Cayman Lowering

Author
Discussion

doozy

Original Poster:

60 posts

158 months

Thursday 8th December 2011
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Both of these are 2008 Cayman S with PASM. The silver is obviously lowered. Would this have to be an aftermarket mod ? I don't see an option from new on the Porsche configurator.

Also pros / cons of lowering a car with PASM.


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|http://thumbsnap.com/ldkgOW2M[/url]


Actus Reus

4,229 posts

154 months

Thursday 8th December 2011
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90% sure that's aftermarket, and I'd say the con was that it would render PASM almost utterly pointless insofar as you may not be able to turn it on. Already I find PASM too stiff for any road driving, so I'd have thought a lowered car would struggle even more - perhaps helpful on track? Also would means the OPC Warranty wouldn't be a possibility for it.
ETA: Aren't PASM cars 10mm lower than standard anyway?

CharlesW

266 posts

247 months

Thursday 8th December 2011
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PASM is on ALL the time! It has 2 modes - Normal and Sport. I agree that the Sport mode is too stiff for most circumstances, but the Normal mode results in a very compliant ride. It greatly improves the ride on rough surfaces.

Matt Seabrook

563 posts

250 months

Friday 9th December 2011
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IMO the first car just looks wrong. I would not lower a car lower than the manufacturer does as standard. There is so much more to making a car handle better than just lowering it. You could introduce bump steer to name just one fault. If it's just because you like the look of the car lower then great but if you want a car to handle well leave it alone.

shoestring7

6,138 posts

245 months

Friday 9th December 2011
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CharlesW said:
PASM is on ALL the time! It has 2 modes - Normal and Sport. I agree that the Sport mode is too stiff for most circumstances, but the Normal mode results in a very compliant ride. It greatly improves the ride on rough surfaces.
+1.

Having 17" or 18" wheels makes 'Sport' mode a lot more usable.

SS7

chris7676

2,685 posts

219 months

Friday 9th December 2011
quotequote all
Matt Seabrook said:
IMO the first car just looks wrong. I would not lower a car lower than the manufacturer does as standard. There is so much more to making a car handle better than just lowering it. You could introduce bump steer to name just one fault. If it's just because you like the look of the car lower then great but if you want a car to handle well leave it alone.
IMO it looks great and purposeful. You don't particularly need to lower Boxster/Cayman as its COG is already low, but you may if you want to get more camber. You will not worsen the handling though.

Matt Seabrook

563 posts

250 months

Friday 9th December 2011
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chris7676 said:
You will not worsen the handling though.
Do you know this for a fact? In my experience of setting up car geometry for a living lowering a car can be detrimental to bump steer. Lowering a car is likely to cause the car to roll less and some drives think the car is handling better. Of course some drivers just do not have the feel to be able to tell if a car handles well or not.

Oh and it just my opinion on the look of the car. If you or anybody else likes the look that ok with me wink

Edited by Matt Seabrook on Friday 9th December 17:05

craigjm

17,909 posts

199 months

Friday 9th December 2011
quotequote all
Actus Reus said:
90% sure that's aftermarket, and I'd say the con was that it would render PASM almost utterly pointless insofar as you may not be able to turn it on.
PASM is a Bilstein system and can be lowered with the fitting of their PSS damptronics suspension setup whilst still allowing PASM to work in the way that it does as standard. PASM is always on. The switch puts it in two different modes it does not turn it on and off and the ride is consistently 10mm lower than a standard car it does not go up and down.

doozy

Original Poster:

60 posts

158 months

Friday 9th December 2011
quotequote all
Matt Seabrook said:
Oh and it just my opinion on the look of the car. If you or anybody else likes the look that ok with me
Still think it looks too low from this view ?



I bought the car recently and showed it with the blue car to demonstrate that it is lower than a similar PASM Cayman.

I just need to figure out what was done to it now.

I'm no driving expert but i did run another Cayman (non PASM) for 4 years before this one and the difference in how they drive is astonishing. The new one feels much more stable and planted on B roads. How much that is due to PASM and how much to the lowering i have no idea.

craigjm

17,909 posts

199 months

Friday 9th December 2011
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If it is the PASM compatible Bilstein PSS Damptronic system, that i mentioned above its easy to identify as the springs are a bright cyan blue

Matt Seabrook

563 posts

250 months

Friday 9th December 2011
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Hi Doozy don't wish to offend you by saying the lowered car look is wrong. It's just an opinion as I prefer the look of the standard car. Photos do not always do a car justice either and seeing something in the flesh can make a big difference. Its just I see so many cars through my workshop that have been lowered and most of them would have handled better before people started messing. If yours is better then that's great and may well have been done properly. A lot of people do not understand what the effects are on a car when it's lowered. wink

RudeDog

1,652 posts

173 months

Friday 9th December 2011
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I think the standard Cayman S looks like it rides too high, even with 19" wheels. I have considered dropping mine but I love the way it drives and would not want to jeopardise that.

The best answer would be for the wheel arches to be smaller, not that the suspension needs to be shorter. Thats a bit of a drastic modification though!

alcatraz236

197 posts

151 months

Friday 9th December 2011
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RudeDog said:
I think the standard Cayman S looks like it rides too high, even with 19" wheels. I have considered dropping mine but I love the way it drives and would not want to jeopardise that.

The best answer would be for the wheel arches to be smaller, not that the suspension needs to be shorter. Thats a bit of a drastic modification though!
i agree, thats why i like the pasm cars, the 10mm drop is a nice adjustment which improves the stance

worldwidewebs

2,313 posts

249 months

Friday 9th December 2011
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The Cayman R seems to handle ok...

SFO

5,162 posts

182 months

Friday 9th December 2011
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worldwidewebs said:
The Cayman R seems to handle ok...
R has 20mm suspension drop

chris7676

2,685 posts

219 months

Saturday 10th December 2011
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Matt, more from the experience of running a similarly lowered Boxster (now probably a bit higher as had occasional clearing issue) - I have not experienced any bumpsteer, actually the negative side effect of the car being so low was excessive rear camber (sub 3 deg, while around 2 seems optimal).

Regarding the OP's feel of the car being more planted - this is probably the case due to stiffer springs which is normal and expected for "lowering springs". But this is just my guessing.

Matt Seabrook

563 posts

250 months

Saturday 10th December 2011
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Interesting Chris how did you measure bump steer?

Durzel

12,232 posts

167 months

Sunday 11th December 2011
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Cayman R shocks and springs are - to my knowledge - a straight swap onto a Cayman S and should drop it by a similar amount. A guy in America did this mod and it certainly improves the look imo. Cayman R struts/springs also have the advantage of being designed exactly for that car and Porsche would have all the geo settings for them in house.

Maybe you've got those? Or even just the springs?

edit: Just realised the car has PASM.. seems unlikely that it would have non-PASM Cayman R shocks I guess?

will_968

2,138 posts

263 months

Sunday 11th December 2011
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
+1
Well put. You can definitely "improve" the factory standard, but it does take expertise to get it right.

Matt Seabrook

563 posts

250 months

Sunday 11th December 2011
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
Just reread everything I have written. Did I say all lowered cars will handle worse NO! I just thought I would impart some of my 25+ years as a mechanic with everybody. Also many many hours setting up sprint cars for a living everything from MKI Escorts to single seaters. A lot of which have been highly successfully and class winners. The OP asked what "Also pros / cons of lowering a car with PASM" I gave an opinion. If he wanted people to just blow smoke up his arse then may be he should not have asked for an opinion, but I am sure all he wanted was an honest answer.