Installed: H&R Sport Springs (How-To Included)

Last weekend I installed a set of H&R Sport springs in my 04 911 C2. I looked around and there were really no good install threads on how to do this, so I took my camera and documented my install. The install wasn't really anything out of the ordinary if you have done suspension installs before. You will need a full set of tools, but the only special tool you will need is a 21mm strut nut tool, which allows you to hold the strut in place while removing the 21mm strut nut on the top of the assembly. I purchased this from German Auto Parts - $42 . Aside from that, you just need a full selection of metric sockets and box wrenches, along with a torque wrench. PB Blaster (or similar) is also absolutely necessary! Also, you need a 10mm hex bit socket to remove the caliper. Since it needs to be torqued to 68 ft-lbs, you should get this in 1/2" drive. I have a full set of 1/2" drive [url=http://www.skhandtool.com/Default.aspx?fusemode=10&pid=41430[S-K hex bit sockets[/url], and they are great: With that said, I called up my friends at H&R and picked up a set of H&R Sport Springs for 911 C2 (Part Number 29513). These retail for $499, but you can pick them up from TireRack for about $340 or so. Also, these H&R Sport Springs do not require trimming of the bump stops. Be sure to check the data sheet in the box to see if the set for your car requires trimming (although I don't think any do). The only reason why I wanted to lower the car is because I put on a set of GT3 fitment wheels, and with the wider width and higher offset, it made the car look like a 4x4. I enjoyed the ride stock, and since I drive this car every day, I didn't want anything too stiff or firm. The H&R sport springs with progressive coils in the rear were the right choice. Here is the stock wheel gap: Pretty bad, yeah? There is a lot of discussion on how to get the 911 on to jackstands, and I refuse to jack up via the engine. So I lifted the car from the rear jack points and placed one jack stand under the front lift point, and then one in the rear under the suspension crossmember. I did the same for the other side and the car was securely sitting on 4 jackstands: My car only has 20,000 miles on it, and I didn't feel it was prudent to replace the strut bushings at this time, so I reused all of the existing mounting hardware. Now, before you start, you absolutely must break loose the strut nut at the top of the strut mounting assembly. If you removet he strut without breakign this nut loose first, you'll never get it off. Get a Torx 25 and remove the bolt that secures the cover in the frunk (front trunk) and gain access to the top of the strut mount: Get a 21mm deep socket and a breaker bar and loosen this nut. You won't be able to remove it, because once it breaks loose, it will just turn the whole strut. More on that later. Once you have done this, you can start freeing the strut. It's quite straightforward, and only requires removing a couple of bolts: The only tricky one to remove is the sway bar end link which secures the strut in place in the spindle. I don't exactly remember what size socket and wrench you need for this, but I'm pretty sure it is 17mm. I have this written down at home and will update this thread with exact socket sizes later. Once you have the strut "Free" in the spindle, you need to remove the three 13mm nuts in the frunk. Take note of where these are placed, as theses control the camber adjustment. Granted you'll need an alignment after the suspension install, but you don't want your camber to be way out of whack. You should easily be able to see the ring left by the nut, so just match it up when you are reinstalling the strut assembly. Pulling the strut out from the fender well is a little tricky, and it would help if you have a second person to help with this. Here's a little trick - rather than using a spring compressor to compress the spring, just get some 175lb tensile strength zip-ties (these are very heavy duty) and compress the strut via the control arm with a floor jack. Then wrap a few zip-ties around the compressed spring, and you will easily be able to pull it out now. You should wear eye protection while doing this in the unlikely case one of the zip-ties breaks, although these are not very high spring rates, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about. Then cover the strut with a bath towel and pull it out of the fender well. Step on the spindle with one foot while pulling the strut out. It's tricky and that's why it will help if you have a second person for this part: (take note of the caliper suspended with bungee cords - don't just let it hang via the brake line) Once you have the strut free, you need to remove the strut nut and the strut mount. To do this you have to use the special tool I linked to above: Once you removed the strut nut, you can pull off the strut mount. Take note to remember how everything goes back together. Take note of the two arrows on the strut mount; these must be facing the outside of the car. However, I don't think you can install the mount to the body without the arrows being in the correct position (it's not a perfect triangle). What's also odd is that the part number of my strut mounts started with 997, so perhaps since mine is a 2004 model, I got some updated parts. Since the H&R spring is shorter, you don't need a spring compressor or anything to reinstall the strut mount. However, on the driver's side (not necessary on the passenger side), I had to use a compressor to get the whole strut assembly back into the car: This chewed up the paint on the spring seat, so after I was done, I just took some black touchup paint and touched it up. Fully installed in the front: As for the rear, this was kind of a pain in the ***. Again, be sure to break the 15mm nut loose from inside the car before you remove the strut: Also you have to remove both sway bar end links in order to do the rear (16mm Outer, 17mm Inner): Once you have done that, you just need to remove the bolt that passes through the eye hole at the bottom of the strut, and then remove the assembly. Removing this bolt is tricky, as it comes out towards the front of the car, and space is limited. Be sure to place a floor jack under the strut in the rear and every so slightly compress it so that you can easily remove the bolt. You may need to tap out the bolt with a hammer and a long tool that will fit inside the mounting hole. The bolt is 16mm and the nut on the end is 18mm (wrench diameter). Once you have the strut free, just take note of how everything goes together. There is a washer that sits under the bump stop/dust cover, and it's easy to lose this when you swap the springs. Putting the rear strut back in is really, really tricky. You need to use a floor jack to position the rear strut at the bottom mounting point, and then you need to use a pry bar or something similar to allow you to pass the bolt through again: I'm sorry that I don't have any better photos of this, but it was getting late and I was getting tired, so my photos dwindled for the rear install. It tooke me a LONG time to get the one side in, but then doing the other side only took 30 minutes. Also for not having photos, I forgot to take pictures of the wheel gap afterwards! Before the install, there was a 3 finger gap between the wheel and the fender, and now that's down to about a 1 to 1.5 finger gap - it's perfect. After I wash the car tomorrow I will update this thread with photos of the drop. As for the ride, it is very similar to stock, just maybe a bit more firm, but not at all stiff. If anything, the stock suspension was quite stiff over bumps, and I think the H&Rs are better at this, most likely thanks to the progressive coils in the rear. When I get home, I'll get the torque specs and sizes of the bolts and update this thread. One thing I'd like to add is when to do an alignment. After you have installed a new suspension, you want to let it all settle before you go and get an alignment. This is especially true if you've replaced the struts and/or any bushings. It takes about a week or two for everything to settle, and then you should go get your alignment. Many shops will sell you an alignment right after the install, and then another one in two weeks, so that may be something you want to do if you are going to be driving a lot inbetween. I have only put about 100 miles on the car since the suspension install, and I am planning on getting an alignment at the Porsche dealer later this week. What really needs to be corrected is the camber in the rear, as it is rather negative and that will eat up your tires quickly. Hope this helps. Feel free to ask any questions... - Anthony ***EDIT*** Here are the torque specifications for the bolts/nuts: Front strut/spindle bolt - 85 Nm Front strut mount to body - 33 Nm Front brake caliper to wheel carrier - 85 Nm Rear strut mount to body - 46 Nm Rear strut to wheel carrier - 100 Nm As for the strut nuts, these need to be around ~50 Nm, but it's virtually impossible to measure them, since you need to hold the strut in place so it doesn't spin. I believe there is a special type of torque wrench for this, but alas, I do not have one.

Great job and excellent write-up, Anthony! Do you have any pics of the tire gap after the installation is complete?

Very nice job with this tutorial ! Great pics and great info about what tolls are needed to start the job. My main question is how does the car drives while it is out of alignment ? I wonder how far off alignment you think you might be, it would be interesting to see your alignment values before they are corrected. Did you try to 'adjust' the alignment as much as you could, or you just put everything back there without worrying about it ? Last thing, do you thing a newbie can install some PSS9 ? I mean I know how to wrench but never touch a suspension part ever.

Thank you for tutorial!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am Tackling this saturday....not really looking forward to it. Does look less painfull than the audis Ive done in the past, where the strut top is hidden underneath sheet metal. I picked up a set of o2 sensor removal bolts that will work for the strut tops and allow an allen key to hold the struts. Would it be easier to turn the strut top bolts with the weight of the car on each side? (for the front anyways)

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The alignment rack will tell me the before and after specs, so I'll be sure to post them here. And as for how it drives... it drives like it did before. When you lower a car, the toe will get out of spec, but it will still be equal to the left and right side (since you are lowering the car the same amount on both sides), so it will still track straight. I think I feel the wheels fighting each other sometimes, but it's not really noticeably. There is no point in trying to adjust anything, as trust me, our eyes can't measure if something is .05" off or not. If you try to adjust the toe or anything else, you'll likely just mess it up even more. Camber is easy though, as it's just the three nuts at the strut mount that control the camber. I put those back in the same place as they were before. I think it would be more of a headache to do it yourself, especially if you need to spend money on new tools. It just depends on how mechanically inclined you are. - Anthony

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You are only breaking the strut nut loose - once it gets loose, you need to hold the strut in place wit ha 7mm allen bit and then remove the nut. However, you need to do this after the suspension is removed, or it'll expand and come apart once you place the car on jackstands. Then you'll never be able to get it out. But yes, you should break the nut loose while the car is still on the ground. - Anthony

I just added the torque specs and bolt sizes to the first post. - Anthony

goos job man!.... after install pics and impression of the ride please.

Pics after the install (sorry, they are from my camera phone. Real pics to follow shortly): And my alignment report - the rear camber won't come in spec with the lowering springs, although it's not too far out. I assume they make some different bushings or eccentric bolts that allow for more adjustment, but I haven't looked into that yet. - Anthony

Again thank you for the write up...... It allowed me to accomplish this with much more ease than the factory manuals which had me taking apart far more than needed too. THX AGAIN.

Nice lowered stance, great writeup...flawless paint for a black beauty.

did you need to change the struts or shocks out? if not how was the ride on the stock? thanks.

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I kept the stock struts, they werent leaking and werent bad,ride is very very similiar to stock...but slightly stiffer. Feels a bit more planted at speed over the US spec ride hieght. BEFORE AFTER

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I kept my stock struts as well. These are rather decent factory units, so there isn't much of a need to replace them unless they are worn out. I asked H&R about this and they said using the sport springs on the factory dampers was fine as well. Granted if you want maximum performance a set of Bilstein Sport struts would be your best bet (unless you do coil-overs). - Anthony

I know it is another old thread revival, but as I am finishing my RoW-M030 suspension installation, and I used this thread to help me doing the job, even more than the one on renntech. I want to add a couple of details for those who will do this on their own using this thread. - You don't really need the special tool mentionned to un-screw the nut on top of the strut. I was able to do it easily with an open wrench (22mm) and an hex key (10mm) - There is no information about how to remove the brake caliper. It is very easy to do, just remove the two main bolt on the caliper and ALL the electric cables going to it. you will find them easily but you indeed need to remove them all. - I was able to remove the front and the back strut by myself without problem. Instead of a second person to help, I had a pry bar. I placed one end of the pry bar under the cross member and the other end on top of the suspension arm, on which I was able to apply pressure with my foot. There is not much force needed and you can control it while pulling the strut out. If you have another person, I think they will need the pry bar anyways as it is not easy to apply downward pressure on the rotors. Having the wheels screws on the rotor sometime help to jiggle them up and down. - As mentioned in the article, you want to have a 10mm hex socket to be able to use your apply the proper torque to it. Overall pretty easy work to perform yourself. time consuming but all fun. Just make sure you have a full set of flat wrench and sockets, but the essential are A PRY BAR and a SPRING COMPRESSOR.

Phil....pics of your ride after the install????

Very good thread gentlemen; I used it this past weekend when I lowered my car. The only reason it took me XXX amount of hours (I invoke my right to plead the 5th) to complete it was because I did the rear first and was kind of skeptical of man handling the suspension when it came time to put everything back together. After the first one though, the last three were a breeze…

looks much better!

Nice write-ups fellas.. I will use these sometime in the future..

adg44, what sized tires are you running on those TR Motorsport wheels? I bought a set of the same ones, but haven't put any shoes on them yet.

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Sorry for the late response. I sold this car about 8 months ago and I don't check here very often. I was running 235/40/18s on the front and 295/30/18s on the rear. I'm pretty positive that is the correct rear size, as I remember it being 10mm wider than my stock rear tires at 285 and the profile was one step down. However, just double check what the GT3 tire specs are, and that's what you want to use. Glad this thread could help people with their installs. - Anthony

Bump for an older but very well written how-to thread! I'm thinking of putting on some H&R 29513's and was looking for install tips. I would love to do some coilovers, but at $300 I might give the H&R's a chance.

I moved this post to "Looking for original springs" as it probably belongs better there than here? - not sure how to delete this post.. I'm about to do the reverse, remove H&R springs from a 2009 C2S which is my daily driver and I am looking for stock springs if anyone has them for sale? I got a quote from porsche dealer for $2500, and from independent euro repair shop $3000 with new OEM mounts. But I will do it myself using jackpoint jacks. Car has 42,000 miles on it, do I need to replace the mounts?

"I am looking for stock springs...I got a quote from porsche dealer for $2500, and from independent euro repair shop $3000 with new OEM mounts." For springs only? If so, that's kind of crazy...You can get the whole ROW M030 setup for around $1500 + installation (around another $1000 from what I've heard).

Not sure what ROW M030 setup is (sorry newbie) but yes

I can't get my car to align within specs I took it to big o tires and the tech said He did all he could the car still isn't where I want it in terms of alignment. I think the tech might of been under qualified. I find this frustrating that h&r lowering springs won't let the car align properly causing uneven tire wear over time

That looks like the M030 (S=Sport??)...seems about right

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An independent mechanic said the outer edges of my tires were scuffed because of the lowered suspension - sounds like what you are saying. I thought it was the auto crossing but he said no. I have not had good experience with Big O and will not even get tires from them, but I am sure there are some good ones out there. Actually I have had bad experience with several of the big tire places so now I buy from my mechanic.

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Yes the extra $500 is for the strut mounts, so similar price. But I will take money saved from labor and cheaper parts and invest in probably 2 pairs jackpoint stands and an Arcan XL2T floor jack (lifts from 2.75")

I orederd a new set of rear shock (Sport) which it turns out are longer (about 1.5 inches) than the HDs, and now my HR springs wont fit without a lot of compression. Is it possible to run without springs in the rear and if so, what kind of a ride can I expect? Thanks for your quick response, folks? I'm in the middle of the job!

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Perhaps your joking, but in case you aren't, NO! Springs support the car. Shocks just control oscillation, sometimes with a small amount of spring resistance from compressed gas.

I'm an old air cooled guy, with torsion bar suspensions, so the whole multi link thing is a little new to me! All back together now. I had to just compress the springs (H&Rs that were already on the car when I bought it) down more to be able to reassemble the shocks. I did end up tearing the lower toe arm ball joint grease boot though. Can anyone recommend a replacement boot that would fit and seal well? I see universal one out there but thought there might be something a bit better and I'm not reat to replace the whole arm yet just to get a new ball joint! Thanks again!

Thanks for the DIY, I'm going with KW HAS though. ECS sells this socket, easier to use an impact wrench on the top strut nut for cars with PASM. This way you can torque correctly.

Thanks for reviving this thread. Timely, in that I'm planning on finally replacing mine.

OEM Frt upper strut mounts or Tarrett Camber Plates?. Installing B-8's and H&R Springs on my 1999 C-2, cant decide if I should use OEM strut mounts or pay the extra cost and install Tarrett Camber Plates or something similar. My goal is to get about -1.5 negative camber at the front, not sure I can do that with stock strut mounts. Track the car about 6 or 7 times a year, not a daily driver. Any feedback from similar installations would be appreciated. How about rear strut mounts, never see any discussion about them, I assume stock is OK with this setup.

No! You can't run without springs...

The poster mentioned this "the only special tool you will need is a 21mm strut nut tool, which allows you to hold the strut in place while removing the 21mm strut nut on the top of the assembly. I purchased this from German Auto Parts - $42. http://www.germanautoparts.com/productdisplay/4970" Is there an alternative tool for this? Anyone rent one from an auto parts store by chance?

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just an idea, but isn�t a spark plug socket 21mm? The too is designed to attach an open-tended wrench and then use a Hex key down through the opening for the socket wrench. You would not be able to use a torque wrench to torque it down.

I began the process of replacing all my stock springs with the H&R's and also the front upper strut mounts and bearings. I'm now at a stopping point because I can't remove the bolt that attaches the lower part of the strut to the wheel carrier on either front side. It's extremely seized up. I've soaked it several of times with PB blaster also. Haven't attempted the rear struts yet. What i'm wondering is, is it even worth the fight of removing that lower bolt? Wouldn't it be possible to replace the upper strut and spring while it's still attached to the carrier at the bottom? (as it is in the picture) I've already got the spring popped off the bottom strut mounts so there is no need to compress it to remove them.

Have you tried heating it up?

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I started to and then stopped because I read that should only be done as a last result because it can damage the aluminum wheel carrier.

I would defintiely leave that bolt there then if your just changing springs and top mounts. Only reason to remove it all is if your changing the strut.

I had a seized shock tube in the lower coilover tube holder - couldn't budge it. Put it into very hot water - worked a treat.

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^This^ is a great idea! A "steamer" may work with a fine tip as well... definitely better than a torch/open flame... It took me a week of really hard work to get one of my strut to wheel carrier bolts out. Take your time so as not to damage the carrier... you'll get it eventually.

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I agree. I might just give the hot water/steam a try. The mount nut is really seized on there also. They are on day 3 of soaking with PB Blaster on them. I've got a bad feeling they are going to strip.

I will fight through this install though... The car is lucky it's pretty. If it takes 2 weeks to get through this then so be it. She's worth the wait.

A rattle gun, air or electric, might help. Even something like a lower power 1/4" battery impact driver. The little 'hits' seem to work in the pb blaster and help loosen it. Less chance of snapping in than just putting on a big-*** breaker bar, and they tend not to spin the shock as much either.

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Thanks. I just may try the impact on low tonight and see how that goes. If nothing I will soak them some more with blaster steam/water and find something else to work on. Installed Function-First motor mounts yesterday successfully. Can't wait to drive it.

woot! I got the right front strut nut removed by using the impact wrench on 100 ft-lbs of torque. I got it to move a bit on the right side. Another question. I'm not replacing the rear strut mounts and I don't want to ruin them. Should I loosen the center bolt on the mount with the rear wheels on the ground, with them in the air or does it make a difference? The center of the mount I removed is stuck (as you can see in the picture) and i'm probably going to have to saw it off. Is there a way to avoid this on the rear?

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You'll have better luck getting the nut loose while the car is on the ground, since it will have the weight of the car holding the damper shaft from spinning. Spin it off with an impact wrench while the car is sitting on the ground, then just thread it back on finger-tight to hold everything together while you remove the shock from the car.

Well... I got it all put back together and a lot of the problems that I was hoping would go away in fact didn't. The first problem I was hoping would be gone though is this: 1) When I drive over a bump the steering wheel actually turns in the direction of whichever front wheel went over the bump first. So basically whenever I go over a bump the steering wheel will shake back and forth at a rather freaky amount. When I'm on a nice flat road it doesn't pull at all even though I need an alignment. When the road is uneven it's unpredictable which way the steering wants to turn. It's much more apparent at slower speeds. The steering feels really sloppy and loose. 2) The second issue is the amount of feedback/vibration there is in the steering wheel from the road. I tried 2 sets of rims and tires and it's the same. I won't rule out wheel balance though until I get both sets checked. I'd like to address the 1st issue mainly. Everything seems nice and tight up front under the car. I didn't replace the sway bar or sway bar links but they seem fine too. Is there anything else that could be causing it besides the shock itself. I'm really not wanting to take everything back apart to install shocks. I couldn't even inspect them when I had it apart because I couldn't remove the lower strut bolt. When I compressed the shock to get it to clear the fender should it have taken much effort? It was fairly simple and both front shocks felt the same and when they un-compressed they did so very slowly. Am I talking non-since and it's just possible I need a really good alignment to tighten things up? Research pointed me to this thread with a guy having a similar problem and replaced his shocks and the issue was gone. https://rennlist.com/forums/924-931-...ver-bumps.html If you do agree that issue #1 is related to bad shocks would you have a good recommendation on what to use with H&R sport lowering springs so it's as close to original ride or better? I don't track and it's my DD Is it necessary that I replace all of 4 at the same time or can I just do the front for now? Thanks fellow p-Car people in advance!

My car did very similar nasty bump steer like you are talking about when I changed the front camber myself after installing coil overs. When I changed it back to the original settings it went away. I would try an alignment first I bet this gets rid of 75% of it.

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As noted above^^^ you're experiencing "bumpsteer". This is usually caused/exacerbated by incorrect geometry due to lowering the suspension and can usually be compensated for with adjustable tie rod ends. The fact that you still have the stock shocks on there leads me to believe that they also could be contributing to you problem - I've got H&R springs on my car with Bilstein B8's and experience no bumpsteer (even without adjustable tie rod ends). Of course an alignment is recommended as well. Good luck

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To me, the amount of bump steer being described here (violent jerking of the wheel) is more than would be present just from lowering the car, unless the lowering is extreme. I've had lowering springs (1-1.5" drop) on half a dozen cars of different type and never experienced that kind of behavior. To me this sounds more like something is badly worn/loose, or the alignment is WAY off. Either way a competent alignment shop should be able to fix the alignment, and/or identify the loose/failed components.

I should add that it just kind of started doing it one day before i installed the springs. I had a torn CV boot so I replaced the half shaft and lower control arm hoping that was the problem but it still did it. I went for alignment (not from Porsche) it was a little better but still there. Then my thought was it must be the upper strut mounts so I replaced those and the springs but it's still there. I just priced out the B8 Performance Plus Struts at 1k. I think I might just go pay the 200 for an alignment to an indy to see what happens.