What a crap day -- Vent with suspension question

Driving to get my 4S tires aligned and balanced, a construction hauler ejected a large piece of metal which hit my front right fender and bonnet. I was able to avoid what could have been way worse to include (in hindsight) a massive accident or me actually getting struck by the object. Car could have suffered much more damage. Luckily, I got the plate number and reported it to the state police. Insurance is already on it and the car is scheduled to go in mid-NOV to get repaired. To rub further salt in the wound, it turns out my front right suspension is starting to degrade. I was getting a slight wobble, hence why I took it in, but just didn't plan on hearing that news. The car is riding on a complete OEM setup, and it is getting tired. I do not have any factory suspension options, so it's all bolt on with no electronic adjustment components to factor in. I did some searching and didn't find too much, but I am looking to replace with OEM or an OEM-like option that preserves the stock handling and ride since I daily this but also auto-cross and track it once or twice a month. Are there any 4S drivers who replaced their original hardware, and simply went with new stock setup? Any one here go with a different setup, while trying to preserve the OEM feel/handling? I had coilovers and adjustable systems on previous cars, but found I never really used them to the degree I thought, and when I did, it was a little overly annoying, so I also intend to stick with a fixed setup. Just want to see how others have approached this who had a similar intent. Thanks!!!

Sorry for your highway encounter and glad that didnt cause any personal injury Regarding suspension set up, in my case, I decided to go with RoW Springs (OEM) and Bilstein B6 shocks (also RoW references). Replaced also front strut mounts. Very happy with the results. A bit lower than the stock US setup, but not too low. A bit firmer, but still with a good amount of OEM quality ride. My goal was to get the "like new" feeling a bit improved. On top of that I did lower control arms and trailer arms in the four corners, but the depends on how healthy yours are.

Thanks for the suggestion. You setup is basically what I am considering. Wasn't planning to do springs, but... per usual with this type of thing, if you are going to do X, then you might as well do Y. Appreciate the kind words as well. I am still incredibly livid, but as mentioned, could have been way worse with potential bodily harm.

Man that really sucks! It's amazing how careless even professionals are these days. As for the suspension ROW M030 seems to be the go too for daily's that see occasionally spirited driving/track/autocross. It is what I have on my car, but with Koni Actives instead of Bilsteins. And it provides a solid balance between ground clearance, comfort, and performance. @wdb was looking for about the same thing as you and just did this on his car, also with the Koni actives, and seems to be happy. Maybe he'll chime in. I personally will go coilovers when the time comes to replace, but this is a solid set up. The Koni actives are great shocks and make a big difference in ride quality without sacrificing performance.

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Springs don't really wear out/go bad in the traditional sense, so if they aren't rusty/damaged and you aren't looking to lower the car any. There is no reason you can't reuse your old springs.

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I kept mine close to OEM. Left the springs alone, replaced shocks with B6, other components with stock replacements as needed (typically Meyle). TBH, I think it's great, but I always wonder if I would have noticed a difference with a great new coilover setup. Then I think probably not enough, and look for what else I can spend money on. I know. I probably would, but I don't need it.

See stuff flying out of these trucks all the time on I-95... Don't even get me started on the municipal waste trucks. Cover my nose and get to 100+ pretty quickly whenever I see one coming up lol - Quick question on the accident - if you don't have proof, did you just give them the plate number and because it was reg'd under a company (assuming so) they pushed it through? Was always curious as to what happens in a situation like this where the other driver is unaware and you don't have a chance to stop and exchange info with him/her. Technically you could grab a plate off of any truck and do what you did here to correct body damage (if what I said here is what happened). Obviously illegal but interesting.

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Yeh so MSP said they cannot take any further action without actual evidence/proof of what happened, and to your point, it is not anywhere outside of the realm of possibilities to do exactly what you suggested, hence the MSP role being to establish a record for it. My insurance is through a large provider, and we have been customers with them for a long time, so I think you either will develop a track record and get caught, or the offense will be so egregious that it's clear you were trying to game the system. The time and aggravation for any of these processes immediately tables any consideration for such a course of action. Although my insurance provider makes things very straight forward.

Also forgot to mention that I love the color of your ride.

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I would have had to wait some number of weeks/months for Koni Actives at the time I did mine, and with supply chain woes being what they are I chose not to risk them never showing up at all. I went with Koni Yellows, which are manually adjustable over a range that is a bit greater than the Actives. I also replaced everything with rubber in it in the suspension at the same time, plus strut tops and the front strut bearings. Basically every wear item. I like it a lot. The only thing suspension related that I might change in the future is the anti-roll bars, which I left stock (with new bushings). That said, I know a lot of folks go with coilovers and are just as happy with ride quality etc. as I am.

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Thanks man. It's Arena Red, but my avatar was taken at a gas station and she was looking more purple than normal. Best of luck with getting your ride worked out...

I have a Turbo - same suspension as a 4S - and I had PSS9 coilovers installed on it for a long time. The PSS9's rode better than stock over our crap Masschusetts roads and handled far better too. The reasons I can think of to avoid coilovers would be if the car is regularly driven in snow and salt in the winter, or if having stock ride height is a requirement. Yes, coilovers are adjustable. You don't adjust them regularly though. They get adjusted once at installation to set the ride height and then left alone.

Thanks for all the recommendations. Pretty set on going with the B6 and likely keeping the stock springs since I have to deal with DMV roads, and the car is a DD/all weather which also gets AX/track time. Wdb, did you source all the parts yourself? Find a full kit? I am looking for B6 kits but they either come attached with a spring set (HR), or I can only find "naked" B4 or B8 kits that only include all four shocks. I also want to replace anything rubber and/or wearable and do this all right the first time for both peace of mind and to further tighten the car. Along those lines, you recommend any sort of "all inclusive" shopping options? I assume you kept the springs stock (based on the lack of any mention in your post)? theprf, why did you switch it up? Thanks for elaborating on your decision-making too. This is all super helpful from everyone.

Not a kit per se but I got a lot of help from @Gert of Carnewal in selecting springs and shocks and associated bits like strut tops and bump stops. The rest of the suspension parts are genuine Porsche with a small exception of TRW steering stuff.

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I installed a set of remote canister race coilovers with very stiff springs, Moton motorsport 2-ways.

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Exactly why I tell everyone to install a simple dash camera. I know too many examples where fault could have been changed with this simple device. My family even had to go to court when a person ran a red light and hit my mother. We had witnesses from my mother's perspective, but NO hard evidence from the perspective of the driver. This person claimed "The light was green!". In the end, we couldn't prove conclusively that the light didn't malfunction which meant she didn't (i.e. driver's Progressive insurance) have to pay for medical and replacement of our car. Dash cameras are cheap insurance and relatively easy to install. Since I use Escort radar detectors, I purchased a M1 camera that powers off the 12V feed to the detector.

Seems to be some bad juju in the air for us DMV 996 owners. Had my tool kit stolen out of my car last night after forgetting to lock it. Thing had my wheel's security key in it too. Really pissed off. The f*cking tool kit? Really? Sorry to hear this OP - can't stand insurance of any type. If you can't prove it, you lose it.

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I put my wheel lock lugs in the glove compartment. Too many stories of people being locked out of the frunk. On my first 996, the previous owner lost the key lug. Porsche of Atlanta was very kind to help me identify the correct replacement key lug. But it meant driving to Atlanta and then placing an order for the replacement. A little inconvenience, but glad it wasn't more costly. Being stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire that you can't remove would be worse.. and definitely more costly. Another idea is just to be regular lugs on it and call it a day. As they say... "Locks are only good to keep the honest people out!"

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God damn it; sorry man... at that rate like, just take the car (luckily that did not happen). Yeh something is going on. It's bad enough but I almost had one A4 veer into me today, and someone pulled the "Maryland lane change" and shot over four lanes to try and get off, only veer back over into the far left... Like f-ing serious...? Thanks again for the replies, and to wdb for the help. Worked out with shop and doing B6 with stock springs, replacing all wearables/rubber and anything else that is considered either a legit future problem or discovered while doing all four corners. This on top of an already scheduled spark plug and coil replacement (have not been done yet) and full fluid flushes all around. Then it's off to the body shop to get that other muck taken care... And I hope this is it... for a while.

So we are all set to go for next week. The following are definitely being replaced with additional work pending conditions of various other suspension related bits: Shocks (all around) Assemblies Mounts Bump stops Bellows Bearings Control Arms Tie Rods Also... Spark Plugs Ignition coils Fluids all dropped/replaced Belts inspected Anything to keep in mind or be prepared to hear regarding a near complete suspension job? I really like my shop, and the owner/head mechanic is awesome, but I am planning for there to be at least one, "After pulling this off, we found..." Also missing her a lot... She goes to the body shop right after this work to get that crap fixed... Looking like DEC when I get her back, but hopefully with no major issues and bills to front for a year or two, and more importantly, a refreshed ride and reenergized power plant. With 89.3k, all the aforementioned components are OEM original so pretty damn good so far as getting the last bit out of them.