ISO: Opinions on returning to stock suspension

Hey all, When I bought my car a couple of years ago, I was ecstatic to find that it came with a set of Bilstein PSS9s already installed. Perfect for track work, I thought. Cut to the present, and I'm finding that my racing itch is scratched much more economically–and no less excitingly–by competitive karting. As such, the PSS9s have become an increasingly bumpy thorn in my side, thanks to the absolutely superb quality of midwestern roads. And here's the main issue: the shocks themselves are, to put it nicely, in rather bad shape. Despite being installed–supposedly new–only six months prior to my ownership, the threads on the shocks are so corroded that I only have a handful of millimeters available for ride height adjustment. I'm as high as I can go, and I still don't have enough suspension travel to handle the regular bumps, lumps, and abundant craters all over the roads here without hitting the bump stops. Turning up the damper firmness could theoretically solve this problem, but I've already had an entire headlight assembly pop out on me with the dampers set to 3 and 4–front to rear–out of a possible 9 (the firmest setting). One of the selector knobs is actually missing from the rear driver side shock. Although, adjustment is still possible with pliers and some radial guesswork. The dampers are currently set at 2. The solution I've had in mind longest is buying a set of Öhlins R&T coilovers. But at $3,000, that's a steep price to pay for a car which won't be on track for the foreseeable future. With that mostly out of the question, I've got half a mind to revert back to the stock suspension–I'm just having a heck of a time finding OEM parts anywhere. It looks like Pelican Parts might have the shocks, but only carries front springs? My other concern is, compared to the Bilsteins, am I going to hate the stock setup in terms of body control? I recently drove a 981 Boxster base with SC and PASM, and found the "comfort mode" of the dampers to be decidedly well-balanced, and just a little flintier with PASM engaged. Having never driven a CS on a stock setup, the 981 is my only point of comparison. Alternatively, what are your thoughts on swapping to a lighter spring setup? At that point, the dampers might be able to be adjusted back up without shaking the car–or myself–to bits. Or perhaps I have it backwards, and need a heavier spring to compensate for the softer damper. I've also looked into having the current suspension overhauled by Bilstein, but it sounded like the price would be awfully similar to a brand new kit. I'm not sure how much sense that really makes, to be honest. The Cayman is my only car, so the multi-week turnaround would be a little challenging. As always, I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts. Maybe there's a creative solution hiding in plain sight?

I'm just one old geezer with one old Porsche .... A 987.1 For roughly 50 years I have upgraded the oem suspension of almost every car, truck, and motorcycle I have ever owned. And Ohlins has been in my wallet many times over the last 20 of those 50 years. But much to my dismay, especially since I assumed that I would, I have not touched the OEM suspension on this Base Boxster . Admittedly I am not going to track it, but I have zero gripes with it's perfect balance between grip and compliance. It's a fairly low mileage car, so I suspect it rides pretty much like it did when brand new? And everything even LOOKS beautiful with no corrosion or signs of trouble. I think to answer your question, the way I see it is it's a Porsche . I don't think even the most basic entry level 987 was anything less than a magnificent handling car. World class, in fact. And amazingly, all these years later STILL is.

Just so I understand what we're talking about here, when you say "hitting the bumpstops" do you actually mean "completely running out of suspension travel" ? On that subject, are there actually bumpstops installed? That actually makes what you're describing worse as the suspension responds more slowly to bumps and transmits it to the chassis instead of absorbing it with motion. I do, the OE dampers are too soft in the low speed range and too firm in the high speed range. They seem very much tuned for " I paid all this money for a sports car and I think I should be able to feel the bumps because that's what marketing convinced me a sports car feels like "

I appreciate the perspective! That definitely makes me feel better about potentially returning to the stock setup. With no real plans to track mine either, I think I could handle a small increase in body motion in return for significantly less worry about scraping, and the continuous stress of scanning the road for each and every imperfection. Takes a bit of the joy out of driving it, in all honesty.

Indeed I do. The difference in impact and noise is–shall we say–palpable. As far as I was aware, all cars have bumpstops installed to prevent damage? I could be wrong though. Maybe I have it the wrong way around then? I was under the impression that increasing the overall firmness (compression and rebound aren't independently adjustable) of the damper would provide more resistance when disrupted, absorbing more energy as the strut requires more force to compress, theoretically allowing for all the energy to be absorbed before reaching the limits of suspension travel. That would certainly make for a firmer ride, but might help avoid the almighty crashes that I currently experience from time to time. Were you referring to changing the spring rate as well? I see. What sort of suspension setup do you have currently? I agree, the ride in the base 981 was certainly firm at highway speeds. It was close to palatial by comparison, though. Felt alright in my mind in the 40mph-ish range, but then I wasn't on especially twisty roads, or driving particularly hard. I do enjoy how flat my car corners, but presumably I could counter that with a stiffer anti-roll bar if necessary.

If you get shocks, I believe I have an extra set of Cayman R springs …weird first post, I know but have just been absorbing knowledge

Haha not at all, I'll send you a PM if/when I get my hands on a set of shocks! Sounds like the OEM damper+CR spring is a popular option from what I've seen.

Ok. Here's my two cents. I have Ohlins R&Ts installed on my Cayman S (myself) after riding and tracking my stock suspension. I love the Ohlins, thankfully I didn't pay 3k for them (I got them used-rebuilt) and as such lessened the damage on my wallet. As far as adjustability they have (I believe) up to 15 or so clicks in the adjustability range. I have never run them fully soft but I'm sure they would be pretty comparable to sport springs or even sport OEM suspension in that case, while retaining a nice wheel gap that is aesthetically pleasing. As for tracking the car, I tracked it on the OEM and it had waaay too much body roll for my taste. I thought that Porsche had made one sloppy suspension. The car really does change from OEM to aftermarket suspension and I feel this awakened the beast inside of the Cayman. So in my opinion, going back to OEM would be a bad idea if you like driving your car a little aggressively sometimes. Next question is, are you going to be performing the suspension overhaul yourself? If so, coilover to coilover swap is always going to be the easiest and least time-consuming. Cayman suspension is surprisingly complicated with the rear interior trim removal, loosening of the rear axles, and fenagling of the control arms to get the coil system to pop in/out of the fender. Adding springs in the mix means you have to get a spring compressor and work that into the tiny space inside the wheelwell, and that in my opinion is not worth it. Getting the stock springs out was hard enough. But overall if you don't want to spend 3k (or wait around to find a good deal on Ohlins) sport lowering springs would be the best option in my opinion. Even if they will be a little troublesome getting in the car, they will make the car look awesome and feel much better than OEM. If you want to drop 3k on Ohlins, go for it!

In defense of the oem suspension, if Porsche tuned it for track driving it would be at the expense of normal street driving. They COULD do that of course, and they have on some cars. But they call them something different like GT3 or GT2 or R or.... I have Ohlins R&T on my ND Miata . I completely understand how transforming it is. I have that thing dialed in to pure go-kart mode, if you know what I mean. But a Base Porsche 987 comes from Porsche with far more aggressive suspension tuning than the stock Miata does. (my opinion) If only the Porsche manual shifter was a direct shifting dream that the Miata is.

I may have missed something, but I have Bilstein PSS9s in my 987.1 Boxster S and the shock firmness setting is backwards from what I expected. If you are set on 1 or even 3, you are on the hardest settings. That said, even on the softest setting, 9, my shocks are a bit firmer than I would like. It also makes a difference to have the ride height set correctly. Position 9 = soft (clockwise direction) Position 1 = firm (counter-clockwise direction)

I have a ‘13 BS with the base suspension. I installed H&R springs and I’m very happy with the results as I don’t plan to track it. It rides as well as stock but is about an inch lower and seem softer on initial compression than stock so roll rate was reduced with stock level comfort. The roads aren’t great here so coilovers weren’t a good option for me. Sounds like your roads might be worse but this was a good choice for me as I drive pretty fast in the mountains and the car is fine. Any faster would be just dumb on public roads imo.

" I recently drove a 981 Boxster base with SC and PASM , and found the "comfort mode" of the dampers to be decidedly well-balanced, and just a little flintier with PASM engaged. " Given your impressions, as noted above, I would go with the stock suspension. I had a Boxster S with PASM ...great for the street but way too soft/loose for the track. Switched to PSS9's (with GT3 control arms, more negative camber, etc)...great for the track and livable as a daily driver. The "stiff" stock PASM setting was softer than the "soft" PSS9 setting on the street. If you're driving daily on poor quality roads, and not tracking the car, Porsche had it right with the stock suspension. Just a thought, can you install the X73 suspension in a 987? I have that in a 981 and prefer this to the non- PASM 987 suspension as it is stiffer but not as stiff as the PASM "stiff" setting. Hope this helps.

Oh interesting, I wasn't aware that it was backwards. The ride has definitely been softer on mine post-adjustment, but perhaps that had to do more with the increase in ride height. I'll play with the adjusters the next time it's up on the lift and see what difference I can make. My thoughts as well. If I was regularly using the capabilities of the suspension on track, I'd be happy to deal with the downsides on the road. But given that I'm receiving almost no benefit, I don't see the point of getting battered all of the time. Even then, it's mostly the anxiety of seeing (or worse, not seeing) an unavoidable divot and wondering: "is this the one that's finally going to shatter something?" Agree entirely with you on the stock MX5 vs 987 setup. I've driven a handful of NDs and done a few thousand miles in a contemporary Fiat 124. Neither were anywhere near as good as the base 981 that I drove. I'd love to drive one with the handling qualities of my kart though. Nothing more satisfying than that kind of on/off throttle rotation! Will definitely consider this as an OEM+ upgrade if I end up going with the x73 conversion! Sounds like a great improvement. Love the idea of a comfy ride with no body roll! Great to hear your experience with both setups! I can definitely see how PASM wouldn't quite give the sort of limit behavior and adjustability you'd need on track. I believe you can retrofit a 987 with the x73 suspension option–I've seen a few threads on that here, but I don't know the full story yet. Price is–unfortunately–a factor, but if that option is cost-effective, it very well could be what I end up doing. I really appreciate your advice!

Part of the problem of the PSS9 is the adjuster design doesn't really do much. The "cheese wedge" doesn't provide very good adjustments between settings and I don't remember who showed the dyno plots on YouTube but there was quite a bit of variability between settings. Any aftermarket set up will increase spring rate significantly over stock and many are non-linear. Are you hitting the bump stops or is the suspension crashing into the bumps because it is too stiff? Since installing Ohlins on my car I know the feeling of constantly scanning for any pot hole or change in grade to avoid scraping. One of the best parts of driving my SUV is the complete disregard for road conditions. As for corrosion it is tough to protect those big exposed threads but Boeshield B-9 was recommended