Any Experience - 996 Ohlins vs M030?

I am starting to outgrow my standard springs (or they are too long in the tooth). I currently have 4 year old (20k) Bilstein B6 dampers fitted to the standard springs, and I am noticing that the car porpoises on high speed corners - (turn 1 SMSP for example) - which can be very disconcerting.... I figure it might be time to get slightly stiffer springs, and am thinking either the M030, or the Ohlins R&T coilovers... The car is used for Motorkhana, Supersprints and weekend drives on some pretty horrible NSW roads. Has anyone done the change? I dont really want to lower the car as I still drive it on the road, my guess is that my current springs are probably just about M030 height.... Are the M030s at the maximum "approved" height for the Ohlins, or are they even lower? Its hard to tell from the documentation because of the confusion with the US cars being 10mm or even 20mm higher than ours... PS: Currently on 18xJ7.5 and 18x10J RIMs. Grateful for any thoughts. Andrew

I've 996.2 running Shockworks coil overs.  I also drive all over NSW.  Happy to chat The Shocksworks kit changes the spring rate from factory I think it was 1.5KG/4KG to 3.5KG/9KG (basically GT3 spring rates) with custom valving

As someone who has a 996 previously set up by the previous owner to be very low, I STRONGLY agree with your preference to not lower the car.  It is a real pain the butt to get in and out of some hotel carparks and crab walking over speed humps while everyone watches you hold up traffic is not a lot of fun. Unless you building a track rat definitely do not go lower as it severely reduces useability.

I have an M030 996.2 and find the ride height to be ok, I generally have more clearance problems on the front of my e39 with the M5 ride height and front end.  I find the suspension not too bad in the main part, but I don't track the car. Regarding Ohlins, unfortunately I can't comment. *In Theory* a far more sophisticated shock like Ohlins should allow a lot more control and tuneability than any standard type device.  The damping system should be able to be tuned such that it retains a lot more control while being more comfortable as well.  But my experience (mainly in the MC world) is that all "suspension places" have a heavy propensity toward racetrack type setup, since that is the majority of their trade. Who supplies Ohlins in Oz or do you have to import?  For me it would be essential to have a local supplier and one who is adept at opening them up and revalving them as required so that you can dial them in, then providing shock dyno results to back it up.  I'd be leaning toward a local manufacturer so you can get it tuned exactly as you like, eg shockworks as mentioned above.

I had a daily driver 997.1 C2 which I swapped in Öhlins R&T, and since I’m also living with a 996 RS; lowered, impractical and harsh ride was the last items on my list! Especially as my driveway is a royal PITA for low cars… I was assured the quality of the dampers would make for a quality ride without sacrificing its daily usability, so I went ahead with them and we installed them at max height and set the softest damper settings, aligned it, corner weighted it and the car was an absolute delight, in fact it rode far better than stock, not crashy and yet improved its handling by miles… so it really did become a great one car to do it all. i never tracked it because i already have a track car, but I wouldn’t have hesitated to throw on some R comps and reset the alignment and dampers for such an occasion they would absolutely be up to the task. Unfortunately I sold that car a couple of years ago, otherwise I’d offer you to drive it and see for yourself. That being said, I’ll probably upgrade the setup in my Turbo at some point and it’ll 99% likely be Öhlins R&T, I’ll be daily driving it and tracking it. PS - for porpoising, also worth looking into the limited slip diff condition (assuming you have one in there) I’ve refreshed it on the last two track cars to the Guard Transmission internals and makes a huge difference… I don’t know what options exist for the Carrera mind you.

Thanks for all the replies! @st3ve If you are around Sydney, would be great to see how high the M030 is in real life compared to mine. @Minke Thanks with Shockworks I now have an additional thing to compare! 😄 @edgy A friend his Ohlins R&T in his 986 set very low, (but with dampers dialed into about the mid-range .. 7 to 10 iirc) and it didn't seem any less comfortable than mine, so seems like a reasonable option. As I said, still trying to work out the "max" ride height on them though - my driveway doesn't help here. Also, haven't done a baffled x51 or deep sump yet, so very reluctant to go more sticky than the PS2 N tyres I currently run. No LSD on my car, I would love one, but that is even further down the track. Thanks for all the tips. Will probably be a while till I do this, but will keep the thread updated. PS: Would probably do sway bars at the same time as they are currently the standard ones...

I wish I could recite the exact difference, but the "max" height is definitely lower than stock Carrera, not by much though, I would of said around 15mm

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There are, as I understand it, four heights. (highest to lowest) USA Standard Height RoW (Rest of the world standard height) M030 USA M030 RoW I believe RoW and M030 RoW is 30mm FYI - My car is 100% new in the suspension (and tyre) department.  New arms/drop links / sway bar bushes etc... wheel alignment / ride height by Peter @ Road and Race

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Bit like this below you reckon and some other tweets to accompany the ohlins R&T  Eg gt3 lower adjustable control arms , tarret  adjustable toe rods and gt3 rear adjustable sway bar and tarret sway bar links.  Had tarret front sway bar links but pissed them off for elephant racing ones recently because they were binding. Not setup on soft, eg 7 all round and front splitter is just a consumable a bit more so than the stock setup. At least their not carbon fibre. ps back in the day, ohlins did a world wide recall on their front  ohlins R&T coilovers for 996 turbos and the c4s  The engineered solution was revised shock on elephant racing strut mounts.   They even paid me for jocaro in Melbourne to do the install and wheel alignment . Plus to keep the yellow theme going had go the UMW big brake kit, eg 996gt2 / gt3 front calipers and 997 rears in yellow and 350mm discs all round