Upgrade Choices

As my car sits in the garage awaiting spring for street driving and the next DE season for fun driving, I'm planning on some upgrades. I'll get to do them all eventually, but I kinda feel funny changing so many things at once to a new car so I'm doing them one at a time. Plus, it has to be OEM and not too far from spec otherwise the warrantee is void. Sports exhaust or the soon to be available -30 mm lowering X74 suspension? In one, I can immediately appreciate the sound, but won't do anything for performance. On the other, there will be an immediate improvement in appearance, but I probably won't be able to appreciate the performance improvement until I get more DE's in. Opinions?

Palting, I'm surprised the X74 suspension is an aftermarket option as it's not available from an OPC in Europe - the Porsche factory strengthen other suspension components before fitting it to a new car on the production line. If this is not done, I believe that -30mm suspension has the potential to cause long term damage. i.e. don't do it. Just because it's OEM doesn't mean its safe to install. <img src="graemlins/nono.gif" border="0" alt="[nono]" /> Sports exhaust on the other hand is a great idea!! Even if you can't drive the car, you can still listen to it in the garage! <img src="graemlins/xyxwave.gif" border="0" alt="[bigbye]" />

I suppose the good thing about the weather in the UK is that we dont have the extremes you do in the States and so we can use our P-cars all year round. It must be really tough to have to hibernate. <img src="graemlins/cussing.gif" border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" />

Palting- IMO the Porsche sport exhaust is a definite must have because your mean looking machine deserves a mean sounding exhaust so 2 things will happen you will do this and people will do this -I say best of both worlds!! In terms you won't get any peformance gains- it sure beats not losing any from an aftermarket exhaust which I had to Unichip my car to bring back the trq back. Also skip the electronics part- I would leave the exhaust open at all times. With regards to x74 suspension- though it would look great and do well on the track- I would not do it buit that's me since I do live in San Francisco- the ride and cleartance issues would kill me and the car but don't know how well the roads are over there where you'll live. Your suspension is good as it is so maybe trying r-compounds is a good first step and brake pads. Regards. Mike

Is winter in Ohio that bad? Are you really going to keep it in the garage until spring? What kind of maintenance do you have to perform during hibernation? Sorry for all the questions - I can not imagine not driving my car for a winter.

Thanks for the replies, guys. The C4S already has the stiffened chassis to go with its current sport suspension. You may have a point that there may be additional stiffening to go with the X74. Food for thought and more research. It's already available as an aftermarket retro-fit for the C2 and C4, and will be available for the C4S and turbo early next year. Looks like the sports exhaust is the way to go early on. I've already got a whole slew of files saved from this board, so it should go easy. Ohio winter isn't that bad. They do get pretty aggressive with salting the road. That's the bad part. I'll keep driving it 'til the salters come. Not really planning anything specific for the hibernation. Just clean and wax it, full tank of gas, few extra pounds in the tires. I have a feeling I may not be able to resist and will still take it out on a weekend run or two.

Palting, I can certainly empathize. The winters are long in MN and my garage is heated so there is a constant urge to upgrade. That is probably why I ended up with a 996 that is great on the track but almost worthless on the street. Oh well. To address your question, knowing how much fun you have at the track and thinking about your car's strengths and weaknesses, I would concentrate on better suspension and less weight. I half way buy the argument of not using R compound tires until you really get comfortable tracking on street tires but I can see no reason not to improve your suspension. You will appreciate a better suspension immediately. Personally I would go with high quality, adjustable coilovers because of the flexibility to adjust ride height and the perforance gains but I'm sure the X74 will be fine. Adjustable sway bars are also a great addition. As for exhaust, my view is go light. There is no better place to loose a few pounds but that's just my track warped opinion. Many people seem happy with the sport exhaust. As for warantee, you know of course that they cannot not turn you down unless they can prove a connection between the change you made and the problem. It is my understanding that there are no issues with aftermarket exhaust. There maybe a few repairs (like wheelbearings) they could blame on suspension I suppose but I wouldn't be too worried about it. Just my 2 cents worth. Take it for what it's worth. Jim