To X74 or not to X74?

Hi all, well I've finally decided to do something about the general 'floatyness' in the suspension when driving through a turn over an uneven road. I've contacted Gert at Carnewal for his opinion, and he tells me that X74 is the way to go (I have an '02 996 coupe, BTW). I do about 10 DEs per year, so having some stiffer suspension for the track is great, but the majority of my driving is on the street. I don't want anything crazy stiff on the road, some more stiffness is acceptible though; I just want the car to feel like it should. Any added on-track bonus is great, of course. So is X74 the way to go, or maybe something like RoW M030? Is X74 too low for regular street driving (it lowers 40mm in front and 30mm in the rear)? TIA-- Geoff.

You could always go PSS9, so its fully adjustable, then you can have you cake and.....

Yeah, I guess the only problem with that is I'd have to have it realigned everytime I did want to change it. I'm also wanting to stay OEM. It would be a perfect solution, though, if not for the realignment... Any other thoughts/ideas? Thanks-- Geoff.

I have the X74 suspensiopn on my cab and it's great. I had the same problem as you - that "floaty" feeling. The car dropped 1 1/2 inches in the front and 1 inch in the rear. The suspension is firm, but not too harsh.

x-74 is what you are looking for. I went from m03 to pss9. that was I was looking for. I do have to watch out for the chin spoiler but it is worth the effort.

CLL ACAB, so you haven't had any problems with the car being too low? The chin spoiler is one thing, but the engine being too low is another!! I've read talk of pre '02 996's that used H&R springs to lower them 2 inches, and they ended up with cracked engines! Do you have a protective engine cover on yours? I guess reading you post again, you say that the rear only dropped 1 inch, so that's not too bad. Any other issues? Did it give you a lot of negative camber so that you're wearing out the inside of your tires faster? Thanks a ton!! Geoff.

Geoff: For roughly the same $$$ you can chose PSS9 and have adjustable ride height and damping. For the track days you can also dial a little more camber which will help with turn-in. I just upgraded to PSS9 and love it, P-cars should come stock with this suspension. Just my .02

With the TT front bumper, I do scrape the plastic lip once in a while, but that's what it's there for. No issues at all at the back. I took it to the dealer for a 4-wheel alignment as soon as I had it installed, and have not noticed any unusual wear patterns-yet. But it has only been on a few thousand miles. It's worth a little extra wear to get the handling back that the car was meant to have.

I have an 02 c-2 coupe I do a ton of Instructing for DE .Originally I had the ROW m-030 installed.I just recently bought the X-74 from Gert as I thought it would be a good compromise.Like you I am not interested in a lot of realigning and so forth as I use my car as a daily driver. The X-74 is great!It is more compliant than the 030 but still plenty firm.In my opinion it is slightly more comfortable on the street and on the track most of the floatiness you refer to is gone.As an added benefit the car is a lot easier to slide on the track ,I think, because of the compilance of the suspension.With the 030 with the harsher rates it took more lateral acceleration to start the slide and more input to stop it.This adds up to an overall easier car to drive quickly.No doubt the pss9 would be better than the x-74 .I think you will be very happy with the x-74.I would also highly recommend Buying from Gert his operation is fantastic.

I thought the X74 was firmer than the 030? The standard is softest, the 030 firmer, and the X74 the firmest.

Yeah, how can a lower and firmer suspension be "more compliant"? Other people on this board that have commented ont he X-74 said it was definitely firmer than ROW030 and that it is not for people that are worried about a harsh ride. Clearly, these second hand opinions are very personal so it seems that the only way to really decide if a suspension is right is to drive a car with it installed.

I think the reason why the X74 may be more compliant is because, according to Gert, the springs are progressive, rather than linear like all of the other porsche suspension options. It does indeed sound like X74 is the way to go. Thanks all! Geoff.

That I didn't know. I would for sure go with a progressive spring setup. That's making me re-think the whole ROW030 thing.

When I switched my US 030 springs to RoW 030 on my '00 Box S, the ride did improve because of what appeared to be progressive rate springs. It was a win-win to have both lower ride height and a slightly better ride while improving the handling. This is why I have just ordered RoW 030 springs for my 40th 911. I will report back my driving impressions in a few days. If I want X74, I will just drive our company GT3.

So the springs on the ROW030 are progressive?

I haven't seen the springs yet (they will hopefully arrive today), but I know the RoW 030 springs on my Box S appeared to be progressive. The Box S definitely had a more compliant ride (less jiggly) after the swap, and others did notice it as well. I hope to have the install done on Friday.

According to my local dealership no standard or 030 variants are progressive. Fact may be otherwise, but this is at least what they told me. They also said that the PSS9 is progressive. Regarding GT3 suspension, according to Gert, it is not X74-- Geoff.

We must all have different butt dynos because I thought the RoW030 ride was harsher in my 2000 Boxster S than US030. Generally, I dislike progressive rate springs because they behave inconsistently on bumpy race tracks. However, they are a reasonable compromise for street and track driving. I would be highly surprised if Porsche used progressive rate springs. Can someone confirm this?

from the pics on carnewal of the x74 and 030, and the 030 springs I have sitting in my garage, they all appear to be straight rate. I'd be really surprised if Porsche used progressive springs, for the reasons Pete mentions. I personally find them very unpredictable. They are for lazy US tuners, nothing more (ducking).

Can't say enough good things about the X74. It's made my car so much more enjoyable to drive and look at. For more detail, including pics, check out https://rennlist.com/forums/996-forum/142453-x74-suspension-what-a-difference-pics-included.html

IMO, x74 is so low it would turn my car into something I couldn't just hop in and drive *anywhere*. I could see myself getting high centered entering parking garages, for instance. I'm going to go baby-steps and start w/ROW 030. Moving to x74 from here is simply shocks+springs (easy upgrade) if I'm so inclined.

Does this look progressive?

I have USA 030 on my C2 Coupe and am thinking of switching to X74 because I want something which gives me a better feeling about what all four wheels are doing. Will it change how my tires are wearing? Will I start wearing the inside edge more with the added negative camber? (Currently my rears are almost shot but have pretty even wear across the entire tread width.) Tim

I installed X74 on my '03 Coupe in January. I agree with all previous comments. There is no float, minimal to zero understeer, and the ride harshness is minimally worse than stock. You will notice it over sharp transitions. I have had no height/scraping issues at all. Tire wear has not increased. It is a Porsche part so I don't think you can go wrong. Bottom line - the C2 actually feels like a sports car. For my needs it is perfect. I think Gert has some of my comments on his web page (just to be clear I have no affiliation with him and he used my comments without asking me).

Yes, but those are not RoW030 springs...

How can you tell by looking? Progressive windings are used for springs with linear spring rates as well as progressive. As with any of the 996 suspensions, they are progressive on account of their bump stops.

Oh, by the way, the x74 is lovely. If you want to read why, here's a post I put on Renntech a little over a month ago. http://www.renntech.org/forums/index...topic=2273&hl= After 1,500 miles the ride height has not changed (1.1" all around) and the ride height isn't much of an issue. Just have to think before you drive into some driveways (which were the same driveways I had to think pre-x74).