Best road suspension for a 996

[EGTE]

Hi Guys,
I have an M030 996.2 Carrera 2 and I'm looking to upgrade the suspension a bit. However, by upgrade I mean make it a little more fluid, to improve ride and traction, without raising the ride-height at all (or just barely), as the stance is just right for me.

I did rashly contact Exe-TC for what would be the very best, but their prices are shall we say.....motorsport level, not enthusiast level. No doubt worth every penny, but just not justifiable, given the value of my car.

I have tried Bilstein B12 (soft, progressive-rate Eibach springs and B6/8 dampers) kit on an Audi RS once and it was a tremendous improvement (but it was an Audi, right....), but I'm open to alternative makes/models. The Ohlins might be too stiff, sadly (spring rates are damned high). The car will not be tracked; it's just for road use.

Cheers

[m444ttb]

Watching with great interest as my standard 996.2 C4 suspension is probably 90k miles old now.

[IknowJoseph]

A bit of an outside option...

But because you called up Exe-TC I presume you're ok with some of the more fancy options, so have you seen the October issue of GT Porsche magazine?

There's a review of the TPC Racing suspension control box as fitted to Jack Wood's 997. After the review there's an advert for TPC that states there's a plug and play option for the 996. From what I learnt reading their site it looks like you replace the dampers with some electronically controlled units that take their instructions from the tweaked software in the box.

I've never read anything about these being fitted to an actual car, however, but they get a good writeup on the 997.

[EGTE]

Thanks for the tip - looks like I need to buy that magazine!

Anyone had experience of fixed-rate stuff (i.e. not "coil-overs")?

[angry]

Put Bilstien PSS10s on my 996TT and it ride lovely on the road. I do The occasional track day and Nurburgring and found them a bit soft, so have now got uprated ARBs and its much firmer.
So without uprated ARBs the Bilstiens get my vote.

[jkh112]

I replaced the standard carrera suspension on my 996 with a ful m030 kit and find it much better controlled than before. Of course I am comparing new suspension with 70k mile suspension. I think the m030 dampers are bilstein b6 units to a specific Porsche valving so you may not achieve much difference by switching to standard b6 units.

[EGTE]

Thanks a lot, cmoose (and others!)

I will most likely do the PSS10s.

Edited by EGTE on Sunday 4th October 21:48

[Richie200]

What would be recommended for a slightly more fast-road set-up than the OP is looking for: I currently have the M030 kit fitted but with the car at 85K, could probably do with a refresh. Are there alternative ARB's that are recommended or other handling components?

[EGTE]

M444TB, that Carnewal website that choose pointed me to has Bilstein B4 dampers (basically your OEM kit) pretty cheaply priced, if you're looking to spend a bit less than PSS10s.

All Billys are good dampers.

[kkerr3]

I have just upgraded the suspension on my C2 996.1.

I went for the Koni Sport Kit and bought off Carnewal. Really pleased with the transformation and the ride height has dropped 30-40mm.

[m444ttb]

I think something akin to the OE M030 kit is what I'm looking for.

[jkh112]

m444ttb said:

I think something akin to the OE M030 kit is what I'm looking for.

Try your OPC. I bought a full m030 kit for my 996 for about £550 but that was a couple of years ago so they may not still be available.
It was a bargain with: dampers, springs, anti roll bars, and bump stops.

[Slippydiff]

http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=106894&si...

Talk to me

Cmoose's views on it here :

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by Slippydiff on Tuesday 13th October 10:14

[ATM]

kkerr3 said:

I have just upgraded the suspension on my C2 996.1.

I went for the Koni Sport Kit and bought off Carnewal. Really pleased with the transformation and the ride height has dropped 30-40mm.

Have you still got this?