I am so confused now - '02 C4S Euro suspension

Ok, I thought I had this all figured out. All I wanted was to change my bone stock US spec '02 C4S to the base Euro suspension setup (not some adjustable track oriented uber-lowered setup, just the way the car is sold in Europe). The basic Euro 996 C4S setup is, I thought, 20mm lower in front, 10mm lower in rear vs. the basic US spec setup (true for all 996 models I thought). This Euro suspension mod would seemingly address the mildly nose-high stance of the US spec 996 cars (meet US spec bumper height requirements). I was also told (by Carnewal) that there is no notion of M030 "sport" suspension on my car as the 996 turbo & 996 C4S already come with what is essentially an M030 "sport" suspension. There is only US and European versions of the bone stock setup. So only springs/shocks (not bars) are needed to set the car up the way the factory intended [for sale in Europe]. The story seemed believable to me at the time. So....off to Andial I went to have this mod performed. Explained very clearly to them what I was after. Agreed to buy the parts thru them thinking they would get it all right. I checked part numbers and, for the shocks at least (couldn't find part numbers on springs, just colored paint blobs). Andial did indeed install slightly different part numbered shocks (the newly installed front shock p/n now ends in .26, old one was .27, couldn't read p/n on rear shocks). So, presumably the .26 is the Euro front shock (Bilstein in both cases) to match the Euro front springs. But I called Andial to ask what alignment settings they used (forgot to ask them for a little extra neg front camber) got to chatting more about ride height and now they tell me they only dropped my car a half inch (12mm) both front & rear thereby totally NOT accomplishing my original goal - I think. Man am I confused. So I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I just dumped $3,000 on. I'm thinking I may have just vaporized $3k only so I can drag my bottom side on more speed bumps now Can anyone clear this up for me? What did I really get? I don't know how I could have made things clearer to Andial. Or maybe I just didn't understand what Andial was telling me.

There is a euro sport suspension spring, shock kit, about 20mm lower than US (+/- 10mm is spec.)(black) simply euro sport suspension. Usually unassembled. The X73 lowers it 20mm, new shocks, springs and motor mounts,fully assembled, it is yellow in color. The most aggressive racing setup porsche motorsports sells, totally transforms the car. I'll dig up the pn's later..

This article on PCA should help you find the answers that you seek. It goes into a tremendous amount of detail on what the different Porsche suspensions do to the car. Bear in mind that it's for a stock 996 C2, but the detail should really help guide you on your way. Also, it would be worthwhile to speak to Jeff at Sunset Imports ([email removed]) or Justin at Brandywine ([email removed]). Those guys seem to know their stuff if you have more questions. Good luck.

Agreed with Chris. Yeah it looks like you did get the X73, if you're car only dropped about a inch. Do you notice any difference in handling? Staying OEM is always nice, but did you look into aftermarket kits (eg PSS9s, JIC's,etc)?

The car is allegedly now set up the way it would be sold, bone stock, in the European (a.k.a. RoW) market. It's not X73 I'm told. It's just the bone stock slightly lower springs along with the matching Bilstein shocks that are used on the car when sold in the RoW market. So this is pretty much what I wanted after all I think. I just thought that the RoW setup (whether a 996 C2 or C4 or C4S) was generally about 20mm down in front, 10mm lower in the rear (vs. US spec), i.e. a roughly 10mm delta where the front is slightly lower than rear. But sounds like it's more like about 12mm lower all around (front & rear), according to Dieter at Andial. Although it's plausible that he didn't have the exact figures correct off the top of his head given the zillions of different P-cars he's dealt with over the years, so maybe I do have the expected down 20mm front, 10mm rear - unfortunately I didn't take before/after measurements. Also looks like there's about a +/-10mm slop factor on all this so it's probably a bit of a crap shoot as to what you actually end up with. fwiw, they tell me that they set the front camber to -0.5 degree and something like -1 to -1.5 degree in the rear. This is not particularly aggressive but I only do maybe 2-3 track/AX events per year anyhow [on street tires, not R-compound]. I'm mostly a street miles sort of owner so this alignment is probably fine for me. I'll watch how badly my fronts wear on the outside shoulders at track/AX events and decide whether I want to increase my neg camber any. At least with the car now a little lower I think I will be able to more easily achieve greater neg camber than I would have been able to achieve with the higher stock US setup, should I ever decide that's what I want. I am aware of non-Porsche suspension components (PSS9, H&R, etc) but I [and many friends] have had negative experiences with fitment / quality of aftermarket parts so I'm clinging to my Porsche OEM ways for now, especially considering that I am not after a weekend track car setup anyhow, just the occasional track adventure. Thanks very much to all who helped me with info on this. That PCA 996 suspension link is great!

Good post, Kirk. Thanks for the update and I hope the suspension rides fine for you from here on.