Suspension ride heights

Hello, I am looking for feedback for those that live in urban areas as far as ride height on aftermarket suspension. I drive my car mostly weekends on back roads and DEs but I still need to drive it through the city. My concern is clearence for alley speed bumps and the Chicago streets in general. Ideally, I would like to get X74 but I have some concerns with smacking the front spoiler or engine case on something so thought about pss9s so I can set the ride height a little higher. I have the USM030 and after reading the Panamera article, don't see the ROWM030 as much of an improvement. I've read alot of feedback on the forums with suspension mods and Joel Riser"s posts on PCA tech says x74 is too low for US streets. Obviously, I want to improve the handling dynamics of the car but the wheel gaps are really glaring. Anyone that lives in the area can recommend who suspension work would be great. Thanks

Along those lines, what is the difference in ride height between the ROWM030 and the X74 setup?

My neighborhood has driveways off the back of the house, leading to an alley. My driveway has a pretty good incline where it meets the alley, and I have scraped neither the front nor the back with the following setup: PSS9's ROWM030 19" Wheels (fills that gap you mentioned even further)

I guess alot of it depends on where you live and how careful you are when you drive. Personally I've never owned a car that sat stock height...and my personal taste is to have cars pretty low. I'm currently sitting at 105mm ride height (this is really low IMO) in the front with the factory MkI aero bumper and my wife drives the car daily without any issue. Does it scrape every once in awhile...YES but if you're careful about stuff it'll only catch the underside of the bumper and not be an issue at all. Car goes over speed bumps just fine though even when taken straight on. -Andy

I have the x74 on my car and I have driven the car around Chicago quite a bit (both with the Aerokit and without). Here are my observations; - With the stock US ride height you can drive the car around Chicago (like most other cars) and not experience any clearance issues. - With the x74 ride height the car can be driven without scraping if you drive with care. The clearance is "ok", but you will quickly learn to avoid or creep through some obstacles. - With the x74 ride height and the Aerokit (GT3 front spoiler) you need to drive with great care or you will regularly scrape/damage the front lip. Bottom line I do not hesitate to drive my car downtown, but I am very careful with how I drive it in the city. The clearance problem is the front lip. This problem is made worse by the fact that the 996 has a long overhang in front of the wheels (the car needs this space for the radiators). There aren't clearance issues just driving down the street but pulling into and out of parking lots requires great care. On a side note you should be aware of the ride diffence you will experience with the x74. In a word it (the x74) is "harsh". It is a dream on smooth twisty roads, but a nightmare over broken city pavement. You feel EVERY bump in the road with this set-up. That being said I love it on the car and you could not pay me to change the car back. If you are just going for a dropped "look", but are not looking for the big handling gains and are not willing to live with the harsh ride you'd probably be better served by the ROW 030 sport suspension or PSS9's. In my experience both the ROW 030 and PSS9's are significantly softer than the x74.

I'm probably the lowest you want to get. I have a C4S with the aerokit lip as you can see here: It's freaking low. It's lower than the M3 and the S2000 I drove which were also slammed on adjustable coils. I kinda live on the suburbia side of the lake in the greater Seattle metro and I only find myself lightly scraping that front lip when the driveway is steep and I'm exiting. I just don't have enough room to angle it out v. when I drove into the lot, I can slide it sideways a bit more. You gotta learn the streets and know which bumps and inclines work or don't work. It's liveable. I think I have maybe 3" clearance up front. It's a beautiful thing when you see it rolling, though. Man what a sight to be lowered with an aerolip. So aggressive like you're on the ground! It's the only way to 911.

How much have you lowered it?

Can one lower the ride height on stock suspension?

Sure, but you have to replace the springs (with shorter springs) to do it.

Do you have any street pics Ben?

Is this what you were looking for, Ray? I'm not sure how much it lowered as I just told my indy to align it, corner balance it, and make it look good at the same time.

Yep, you are pretty low. I'd say definately lower than x73/x74. Looks good!!

Thanks all for the responses. I think given Ray's experience with x74 living in the same area, this maybe the optimal choice for me. I am not concerned with the rough ride since it's not a daily driver. Besides the look, I really want the enhanced performance as well. I measured the speed bumps in my alley and they are 4" so I should be able to clear obstacles like this with great care and as long as I don't let my wife drive the car . The engine block clearance concerns me more than the front lip black plastic. Looks like I will need to get a set from Carnewal before the sale runs out. Benjamin, your car looks fantastic.

X74 is an excellent option. Good luck, bud.

I drive in California on an x74 suspension. I have had no scraping issues when I drive the car with care. Simply slowing for driveways and taking them at an angle seems to take care of any issues. The x74 kit brings the car down to the ride height of a GT3 with out the low lip of the GT3 body kit. You should be just fine. Oh, and here's a pic.