Harsh ride - Help please

My New2Me 01 C2 cab, with 55 K miles, has a very harsh ride. Bumps and swells in the road are handled fine, but the tar strips and cracks are felt as if the tires were at 80psi. Tires are new Pilot Sport 4S at 40 psi., and all bushings look good. The rear feels more harsh than the front and I think the rears are all original. Does this look like OE? What could be causing the harshness? Is this OE?

Are there little, different colour paint markings on the springs? At a glance it looks OEM. OEM Springs have markings, that look like someone dabbed a paint brush to one coil, that indicated rate and compensation plates to be used. Aftermarket won’t have these markings. It could also be that the dampers are dead, suspension component worn out, or loose. Is the Gecko a pet?

Love the gecko! My ‘02 C4S has a pretty harsh ride over pavement you describe. Mine has been lowered. Concrete roads really challenge the ride for me. Smoother pavement, ride is actually pretty good.

Set cold front tires to 32-34. Set cold rear tires to 36-38. That will help a little. Don't let tires get above 40 hot. Adjust as needed and as air temps start going up in summer driving.

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Agree. Currently I�m using 33/39. When I got car, rears were at 44. Talking about booming! Not related, but previous BMW I had was fitted with run flats. Replacing with regular tires transformed that car. May, at some point, change to coil-overs. Thinking that may help ride quality.

What size rims?

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Good one! And for that matter, what size tires? The sidewalls make a big difference in the ride.

18" rims, Victor Equipment Mich Pilot Sport 4S front 225/40 R18 rear 265/35 R18

18” for me also, but tires are 235/40 front, 315/30 rear.

I think many new owners just aren't used to low profile tires.

Good thought, 808Bill, but I've had several cars with low profile tires and others with unforgiving race suspensions.

Going to a progressive spring rate made a big difference in the ride quality over the OEM spring and also lowered the car a inch and quarter.

AZPete, have you gone over and checked suspension components and verified those springs? I had no leaks from my OEM dampers, looked perfect, but when I installed new ones, the ride was significantly better. When working the damper with springs removed the difference between old and new was huge. The other thing, that came up in another recent thread, was wheel themselves, or more specifically they weight of the wheels themselves contributing to ride issues. If you know someone else with a similar car, maybe try swapping wheels as a test.

Lower tire pressures and increased dampening in the rear (via coilovers) solved this for me. My stock setup did what you are describing. I installed coilovers and it still had those symptoms until I started cranking up the damping. Your stock dampers might be shot, or they are just set up underdamped from the factory.

In 2002 I found a new 2002 996 C2 rode rough & wore the middle of the rear tires excessively, if the tires were inflated above 32psi, unless there was a passenger in the rear seat.

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Yeah, I've got 19s and several fillings loose. I'm considering going back to stock but this thing is great except if I run over a penny in the road.

Thanks guys, I've taken the rears down to 36 psi and the fronts down to 32 psi so I'll venture out for a drive to see any difference. The rears were at 41.5 so this hot AZ desert weather has increased the psi a bit. Today's high is 112 !

"Harsh Ride" is a little ambiguous to say the least...If letting a little air out of your tires is going to fix it, it can't be very harsh to begin with. Since the suspension is composed of so many parts it's really difficult to pinpoint something that's so subjective. There are literally 20 different things that can contribute to the harshness you're feeling (including how much air pressure is in your tires). I wish I could tell you of a silver bullet, but I'm afraid there isn't one... Good Luck

Lower air pressure helped a bit but I'll replace the shocks and springs when I get some time. After a 15-mile drive at 107 outside temp, rear tires went from 36 (@82F) to 43 psi.

It's amazing how much heat is generated - especially when the tire is softer (lower pressure) than spec.

Yes, I agree that there are lots of parts that contribute to ride and handling. I was hoping that someone here might know of a "magic bullet" part that typically gives harshness in a 996, but now I know there's no such part of the system. I'll proceed to replace bushings and shocks since they obviously age in 20 years. The car has grown up in Arizona and Colorado so hot dry climate has made the bushings hard, I reckon.

I bought my 996 C2 with H&R lowering springs and stock dampers. They didn't last long so I went with Koni Special Active and M030 springs with OEM sways. Rides smooth and better than stock. I recently swap in Eibach sway bars and now its a little harsh and stiffer on the softest setting. If your suspension setup is OEM or very close to stock, I would look into the Koni special actives as your damper replacement along with your search on bad bushings. Just my two cents.

I have a 99 C2 coupe with the optional M030 suspension.. There is one stretch of road near my house that is so rough, it feels like the wheel hubs are mounted directly to the body. Then I first drove it, I thought something in the suspension had broken. Nothing wrong with it, car is just tight. I also have Euro GT3 seats that don't have as much padding, so that probably enhances the "road feel". The 911 has a rougher overall ride than my F250 Super Duty, and that's saying something. Running 18 inch 996.2 wheels with stock tire sizes. All new suspension bushings with some RSS components. New motor mounts and old manual transmission mount. Tires are relatively new. Run about 34 psi front and 36 rear.