Coilovers for my 996 C4S

I am sure there are hundreds of posts on this topic but thought I would start fresh as it's 2025 and I am so new to Porsche ownership that any advice would be greatly appreciated. I just bought a 2004 996 C4S and am excited to start doing some work on her. First up is the Fister exhaust upgrade, then onto the wheels and suspension. I have decided to go with 15mm rear and 10mm front spacers after a ton of research here. Coilovers is the next head scratcher as there seem to be so many options and thoughts. I will only be street driving and hopefully some decent long rallies soon so I don't need anything track-worthy, but just to lower the car to a good stance spec and not have a crazy firm ride . I hear Feal are a great starter option, also KW but that seems to be on the higher end. Dose anyone have thoughts on these?

I have some OEM RoW M030 springs And Koni sport shocks for sale. Brand new in box. This was purchased from Belgium. Lowers the front 20mm and rear 10mm. I had no desire for coilovers. Which is why I went this route. https://www.carnewal.com/products/99...ith-Koni-Sport

I was told by my Indy shop that if you don't track the car and have no intention of adjusting the suspension then there's no need for coil overs and that you're better off with new dampers and lowering springs. There seems to be a lot of support for Bilstein B6 and Eibach or H&R springs.

Koni special active if you don�t want rebound adjustments or Koni sports if you do.

For the street, just changing coils will lower but still keep softer ride feel. Feal coilovers give you more granularity on height. But my Feals at GT3 height are firm like a GT3. (Which I like) A friend’s Cabriolet with lower coils rides much nicer on bumpy roads. But it is higher than my Feals. I used to have my Feals at stock height and they were much softer. My Feals have been on since 2018 and I’ve driven 33k miles since then.

Quotes source post: 19959187

Sorry, could you explain that again? Your friend has lower coils, but they�re higher than your Feals? At first read, it sounds like you�re describing ride height. But after a couple more reads, I think you�re describing �lowering springs� as �lower coils�? So then I assume that your friend is not using coilovers. Am I close?

Sorry, friend has lowering coils with Bilstein shocks. His car is not as low as mine is now. Mine is currently "GT3" height and is firmer than his even when mine are set to full softness. But when I had my coil overs at near stock height they were much closer to his softer "cushy" ride. With coilovers you can change the height to be exactly what you want.(Well, within reason) With lowering coils, you get a lower ride height, but you can't choose exactly how low. The Feals have adjustable dampening, but don't go as soft as factory non-adjustable Bilstein shocks. Hope that's clearer. Feal coilovers are great for street and track, but if you want a soft cushy ride, and don't plan to ever track your car, then consider staying with stock shocks.

Yes, that cleared everything up. I mistakenly assumed coils were shorthand for coilovers, thanks!

If you want a smooth ride at a lowered ride height, consider Ohlins Road and Track. Don�t be turned off that it has the word track in the name as there are 20 settings, with the first 10-15 for road and the last 5 for the track. The reason they are so smooth is the dampening which is much better than a spring/shock setting, especially at a lowered ride height. I had the sport springs/shocks and they were much stiffer than the Ohlins at a street setting. As it turns out, the recommended ride height is just about the same as GT3 ride height so not completely slammed. I tend to favor performance over aesthetics so I prefer to not use spacers.

Quotes source post: 19959281

After countless threads and feedback it seems to be the concensus that Feal are a great budget option but nothing compares to the Ohlins R&T especially for comfort above the performance. One thing I haven't confirmed though is how much lower than stock are the Ohlins on their highest setting? I don't mind going low in the summer time but need to get as close to stock during the snow months. I know Feal have a long stroke option that can raise the car higher. I know that won't be the case for the Ohlins but still curious what the range is. PS: Beautiful C4S, yellow is one of the nicest colours for it.

Quotes source post: 19959281

This is the perfect stance as far as height goes. Thanks for sharing.

Quotes source post: 19960420

Just remember that you'll need an alignment after adjusting the height.

Quotes source post: 19960662

KW V3�s here and it drives like a dream

Quotes source post: 19959281

Mind if I ask what settings you run? I'm on Ohlins R&T, w/ softer swift springs, dealing with crappy roads and bouncing everywhere...

Quotes source post: 19959109

this is true. If you are just going to road drive I don�t understand the need for coilovers. Bilstein B6 are going to be miles firmer than the 20 year stock suspension, but be miles more livable than a �soft� coilover.

Quotes source post: 20208971

I haven't found a "soft coilover" for my C4S.

I'm still trying to figure out what to do. It's been a year since I made that post on the B6 vs coil overs and still haven't done anything. I definitely want the look of a lower right height as I feel the US ride height is simply way too high. That said, I generally like the way my car rides and don't want to give up too much comfort.

Quotes source post: 20211455

There is another brand, not very expensive, and more for casual street driving. Cost $990. Godspeed Coilovers- Maxx https://coiloverdepot.com/products/9...coilovers-maxx Install on a C4S, so this is an option. Watch the video and see if these may be what you are looking for. And a common sense install video: You Tube YMMV

Thanks, will check it out.

I have coilovers on mine. The adjustability is nice but still too stiff even with 3k springs. I’m looking more for comfort than lowering. I got some standard c4 springs so will try them on my 50k mile standard shocks then maybe head towards Koni’s like my Boxster has which rides nice.

Quotes source post: 20212047

It always amazes me when people have no idea how to install or take wheels with lug bolts on or off. And this guy, bless his heart, is a mechanic. He says he understands but ironically /obviously he does not. Maybe they need to come with instructions.

Whatever you do, do not go with cheap junk (ie. Godspeed). Get quality shocks and springs (Bilstein, Koni and H&R etc..) or spend the money and get coilovers (KW or Ohlins). With the age of the car you will probably also need to get all new coffin, toe, upper, and lower control arms. When I had my 996 I did it all and it was seriously night and day. The stock C4S suspension had worn bushings and the shocks were pretty beat which gave the car a boat like feeling at speed yet super harsh on bumps. With all the new goodies and Ohlins R&T the car felt firm and planted yet not uncomfortable. It was a huge improvement over stock in terms of performance and comfort. It comes down to whether you want to dial in your height and settings on coilovers or if you want to just set it and forget it with springs/shocks. Just make sure you get springs that have the rate and height you are looking for and are matched with the shock.

Quotes source post: 19959281

I mean... I like what you said overall, but that last comment is puzzling. Wheel spacers are not only for aesthetics, and well made quality spacers do not typically have negative performance impact. In fact, Porsche sells OEM wheel spacers.

Spacers change steering feel from 'only noticeable immediately after the change' to 'royally bugger up' depending on wheel inset and spacer thickness. Same goes for rear suspension elasto-kinematics. I accept the trade-off in case of my 7mm spacers front and rear, though.

Quotes source post: 20375961

I installed 15mm spacers on my 996 front and rear. My car was lowered on coilovers, and I also installed all new suspension arms, adjustable rear toe control arms, and upgraded anti-swaybars with adjustable end links. My car handled great with excellent steering feel that was far better than stock. Of course this is all subjective opinion. If the spacers had a negative effect, I didn't notice it. Many experienced drivers who had modification and/or racing experience drove my car and complimented it's poise and feel. I drove other 996's from C2's to C4's to Turbos in .1 and .2 form, as well as my own 997.2. My 996.1 handled better than all of them.

Yeah, anything you change on the suspension parts & settings) has an effect on handling. Same with wheel width, tire sizes and compounds, spacers, etc. Spacers can get you a wider wheel stance. I have run my 996.2 on the track and street with no spacers at all, 7mm spacers, 12mm, 12.5mm, and 15mm using Carrera 2 wheels and 225x40x18, 285x30x18 tires since 2002, and prefer 15mm spacers. The 996.2 likes a wider stance on the track. Quite frankly, it really doesnt matter on the street. But spacers do provide a better visual when it comes to street driving.

Quotes source post: 20211455

Feal offers a GT option that provides comfort and you still get the hight adjustability of coilovers. It is literally called the GT Comfort: Desired Damping Adjustability (if unsure, see chart in photos): https://fealsuspensionstore.com/feal...rsche-996-2wd/

Quotes source post: 20376656

Not sure if you were responding to me, but I did say, "negative effect". I can't say I noticed any positive effects, either, but the spacers themselves didn't compromise or benefit handling to any extent that was noticeable.

Quotes source post: 20375676

I know many people prefer the �flush look� and use spacers to achieve it which is more for aesthetics than performance. I recognize Porsche recommends spacers on some wheels but that is to get to the stock offset. I get there are many different opinions on this subject but I prefer to use stock lug nuts and no spacers. I have found it gives me some tolerance when switching from my street wheels/tires and my track wheels/tires as the section width can vary.

Quotes source post: 20377022

Just agreeing with you. Spacers put extra stress in the studs and wheel bearings if you track the car. So you need to look at them as parts that need to be refreshed. But I doubt much stress is put on the studs and wheel bearing from a street perspective using spacers. You just cant drive as hard on the street as you can on the track.

About 70k ago I considered coilovers but chose Bilstein B8 with H&R lowering springs. It�s time for a refresh and I will probably repeat, but It�s good to get opinions and new info to decide for my daily C4S. It does spirited canyon drives but no track time.

Quotes source post: 20377112

I didn't really want to have an in depth debate over this, but it seems that my comments are generating quoted replies, so there is interest in the topic. Several have said things that I don't necessarily disagree with, but are assuming things and/or are incomplete. For example: 1. Spacers will mess up your handling. We aren't talking about gigantic spacers, we are talking about relatively modest spacers of 5-15mm that will have a negligible or marginal effect on handling. People routinely put on wheels with lower offset to fill out the wheel wells and surprisingly nobody brings up the handling issue. In this case, I believe that there are some misconceptions and old wives tales about the effect of wheel spacers. In my own experience, I have not noticed negative impacts. As long as your alignment is in spec, I can't imagine a modest spacer having a dramatic effect on handling either way. 2. Wheel spacers are only for aesthetics. Not necessarily. Spacers can be used to gain clearance for other modifications where a few mm are needed. Big brake kits, clearing suspension components and arms, etc... Sometimes, the wheels someone purchased have too high of an offset and spacers are used to correct that. Now, we can make the case that the correct offset wheels should have been bought in the first place, and I agree, but things don't always work out that way. A minor correction with spacers is perfectly acceptable. 3. Wheel spacers and longer bolts are aftermarket (not OEM). I don't know why Porsche doesn't make every wheel in the exact offset they want to sell on a new car, but they don't. I'm guessing it doesn't make economical sense. Regardless, Porsche sells cars with spacers and longer OEM wheel bolts from the factory, and also in their parts department. The statement above stating preference for OEM wheel bolts is therefore not completely accurate. There are OEM extended length wheel bolts from Porsche that support their OEM spacers, so people can in fact use Porsche parts if OEM is important to them.

Quotes source post: 20377308

Those Sport Techno wheels look great on your car. These aren't seen much on 996's and they are a nice wheel

Quotes source post: 20377308

You can corner balance if you get coilovers. Hard to do otherwise.

Quotes source post: 20378920

True. Absolutely dial in your ride height and weight with a proper corner balance. More precision, more fun. Otherwise, why put on coils in the first place? That said, what�s the point for anyone considering corner balancing a 996 road car on shocks and struts? The 996 is pretty close, cross corner weight wise, with non-coil components. Once you change weight distribution by putting a butt in the passenger seat, baggage in the frunk, etc; any static corner balance ratio is now out the window. Our roads are off camber, irregularly crowned and unevenly surfaced enough that the small braking and steering advantage provided by corner balancing is negated because dynamic loads are shifting more unpredictably than they do on a track surface. Complete waste of time. I still fervently believe the best way to vastly improve any 996 handling is: 1) Dial out the understeer for better turn in, 2) Stiffen rear suspension for on-throttle corner out, 3) Increase track width for balance. Addressing these three things costs less than $700 and 2 hours of time for any quality spacer set and adjustable rear sway. Go from there as a new baseline. The 4th thing would be to remove and melt any and all US-spec pogo stick springs that should�ve never been put on a car with a Porsche badge in the first place. That�s a different discussion entirely.

Yeah, coilover and sway bars give you the ability to dial in the balance, handling and firmness of the suspension if that's important to the owner. Tough to dial it in w/ oem which is one size fits all. A good set of high quality coilovers which use alot of aluminum do last a very long time without the rust issues of oem and also give you the ability to rebuild them which is cheaper than buying a new set or replacing your OEM suspension which doesn't last as long and is very expensive. Quite frankly, there is nothing better than a well sorted suspension on a 996. It becomes an extension of the driver, versus a piece of metal with 4 wheels.

Quotes source post: 20380097

I actually like the US M030 springs. My only complaint is that the front should be lowered about a half-inch. Only then do I think it�d be perfect for a street car. (But it still is pretty good!) I like the rest of your post (which I omitted). You made some very good points, especially about corner balancing.

Quotes source post: 20377308

I had that exact setup on my 996.1 carrera4. I got the opportunity to pick up some barely used (less than 10k miles) KW V3�s (around $2.2k) so I went for them. The difference is with no exaggeration �night & day�� The B8�s/H&R�s were good - the car handled great and was lowered to where it looked great, but was a little harsh over bumps/rough roads. The adjustability of the V3�s (two way - stiff ness & rebound) just sets them head and shoulders above the B8/H&R combo. Obviously, adjustability is not about constantly changing settings. It took me quite a while (at least 6 months and probably more) to get them dialed in to where they suited both my driving style and the areas/roads that I drive (mostly East Coast - New England to Mid Atlantic). I started at what was considered around a midpoint and then tweaked from there - more often in the beginning, as the balance between stiffness and rebound was way out of whack, but slowly I got things to where there�s a nice balance between stiffness and absorbing road bumps (much better than the B8�s). Was it worth the $ and time (I also did the swap, as I had installed the B8�s/H&R�s as well) ? Definitely! I�d do it again in a heartbeat!!!

I have a limited amount left in the upgrade cash enveloppe, so the Godspeed sounds interesting. Inexpensive does not necessarily mean cheap/crap. If anyone else has experience with those and can chime in with actual real world data, I'm all ears.

I�ll add my experience so far, since I searched these threads quite a bit before deciding which route to go. This is going to be long but hopefully helps anyone that was looking for the same outcome as myself. BLUF - I ended up on all refreshed stock suspension plus Bilstein PSS10. Compared to my stock springs/struts, RoW springs/Koni Sports, and OEM springs/Koni Sports combos, the PSS10s are by far my favorite. Background - I wanted the adjustability but did not want to sacrifice road manners and ride quality, as I don�t see myself taking it to the track any time soon and I just enjoy driving the car. I�ll add that I have never been in a car that�s had coilovers installed, so I really didn�t know what to expect. After lots of reading, I chose the Bilsteins over Ohlins for two reasons. First, I had read a few comments about Ohlins being stiffer than PSS10s and they do have higher spring rates, so maybe that�s true, I don�t know, but i didn�t want any overly stiff suspension. Second, the 18k mile rebuild recommendation from Ohlins drove me away. That�s close to every 3 years for me the way I�m driving. The PSS10s were on backorder for a long time, so I eventually cancelled my order and bought the US to RoW conversion with Koni sports from Carnewal. When installed, the car felt very similar to the stock suspension. The damping differences when adjusting the Konis were very noticeable, so that was a plus. The downside, and what eventually caused me to swap them out, was that in full droop, there was zero preload in the springs and infact about 1/8� gap between the spring and the top mount. Wasn�t happy with that. Installed my old springs on the Konis. This was a very compliant ride but stuck me with the US ride height which was just too tall for my liking. Also a note on the Konis - I think they�re a good shock/strut but it was clear in their construction and build quality why they are cheaper than something like Bilstein B4s. Finally found the PSS10s in stock and got them a few days after ordering again. Was very concerned about them being stiff, as people say all coilovers are going to be stiff, but I don�t think that�s the case. I installed them at GT3 height with the damping set in the middle front and rear (5/5). To my surprise, the car rides better than the stock suspension and the Konis. It might be just as stiff as either of those but it just feels more composed on the way it handles the bumps. The PSS10s are all around better than the stock suspension on the C4S in every way as far as I can tell. At GT3 ride height, the Bilsteins were about in the middle of their adjustability range. I think the rear sway bar was making a bit of contact with the rear lower control arm at that height though, so I raised it up a bit to be at X73 height. The PSS10s came with new sway bar links for the front but not the rear, so if you want to drop the car as low as these offer, you�ll probably need adjustable links. Now I�m sure the Ohlins are great but I�m very happy with the PSS10s and they�re a much better value for my use then the Ohlins. They are also built like a tank, confident they will last and look great for a long time on my car. Hope this helps the next person searching for their next setup!

Congrats! Yeah, you can further stiffen and adjust the feel with the Bilstein settings and adding Tarret GT3 Sway bars and Tarret drop links if you want to take it further. The great thing is you can mess around with the PSS10 settings before you go down the path of sway bars and drop links.

Quotes source post: 20377308

What is that thing on the roof?

Quotes source post: 20378111

As with everything in life, there's a right way, and wrong way to do things. In this instance "right" = expensive, "wrong" = cheap. I run Ohlins R&T on my 996.2 C2, I specced my own spring rates which are roughly in line with Mk1 996 GT3 rates, ie much softer than even the Ohlins softer spring option. I wanted to retain the stock Carrera II five spoke wheels (they're light, strong and aesthetically pleasing) but they have weak offsets. Like the individual who appeared to have "harshed your mellow" I too refuse to run spacers on the front of any car. But there's a caveat to that statement. I don't consider the OE Porsche 5 or 7mm items (with the correct longer bolts) specified on cars like the Mk1 996 GT3 or the 996 Boxster Spyder 550 to be spacers, they're more "shims", and Porsche use them specifically for aesthetics, and 7mm is the thickest they've used on any modern Porsche platform. I wouldn't have an issue running them. But that's where I draw the line. 10,15,18mm spacers on the front of any modern car with ABS and the scrub radius designed to work with a specific suspension design and wheel width/offset are "sub-optimal". Faced with this conundrum, I elected to think out of the box. My solution ? A slightly wider 235 section tyre, a pair of Eibach (SPC) adjustable lower front control arms, and a pair of Hardrace adjustable caster arms. With the Ohlins installed using new, stock top mounts and the mounts set to their full "outboard" ie minimal negative camber position, and the Eibach arms installed and set to their longest (maximum negative camber, and the Hardrace caster arms adjusted to bring the caster back to within the permitted tolerances, the wheel/tyre combination sits close enough to flush with the fender so as to not need any spacers. With the added bonus I'm running close to 2 degrees negative camber, and have full adjustability with camber and caster. Additionally the Eibach arms retain their rubber centre bushes, but they're made from a harder shore rubber compound. No increase in NVH as a result, but improved fore and aft location of the lower arms, along with more durable joints at the rear of the caster arms. Yes, it's waaay more expensive than bolting a pair of $100 15mm spacers on the front hubs, but the set up is a true wide track arrangement, no need to use wider, heavier wheels or wheels the same width but more offset, so no side effects with regards to compromising the scrub radius engineered by individuals far smarter than I. PS Some stunning looking 4S's in this thread

My stock 2002 C4S came with Turbo Twists and about an 18mm spacer on the rears only. I assume this is the case for all C4S's? I bought some aftermarket wheels and elected to go with a 15mm spacer on rears to fill out the wheelwell nicely.

Quotes source post: 20739340

You must have the Sport Techno wheels. These use a 17mm spacer. Turbo twists don't need spacers.