New 996.2 C2 owner - Suspension Replacement Questions

Hey everyone my name is Sean and I have just purchased my first Porsche, a 2002 Silver on Blue 911 Carrera. I have put 1200 miles on the car in 2 weeks and have been absolutely loving every second of it! The car has 102k miles on original suspension components, so I want to do a refresh to tighten everything up. I have a few questions... 1.) Regarding brands of parts: I am at re-doing everything either myself or I might have a shop do it. Are the aftermarket brands such as TRW, Meyle, etc. any good compared to the high price of Genuine Porsche parts? This would be in reference to items such as control arms, tie rods, drop links, strut mounts, strut bearings, etc. As much as I want to go Genuine Porsche, the cost savings is massive by going with these other companies. 2.) I am thinking of going with the Bilstein B8 + Eibach Prokit combo. How is this kit for ride quality? 3.) If I was just to essentially everything minus the control arms, do we think the car would handle exponentially tight/better or should I just do everything? Attached are some photos of the car after I did some clear PPF, gloss black PPF on the roof, and some Ceramic Coatings. Thanks in advance for the advice! Sean

I had the Bilstein B8 on stock springs and it was VERY nice. I switched to a coilover setup (in my signature) and honestly, wasn't worth it for what I do with the car. I didn't do anything else since the car didn't need it, but considering the car is 20 years old, replacing bushings and aged out items probably isn't a bad idea. I'd recommend if you can find parts from other companies (not made in China) that just doesn't say Porsche, then it's PROBABLY fine, but I'll let someone else speak to that particular fact

Hey Sean, Welcome! My car had 212k miles on the original suspension and it all needed to be replaced. I went with Meyle control arms (coffin, tuning fork, support arms in the rear), TRW drop links and tie rod ends. Also went with Ceika coilovers which are a pretty budget setup made in Taiwan. So far I'm happy with those. The Meyle & TRW stuff seems to be high quality, so I wouldn't hesitate on those. Others may chime in with any bad experiences, but I haven't come across any negative feedback. The suspension refresh made a huge difference in how the car rides and the tightness in handling. Regardless of mileage those rubber bushings are 20 years old and should be replaced. Night and day difference on the old bushings vs new. I did it all myself. Not too hard. Once you do one corner all the others go in pretty quickly. There are some great videos on YouTube on how to do it all. If you need new rotors and brake pads, I would do those while you're in there. Not too much harder to pull the rotors off and do the pads since you're removing the calipers anyway. Steve

Congrats, On the narrow body I run B8's w HR Sport Springs and Sway Bar. w 17mm Rear Spacer and 15mm fronts. I'll do the similar to my Turbo soon. Ride on 18" Stock Tires and Wheels is awesome for my needs. I had 19" BBS's that were awesome but not on there anymore. Brakes are good investment as well Akebono's on Zimmermann Rotors work good for me. Good luck, But IMO, I'd replace all of yoru moving parts in the suspension w that mileage.

A local Porsche restoration shop strongly recommended that I use genuine Porsche rubber bits when refreshing my suspension. Their experience is that other pieces simply don't hold up for long. I'm planning on passing my car on in my will so I went with their recommendation. The only places I left that path were where I could find parts from the folks who supply Porsche; for example the TRW steering bits I used actually had Porsche part numbers on them. It definitely did cost more. If you think you will sell the car within a few years I would say it is not worth the extra $. I haven't really heard much bad about Meyle etc. either, other than the EPS links that seem to break just by looking at them.

If you buy your parts from a place like Pelican or FCP Euro, you can pick and choose from OEM or Porsche. It is best to replace all the parts on the struts from top to bottom. While you are at it, replace the sway bar bushings and mounts. There are other plastic/rubber parts that are part of the cooling systems which are likely to fail over time. Do you know when the water pump was last replaced? You want to replace that if it has been there for 20 years!

OP - Welcome! Very nice car. The B8/Pro combo is nice. I prefer the Eibach to H&R for mild lowering�the rebound feels less abrupt to me with the Eibachs. At 100k miles I�d renew the entire underpinnings. TRW and Meyle are perfectly fine OEM. No need to pay for the Porsche box. Try the Eibach rear 3-hole antiroll bar. It does a great job keeping the rear planted for decent price. You can align the front to -1.0 and rear to -1,8 without any adjustable arms or drop links. Once all the new suspension parts are onboard, you�ll really love driving your 996!

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Best advice here ^ Fit Porsche or TRW parts. Meyle coffin arm bushes (both of them) are softer than OE. And despite the 2 year warranty (here in the UK) the quality isn�t OE. OE Lemforder front top mounts can be bought off the usual suspects much cheaper than your local Porsche dealer. OE rear top mounts are dealer only.