marc abrams

Your Subaru dealer sounds like a good place. The Toyota dealer where I bought my Tacoma from has a fine new car prep department. On the drive home, one center cap fell off, the other 3 were loose. Must be a New York thing that half-assed is the way of life around here. Look at me, l can't multi quote.

marc abrams

Thanks for that information. I feel better now.
Actually besides 3 bad radiator fan switch, I've had very few electrical problems.

924srr27l

Yes it's often difficult when a post is on the same theme but from a different member.

Cool, yes stick the thicker Roll bar on the front, the car may feel a little less unwilling to to turn in and settle (take a set) but if you can hold the apex (hopefully with no corner entry Understeer), the rear will be less likely to be coming round on you on the exit.

R

PorscheG96

Obviously, every suspension design has some compromises. The semi-trailing arm was chosen for simplicity and packaging. Because the design is so compact, it enhances features of the 944 like the large fuel tank and rear hatch area which owners have always enjoyed. The trade offs, of course, are the toe angles dependence on camber gain where basically the only levers to pull are arm length and mounting angle. Another cool attribute of the 944 suspension, both front and rear, is its roll center locations. They are setup for racing basically out of the box whereas later Porsche's with multilink require all new subframes, links and uprights to achieve this geometry. On the downside, there's a lot of body roll in street config due to weight up high but my stiffening the springs and / or reducing the battery, sunroof and rear hatch weight, the roll couples are brought under control and you go racing. I think its a great design.

J1NX3D

Besides the previous points made about the condition of your suspension components and your suspension geometry, what I've quoted above relating to your cars spec was the problem I had with my cars handling. Although I had no problems with grip or oversteer, when I pushed hard it had horrible handling characteristics unlike any transaxle car I'd previously owned or driven.

My '86 944 was specced exactly the same as yours- 20mm front sway bar, no rear bar. the 14mm rear bar was optional. It is the worst spec you can get for a 944. I don't know why it was the minimum spec and why both front and rear bars weren't standard spec. If I was buying a new base 944 I would want a 944 that had handled properly.

http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/susp-15.htm
refer "944 Suspension and Handling Setups"

The first thing I did was fit a 26.8mm front sway and 18mm rear sway bar- immediate improvement.

V2Rocket

^^"Any suspension will work, if it can't"

MistaX

Take a look at your local PCA's approved tech inspection shops. A guarantee they've aligned 944's hundreds of times, won't beat on it because they have GT3's to beat on and you have a lowly 944, and it's not all that much more expensive than a normal shop assuming they don't do any other work on the car. As soon as they have to undo a bolt their labor rates are outrageous.

My full corner balance and alignment to specifications I provided was $500 at a PCA shop, for a cost comparison.

But I needed rear wheel bearings, and accidentally said "just do it" when they called to tell me that, so I paid a lot more than $500.

924srr27l

Interesting. although my (1987 924S 2.5) car originally had the 21.5mm Front ARB , but no rear ARB spec and the handling was very good with no adverse characteristics.
Having owned 5 previous 944's the 24 in comparison felt more nimble, lighter and turned in quicker. ( I think I have the quicker 924 Turbo Manual rack fitted though) I often wonder if the narrow Track, narrow 6"x15 Wheels and 195 tyres all play a part why in my opinion they handle better than an early or late 944 ?


The front motion ratio and scrub radius is as originally designed, and not the jacked out longer wishboned later 944, or the early 944 with the incorrect et23 offset.


Some of the 44's I've owned were tired and worn out and these cars were
a more loose with plenty of body roll, but others that had been looked after and fed lots of money over the years were much better, this has a part to play here as many car's drive different to others.


Hence generally why as many responses on this post, a 944 is a very good handling car in 1976 or 2017 so if some owners cars report handling issues then various things need to be checked, adjusted and replaced. Because this is not what this transaxle chassis does.


Modern car's drive very differently and are often stiffer with seemingly less roll and movement, and poor ride quality etc...and an older designed car with a different feel I believe is often seen as inferior but the biggest acid test is to "take a modern on" and you'll see how effortless and easy the Porsche transaxle's are to drive fast.......


R

J1NX3D

My previous 924 and 924T both had front and rear bars and handled very well. When I bought my 944 it didn't even occur to me to check the suspension specs, I just assumed a base model would have both bars as standard like my 24's- a competent suspension spec. It was a garage queen with 113,000km, only 60,000 km in the last 9 yrs. It got a front end service, new tyres balanced and an alignment but my first B road excursion and track day with it left me confused. It just felt wrong.

The new bars went in with all new OEM bushings and drop links and it was a night and day difference.

924srr27l

Is you 86 944 the later oval dash or an early car? which is often referred to as a 85.5


Wider track cars (944) transfer weight quicker than a narrower track (924) maybe this and the lack of rear ARB may of been why + the thinner front ARB


I did however use 36psi all round on the standard 924S with 21mm front and no rear ARB


The modified stiffer lighter car now runs 26psi all round (Street use)
(Michelin PS3 - 205/55/16)


R

morghen

Thats nonsense, you should know that.
Your 944 shocks are probably shot beyound any limit and when was the last time you did a 4 wheel alignment on that car?
Also, if you want it to behave like a sports car...use sports car tires on it no economy bull****.

Get premium sport tires on, new shocks and bushings, take it for a propper professional 4 wheel alignment and you will see what that car should really grip like. The difference is night and day.

marc abrams

Wow! Now I know how Andre the Giant felt after being body slammed by Hogan!
I'm guessing that you didn't read my posts, number 8 and 21

harveyf

He was probably working on his 3rd cup of coffee!

924srr27l

He's Fiesty that one, but means well ....

R

333pg333

Lol...now you are showing your age.