996 Carrera 4 suspension refresh options?

[m444ttb]

I'm looking to do a full refresh on my 996 C4's suspension come the summer (ties in well with the annual service and my bonus!) and wanted to get some opinions on here. I've already had Koni FSD dampers suggested from someone whose opinion I'd trust but that's only part of the package and I'm always open to alternative suggestions.

For some context I'm probably looking to replace everything that can wear out. The car is on 96k miles and I've seen nothing in the history to suggest any work has been carried out on the suspension. So it'll be dampers, springs, bushes, etc etc. All dependent on what the budget can take of course. I think my cap is probably £2k including fitting. Sadly that rules out XTC coilovers etc.

The car is unlikely to see much on track action so it's really road bias it needs. I wouldn't want to go any lower than say the M030 kit (think that's 10-20mm lower than standard?). I'm also keen to retain a nice NVH balance. I'm not sure if all of this simply adds up to 'replace with OE'.

[m444ttb]

Hmm what if we forget the fitting for a minute then

[m444ttb]

Thanks. I'd forgotten Hartech do suspension parts. Perhaps blanked it from my mind to ease the pain of handing them £11k at the start of 2016!

[m444ttb]

More than two years on and I have done absolutely nothing on the suspension. Ended up sorting the exhaust first as that was going to result in an MoT failure first, but I do need to get back on it with the suspension before it becomes an issues as there's a slight knock that becomes more noticeable as temperature increases.

I've decided to forget the budget (at least this side of Ex-TC suspension kinda money!) and try to find an optimal set up that will offer some longevity. On the spring/damper side I go round a loop of Ohlins R&T to Bilstein PSS10 to M030 and back to the Ohlins again. So I've kinda concluded I should probably bite the bullet there and go for the Ohlins and enjoy the better damping. The car won't be doing more than the odd track day so I gather a softer spring is available on request.

For the rest of the components I'm totally lost. I feel like I need to find a comprehensive list of components to begin with and go from there. I'm tempted by parts such as the Eibach rear arms but the overall cost of the refresh then begins to escalate rapidly and I need to work out whether I'd be gaining anything. Even using mostly standard parts to create a road car I could see it ending up at £5k plus fitting and set up, but it should at least be great to drive.

[m444ttb]

Another update. I’ve ultimately decided to buy an M030 kit and keep it all OE. I bought it from Porscheshop for £1520, which is somewhat cheaper than everywhere else now. Prices have really escalated in the time I’ve owned the car. Neil Garner in Kemble will be doing the work so I’ll arrange the rest of the parts with them once the M030 kit arrives (I really want to check there isn’t something amiss given the price!). Broadly the plan is new arms on each corner, all the bushes, droplinks and top mounts.

[m444ttb]

I’m replacing everything that can wear pretty much. So should drive close to new. Looking forward to it... bar spending £4K or so! All part of using the car a lot more than I do now.

[m444ttb]

Well the kit has arrived so the car is booked in at Neil Garner next week. I’ll be interested to see how much lower it is. In theory it’s 15mm but I suspect the 101k mile old kit on there may have sagged a little.

[m444ttb]

Well the car is back with pretty much everything new. I’d love to say I’m blown away by how different it is, but as I suspected it’s a lot like before only ‘tighter’ feeling. Like a little slack has gone. It may be me but it seems to brake a little better (and straighter). The old kit had done pretty well for what was seemingly factory fitted 100k miles ago in 2002. At the moment it doesn’t look any lower than it did. How much of that is needing some time to settle vs the old suspension sagging a little I’m not sure.

Overall it cost me £5.2k, of which £1.5k was the M030 kit (dampers, springs, ARBs plus a few associated parts).

So now I’ve done all the suspension and a full rebuild of the engine at Hartech. Next up is probably the bodywork and maybe transmission rebuild. It’ll be perfect about the time I can no longer drive it on public roads

[m444ttb]

pmac32 said:

Where did you get the M030 kit from?
Everywhere I look it’s seems to be priced nearer £3000 for the shocks, springs and anti roll bars.
My car is a C4S, don’t know whether that makes any difference, my guess is not.

It looks like I’ve been fortunate. I bought it from Porsche shop as everyone else was priced at c.£3k. Seems they’ve increased to match that now

https://www.porscheshop.co.uk/sports-suspension-ki...

[m444ttb]

I’d assume the pricing increase is all part of the Porsche strategy to get older cars in for cheap servicing before giving you quotes for £000s for all the stuff they’ve found wrong.