Tom R.

If you are not going to track it regularly, or will occasionally track it and want to keep it "streetable" here is what i would do if i was going to do it again.

17x8 wheels with the stickiest 245s
Very agressive brake pads - they keep changing the label used to be Pagid red, yellow etc. now they have numbers that others can help with. Skip the drilled or slotted rotors.
Weltmeister or M030 adjustable sways
Koni sport inserts with an agressive alignment done by someone who can set it to European ride height.

For the interior a different seat. Dont go harness because new PCA rules say if in a harness both driver and passenger need a HANS. If you go Recaro bottom mount I have a pair of the height adjustable tracks (what people call sliders) from my last S2. They dont wear out, and were hardly used. PM if interested.

If you can get hold of the "hammer" device to disable the air bag a Momo wheel is nice. I tried the diode thing and i got the light on the airbag equipped S we blew up last season.

Some will say AC delete. I say no if it is a street and track car. AC is real nice on the ride home from the track or a necessity if you ever want your spouse to ride with you.

Enjoy third gear on a freeway entrance!

Arominus

VEMS and cams for more HP, konis +m030 sways for handling, 968 brake cooling flaps/ducts (critical w/ the d90s) and realistic expectations. Look at the airbox mod for it too, Mine has 4 big holes drilled in the front of it which helps a bit IMO as the stock slot is small and it makes the intake much more talkative. Avoid 18's, they are a bit big for the car IMO and ride quality suffers considerably as you go up. I run around on D90's for DD status, 17's would be my tracking choice. My S2 has more power, but only because of a 968 motor swap, i made 172/170 @ 6,000ft at the wheels with an RSbarn chip.

Tom R.

the 7" D90s on the S fried the brakes on the track. I thought it was because of the smaller brakes. You are running the other half of the two sets on you S2 (like you didn't know that). Did they get too hot even with the bigger rotors? Want to buy 4 16x7 D90s with a custom paint job for winter tires?

motobri

So, go same wheel width and tire size on all four corners, what offset?

Davito

the factory 16x8 D90s are ET 52. I would go with 45. I your 993 narrow body? If a wheel fits a 993 narrow body will fit a 944, that might be an easy way to find how much room you have. Also take a look at this website for porsche wheels sizes, offsets and weight

http://www.944racing.de/wheelweights.php

motobri

After a few canyon drives, I'm noticing that I feel every crack in the asphalt. The car corners nice and flat but the ride over cracks/bumps is harsh and jolty. With stock size wheels tires, 59k and 30 years on the suspension, what to refresh/upgrade to help eliminate the harshness?

JustinL

Start with the bushings as the rubber has either hardened up or deteriorated since the car came off the production line. It needs to be done anyway, so start there. Rubber will be the least harsh material and is available through stock parts. Don't bother with used rubber parts. In the front, you want the latest version of the 'castor block', which I think is the 968 version. Control arm bushings, but it might just be worth while to get a new set of control arms depending on the condition of yours and the ball joints. Upper strut mount is another place you can refresh things. In the rear, the shocks have the rubber bushings on each end and if they are original, just get new rear shocks. It's all stuff that needs to be done anyway if it's original, so start there and see how it feels to you. If it needs more, then it needs more.

Tom R.

If it feels harsh you may want to keep it as stock as possible. Put 225s on all four wheels (US came with 205/225 on 7 &8 inch rims Euro came with square setup. Us foolish Americans needed the understeer to keep us in check. ) replace the struts with boge/sachs instead of Koni sports or put the sports on a softer setting, replace the caster blocks, get rebuilt control arms with new ball joints and enjoy the car the way the engineers designed it.

Jfrahm

Which front bar do you have? The 30mm 968 M030 is probably massive overkill on the street and would be harsh over potholes and the like. Even the 951S 26.8mm bar is pretty hard to like on the street. Along with the Koni yellows it made for a harsh ride on the 951S on our local pothole farms.

Stock S2 (I have had two) are a nice compromise of ride quality and handling. They ride better than my Audi S8.

divil

IMO, you need to find people with similar cars that you can drive to really see what you can expect. Things like ride quality and harshness are just way too subjective to find out anything from reading on the internet. I always thought my car was very harsh, and since I got it I've replaced absolutely everything in the suspension - every bushing, shocks, tires etc. None of it made any difference. I find it incredible that some people are driving around on 300lb springs and solid bushings and saying things like "it's a bit harder but not too bad" lol.

Don't get me wrong, you should replace old suspension components because it will improve precision and tightness, but I just don't want you to be disappointed if it doesn't have the effect you were expecting.

This is a good example of what I mean - I don't doubt your experience, but I removed the front swaybar from my car and drive it like that for months, and I couldn't feel any difference in ride quality at all. It's all very subjective.