bottom. The rears have an orange dot at the top and two dots at the bottom, a dark green and a red. This looks like the colors changed after "The Essential Companion" was published (pg 643) as these colors don't match the book. But do match Nichshu's post above. And I would use the 3.0mm compensation plate. Am I to assume the compensation plates are to be used if you don't want the car to be any lower that stock? To compensate for the shorter springs? I would think if they were required they would be included in the kit?

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The M030 kit only includes the shocks and springs. Unfortunately it does not include any of the shock mount parts, including the compensation plates. Not sure why. The dot that matters for the compensation plate selection is the single dot on the top of the spring. Not sure what the two dots on the lower coil mean. The 996.2 M030 kit that I ordered will be here this week. Once I get it out of the box I will report back on the colors.

Does anyone know what the rear color codes are? The choices for the rear spring "compensating plate" are 0.5mm and 4.0mm.

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Nevermind...found this over on Renntech - https://www.renntech.org/forums/topi...0-pn-for-my02/ which says for the REAR it's - White = 0.5 mm compensation plate or Green = 4 mm compensation plate. Soooo...assuming the color change is the same on the REAR springs that would mean: Green changed to Blue - Use 4mm compensating plate White changed to Orange - Use 0.5mm compensating plate

Is your car a coupe or cab, the kits are different. So the compensation plates are required? I'll have to order those I guess.

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Yes the springs and shocks are different coupe vs cab and C2 vs C4. According to the parts manual the compensation plates were used on the stock suspension as well as the M030. The question is when you disassemble your stock shocks to move the top parts over to the M030 whether you have the right plates or you need to order different thickness. The top parts are not included in the M030 kit.

I'm checking with my local dealer about other parts they recommend replacing while doing the M030. Some fasteners appear to be single use type. Also the bellows didn't come with the kit, and some other bits might be good to replace while in there.

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I did the RoW M030 suspension earlier in the year. I bought new dust boots/bellows, bump stops, compensator plates and strut mounts. My car had less than 40k when I did the install but it still seemed silly to try and reuse any of the old parts. Here is some info that helped me out when I was trying to figure everything out.

Those are the type of parts I'm thinking should be replaced too. Maybe some of the fasteners (nuts) just cause some shouldn't be reused, and they are inexpensive. I didn't think about the mounts but probably makes sense. My car has 50k miles and I don't expect to change shocks again for 50k more miles, or so. So probably never for me. Did you reuse the upper mounting bearings on the front shocks or replaced? Thanks for the chart, that's from the Essentials book, right? Some of the individual part numbers on the parts in the kit don't match my older version of PET so I'm double checking those too.

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The strut mounts I bought came with the bearings so basically, any part that wasn't included in the M030 kit, I replaced with new. And yes, the charts are from the Essentials book.

So I received the M030 kit today from Suncoast. Interesting findings.... The front springs have white paint. The rear springs have yellow paint. Two Rear compensation plates were included with the kit in a P/N I don't see in my parts catalog 996 333 511 08.

Here are the part numbers that came with me M030 kit. It appears Porsche has changed the P/Ns as I don't see these numbers listed anywhere. Front springs 996 343 531 24 504 (White upper paint swipe) Rear springs 996 333 531 71 504 (Yellow upper paint swipe) Front struts 996 343 041 37 Rear struts 996 333 051 49 Front sway bar 996 333 701 26 Rear sway bar 996 343 701 21 Rear compensation plates (blue in color, included with kit) 996 333 511 08 It looks like the last 2 numbers in each P/N are a much higher number than all other listings I have found. Assuming superseded supplier or something.

Those part numbers are similar to the part numbers in my kit, realizing that the Cab has some different parts from the Coupe so some of the last numbers are different. My springs have the Orange stripe which is what the White was changed to. So maybe your springs have an earlier production date? But my kit was purchased two years ago. Strange. My kit did not come with the compensation plates and my local dealer parts department said I didn't need them. Strange they were in your kit? Maybe a difference between Cab and Coupe and they get reused on the cab? Any way that you can confirm this with Suncoast? Did your kit come with the yellow rubber bump stops (aka "helper springs")? My kit came with them for the rear springs but not the front springs. Here's the parts list my local dealer shows comes with the kit for the Cab.