Garey Cooper

I have to thank Gert Carnewal at CPX. I emailed to ask some questions about the Euro suspension he is selling and he immediately came back with information. I am considering this option now. Gert says a couple of interesting things; the euro suspension lowers the car by 20mm in front and 10mm in back (about 3/4 and 3/8 inches). The front drop would have to look better at the least. He also says the Euro spring rates are the same as the USA version but that the shocks are valved differently. Further, Gert says the USA factory front camber setting is 0' and the Euro is -30'. The rear camber, per Gert is identical. So, slightly better turn in and probably a bit firmer in the shock absorbers. It makes perfect sense to me. The USA cars are built to make high speed freeway runs and the European cars are built to have better turn in on the generally more curvy but well paved Continental roads.
I've also asked Gert if the GT3 Sway bars would fit the TT, one thinks they might because I believe the GT3 is built on the C4 Chassis as is the TT. These are adjustable bars.
I could see a very workable and reasonable solution of Euro suspension with perhaps a bit more camber and the adjustable sway bars. The thought is that the car aesthetically appeals more and that the handling is sharpened up just enough.

gtdrei

Garey,

I'm also becoming convinced that the suspension Gert is selling is the best first start. I'm concerned about the 20MM front drop, only because of my driveway situation. (any source of chin spoilers wholesale?). I'm there, but I want to put 2-3K miles on first.
Robin

Garey Cooper

Thanks cjv! I had a TechArt strut brace on my 993. They usually have very good stuff and comply with TUV, which is a German bureaucracy somewhat similar to our own unloved DOT. But, in contrast to DOT, TUV has very practicable and stringent tests with published parameters that manufacturers meet to qualify for the rating.

Robin, I have the same driveway challenge. I had to approach mine at an obtuse angle with the 993. My friend Paul Kramer visited yesterday evening with his RS look 1972 911T and I promptly ran his chin spoiler into our driveway!

I am also with you Robin on wanting to put a few miles on the car. But right now the Euro solution looks pretty good to me.

Pete911air

Gary,
If you like to see what a 996tt with euro suspension looks like, come to ANDIAL on tuesday afternoon.

Pete.

gtdrei

Thought I'd throw some fuel on the suspension discussion. I had the 996TT alignment checked today. I live on one of the tightest roads on the planet, and things did not feel right, so I wanted the settings checked, and wanted to dial in a bit more negative Camber in the front. Lo and behold, the alignment was ...in one word screwed.
BEWARE the factory "settings", and get the alignment checked.

It turns in nicely, now, and the rear end isn't trying to steer. (e-mail me if you want to know the settings we put in) BUT one of the things I learned was that the stock 996TT suspension in US trim has very little camber adjustment for the front (max -30') With the ROW suspension, a little more may be possible, (-1d) not because of better adjustment, but because of the lowering effect. This is dissapointing, since it leaves us well short of a decent track day setup with stock suspension. Compare this with the wide range of settings available on the 993 cars, and you begin to see a disturbing pattern of who Porsche is now considering their Ideal customer.

Robin

Garey Cooper

Robin; Interesting. Thanks to Pete at Andial I rushed over there for a few moments today to see a 996TT that they had installed Euro suspension on. They only put the front suspension on as there is little (or no, I can't remember) difference between US and Euro in the rear. Pete unfortunately was out but I did talk to Dieter and he said the change was 3/4" in front and 1/4" in the rear. The car that had been changed looked so much better. They also realigned and did the corner weights on the car so it probably handles better as well. I couldn't stay long so I don't have much more information than that. I am going to try and get a hold of Peter when I return from my vacation on the 23rd of August.

I am not surprised about how they are setting up the cars. I would be surprised to find out that the suspension needed that much work after when it was new!

Steve N.

Please keep the rest of us posted as you guys sort out these suspension issues - I will be very happy to go to school on your experiences.

Pete911air

Garey,
I am sorry I missed you by a few minutes. What you have seen is best solution we came up with. When new, the 996tt is nose high, so we went with the front shocks and springs, which lowers the front about 18mm. In the rear we stay with the original shocks and springs, but we modify the rear shocks to lower the rear six mm, which also helps with corner balancing. This will give the car a very slight nose down at rest and level at speed.
We had Mr. Jeff Zwart, who is an acomplished race and test driver, do the testing for us.
I hope I have answerd some of the questions you might have had.

Pete.

Chris Y.

Has anyone thought about the GT2 suspension package? It looks like a coilover unit, that has adjustable spring perches, as well as a uniball upper adjustment for camber; anyone knows if this would fit on the "turbo"? Sounds expensive...but the GT2 does pull 1.02 G's of the skids!

I installed a set of H&R springs on my turbo, however, i'm not completely pleased with the results...very bouncy, horrible ride! I like the thought of adjustability...but which set up would be the best? Does anyone know if the H&R coilover kit is available yet (last I checked, they said the end of summer)?

Thanks Everyone!
Chris

Chris Y.

BTW, how much is the Euro Suspension kit Gert is selling? What parts are included (ie. ROW shocks, springs, anti-roll bars)?

Thanks!
Chris

Viken

Look here: CPX-Belgium

gtdrei

Garey posted Actually, my suspension guy said that it is rare to see a new car that is correctly aligned. I would think that an alignment check would be a part of dealer prep, especially when you are spending this kind of money.
Robin

gtdrei

Originally posted by Chris Y. What suspension parts do the GT3 and GT2 share ? The GT3 suspension is very adjustable, (up to -4d front camber), whith lots of trick parts, and would be more readily available than the GT2. Difference is, both the GT3 and GT2 are RWD cars, and that would cause some inherent limitations, I would think.


Robin

Mike Schuster

Hi Pete,

How much additional front negative camber were you able to get on this car with the front ROW suspension?

Mike

Karl S

Robin,

The GT3 suspension can go well beyond -4 degrees, you can get at least -7 degrees out of it. I have the GT3 suspension on my car and with 1mm shims in the front control arms I am running -3 degrees camber. PAG makes shims that go up to 7mm for the control arms, so I could go much more negative if I wanted.

I have read that the GT2 uses many of the same parts for the suspension as the GT3 but I haven't checked it out on PET yet.

Karl