Best suspension set-up for 996

What would be the best suspension set up for our cars?? I've ask several owners and most would say pss9 but when I ask a shop that races 996, they say that the best suspension for a 996 are the JRZ's. I also have a friend that used to have a 996 with JRZ suspension, he swears that its the best suspension that money can buy for the model. He also noted that the PSS9 are good but not the best and JRZ's the way to go. Anyone with JRZ's on this board? FYI, dont care much about comfort but just handling.

If money is no object, go with the JRZ setup.

Vove, The reason why you get different opinions is because it really depends upon exactly what you intend to do with your car. Will you be at the street only? Will you be using 90% on the street and 10% on the track, or 10% on the street and 90% on the track? Will you be at the track only? What kind of driving do you do (e.g., rally, auto-x, road racing, ice racing)? What is your budget? Do you intend to sell the car, and if so does resale value matter? Will you be adjusting the suspension frequently or setting it once and leaving it alone? Do you know about tuning suspensions or will you have to rely on a shop to do all work? As you can see, there really is no "right" answer to your "trick" question.

TD, This would be a street setup for me but I also want to know whats the best out there for our cars. At $6500 for a set(installation included) its a bit pricy but if its the best, its the best. I've heard that with JRZ's you can literally mashed the gas around turns with ease/confident and thats from the people who had them on their cars.

I think TD is right. The "best" suspension has a lot to do with what/how you want to drive (and of course bragging rights). I do NOT track my car so I don't need the "best" race suspension. There is one thing for sure...the stock suspension is NOT the best!

The stock suspension is scary, dont even attempt to drive it like a sports car with an OEM setup.

Vove: TD-in-DC offered some VERY good advice,....... IMHO, Motons are superior to JRZ in terms of performance and durability/longevity, but both suspensions are only as good as the spring package they are paired with. Further, the Moton Clubsports are less $$$ than the Motosport shocks and every bit as capable,............... Properly setup & configured, a Moton suspension is very smooth and FAR superior to PSS-9's when maximum handling is required. Now,....street use demands some different spring rates, shock valving, and other internal changes so the ride quality is reasonable on the average city streets. Street cars used occasionally for DE events get a different setup yet so one must be clear about how the car is used. Hope this helps,...you can see more information at http://www.rennsportsystems.com/moton.html . I'd also install a pair of GT-3 swaybars to permit you to alter the understeer/oversteer balance of the car to your skills & preferences.

check out Motons.... easier for the shos to install comes with all the parts nd a much better customer service. They are all the same guys that starte with JRZ.

Can the GT3 sway bar setup be installed on an otherwise stock 996? Where does one buy the parts? Bill

Yessir,......GT-3 bars bolt onto a 2WD 996. Your dealer can get what you need.

Do you need new drop links with the GT3 sway bars? Do you know how many mm of thickness they are front and back?

Someone on this board(dont remember who) suggests that you'll only want to swap out the front sways and leave the rears OEM since the GT3 sways will be too stiff for the rears causing the rears to be a bit tail happy. Anyone have the GT3 sways on the fronts and rears?

check out www.musantemotorsports.com and check out used equipement. They have a jrz with 1500 miles.

I have the gt3 sways front and rear. You do need to use different shorter drop links for the front Not the rear. The sways are thicker and are obviously adjustable. You use them to change the bias of the car. Obviously how aggressive your alignment is will dictate how stiff each end is etc. I actually have the front set full soft and rear set about midway. I also have pss9's, and am running-1f -1.8r. Don't put too much stock in hearsay, everthing is relative and variable. I would not buy them separately. Further the stock suspension is capable enough if you have skill. With a decent alignment as noted above, I was faster at the track when I first had the alignment done,(after owning it about a month if that) than flipped out turbos gt2's etc, so again it is all relative, and the the other drivers were definitely not novices.

Thats a good find 42empress. Thanks!! Steve, very helpful insights.

I have JIC's and GT3's on the front and back. The car is totally different. On the track its great while on the steet, it can be tough. All the variability can be a little over the top as well. You have the GT3 adjustments along with the rebound/compresion adjustments and height adjustments. I have not even begun to explore all the variables. On dry pavement, its fun. You take turns at speeds very few cars would ever think of attempting. I have had a couple cars follow me, even a slow speeds, and they end up locking them up. You might want to also look at K&N suspension, as they recently released a 996 product in the US, that is used in Europe. They have the external res that many of the higher end units have and the benefit of being stainless steel.

I have the X73 and am very pleased with it, it's factory, it's non adjustable, it's awsome at the track on a TT/C4S. Couldn't be happier. Some guys have had problems with coilovers(aftermarket) on TT/C4S platforms. I think for a pre '02 car, RoW 030, post '02 X73/74, very tough to top those.

Vove, Before you spend a bunch of money on suspension I would sit down with someone that can explain a 996 suspension to you. Someone like Steve would be ideal if he's available. I really think understaning the role of damping (fast compression, slow compression, rebound, etc.), spring rates, anti-sway bars, monoballs, etc. as well as alignment options is critical to understanding what your car is doing and how it will change with the different suspension options. $6500 can get you a nice suspension but it's not even close to the "best". Triple that number and you might be close. Finally, my suspension is the "triple that number" version and I can assure you that you still can't "just mash it" around corners. Good luck, Jim

Jim, what suspension do you have? Also why not explain some of those things right here. That way not only Vove benefits, we all can. BTW have you been to the Uptown bar in Minneapolis?

Depending on the goals... For inexpensive and basic replacement, the Bilstein HD's + TRG springs + M030 sways works great. A complete set of all these components + hardware will total to about $1450. Install labor is about 5-7 hours, and there is no further adjusting necessary or possible, post alignment of course. It's a good alternative if the stock suspension is history (usually after 50k) and the ride height is a bit too high for your tastes. Austin DEVEK

Vove, To each his own, but I think that getting the top-o-the-line suspension solely for street use is overkill in the extreme. Why not get a system that is optimized for sporty street driving, and then spend the rest of your money on a super charger? I don't think that is necessary for street driving either, but it would probably give you more bang for your street buck. Just a thought. TD P.S. My P229s and GT3 sways are more than adequate for street use (and just fine for track as well). I would have to drive at illegal and "stupid" speeds on the street to reach the limit of the car. Even on the track, I reach my own personal skills limit on the before I reach the limits of the car. In other words, you would be paying for capabilities that you likely would never really use.

No holds barred, best 996 set-up? You're looking at buying more than a few GT3 Cup and GT3RSR parts to get there. And no, $6500 will not even get you close as Jim alluded to. The PSS9's would be fine for the street. And the Moton Clubsports are hard to beat value-wise on the track and unless you are trying to pull the last tenth out of a car on the track, you won't notice the difference between those and the triple adjustable motorsport Motons other than in your checkbook. __________________ Brian Bailey Autometrics Motorsports Porsche 996 - Grand-Am Cup #45 '87 Porsche 944 Turbo - PCA GT3s

For the streets, I was also thinking that the JRZ setup might be overkill. But for my own knowledge and Im sure others here, I wanted to know if money wasn't an issue what the best suspension setup is available for our cars. Im leaning towards the Pss9's and GT3 sways since I dont track my car but I could buy a used JRZ setup for a little more $$$$ . JimB, thanks for the info and Im sure you dont want to give away what your suspension setup consist of since thats your little secret.

Yeah that JRZ setup with sways and links for the same price as new PSS9s and GT3 sways looks tempting. I'd probably go that route. You can choose your spring rate too. If you decide you want something stiffer or more streetable.

Bow, Sure I�ve been to the Uptown. If you are ever in town I�d be glad to meet you there. We can talk suspension. That usually brings in the women. The reason I don�t just write about it is that I understand the topic enough to adjust my own suspension and have a half way meaningful discussion but I would not pretend to be knowledgeable enough to be able to write about it in a way that wasn�t totally confusing. If you think about what �handling� is, it�s really just maximizing the adhesion between your tires and the road. In that equation, you have the stickiness of your tires, the stickiness of the road, the size of the contact patch between the tire and the road and weight. (You also have variables such as the camber of the road surface and whether you�re cresting a hill or compressing at the bottom of a hill which effects weight) But, at the end of the day, most of what your suspension does is manage how your weight is distributed between the four contact points. For example: Under acceleration your front lifts and your back squats shifting more weight to your back contact patches. Throw in some cornering and your weight is shifting to your outside back tire. What does this mean. Lots of traction in back, not much in front. Understeer! How do you fix it? Less rebound (lift) in front and/or less compression (squat) in back might be the answer but that�s going to change how your car reacts in a different situation. Add a couple dozen scenarios to optimize across and all the adjustability of a trick suspension and it gets pretty complicated. No big secret in my suspension. Moton triple adjustable race dampers. ERP monoballs and lots of RSR stuff including the really trick adjustable spring rate springs. As Brian knows, it all adds up pretty fast. Jim

If money is no object is right but it doesn't just stop with JRZs. They truly are amazing when set up right and if used/balanced with the correct hardware around it can be truly awe-inspiring on the track. For the ultimate track set up I'd go with JRZs, remove all the rubber crap in and get the ERP kits with solid monoballs everywhere and adjustable solid control arms. WIll it be stiff on the street? Oh heck yes... For the ultimate user-friendly kit I'd go with the Moton Clubsports. Tweak with them for 5 minutes and you can adjust them from street to DE-level settings... PSS9s are fantastic on the street and although soft, farily decent on the track.

Alex, are you saying the JRZs are better than Motons and Ohlins? I'm not disagreeing, I've just never heard that at the track. What would that be based on? Jim

Hi Jim, Actually let me rephrase that a bit.. The motons are more "friendly" in terms of the delta and ability to go from super stiff to street-acceptable than the JRZs. With those you generally leave them be since you actually have to have the car in the air to adjust the pressures properly since there's no check valve (silly omission) from the cannisters. By the time you get to tripple, double adjustables it's all in the "set up" so saying one is better than the other is not really accurate. For example I had Cary@ERP set up mine and he obviously does a lot of the JRZs for ALMS teams so it was set up very aggressive for the track. Most Moton ClubSport kits you buy off of the shelf are set up less aggressive for DEs and the street. Hope that explains it a little better

Bilstein HD's + TRG springs + M030 OR PSS9's are great for steets. i have PSS9 on my street C4s and trust me, you dont' want it any stiffer. my C2 and GT3 has steve weiner's moton club sport. now you have to be pretty idiotic to run these if you do any less track days than i do (that would be 30 days min. per year and about 6000 track miles). ohlins, motons, jrz are all pretty good. but to do them right, you need someone to pick the right spring rate. certainly you can use lighter springs for street use, but then you seem to defeat the purpose of having such good shox then. at even mild settins (like my track cars) they are so rough that my wife gets headaches just driving it out of my driveway (i am not kidding). and i really HATE to drive my GT3 on street now b/c of the stiffness. it feels as stiff as a spec miata if not stiffer. (that means, i can't even hold my finger still to push the button to change radio stations, again, not kidding). i order small size starbucks coffee and put in their larges cup, so it's about 1/2 full, i have NEVER succeeded in not spilling it as i drive out of their parking lot curb cut. this is how rough it can be. but hey on track, i have NO lean, wall maybe just a tad. i dont' think you want a suspension like that. furthermore, to benefit from ohlins, jrz, motons, you really need monoballs and that makes the damn car rattle like hell. no one in their right mind would drive a street car with these shox on. it's like driving a cup car on streets. oh, 6500 inc install will not buy you the BEST. moton rach shox or jrz tripples after all the ancillaries and install and set up will run you 20k EASY. if you do go with adjustable shox, you need GT3 sway bars front and rear to tune the car to how you like it. my car sits very low and has huge amount of camber and required new droplinks front and rear.

John, excellent information. Considering that the car i have in question for suspension work next year is both street and track for me, this is going to help my decision alot.

if money is no object then MOTON

The other thing I really like about the Moton is that it's so darned easy to make them ride well on the street but great on the track with about 5-10minutes of adjusting!

Although, unless he changed his springs, I don't think any amount of adjusting will make Karlooz's suspension real cushy on the street.

Although, unless he changed his springs, I don't think any amount of adjusting will make Karlooz's suspension real cushy on the street. _________ i agree, no one in hell can i get my two moton'd cars to feel comfy on street ;-)

hehe, you ought to know jim, they were your motons . i have 450# front/700# rear and they are pretty rough. i have set the motons at 0 compression damping and 7 rebound damping for the street and it helps. cushy no, bearable yes. i'm thinking of swapping the springs down to gt3 spring rates to get more comfort on the streets since it is a 30 day track car and 335 day street car.

ya it's a snap to adjust. was it you who told me that to adjust JRZs you have to jack the car up?

ya mooty, i guess you have to get an SUV if you want a comfy ride on SF streets