987 Suspension Bilstein B16 Upgrade

I have been waiting for my shocks to die and they did "clunk" ok waited too long Ha. I do have 133,000 miles of daily driving on my baby and she is still servicing me well. I have all my work done at my Porsche only INDY I was planning to do Bilstein Sports with H&R lowering springs that I love on my e30 325is but they said for $5000 instead of $4000 the Bilstein B16 /PSS9 set is a great, more modern setup for Street/HPDS. So "in for a penny in for a pound" yes the car I'm keeping and I've got too much invested already that I'll never get back. I bought the B16 set from FCP Euro which gave me a first time order 10% off so the tab was $2456 delivered, they were seamless to work with by the way and cheaper than my INDY could get them for. My INDY is supplying the OEM control arms etc installation and Hunter 4 wheel alignment. (Note: already did Tarett Engineering GT swaybars, Rebel Racing adjustable front drop links, fresh oem tie rods and end links) ??? Anyway my tendency would be to drop her all the way down and set the sport setting right in the middle at 4.5 What do you guys think about ride height and sport setting? - thank you.

Not sure about the road quality in your exact area but my car is slammed to the ground on Techart springs. It scrapes on everything, including the mildest driveway slopes. Go for a middle-of-the-road ride height. Setting the dampers in the middle sounds perfect, but definitely consult with your alignment guy. If you are down in the LA/626 area, hit up Chewerks as he sets up a ton of Porsches for the exact use case their owner wants.

How much did the Techart's drop it? the Bilstein B16 lowers 25 to 45mm both front and back.

From what I understand same as the B16. 25mm front 45mm rear. Uncompressed: Under load:

looking good ... it doesn't compress much!!! Very Nice Boss I'm getting pretty excited , going to the shop on Wednesday and driving to Oregon (8 hrs) Thursday if everything works out

Sounds like an amazing trip... drive safe! Getting back to my point - be mindful of ground clearance. I'm pretty miserable with how low the car is right now.

I will keep that in mind thank you

well done on the B16s - they are a pretty good set for spirited driving and firm up nicely with the PASM in sport mode. since its adjustable, go as low as you can without scraping every couple of feet. may take 2-3 adjustments before finding the right height based on your local roads. mine are setup for about 1 finger clearance between tyre and fender.

Thank you Tiger. I would Love it if the one finger spacing will work on my roads which are basically great. Did you have to re-align after each adjustment?

i did the adjustments in a short span of time, so I only did the alignment re-check after finding the right height. update: double checked my 987.2 setup - its 2 fingers. My 718 has 1 finger and tends to scrape a bit more

Some data from having PSS9s for 18yrs and 76k miles on a 06 CS; Drop is approx 30mm. Any lower and alignment numbers get bad and ride is pretty harsh. PSS9 setting towards soft end. OEM control arms and sway bars with Tarret adj drop links and rear toe links. Currently running -1.2 frt and -2.3 rear camber. I can get up to -1.8 front camber with OEM control arms and lowered 30mm. Can't get less than -2.3 rear camber unless I get adj control arms. 18" 40 series tires noticeable difference (better) ride quality than 19" 35 series.

Completely forgot this is a problem. Yes - you will increase the minimum camber in the rear in a negative sense... Since the front of the car has a very limited range of camber, there's usually too much negative camber in the rear that can't be adjusted out without the GT3/adjustable LCAs.

Today is the day for the install, the shop Manager says a "hand space" works very well for an aggressively driven road car, he is a racer and describes the B16 kit as "magical". The hand space allows me to do the project without getting the Tarett Engineering rear adjustable tow control arms which are $413/pr. I can cross that bridge in the future if needed.

David, How did the new suspension work out this past week? How is the spring rate and rebound shock setting working?

ROAD TRIP with the Bilstein B16 PSS9 Coilovers installed including F&R control arms, strut mounts and a Hunter 4 wheel alignment. Everything else was already done inc. Tarett GT sway bars with adjustable drop links and fresh tie rods. THE SET-UP: My Indy shop guys/racers said “we will set it up for you with your driving habits in mind so for lots of fast backroads and the occasional track days” they set the rebound at 8 which I thought sounded a bit soft but when I tried to push a corner down it wouldn’t move if I put all my weight into it they do move but barely. They did drop the ride height a fare amount it’s visually noticeable and has that hunker down look … I can just get my hand between the tire and the arch. THE DRIVE from Cali to Oregon is 1200 miles on I5 round trip. My first reaction is the ride is definitely stiffer at all times which is acceptable to me. What was great was the “instant” flickable lane changes at 85-100 it was a huge improvement and also much better braking control, the body just doesn’t roll ... a big confidence builder. And when you are rolling fast on th I5 sh!t happens fast with lots of Semi’s trying to pass each other. It’s amazing to say it has really improved its sports car abilities. My passenger did ask if I was trying to make her junk bounce in a few rough spots - hahaha yup.

I would suggest you look into a Sprint Booster V3 to get that immediate throttle boost to propel you in front of those semi's on I5. I use Red 5 all the time. No going back.

not something I've heard of, I will look into it. I'm looking into a new Radar Detector thinking about a Radenso DS1, I had an old V1 Gen1 that went off half of the cars I drove by, what do you use?