Suspension upgrade?

About 18 months ago I picked up a low mileage 2003 C4S and it's been a ton of fun. I've put about 5K miles on it over that time and mechanically it appears rock solid. I am interested in doing some suspension upgrades and I'd love to hear from others what might be recommended. I don't have a set price tag in mind but probably don't want to go too crazy since I'm not tracking the car and just want to smooth out the response a little. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

I have a set of JIC/Cross coil overs I just took off because I upgraded to a more track focused ohlins it gave me a great street ride and very adjustable It’s the red top ones $900 full set shipping extra

OP - Have you searched the threads here? Tens of thousands of posts covering suspension options. Might help you narrow down the breadth of your question.

Hundreds of possible choices depending on your goals. I just added Ohlins RT coilovers on my 2009 Cayman and they are quite good for a dual sport street/track/AX car. Highly recommend if you find yourself overdriving the stock suspension.

Point taken, but, I was a little overwhelmed by the search returns and hoping to get a few people pointing me in possible directions.

Let's start with how you are going to use the car and what you want for a ride.

A lot of people go for the Ohlins and Bilstein PSS models, Feels has a great rep on here as well. Think that's a good place to start.

Ohlins Road & Track is very good and adjustable. The service life of the dampers will be shorter than OEM, so operational costs are going to be higher. However, that's true for just about any high performance product. While the Ohlins spring rates will be higher, the better damping will tend to nullify the harshness. Suspension dampers have come a long way since the OEM dampers. A GT3 suspension would be a good upgrade, but the Bilstein dampers are not very good, in my opinion, which is why I went with Ohlins. Be aware that Bilstein no longer rebuilds their dampers. There are third-party shops that will.

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If you haven�t figured it out yet, you�re going to get a bunch of �this is what I got and they�re awesome� type of replies� Suffice it to say that pretty much whatever you get is going to be subjectively �better� than your tired old suspension (including if you�re to buy new stock parts). The fact is that except for the guys who are tracking and pretty much constantly upgrading, this is a pretty much �one and done� proposition. Take your time, do your research then pull the trigger - you�ll be happy with whatever you get, unless you�re the type that�s always looking for the next greatest thing (which as most of us know is a very slippery slope)� Good luck

For my 2 examples, I think both work great for my intended purpose: Track…1999 has Ohlins R&T w/higher rate springs, lots of other related parts Street…2002 has Bilstein B6s, H&R Springs, Tarett Rr Toe Control Links, Adjustable Rr Arms (demonspeed) There are lots of great set-ups described on this site, as was mentioned above. Best of luck.

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�Not sure if Porsche Motorsports Parts are applicable to the standard 996, but what I have read, the motorsport parts are usually superior to the aftermarket versions. There are exceptions, I am sure, but don�t assume OEM means it is inferior to aftermarket components. Porsche usually does their homework very well. Dporto�s comment is spot on, too. For street-only driving, adding track goodies may degrade your enjoyment of the car over a refreshed stock suspension. Stiff and harsh ride compliance may improve handling, but at the expense of comfort and cost per mile. If you have your heart set on something, see if you can drive someone�s car that has those modifications.

In a case like yours I would be tempted to change the shocks only. Low-ish mileage or not, they are likely a fair distance from what they were when new 20 years ago. If you also want to change the ride height then you'll want spring/shock combo or coilovers. I recently refreshed my suspension with RoW M030 springs and Koni Sport shocks. (I took a lot of flack from folks for not going with coilovers, but I have my reasons.) The nice thing about the springs is that you are sticking with Genuine Porsche parts. (I took flack for that too, oddly.) They lower the car a bit, just enough to get rid of the off-road look of the front end and give the car a bit of rake. The shocks are manually adjustable. I'm still playing with settings but staying on the softer end of the range. I would have gone with Koni Actives but they were on backorder at the time and I was impatient.

Feal coil overs, upgraded sway bars, adjustable toe arms, adjustable drop links, and all new stock suspension arms. Compliant, yet it can eat up on-ramps and exit ramps like a champ. People can�t believe the balance of streetability and handling when I let them drive it. I think you can achieve similar results with other like priced coilovers. Ohlins seems to be the gold standard for street applications, but I haven�t had a ride on them. More expensive, though. GT3 is apparently nice, too. One thing I always recommend is to get coilovers as opposed to struts and springs. IMO the adjustability to set it exactly how you want should not be dismissed. And no, it doesn�t only make sense if you are going to constantly fiddle with it. Getting it exactly right and leaving it at that setting is a huge benefit.

dporto's comments are right on. I can tell you what I've got, but I would rather tell you that this car is the "professional" version of a car. It is not stuck with one configuration as best. Configurations seem infinite and each will feel different. Which one is best is totally up to you. Racers will call out the fastest but most uncomfortable on the street. Commuters will call out a stiff but not jarring feel. Long haulers will put maybe a bit of a pillow in there. For me, every change I've made has created a 'wow'. First change was simply having the old wheels straightened and balanced. I thought, 'wow, I'm glued to the road'. Then I got new tires, same brand and version and thought, 'wow!, NOW I'm really glued to the road'. Then I put on some Ohlin's and dropped it to X74 height and aligned to X74 specs. And again, 'wow!'. Then I started playing with the settings on the Ohlins. 10/5 F/R seems a bit stiff with my 17" wheels and my commute. But 15/10 is a decent compromise and much better than 20/15. Now I've changed to 18" wider but heavier wheels. Grip is amazing, but ride crispness seemed to suffer. Changing Ohlin's setting's to 12/7 F/R brought it back and then more. The car is now ' really glued to the road'. And this is all without changing coffin arms, tuning forks, dogbones, etc. (next step...) (OK, I did tell you what I've got) Good luck on your path. Any choice you make will be an adventure!

Ed, goes back to my original question. Plus a few more. 1. What are you going to use your car for? Street, track, both. 2. How much adjustability do you want for ride height and stiffness adjustment front and back? 3. How much are you willing to spend or want to spend on the suspension parts? $1500, $3000, $4500? How much are you willing to spend for service hours if you are going to need an Indy to do the work at ~ $150 an hour? 4. Do you want a coilover system or just a replacement of stock parts (not coilover system) with factory or aftermarket. You will hear a lot of great solutions from the guys. Help us to narrow it down for you. My guess is you are looking for a suspension for street driving. If so, take a look at FEAL coilovers which are very good according to many of the guys, adjustable to the ride you want and affordable. Other have replaced the factory shocks with new factory stuff which is not adjustable and is expensive, as well as many have replaced the factory stuff with aftermarket stuff that plugs right into the factory equipment that may be cheaper and just as good, but do not offer the flexibility of ride height and stiffness adjustability of coilovers. Obviously there are many hybrid choices. All are good for specific reasons and objectives. Comes down to your reasons and objectives for your car. ​

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Great input so far this is exactly what I was hoping to get. I think, specific to your questions above, I would answer: Heavily weighted for street but with some occasional track time. Pretty ignorant on this but I'm running 19" wheels which are a pretty tight fit; I think I need to be pretty adjustable. For now I think I only want to do shocks and possibly mounts, not all the other parts. My hope was to go 6K to 8K in terms of parts and install, I won't be doing this myself. Coilover is my preference; both Feal and Ohlins seem to be in the running.

Ed, it sounds like you already have it nailed down to a set of coilovers which will give you quite a bit of height and stiffness adjustability. You can do like many of us did by first putting on the coilovers, lower it to a height that works for you and set the stiffness to what works for you. Keep the rest of the suspension components stock, and replace them as you need or want too. If you get hooked on tracking the car, you will want swaybars and more. Good news is you can take your time with upgrades as you see fit. A great set of choices below to start your list. The guys will most likely give you a few more ideas. Street & Track Online R&T Bilstein PSS10s Street Feals Good luck and enjoy the process. Nothing better than building the car to what YOU want.

OP, no one mentioned replacing you suspension components, they aren’t as “bling” as coil overs, but are the foundation of whatever shock/spring or coilover you put in their. And they are very old. And they ultimately determine the precision that Porsche engineers designed the car for. Coilover can’t make up for sloppy rubber bushings. Suggest you do a complete suspension cost analysis, starting with OEM or TRW or upgraded (urethane) control, link, and trailing arms, then include spring/shock or coilover as budget permits. As a former SCCA racer, I’m quite happy with Bilstein B8/HR Sport springs for street use, 1-2 track events per year on PPS4 tires; suggest you spend your money on HPDE training until you need the performance of coilover$, e.g., red or black rating.

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I actually did mention replacing the worn components in my post, along with some worthwhile mods in addition to coilovers.

If you're going to refresh suspension bits I recommend skipping OE/OEM rear toe links going straight to adjustable units. I just had my car aligned at a reputable shop after having done my own string alignment, and both of us came to the same conclusion -- the left rear could not be brought into spec for toe. After perusing this forum on that topic it seems as though it is not uncommon.

Alot of folks mentioned replacing more than just coilovers. This is where a good indy comes in if you are not a gifted wrencher. They can check each of the parts and replace as needed to control costs and spread out the costs over annual service and part replacement rotations. Keep in mind that if you are tracking your car, you do not want any part to be compromised for safety and functionality. Always best to be safe not sorry.

Agreed with changing out all the parts with bushing and ball joints. I did not change mine out based on how everything felt. No clicks or clunks. Alignment was OK. But then, after putting coil-overs in with new top mounts, all those worn bushes kind of shift around during install. I now have a series of clicks when I pull out of the drive in the morning. It's super predictable, click click click. I've double checked torques. Then the alignment guy says rear camber is just in spec at end of range on one side. Bushing is worn to off center. So, replace it all together and avoid this extra step...

Buy it all your car needs it. These 2 kits will give u all the links, also get new top hats for the 4 corners, sway bar links and a set fo Feel c/o's. Your car will feel great for $4500. Get ohlins for another $2500 if u have the money. https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/por...4aAsGGEALw_wcB https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/por...caAlPLEALw_wcB

There's alot that can be done "while you're in there". But since you will be paying someone, it will depend on your time and budget. I'm doing this myself, so time/labor isn't an issue. I already did equivalent to the front, but here's what's happening to the rear. New Feal coilovers, new subframe bushings, new bearings, all new control arms (FCPEuro, same as linked above by DeJeeper). All parts scrubbed clean; probably removed a measurable amount of weight just in dirt and brake dust. Steel parts wire-brushed, primed and painted. I removed the rust from the hubs with electrolysis and then painted the backsides (obviously not the mating surface; high temp paint). Any hardware with rust is being replaced (about 80% nuts/bolts being replaced, the others scrubbed clean).

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I do not have a ton to contribute here, but I can say that the price range you referenced is what the previous owner paid (~ 3k miles ago) for the Ohlins R&T's on my car (recall applied). With that having been said, and yes they are fully adjustable, they are FIRM. I have tweaked and tweaked and am still searching for the best "road" setting. It's either, what I would consider, too floaty or way too firm; and I have owned and driven in some STIFF suspensions. Either way, good luck but be sure of how you intend to use them. In a perfect world, for me, I'd probably go back to stock.....and may.

There�s no way you shouldn�t be able to get the Ohlins r/t to ride comfortably and not �floaty� - you�re doing something wrong by way of adjustments. The compression and rebound are interactive, but don�t assume the adjustments are the same as other brands you may have used. Make small adjustments and give it some driving time before you mess with it again. Good luck

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I wasn't happy with my Feal coilovers at first. I started it at relatively soft 15 out of 30 clicks, because I just assumed a high setting would be harsh. It drove almost like the stock suspension... floaty, and jittery over imperfections. Put I went to 5 clicks to make it less jittery, and it got worse. At full soft it was slightly worse still. I started thinking that they coilovers weren't that great. Out of frustration, I turned it up to 20 clicks stiff just to see what would happen. It immediately was a lot better. Started getting smooth over rough pavement, and the handling increased a lot. Surprisingly, it became more compliant. I kept raising it and adjusting to 28 front 26 rear. It's perfect to me now. Anyone who drives it loves it. Very compliant... far more than stock, and handles far better than my 997.2 did on sport suspension mode. It's really a pleasure to drive and I can't imagine anyone thinking a stock setup is anywhere close to it. Also has no funny looking wheel gap.

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Thank you, I certainly was not presenting myself as an expert. ;-) Appreciate the feedback and will give it a go with some of these settings and/or options. My current settings feel pretty harsh.

I�m looking to sell me new pss10 for a c2 if you�re interested

Thanks for all the great feedback. At this point I'm between Ohlins and Feal. Just need to talk with my local indy and see their input.

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FWIW I went from stock shocks/HR lowering springs to Ohlins RT, GT3 arms, corner balance and alignment. We set the Ohlins at 10 clicks (mid setting) just to see how they felt. So far I am very pleased. Far better both street and track than my prior setup. They are firm but not punishing on rough roads like the HR springs were, and control of the contact patch feels very precise. So precise that I managed TTOD at a local AX in a field of GT3s, GT4s, Turbos etc. It was mostly a wet day and I had the right tires for the conditions and a bit of luck. A good outcome for fresh suspension bits on an otherwise stock 2.9L car.