Ohlins suspension

I have a line on some suspension bits for my 2002 cabrio from a guy parting out a 2004 C2 .I can get the following: Ohlins street and track shocks and springs. Tarret engineering adjustable drop links F/R Adjustable rear sway bar Monoball front camber plates. Would this be overkill for a street car? I can get everything for less money than a M030 kit from Suncoast .

Sounds like a good deal, worst case scenario you can pick and choose what you install to your liking. I'd install the Ohlins if you get them for a good price!

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I agree....

Would definitely go for the Ohlins...

If it's a good enough deal and a street only application, install the ohlins using your stock mounts and sway bars and sell the rest to help cover the costs. Depending on the ride height you may need the drop links but if not, PM me as I have a project I can use them on.

Thanks for the advice, kind of what I was thinking as well. I think the Ohlins has adjustable hide height which is a real bonus . Slakker: If I get everything and have some stuff I don't need I will definitely let you know.

Pass on the deal But reply to my private message requesting the seller's contact info

That sounds like a very solid street set up. Spirited drives will be enjoyed even more after you install!

Ohlins are pretty soft IMO, fine for street. The softness is why I did not go with them on my mostly track car.

Ohlins are great for the street. Stiffer than GT3 springs, but they ride better than M030 (according to my calibrated butt-meter). Super fun at autocross and stiff enough for DE type track work where you're not competing against anything but yourself. Monoball bang for the buck is not as good on the street unless you're really looking for that last degree of precision, which I'm guessing you aren't since given the soft top. I use stock mounts with mine and it's a really nice compromise and they would probably be a better match for your goals without adding undue harshness. You'll probably need the adj drop links. Iirc rears are already adj to an extent, but front aren't. It all depends on your eventual ride height and corner balance. As for the sway... front vs rear bar is a big debate. Kind of counterintuitively, from what most autocrossers report on these cars, a stiffer front bar will actually give you less understeer (up to an extent obviously) due to minimized dynamic camber loss. From what I understand, a rear bar will also give you less understeer but by virtue of adding oversteer due to less traction on the rear axle. I have stock bars on mine and any balance problems seem to be traceable to driver input. That said, I'm debating upgrading both front and rear bars for better stability in transitions. I'm just wary of too much roll stiffness on a car with no LSD that already likes to one-wheel-peel in off-camber corner exits. So I guess what you do here should be defined by your use case

Thanks for the detailed info Dean, and others, much appreciated! Helped me make my decision for sure. Made a deal with the owner and will be picking everything up next week. Ended up with an adjustable front swaybar and a pair of rear adjustable toe arms as well. I will put in the shocks first and go from there. If I end up not needing the other stuff Slakker is first in line. Guy is parting out the car, problem its close to Toronto so not too convenient for people here. Has a roll cage if anyone needs one.

Get the drop links , you'll need these on the lowered car , might need adjustable toe links too .

Thanks Cosmo! Congrats on the Ohlins!

One of my rear links has a touch of play in it. When I saw the parts car had adjustable ones I definitely wanted them. Thinking I will start with the shocks, drop links and toe links. If I'm happy with that setup I will sell off the adjustable sways and top mounts.

I don�t know why you wouldn�t want to fit Frount and rear sways if you�ve got the opportunity especially with coilovers , one of the best upgrades you can do . That�s why Porsche offered it with all the sport suspension packages . Check your existing top mounts , my car only had 40 k miles on it when I did my suspension and they needed replace ment , I used stock ones to reduce vibration as it�s a street car you�ll likely need to do some bushes too , given these cars age

Ok, thanks for the advice .I don't know much on this topic, most I have ever done is just shocks and struts with OEM parts. I did read that the Ohlins are sprung heavier and damped less and apparently ride better then M030. I know thicker sways will lessen body roll, how do they affect the ride?

I love GT3 sways on track and hate them on the street. When I go up the hump on my driveway, they make the front wheel come off the ground and land with an clunk. I know it is minor but it bugs the heck out of me.

I�ve got h&r sways Frount and rear on mine , these are beefier than the gt3 bars , I�ve also got fully poly bushes . If your car is doing that , it�s probably a set up issue ( too much preload) or some other component is worn out . Even on rural Canadian roads and the gravel drive at our vineyard my car doesn�t do anything like that .

Your right, I'm sure poly bushings would fix that. While ride height, droop, and spring rate also plays into this particular equation, the stiffer bar's job is to allow less independent travel of the wheels from one another. So a stock bar allows enough variation for the body to roll due to the uneven ground, when taken at an angle, and still keep both wheels on the ground. A GT3 bar does not in my case. The ohlins, depending on how they are adjusted, should provide enough stiffness to remove most, if not all, of the perceptible roll. While a high quality shocks can give you added performance without sacrificing ride quality, a stiffer sway bar cannot. As for the H&R's, their limited adjustability make it difficult to dial in a setup, especially if you are doing track dependent adjustments. You end up having to limit your options elsewhere in order to compensate for them. That's why you don't see them on competitive track cars. And if by beefier you mean heavier, then yes they are. If you'll research you will see that they aren't actually stiffer than a GT3 sway bar due to the base material having more inherent flex.

I wasn't saying they would , just giving an indication that my set up is stiffer than stock and there are no worn components in it . 50CrV4 steel alloy cold formed is going to be very stiff , especially with the diameter of it, certainly stiffer than the mo30s that came on the car . So why doesn't my car have the problem yours does ? wouldnt that indicate that gt3 bars set up like yours are ( likely too much preload) causing the issue rather than a condemnation of all bars? He didn't indicate that these are the same bars as yours only that they are adjustable . adjustable bars used with adjustable tarret links should allow you to dial in the bars preload eliminating this sort of problem , especially combined with the adjustability range that ohlins have ( probably the best in the market for a dual purpose car) , the OP should be able to dial all this in to his satisfaction, but hey I'm only a chartered engineer and a red seal journeyman mech so I could be way off base

Maybe because it has different shocks, springs and sway bars? Or maybe you've never been over a hump like I have in my driveway? Let's agree to quit mucking up this thread with another one of our discussions and move on.

I have the ohlins on my daily driven, year round including epic arctic winters, C4S along with the tarett gt3 Sway Bars and their end links Also have rss dog bones Couldn't be happier Such a great sporty ride Firm yet comfy Get better the faster you go I played with ride height and shock adjustments till I found something to my liking I highly recommend the setup They're magic

My only point is that most people upgrade the sways when they do the shocks as opposed to seeing what difference the shocks make and then upgrading the sways if needed. The stock sways are actually fairly decent. The biggest gain from the GT3 bars is being able to course adjust more/less understeer/oversteer on the track. You can then use the shock adjustments to fine tune the same.

Picked up the parts and here are some pics. The front and rear swaybars appear to be GT3 bars. Front measures 27 mm and is 5 way adjustable, rear is 21 mm and 4 way adjustable.

Excellent ! Wish I�d found a deal like that ! Well done tweaking the suspension on a 996 offers the most performance bang for the buck

How much did you pay for all of that?

+996. Well said, I couldn't agree more!

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$1700 CDN or $1300 USD.

Yep. That's a heckuva deal.

Wow, that is a helluva deal!.... I just bought a brand new set of Ohlin GT3 R&T for about 3K to replace my JRZ double adjustable suspension. Plus you got all the other stuff too. Good job!

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my turbo does the same, not abnormal at all. The car is stiff bud, not a bad thing

Rear coilovers are in. The Ohlins instructions I downloaded gave a recommended ride height, which using their calculator would have given me a 25" fender height. They said this number could be +/- 10mm variable. I went +10 mm with their recommended spring preload and the damping on the line between street and sport. Worked out well, ended up with about a 1" drop in the rear with a fender height of 25.5". Front looks like a 4x4 now, lol.

I'll post a pic of my '99 with stock shocks and no engine a little later. Talking about a 4x4! For 1" of drop, drop links and toe arms are not required. They are usually needed with 2"+. And no, I'm not just saying that because I'm trying to buy them.

I didn't initially install rear toe links , as I had no intent to go more than an inch . this put the stock ones at the end of their adjustment , and in street use they bent slightly . this made me order the tarretts and they were easy to fit and the ease of adjustability made me wish I'd done it to start with . i ordered the droplinks and put them in at the same time .

I should have the fronts finished tonight. I got one done yeaterday. Top mounts and breaings were still fine so I lubed the bearings with lithium grease and reinstalled. I couldn't get the strut spring compressor at the local parts store tool rental, so I did the billy bob method. Jacked up the strut while it was in place, put zip ties on the spring and let it down. Pulled out the strut and removed the top mount. The fronts are pretty weak springs so I wasn't too worried, wouldnt do that on the rears! I will add pics tonight when I do the other one.

Great idea on the billy bob spring compressor. I'll have to try that next time. I really don't like using the compressors with the shocks on the car. It's a total pain.

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I just installed Ohlins R/T and GT3 sway bars with Tarett drop links, and thought the same thing,they sat the car too low for the street. I bumped the ride height u the max of 10mm and now I sit at ~130mm rear and ~120 front. Leaving the rest up to the shop when corner balancing. Coincidentally, I installed them on my 996 guards red convertible...

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Nice lol. Let me know your thoughts on the ride. Mine has stock sways at the moment. I set my dampers in the middle at 10 clicks. Billy Bob 101.

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I actually won't be driving mine for a little while, a month. I'll let you know then. I am setting up at 12 clicks to start, then get my sway bars set up, then fine tune the dampers. You said your height to the fender is 25.5"? I think that is about as low as we should go for the street. That is where I am also. You know, it is easier to compress the springs, but I didn't. You can compress them by hand to get them out. Painful, but true. I did it, and still have most of my fingers.

"You can compress them by hand to get them out. Painful, but true. I did it, and still have most of my fingers." Ok, I'll apologize in advance... Just because you can, doesn't mean you should ! And by no means should you advocate hazardous practices. Always practice safety first, use proper tools (within reason - keeping safety in mind) and take your time. Saving a few minutes or even hours is never worth endangering your physical well being. Mistakes take a split second, but the results can last a lifetime - don't risk it.

Hey Cosmo Kramer, did you install the remote adjusters for the rear shocks?

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Yes I tip tied them to the cables running back to the convertible top. I open the top about 10" and I can get my hand in there to adjust them. Got to take mine for a run today. Its cold so the ride feels rough (tires are like hockey pucks!). Body roll was nonexistant with the shocks set at 10, and just a tiny bit after I adjusted them to 13. Adding M030 sways and alignment later, should make it just right. Can anyone comment on spacer sizes to use to bring the tires out to a nice spot now that I am lowered?

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I installed mine right behind the popups. Only problem is if I ever decide to remove them as i had to cut the molded fiber. Seems like the popular thing is 15mm rear and 7mm front. Porsche only approves 5mm all around. I 5mm seems harder to find, but you can get 7mm pretty much everywhere. I think that the wider you go,the only benefit is more road crap splattered all over your car.

5mm spacers should be pretty easy to find, everyone makes them. Rss, H&R, etc

Here's the final stance. Slakker and I traded some stuff and I put on M030 sways and 7 mm spacers with the Ohlins coil overs. Damping in street settings and it rides pretty good!

Looks great! What sort of headers did u put on? Did u go back to stock?

I was going to put the headers on but decided to stay stock. I have Gundo mufflers and Top Gear 200 cell cats right now. The sound and performance is pretty good, felt I didn't need more and decided to "restrain" from more mods lol .

Awesome, looks great! Hope you're experience with these is as positive as mine has been. It's amazing what some modern damping technology will do for these old things!

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Ah, a voice of reason I put the headers on last night. It was super easy since I had the whole exhaust off about 2 - 3000 miles ago. You gotta love copper based anti-seize