My 2001 996 rides like a truck

Ok, not really true, but my 2001 996 C4 convertible rattles and crashes over every pavement irregularity. It makes a lot of noise and is generally annoying. I want a more composed ride. I have 105,000 miles and while I have maintained the car well I am certain lots of rubber things are rock hard. I read with interest the recent thread about a suspension overhaul and wanted your thoughts on what I should do. My tires are recent, Michelin Pilot Sport 18"ers. I assume the shocks and so forth are all original. I have updated as my mechanic has instructed, but I know this car can ride WAY better. Help me make some decisions. Fire away your best advice. Thank you in advance.

Do ALL of the suspension…..

Absolutely refresh everything. 👍 You have age & mileage to contend with, a proper refresh of these wear components will transform your car. You'll want � control arms/hardware � front bearings � upper mounts � strut assembly or replace with coilovers � inner/outer tie rods � sway bar end links � sway bar bushings Porsche doesn't manufacture their own parts, so I wouldn't hesitate buying quality aftermarket parts if you want to avoid the genuine porsche tax. Suspension will be a large expense no matter what route you go. The best value will be to replace everything at once, you'll save on labor cost this way. FCP Euro sells ready-to-go packages for front and rear refreshes specific to your car. They can also include replacement hardware as several nuts/bolts on your 996 are one time use. I would be weary of the cheapest priced Chinese manufactures like Hamburg Technic, URO. Many of us have had good success with Meyle (some of their parts I've received have been made in Taiwan). Often they aren't the most competitive on pricing but their lifetime warranty is excellent. Other options lots of us have used are Rennline, Pelican Parts and ECS Tuning.

What air pressure are you running in your tires? If you are following the recommendation inside the fuel filler cap, you need to lower the pressure.

Quite � few Meyle parts come from Turkey too.

Sounds like your shocks are shot. Never a bad idea to replace control arms too. My car had sport suspension from factory and rode like crap around town - crashy especially at lower speeds. Turns out one of my front shocks was fully blown.

if you want a really nice compliant and sporty ride buy the KONI FSD shocks for your car..... and definitely replace your springs - OEM - do not lower on KONI FSD shocks... strut mount bearings are a must.... your strut mounts are probably still good.... they are really well built - and sounds like you don't track your car so that's a bonus

I recently renewed F/R factory 997 suspension; $22k in parts at dealer. With Porsche tax and labor it was ridiculous. I failed to convince local auto shop to replace shocks but owner feared liability due to it being Porsche. It's electric 2 setting shocks communicating with control module too hi tech for shop.

You can likely find low mileage take off shocks and some other stuff on eBay. I have all mine w < 20K miles, but I'm keeping, taking off KWs if I sell and put back to stock. My '04 996 with KWV1, lowered rides nice, it's a cab too, but just turned 41K miles. The roads here are quite smooth so the suspension doesn't take a lot of pounding which contributes to wear.

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All depends in your budget and timing. Given your mileage and original equipemeny, the crashing over pavement you are describing is most most likely worn shocks. Clicking and clunking sounds come from worn rubber on your shock mounts and arms. If you want an improved ride, replace your shocks and mounts. My suggestion is oem shock mounts for the rubber. There are plenty of direction you can go with B4, B6, B8, Konis, and coilovers, etc. All of which are expensive so it's important that you think thru what you want for driving feel. The factory arms are strong so you dont necessarily have to worry about them snapping in two with age. But the rubber breaks down and the arms begin to click at the joint. Depending on Budget, your can do it all at once which may run you between $10-15k if a shop does it for you and that's assuming you dont spend additional money on a $4500 set of coilovers, $1000 sway bars and $400 drop links. If so, add more money. Or you can do it in stages over time which will add more labor cost but will allow you to address it in stages for less out of pocket per stage than doing it all at once. An example would be... 1. Struts and strut mounts 2. Front arms 3. Rear arms There are plenty of ways to spread the cost out over time and sequence of steps. But the most important thing is to figure out what it is that you actually want for a ride, and then go with the best parts so you dont have to do it again over the next decade. Best of luck.

You probably won’t want to do it, but going to 17” wheels will make a difference, and they are relatively inexpensive (and were standard equipment on 996).