Eibach Springs and Spacers Installed...

Ok....here they are.....a couple of photos anyway. As you can see...the spacers really bring the wheels out and fill the wells up perfectly. The springs brought my cherry down about an inch in the front and back. Here is a close up of the spacer.... and one more...... Cosmetically I am very pleased....so...performance.... I have only driven it about 40 miles since the spring and spacer install. Things I have noticed.. 1. The car does not buck up under quick acceleration...at all. I used to feel the front end come up slightly during quick starts or fast accerlation. Now it just lurches forward without the front lifting. 2. I have yet to rub the front air dams while parking or going over bumps. Granted, i do only city driving on fairly smooth roads...never dirt roads. As a comparison, my business partners C6 vette scrapes coming up my driveway...the cayman does not. Time will tell if i need to be super concious of this or not. 3. The handling has probably improved slightly because we widened the stance and from the lower profile. Can i tell?...not really. Its definitely not worse. I have noticed i guess, that the ride is firmer, but not at all uncomfortable. The rebound seems a little faster too. Since I have not tracked or autocrossed in the cayman I cannot be more specific about its absolute handling. Just what I have noticed around town and on about 20 miles of highway driving. It took 6-8 hours for the shop to install the springs. They said they really took their time because its their first cayman install and they wanted to get everything just right. The alignment took another 2 hours. They are pretty conscientous folks...which sets my mind at ease when making a change like this to a 65K car. Edited by - RedRocket on 02/17/2006 5:32:34 PM

How much are the spacers and bolts. Looks good.

I'm still wondering if you talked to them about being a site sponsor or advertiser here? I don't think I ever saw a response to that question. /fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/lightbulb.gif BTW, I will move the post for you.

SF....the spacers were $190 for all 4 wheels, spacer bolts were $189.80. sooo...about 400 bucks for everything. You can spend a litle more for the chrome bolts if you want, but i passed on those cause i will probably get new wheels sometime in the near future for my daily driving and use these wheels for track and autocrross. K-Man S......I did talk to Stephen at GMP. He is one of the owners and a great guy. He is up instructing at a driving school this weekend (VRR i think?) If you want to get in touch with him his email is [email removed] I will shoot him a quick email too.

RR, Your car looks quite nice - fwiw, I think the Cayman wheels with the 18's look the best on it, compared to everything else you posted yesterday... these are simple and let the car speak for itself - the others you pictured just seem a little too fussy to go with all the different lines of the car. Thanks for posting these. brad

The car looks a touch high in the rear relative to the front (as compared to the OEM rake). Am I dreaming? -Pete

nope you're not dreaming. it is a touch higher. not sure if the manufacturer did it on purpose or not, but the shop mechanic told me that its not a bad thing cause when you accelerate the rear squats hard because the cayman is a mid engine configuration. funny you should notice that cause thats exactly what the shop owner said when they were done with everything. My springs are Eibach, you can get H&R that lowers a little more in the front and the back. Personally i just didnt want to go too low. It is surprising how much room is still left within the wells, even after a drop though.

I have to ask a question you may not want to hear the answer to, but what was the kit # of your springs that were installed? I ask because Eibach does not list springs for the Cayman and my inquiry into them received a response that they don't yet have a kit but have one in development. My suspicion is that someone gave you a Boxster spring kit hoping that it would be close enough.

Yeah, I think they actually are the same as for the Boxster. I spoke with the shop owner and mechanic about the fact that I had heard that there might be a difference between the two. They told me that they had confirmed that the spring set was actually the same. I am not sure if this was through Porsche or Eibach. The owner has contacts in the developmental areas of most of the companies they distribute for. They also told me that with VW, Audi, and Porsche there are similarities throughout different models and that often times aftermarket parts will be identical but have different numbers for various reasons. Since they have been doing this for years, (over 25), I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. Also, their mechanic worked for Porsche for several years. If you know for a fact that any of the information I was given is untrue, please by all means let me know. If for some reason....this is not the case and they have made a mistake....there is no doubt in my mind that they will correct it immediately, and then I will be finding another shop /fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/confused_smile.gif Just as an aside...I pulled this off of one of the reviews for the cayman.....please dont take this the wrong way...not trying to be a smartass i promise... Because of that solid foundation, Porsche was able to tune the Cayman's underpinnings to a higher level of 'dynamic dimension.' All the suspension hardware and geometry is shared with the Boxster, but the Cayman S uses firmer rear springs, stiffer dampers and a slightly smaller rear sway bar. heres another one... For those of you who aren't Porsche diehards, the Cayman is essentially a Boxster with a steel coupe roof and a hatchback. Porsche claims that as a result of the steel surgery, torsional rigidity doubles. The Cayman also gets stiffer springs for its strut-type suspension, because, as Porsche's chassis gurus point out, you can use stiffer springs in a stiffer car without unduly affecting ride comfort. Damper rates stay effectively the same, but the Cayman has thicker antiroll bars. and...one more.... As on other Porsche sports cars, the front suspension of the Cayman S features spring-strut axles with separately mounted longitudinal and track control arms to assure precise wheel guidance while controlling body roll. A new outbound/rebound stop spring within the damper strut further reduces body sway angle to make the Cayman S even more sure-footed under high lateral acceleration forces.<o ></o > [/quote] While the Boxster S and Cayman S use front springs that apply the same counterforce, the Cayman S has firmer sway bars.<o ></o > [/quote] The rear suspension also features spring-strut axles with longitudinal and track control arms, but with firmer springs on the rear axle than the Boxster S and an even harder outbound setting for the rear dampers. But while the rear springs are firmer, the rear sway bars are slightly “softer” to provide both control and comfort. [/quote] Edited by - RedRocket on 02/17/2006 6:02:08 PM

I don't think you are trying to be a smarta$$, I think it is a good thing you quoted those articles because they show that while the details of the differences are often misquoted, that differences between the Boxster and Cayman S suspensions do exist, thus springs meant for one won't be the best match for the other. Will they work? Sure they are the same size and mounting configuration, but the suspension dynamics will be different. If you are happy with the springs don't worry about it, besides you don't have PASM so it isn't like you need a match to PASM to worry about. It's up to you, but for me, I'd be calling Eibach with the serial number / model number of the kit that was installed and find out what the kit is meant for, then I'd talk to an engineer at Eibach and see if their Cayman S kit is going to be any different and if so, what is different, then decide if I wanted/needed/could live without the differences. I'm certainly not trying to suggest that your shop of choice didn't do a good job, from all account it sounds like they did. I'm simply stating that you might want to check out from Eibach what the differences are if in fact they used a Boxster suspension kit on your car.

i will definitely take your advice and contact Eibach myself this next week. Thanks for your input and I know you were just lookin out for me and everyone else here. Since it appears as though I may be the only one here that has lowered the car up to this point, I will keep everyone posted if i notice any problems developing or anything of any consequence. Thanks again

Red Rocket, Everyone gathered here today.... First of all, we should all stop, and take a moment to pay respect to a man who has offered up his very automobile for the cause. A moment of gratitude directed to you, Red Rocket, for being the first to lower your Cayman (around here, as best I can tell). My Cayman hat is off (my figurative hat anyway). Seriously, I have been researching this spring business for a long time (I get my car in a couple weeks). I am a bit suspicious about the Springs that are available right now. To my understanding, There are H&R Sport Spring part numbers, but there were no actual springs in inventory anywhere when I checked over a week ago. I would suspect H&R was tweaking spring rates. CEC has the more expensive Eibach springs that Techart is marketing, which I believe have the same part number as their Boxster S spring. My perception is that the ideal spring for the Cayman S is not the spring set from a Boxster S, simply because of all the suspension spec that differs between the two cars. I think your springs will work fine. They look good too. If you don't have PASM, you now have a great excuse to get adjustable coil~overs, I think it's best to get the lowering "coilover kits", because then you have the damping and spring rates (supossedly) matched to each other, as they should be. I've got PASM, so I have decided to wait until there is some feedback on a PASM modified Cayman S. The CEC guy I spoke to was really down on H&R. Maybe it's just me, but I tend to see red flags when a salesman seems inpatient and sells his product only by trashing the competitor's product. Anyone heard anything about the H&R springs I don't know? I had a H&R Coilover Kit on my '02 S54 M Coupe, they worked pretty nicely, I thought. Your car would look killer with the Techart body parts. Are those H&R spacers? Let us know how your springs treat you.

I only mentioned my observation because we develop springs for cars and are in the process of developing a set for the Cayman. I agree with the concept, too low can be too much. If the back of that car were to come down correctly, that's a nice ride height. -Pete

Thanks Lizard King..... I had H&R coilovers on my Audi TT. The coilovers made a tremendous difference in the ride feel. It was without a doubt the best performance modification I made on that car. It will be very interesting to see the suspension options that become available for the Cayman over time. I have to admit...part of the reason I dropped my Cayman was that the shop charged me zippo for the springs....$0.00. It was a gift from them for doing so much buisness with them and also because I let them have my Cayman for 2 days so they could build wheels for it and get the right fitments so in the future they would be able to sell wheels that would predictably fit the cayman specs. So...all I really paid for was about 400 clams in labor. For that price....most of you would do the same I suspect. Plus...if something doesnt work right, the shop (GMP) really stands behind their work. I had a small problem with my coilovers and they worked tirelessly until they had corrected the problem. Thanks again...I will keep you all updated...../fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/drive.gif

Puely on a visual level - the car looks awesome Red. There was me thinking I'd not do any modifications to my Cayman and you go and post pictures like this ! Great job. Tonse

how much lower did the car go?and how much do u pay for the springs??i was quoted $600 with installation.

you are gettin a deal brother....the shop probably doesnt realize how much work its gonna be to get those rears out. are you getting H&R or Eibach's or other..mine went down about an inch front and back.

really?at first i thought it was expensive. I know that a normal spring only cost around $400 with installation. i was quoted that price with eibach springs. does the brands make a differencE? an inch on the front and back, does it gives u difficulty when going up and down a driveway?

The Eibachs and the H&R retail at just under $500. Labor is gonna be several hours based on the complexity of the rear spring install. I would say your getting a very fair price. Remember, everything is more expensive on a porsche....nothing normal about these costs. H&R say that their springs are specifically made for application with the Cayman S. Are they just boxster springs....something tells me yes, but they wont admit to it. The Eibachs were designed for the Boxster S and from what I can tell, they dont dump the cayman as much. I had H&R coilovers on my last car and H&R is notorious for having problems with their springs. I had problems with the ones on my coilovers. Sometimes i will scrape the little black plastic air deflectors on the bottom going up or down inclines that are steep....nothing major, and i have been advised that it wont really hurt anything. Good luck and show us the before and afters of your suspension makeover!

I was watching a lowered Boxster try to get over the speed bumps in a local mall today. He had to do more than a 45 degree angle to clear them. A 'ricer' driver didn't understand that the angle was to clear the speed bump and passed him and collected his right fender as the Boxster driver moved back to center. It was on private property so I imagine the Boxster owner was out.

RedRocket, are you doing this just for looks or do you expect a handling improvement also?

Red Rocket I am glad you mentioned the rear springs being a pain in the A$$. My shop charged me $400 for the H&R's installed because I also purchased the wheels from them. He told me I was lucky it was the first Cayman they did. They will be charging double now for the installation.

i got the same thing from my shop....sometimes its good to be the first. lets see those HRE's bro...i can just barley make them out when i check your profile...i want a bigger, closer look. btw the drop looks really clean.

There some here on this thread. If you want some Hi-Res shots I can email you: http://www.planet-9.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2485&FORUM_ID=31&CAT_ID=1&Topic_Title=%233252+is+Home&Forum_Title=Cayman+Pictures

wow....i like those...sorry, i hijacked them from your other thread and cropp'd um just a little. those wheels really add an interesting contrast to your cayman. HRE's are a great wheel too...like you dont already know that. anyway....enjoy..... btw....what size are those tires? how much rubber you got on your sidewalls? Edited by - RedRocket on 04/13/2006 6:39:30 PM

But it does look like they need the wheel removal, wheel cleaning, wheel waxing process/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/wink_smile.gifThey sure make the white Cayman look macho.