Sport M030 suspension rigid chassis??

on my 2003 C@ X512 i have the rifgid chassis option which i believe is the m030 or sport suspension. can the coil over shocks be adjusted for lowering the car ?

If you have option M030 or Rigidly Tuned Chassis, as Porsche calls it, you cannot adjust the ride height of the car. The only way to do it is to replace your shocks and springs with a coilover set such as this:

I believe that the M030 suspension cannot be height adjustable(shocks are not coil-overs). I have the ROW M030 and it lowers by 10mm rear and 20mm front. After few hundred miles it has settled to the point looks great(in the beginning didn't look much lowered but now compared to stock really noticeable). Regards. Mike

thanks very much

How do you like your euro M030, I just ordered a set? Does it improve the handling alot? Is it still a confortable ride on long trips?

I believe that statement to be inaccurate. You can actually adjust the height a limited amount throught the use of additional factory spacers. I do not know the details of how much adjustment can safely be achieved, but there is limited adjustability there.

Actually it is easy to lower the car. Just run 15 in. wheels! Viola: 1 1/2 in. lower.

[quote]Originally posted by Ed Newman: <strong>I believe that statement to be inaccurate. You can actually adjust the height a limited amount throught the use of additional factory spacers. I do not know the details of how much adjustment can safely be achieved, but there is limited adjustability there.</strong><hr></blockquote> That is not true. The hard rubber spacers (compensating rings) are not there for height adjustment but rather for compensation between different springs used as tolerances vary. Front: - Spacer with white line: 3 mm - Spacer with green line: 6.5 mm Rear: - Spacer with white line: 0.5 mm - Spacer with green line: 4 mm Each one of these spacers is dedicated to its respective spring and, although one could, they are not to be interchanged. Not much of a difference between two rings, is there?

Ron, I love the ROW 030 and if on long trips wouldn't be a problem because I think highways have better surfaces but with me living in the city(San Francisco)- the streets here could make a few people think the ride is abit firm but I love firm anyway(honestly speaking on the streets- my car feels like a go cart). It's IMO a perfect blend for street/track. Handling is like nite and day- less roll and turns like on rails. The PSS-9 mite be worth looking at too but I only run lioke 10-12 DE's a year so the adjustability factor isn't really important at this time unless I do more track events. I belive alot of folks love the ROW 030-great mod. Regards. Mike

Viken, I agree they are not intended for the purpose of changing height, and they cannot change by much, but I have seen them used to 'corner balance' or slightly adjust cars. I did not change them on mine.

Thanks 996FLT6. Sounds like a real winner. I am 53, and still drive agressively. Went out with the ferrari's last week on Mulhollen Highway. They were very impressed with the Porsche. Excuse my spelling

For the person who lives in SF, have you tried making the intersection between California and Jones without scraping your belly?

Arthur if youy mean going down the hill on Jones heading towards California- I have not tried but I can tell you it would scrape going up on my driveway so I kinda drive it at an angle to circumvent the scraping. Maybe I'll give it a try and hear that beautiful sound . Regards. Mike

I also did the ROW M030 recently, definitely makes a noticeable difference in the handling. Significantly less understeer, flatter, and the car is much better with the suspension compressed. Makes the car seem lighter, which is probably attributable to the different alignment spec. I have not had any new issues with clearance, even though I added the skid plate in back. Pleasant surprise. The ride is quite a bit firmer, but not hard. If stock is taut, call it tight. The big difference is only when you hit larger road imperfections of about 1" or more, you take a pretty good shot then especially from the rears.

Nick - How long ago did you have the ROW 030 done and how many miles since install. In the beginning going up the driveway wasn't an issue but once it settled down it would scrape the front bottom. Regards. Mike

This suspension sounds like a real winner. If I don't even get a ride, I am still going for it. I also have a tech EFX engine skid plate. No serious rattles develop from the stiff suspension?

Ron- you'll notice more noise eminating from the outside ie bumps/irregular surfaces but great feedback on the track-feel much more planted then stock. Regards. Mike

Thanks for the information.

Mike--about a month, say 250 miles. I already had to crab across my driveway stock, so nothing changed! I got the factory plate from Gert also partly because I am tired of always having clean, new coolant, although it may not help much on that. At the same time I did the 3-spoke (partly warranty, got lucky) and etched shifter so everything feels different, especially hanging on to the fat parts of the wheel. Interesting sensation right away that the car was lower. Ron Stavis--no constant new noises or buzzing yet, no. Nothing at all just tooling along on a good road, and not even a peep mechanically. Obviously this does not stand to make the interior quieter over time, which believe it or not is a major input into how hard a car feels--i.e. a loud car over bumps actually "feels" harder than it is. Once again, you do get a MUCH bigger thump, audio and physical, once the road deteriorates above a certain threshhold, something to take into account on a daily driver. You will not want to drop the tire pressure too much to compensate either, below 40psi in back the handling loses the riding-on-rails-I-am-Nuvolari thing. Wouldn't say I have it totally dialed in yet but about 5psi gap front/rear seems to work, versus about 4psi stock (Michelins). Unless you also dying to lower the car or track(if so just go for it), it would be interesting to try the ROW M030 alignment if possible on the stock setup to see if that picks up some handling benefit on a daily driver. I mean, the stock setup is not at all a poor compromise between ride and handling on the street, I just felt like going faster.

I use the car on weekends only. I drive a toyota pickup during the week. I am starting to go out on spirited drives with some ferraris. I think this should be a good setup. I also have PSM, and did a three day Bob Bondurant about 12 years ago. There were 5 ferrari's. 1 360 Modena, lead car. My friends 355, followed by me. No problem staying right on his tail. a 328 and 2 308 quadravalves. We left the 328 and both 308 far behind. Could not even see them in the rear view mirror. Maybe they were not trying. I think those cars have old technololgy suspension, and lack of power. Looking forward to the M030 setup.

Perfect for that, you will almost certainly be very happy with it. Parts are around $1150 from Carnewal including minor duty, install was $800.

The 328/308 cars are giving up weight, power, chassis stiffness, tires and comfort to a 996 or contemporary Ferraris. Great looks and sounds, though. Should be a pretty good drive versus that 355, good match.

Nick- have you tracked your car? I'm waiting til next season to get to the track(gone to 11 DE's this year) and be nice to have fellow 996's out there. All have been at Thunderhill but next year hope to try Laguna Seca/Sear's Point. Regards. Mike

Not yet, but I have a Porsche racer buddy at work who is always after me to do Thunderhill. Having watched about 20-30 major races at Laguna I would probably be more interested in that. Give me an excuse to get some huge red or yellow brakes! I fool around a LOT with the crotch-rocket jocks in the hills over here around Tilden Park. Advantage of the ROW M030 is very obvious on tighter turns, especially if you get behind the car a little. Very similar to Hwys 84 and 92/35 through Woodside and La Honda, but tighter. Grew up on those.