Originally Posted by V2Rocket_aka944

Maybe your roads are smoother than mine are here...but I have fresh rubber bushings everywhere and the 26mm torsion bars I fitted (around 190lb/in rate) really magnify bumps in the road and gives a bumpy ride. My shocks are pretty tired so there is some remedy there but still...a sudden change of pavement level like a highway bridge and my head can hit the ceiling. My 944 handles very sharp now with fresh rubber and balanced spring rates but it is bouncy.

You probably tolerated the stiff springs because all the engine and gearbox noise drowned out your senses


Spring rates, I don't think rear coilovers would really change the ride since the rest of the suspension geometry/mounting is the same still. Maybe improved a little bit because there's less friction on the spring plate bushing since the car's weight is resting on the shock rather than on the torsion bar.


Try finding someone local to you with a stiffly set-up 944 and see how it feels to you...as 333pg333 said it is very subjective. But you can save a lot of money and still get a very stiff car by just putting in larger torsion bars versus doing the coilover conversion, and there's not really any weight to be saved either. And adjustability is largely a moot point on a street car too...are you really going to dial in one of 12 settings before going to the mall?

So coilovers have to be for a pretty specific intended usage/reasoning to be justified on a 944.

Originally Posted by Van

I think you should buy a Corvette.

Originally Posted by mikey_audiogeek

High spring rates can be fine as long as your shocks are dialled in and you keep off the bump stops. I run 850lb/in coilovers at the rear on the road, 100,000km on this setup now with no problems.

It's easy to underestimate how often you spend on the bumpstops. An aggressive stance with low spring rates and dead shocks will not only be uncomfortable but also overload the shock mount because of the internal bump stops.

Get some decent shocks/springs and set it up near standard ride height, for starters. Then try lowering the car. You may be surprised at the result.

Cheers,
Mike

Originally Posted by PHert

What would you use for mostly street use with some track time sporadically. I think my overuse of “aggressive” suggests aggressive spring rates. Lol I don’t expect to see 1k. I’m just going for a low street stance( I'm terrified after reading about indexing HA) with aggressive width rims. Think 333pg333’s widith rims on his beast of a track car.

I haven't ruled out the torsion bar opt. yet. How low can you get them and once you get there what is your range of adjustment without ripping the whole rear out again?

Originally Posted by V2Rocket_aka944

What does "Aggressive Width Rims" mean?
Are you widening the body?
You can fit about a 10" wheel on the back of a 1987+ car and about an 11" on an 82-86 car but that is getting very close to the outer fender and inner fender well.

As far as low stance, another thing I don't quite get if it's a street car, you must have very flat roads and driveways without speedbumps to go much lower than stock from my experience.

I drove around lowered 1.5" or so in front (lowering spring + shorter tires) for several years...but when I moved to Los Angeles, I had to raise the car back up to stock height with a spring spacer and stock-size tires just to get into driveways without scraping the nose, and I still have to angle it in sometimes.


Torsion bar indexing really isn't that hard, when swapping my bars out to larger ones last Christmas it took about an hour to get everything set right, it's a lot easier than the internet might make it out to be. Without messing with the bars, you can lower the back about 1/2" or maybe 3/4" by loosening some nuts/bolts on the spring plate and letting the car's weight pivot the spring plate/trailing arm connection. Then the bars give you a pretty much infinite range of adjustment based on indexing.

It'd be easier to run a shorter tire though.

Originally Posted by PHert

Are you saying you were able to get the torsion bar out in an hour? Maybe the web has blown it out of proportion. Would you recommend the 26mm bar?

Originally Posted by V2Rocket_aka944

I removed the rear suspension assembly from the car in order to replace the spring plate/trailing arm bushings and install the 26mm bars.

Actually indexing the bars once installed in the housing took less than an hour.
The whole job start to finish (drove car there, drove car away) took a weekend, 2x 6-8 hour days.

If I had to do it again I could probably get the suspension assembly out of the car in an hour or so, and once it's out of the car it is pretty easy actually.

I like the 26mm bars because they match well with my 200# front springs and the car turns really well now, but as said above it is pretty bouncy so I wouldn't ever go higher in spring rate on my own car. But maybe your tolerance is better than mine.

Originally Posted by V2Rocket_aka944

the rear suspension mounting points on the body/chassis are completely identical from the 1982 944 through the 1995 968.

the upper shock mounting bolt passes through a thick steel sleeve/bushing/cylinder that is what 4" long? no way you'll bust it.

...