Darwantae951

Hey guys,

I've sorted everything out for the engine, and wanted to beef up the suspension a little now, too. I'll be keeping the stock brakes (figured S4 calipers with a good freshening will do nicely). Any opinions on my set-up (I haven't bought anything yet) would be appreciated!

• Paragon rebuilt double adjustable Koni coil-overs with 300lb springs, racers edge adjustable camber plates, and upper spring perches up front. http://www.paragon-products.com/Prod...2CONV&CartID=1
  
• In the rear would be Koni 3012 coil-overs with 500lb springs and racers edge lower mounting bolts. (TB delete) http://www.paragon-products.com/Prod..._3012&CartID=9
  
• 968 M030 sways (30mm/19mm) with new bushings.

I'll also be replacing any/all bushings that I feel are in need of replacement (which will probably mean everything...). I already have 968 castor blocks for the front.

This will be for a street/track set-up. One I can drive to the track, participate, and then drive home. I do enjoy a stiffly set-up car, but I don't want my teeth to rattle out of my mouth.

Any opinions/advice from people actually using a similar set-up or who drive their cars to events would be great!

Thanks!

Van

Sounds good to me. If you replace the spring plate bushings (rear) the Elephant Racing poly-bronze ones are very nice. I did a write-up on that a few years ago.

Darwantae951

Those are actually the ones I was looking at, but wondering if poly-bronze was overkill for a primarily streeted car?

I wasn't too sure about choosing a rear spring rate. I ended up going with dividing the front spring rate by .56 and choosing something slightly less (I believe having a stiffer front spring will bring about understeer, correct?) which I have read can be slightly better for someone learning.

RolexNJ

I would also ask Chris White, or Karl from RE. Why dont you email him and ask? He is an excellent source as well.

944CS

You can go stiffer than 300 in the front and still keep a nice firm ride - I would go with 400. I also wouldn't go so stiff in the rear - 500 is not necessary and you are pushing on a bolt in single shear.

Darwantae951

Already shot an e-mail to Chris White but it is the holidays. Haven't gotten anything back but I wanted to throw my question up on here and see what the general consensus would be.

Van

1) stiffer than 300 on the street is really a lot

2) because of the designs of the suspension geometry, you actually need very different spring rates to get equal wheel rates - do a search

3) the load on the shock mount bolt is dependent on the sprung weight of the rear of the car - not the spring rate

944CS

1. I used to run 400lb springs in the front with firehawk valved bilsteins and it felt fine with 45 series sidewalls. This was my DD for over a year.
2. I understand that you need different spring rates but 500 is a lot for a street car and you then have to spend more money on things like the upgraded lower shock mount when really the car is a compromise.
3. The load on the shock mount is primarily dependent on the rear spring rate and shock valving and secondarily dependent on the cars weight.

My advice would be to use a tender/main spring combination in the front and a progressive rate spring in the rear, eibach makes both that will work with the shocks available for the 944

mclarenno9

I went with 400 up front and its really not that bad on the street, for me at least... I would have went higher but I was told that was about all the Koni yellows could handle spring-wise...and I didn't know they made torsion bars bigger than 30mm for these cars (wanted to keep the balance).

Also, ask yourself if you really need the double-adjustability. You can save a lot of coin by going with one of Paragon's cup kits with the single-adjustable Koni's.

Yes, in a relatively static situation. When hitting a bump however, the loads at the shock mount with two very differently spung cars will be different. With a soft spring if you hit a bump basically all that is happening (in addition to the weight of the car) is you are pushing the weight of the suspension components up (the unsprung weight). If you have an extremely stiff spring it will tend to want to actually lift the whole corner of the car, not just the unsprung weight. Therefore, the load on the shock mount will be significantly higher.

thingo

I run 450 up front with revalved M030, ride is fine, better on the track than the 350 fronts I had previously.
But the kw's on my 968 ride a lot better and handle superior, 550 front, the dampers make a lot of difference to the ride

Oddjob

Double adjustables and 3012s are basically race valved shocks, so its a little overkill for a street/DE car.

From my experience, a 300/500 setup will not have an understeer tendancy on a road course. Depends on tires/width, sway bars, alignment, corner balance, etc - but I would be looking closer to a 300/400 or 400/500 for a neutral understeer setup.

Ride comfort is a personal preference, so what is fine for one may be too stiff for another. Keep in mind, in addition to high spring rates and high damping rates, the bushing material is a big killer for ride quality. For a car that sees street use, I would recommend keeping everything factory rubber (except for the rear spring plate bushings when removing the t-bars - you need to go with at least delrin and preferably the poly-bronze). Solid bushings make for a terrible ride. Also, whl tire combo makes a big difference. If you have a second (or 3rd, or 4th) set of wheels w/ dedicated street tires on them, especially 16" will take a lot of harshness out of the ride. Stiff sidewalled 18" r-comps make for a rough ride on the street.

carreracoupe997

The poly-bronze bushings are great for cars that sill have the TB's. Since your car is TB delete you can use Delrin bushings from Racers Edge. You are now just dealing with a pivot point for the spring plate. I would now take the money saved and buy mono-***** for the front control arms. Unless of course the money doesn't matter then go with both mono-***** front and poly-bronze rear.

Darwantae951

Thanks for all the input guys. It's really appreciated. Price really isn't a factor in my decisions. I will buy what I feel is the best product for the situation at hand.

mikey_audiogeek

True, although with the spring rates being discussed the biggest load on the shock mount is probably when the shock compresses the internal bump stop. Stiffer springs keep you off the bump stop and (up to a point) can reduce the peak load seen by the shock mount.

I run Bilstein Escorts with 850lb rear springs on the street, "correct" ride height, and I'm still working the bump stops.

Potomac-Greg

Still not a reason to buy something that you will not need or notice. I too think the adjustable shocks will just not be needed and thus would not be the best product. Spring rates are like exhaust notes. The transition to harsh is very personal. I use 500 / 650 and I love it for the track. But I'd probably go with 200# less on both ends for the street.