tkyyro

Hello all

Just got a 964 carrera 4, 1990. The suspension seems to be on its last legs, and planning to change the shocks.
Never driven 911 other than this so not sure how they will be in stock form - stiff or not.
Roads here are pretty bad, potholes, speedbumps, grooves and those nasty sharp cuts lets say when you crossing the bridge. Now all this comes straight thru not matter what speed I'm doing. Nose feels like there's not much rebound left.

The car has been lowered already.

Tires probable don't help much as they are quite low on profile, but don't really know if there is space for higher profile with more of that air cushion.

The drive is quite uncomfortable I have to say.

So, which type of shocks should I be looking for to get the ride more comfortable? Are bilsteins just too stiff already? Can they be shimmed by suspension guys later or even prior to purchase?

Cheers
Tomi

Vandit

My totally stock car also rides like trash over expansion joins, broken up pieces of road, and other bumps that are sharp in nature. You can hear and feel the tires bounce over surface imperfections. I'm thinking this is related to the dampers being worn out and no longer functioning as design.

I'm upgrading to Bilstein HD dampers and H&R Turbo red springs during the winter. I'm hoping for a big improvement.

tahoelife

Hello I just went through this if you are keeping as a street only car then the bilstein hd s are fine or the kw v3. If you are planning on doing any track time at all you are going to want the bilstien pss10 or the kw clubsports. I went with the kw clubsports and eibach 600f 800 r springs as I am tracking the car more and more the ride around town is a little stiff but very tolerable as long as I turn the settings softer on the adjustments.

vaughan 88 911

Tomi,
Recently I was looking at some website with shocks. Perhaps it was Pelican? Anyway I saw somewhere that there are some Bilstein Non-HD shocks for the 964. This may be a bit of a softer option if you're daily driving your 964. I use the OEM Boge shocks. I had them put on 4 years ago. My 964 is a daily driver.

abarthguy

Just a note that some harshness can be tire related. Only had my '92 for 4 months riding on 7 year old Bridgestone SO-2 with lots of tread. Harsh and noisy ....
Now on new continental DW and the difference is large. Smooth and quiet.
The car is lowered and on some variety of non-stock spring/shock combo.

Vandit

This prompted me to go look at the sidewall markings on my Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires (this thread design) and holy shiet, if I'm reading this correct "517" then my tires were manufactured in week 51 of 1997!!! WTF.

Tread depth was nearly new when I got the car in 2011 and they don't show any obvious dry rot/cracking.

Oh wow, I guess I need to budget for some Hankook RS3s sometime during the winter break.

abarthguy

They may not be all of the problem...
My Bridgestones were dated mid-'05 and only the fronts showed small cracks in the sidewall. The rears looked fresh.
The tire shop said that one of my rear shocks is leaking, so I'm in the same boat as you......

tkyyro

Thanks guys. Sorry to hear about you leaking shock mate.
How about the adjustable ones, how easy access they've got to the *****? I'm still not planning to do more than one or two track days but sometimes driving around 1500 km on motorways. Which is quite different from these Italian small back roads + urban traffic. Koni is cheaper? Is there anything else worth a thought, KYB maybe?

tkyyro

All my gauges on the dashboard went dead after hitting those sharp joins on the road. At least it appeared to happen when it hit it. Not sure if it's related or not. Tells me time to swop shocks?

carioca

I had a similar situation when I bought my C2, a tired stock suspension with worn shocks and front control arm bushings. The ride was pretty bad and the car felt unsafe over high speeds. Because the roads are bad around here too I was concern about ride quality as well if I would choose to go full on with new stiffer shocks and springs, also considering the fact that I have Cup's I on my car. In the end after lot's of research I've opted to go with bilsteins hd and kept the stock springs. While in there I replaced the control arm bushings with CW urethane ones, top mounts, end links and sway bar bushings. I've been pretty happy with this set up so far, I'm not planning to track the car and will most drive it to PCA events and go for short trips. Recently I've drove it to Tacoma (600 km round trip) and was impressed how the car now handles sharp, feels safe without compromising comfort.
IMHO the springs you have (with tires and the rest aside) would have a grater impact on ride quality than the HD shocks.
Just my 2 cents

hamah

Same here. High speed turns (well "highish speed" seeing how I drive) were scary on a 20 year old suspension. The guys over at Scan convinced me to go with Bilsteins and H&Rs (maybe bushings as well? Can't recall). I was reticent initially as I wanted to stay stock but I'm very happy I followed their advise (and spent less money doing it). I suppose I could have stayed with stock springs but I do like the lowered stance.

ClaytoVR

Hi guys! If you're looking for a relatively inexpensive route that doesn't comprimise quality, I'd HIGHLY recommend the KW V1's. I've had mine on for almost a year(2Kmiles)and have absolutly no complaints. I dont track my car but I do some "spirited" driving when I drive my 964. I've had a set of these same KW V1's on my daily driver for almost 5yrs and another set on a different car before that one. I can't say how they'd be on a track car, but I assume that's why KW makes the V3's and the clubsports.

As far as tires go, I can also attest to the Continental DW's......amazing! Again, I dont track my car so ride quality and noise level's are important to me. I had Bridgestone somethings on it before that I thought were okay but had mismatched fronts so I bought a new complete set of the DW's. Now that its time for new tires on my daily driver, I'm going with the all-season versions of these tires, the DWS.

I hope this helps.

Richard Curtis

Last year, replaced original stock shocks and springs with Bilstein HDs and H&R Green. This year, replaced Michelin PSs with Hancook Ventus V12 Evo K110 and the ride is noticeably quieter. I don't drive the car hard enough to ascertain grip level, but overall, I'm very happy with springs/shocks/tires combination.

King Tiger

Hi everybody! just bought a 91 c2 coupe with tired suspension. Can anyone point me in the direction of a comparisom of spring and damper replacement kits and tyres for fast road use available in GB? Also what are the recommended suspension settings for my four wheel alignment for fast road use without it getting knife edge. please? Anmy recommendations?

RicardoD

Has anybody ever replaced with stock dampers? Or are they outrageously priced?