Ohlins supposedly available for 986 / 987 in May

[TheRocket]

After purchasing a 987 gen 2 Cayman S and a fair bit of advice and searching on here I am keen to find a good fast road / occasional track day set up. I'd just about settled on the idea of Bilstein PSS9 but after a quick email to Ohlins about possible / expected 'Road and track' series 987 setup I received the following reply:

' We are working on a new Kit for both 986 and 987 and we think they should be ready at the end of April. '

I think others have asked before in years gone by and been told they working on it but I am tempted to wait until maybe June and see if it actually happens.

Edited by TheRocket on Wednesday 8th February 16:17

[TheRocket]

Thanks for the replies, suggestions. My interest stems from a few comments on previous posts and the fact that people had a while ago investigated when they might become available.

I then took the car to Centre Gravity for a check up who commented that Bilstein PSS9 and KW v3 were very good but what you really want is Ohlins but they don't yet make a product for the car, also read very good things about them on other cars including 997's etc.

Edited by TheRocket on Thursday 9th February 16:41

[TheRocket]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

In which case I won't be holding my breath but wait a while and see, sods law would dictate I go with the PSS9 and the Ohlins R+T will be available the week after.

[TheRocket]

Thanks for that, can you make sure your cousin does a proper job on them, if they'd like a Guinea 'Pork' for U.K. roads I'd be happy to oblige

[TheRocket]

jakesmith why are you on this post? My OP was to highlight to those interested that the Ohlins might become available soon for our cars, as far as I can see everyone else who posted has some interest (positive or negative) or a view on it, your input was just to stir up some beef you've had previously with Moose (whose opinion I happen to value whether I agree with it or not). Unless it's a posting about the original topic I'd appreciate you sorting out your issues elsewhere.

[TheRocket]

That's encouraging, I'm 99 pct sure I am going to give them a try subject to price, lower arms / toe links may have to wait a while I think.

[TheRocket]

Never heard of them, anyone have any experience ? They look a bit blingy and cheap for what they offer so wondering if they actually any good ? Happy to be corrected though !

[TheRocket]

Quick update for those interested, Ohlins Road and Track will be available for the 987 next month so just ordered some for my Cayman, approx. £2100 inc. vat, looking forward to getting them fitted and a trip to North Wales beckons...

[TheRocket]

ATM]I've got some -ve camber via adjustable top mounts on the 996. The thing is the top of the wheel / tyre now looks quite far inboard. It got me thinking that if you adjusted the camber via a fancy bottom arm then the top of the wheel would stay put [almost said:

and the bottom would move outward. This got me thinking about what effects these 2 would have on the arc in which the wheel moves with the suspension. Am I making any sense here?

I am guessing a bit here but using lower arms to give more negative camber would also have the positive effect of increasing the track width of the front wheels as you are in effect pushing the lower part of the wheel further out whilst keeping the top the same, whilst moving the top in would have the opposite effect, differences might be small but are lower arms are probably a better way to achieve it ? If money is no object do both...

[Rocket.]

Ohlins are going on today, as mentioned they don't come with springs which have to be ordered separately. 

CG looked at the Ohlins 'recommended' spring rates of 70nm Fr 80nm R and was a tad concerned maybe too stiffly sprung front for the road and may induce understeer

for comparison:

GT4 981 - 45nm / 80 nm (35nm difference)

Cayman R - 30nm / 43nm (13nm)

Cayman S 987 - 27NM / 37NM (10nm)

KW Clubsport - 70NM / 120 NM (40nm)

PSS9 CS - 50nm / 114NM (64NM)

Ohlins - 70NM / 80NM (10NM)

We've decided to go for 50nm / 80nm (30 nm difference) so about the same as 981 GT4. Here's hoping ! 

[Rocket.]

Interesting thanks, looking at the weight of 987 Gen.2 S and 981 GT4 they seem quite similar overall (circa. 1350kg), I was kind of hoping there would be superior damping ability with the Ohlins DFV over the stock GT4 damper, but without knowing what the GT4 was like on the road, also trusting in GC knowledge of other coilover kits they have fitted to Caymans, as always it is the case with these things when you are one of the first it's a bit of trial and error.

[Rocket.]

Gents, relax, I was merely informing those interested of my choice for spring rates based on some assumptions and hopefully some expert advice.

Also the fact that these have finally made it to market, time will tell if I should have gone tried and tested, if not it won't be the first time I've jumped in early on a new product/modification and had to rethink but for me it's part of the fun, it's a project car so it won't all be great out of the box.

I'll do my best at giving a honest subjective non biased view when it's done as will others who try it I'm sure, hopefully it'll be worth it, if not you can say I told you so

[Rocket.]

Slippydiff said:

Hope it's going/gone alright for you today Charlie. There seem to be very mixed reviews about the R&T Ohlins on P9, but one wonders whether that's just the Yanks being Yanks, or whether they've fitted them wrong/used the highest rate springs possible.

FWIW, the Ohlins 3 ways I used on the Mk1 GT3 utilised the softest springs I could get away with (both front and rear were linear and as close to the standard rates as we could get). They were superb on the road (albeit a little choppy until warmed up). They subsequently went on a 3.9 450hp Mk1 GT3, the new owner described them as "perfect for the road".

The new owner also ventured on track with them (and I experienced them from the passenger seat), I knew they were they good, but the way the car rode the kerbs at Oulton had to be felt to be believed. Even running slicks, the softly sprung Ohlins weren't out of their depth, though the owner of the car said the rear felt a little soft. I was adamant that tweaking the rear dampers (a slight increase in compression damping) would have cured the issue, but the owner stated he knew and understood what the car was doing and was happy to live with the slight compromise.

The huge spring rates the Yanks run on their trackday GT3's never cease to amaze me. The racer I bought the Ohlins off told me to "always run the softest spring you can get away with, and with decent dampers you'll be able to". "With good dampers you CAN prop the car up with the dampers and tweak the handling characteristics further with the anti-roll bars and geo."

I'm sure Iwan Evans :

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/profile.asp?h=...

can explain what is required when it comes to spring rates and the necessary damping .

Thanks Henry, yes I've been reading a little on Planet 9 also and some mixed reviews for sure, some of which I think is due to installers as much as anything else, hopefully with GC doing mine I won't have those issues at least.

My last car (SC Honda'd Elise) came with a set of Nitron 2 way adjustables which were pretty stiff and lots of adjustment for damping and I hardly tinkered with those at all, truth is suspension and it's make up is still a bit over my head but I'm learning, I do not expect this car to be perfect straight away as I've had to compromise a little on ARB's and other parts mainly due to cost but it will be fun to evolve it and learn.

Interesting about the softer springs as I had thought the opposite tbh with a better damper you could run stiffer spring and get away with it, and less ARB's. My old LCC Rocket had no ARB's at all and bespoke Bilsteins but it only weighed in at 400kilos, it was amazing over bumpy roads but rolled a fair bit on track, always compromises I guess but the other way round would have rendered it useless on the road.

Will be interesting to see what you and J make of it when it's done and you've had a go as it's so long since driving any other pork I don't have much of a benchmark.

[Rocket.]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Yep me too, roll on Saturday. The other upside to this is it might start to resemble a sports car as opposed to a Cayman allroad, no doubt i'll then be moaning shortly about my bad back having to get in and out of it being 20mm lower.

[Rocket.]

From this



To this



2nd pic looks a bit stretched after I reduced size but you get the idea... Proper write up to follow, but in brief ride height 4-6mm lower than R spec but 10mm higher than Ohlins recommend! (clears speed bumps no problem) dampers 12 clicks from full firm on front and 10 clicks on rear, I think for 'B' road it needs to be less and will try tomorrow, it's firm but not uncomfortable, deflects bumps well and very planted, has the feel of a Porsche GT product now as opposed to out of the box standard set up, early signs are very encouraging but needs some adjustment.

Edited by Rocket. on Saturday 1st July 22:25

[Rocket.]

Cheers Henry, just reduced the dampers another 4 clicks and had a 'proper' drive on roads I know well with a real mixed bag of crests, mid corner bumps, compressions etc. All I can say is the Ohlins are the real deal, the 4 clicks off allowed he car to really flow, the rebound stroke on these DFV dampers is impressive and very well judged, the faster you go the better it seems to get.

The Ohlins manual says 20 clicks available from full firm, and suggest track 2-7, Winding road 5-10, Street 10-20, I'm currently on front 16 and rear 14, next time out I'll add 2 clicks back on, spring rates seem about right, glad GC suggested the lower front spring rate.

[Rocket.]

Quick update for those interested in how the Ohlins can also perform on track. Went to Snetterton today and started off with the dampers set to 6 clicks from full hard on front and 4 on rear, im still running PS2's, regular Cayman S ARB's and about -1.2 camber front and -1.53 rear, and 7mm spacers on front only, so not optimised for track, but in theory for 3 tracks days a year I'd hoped it would work. It did, the PS2's took a bit of a hammering on the outside edge as expected but the car was nicely balanced and had half decent grip but also could be 4 wheel drifted quite happily, not too much roll, also the inside rear occasionally span up a little (no lsd) but not so much that it affected the car too much and for the most part traction out of corners was decent.

On the to do list however is a stiffer engine mount and decent brake pads, EBC yellows do not work on this car and I could feel the engine moving a bit too much. Would also be nice if the ESP could be switched off completely and a LSD at some point but so far the Ohlins are a win / win and really do work on road and track.

Edited by Rocket. on Tuesday 25th July 22:08