Wolpertinger

Thinking of replacing my stock suspension in my 2011 Cayman S. Any opinions on which is preferable - Bilstein B16 PSS9 or KW Coilover Kit V3 ?

Code

I'm shopping around too, and trying to decide between JRZ and KW. Have you considered JRZ Suspension at all? Most of the hard core 987's in my club are running one of those two.

Wolpertinger

I did look at JRZ. I sort of have my heart said on Bilstein because it's cool to say. Billshtein..........

khoahtran

What are you looking to do with the car? Daily driver? Most street driving? Track? Bilstein and KW are fine for the street but they are terrible on track due to soft springs and valving. JRZ or Ohlins for any track duty planned.

Wolpertinger

99.9% street driving. Not my daily driver, but my 6 times a week fun mobile!

Meraki Autoworks

KW!

Let us know if you would like pricing on them!

-Josh

Wolpertinger

Hey Josh - Could you please elaborate a bit on why? As for pricing, sure! But honestly I'll probably buy them in Canada because of the currency exchange rate and shipping costs.

olegd

I have a set of Bilstein PSS9 which are being rebuilt currently by Bilstein USA. If you are willing to wait 5-6 weeks, I can sell them to you for much less than retail price.

MidEngineRules

Porsche X73 kit for the win. It may not be the jewelry of a coilover system, but it has exponentially more engineering in it than any aftermarket setup in existence. Plus it comes with beefier ARBs too. None better street setup. Available today!

Wolpertinger

Hmmm.....also an interesting option!

tomhartzell

+1 for the X73 setup. I put the Cayman R (i.e. X73) suspension and rear sway bar on my '12 Cayman S; it's a markedly better handling car that's also fun on road trips.

olegd

Did you know that most (if not all) Porsche struts are made by Bilstein? So the "exponentially more engineering" aspect of a X73 is hardly valid, as they are engineered by the same company.

There are some big advantages of a PSS9 over X73 system: compression and ride height adjustability.

I had the Cayman R setup on my car, and I liked it a lot. It is a well balanced system and is great for street driving. Its not so great on track, as the springs are too soft and body roll is very noticeable.
Also, the R setup is hard to find these days, I am only aware of Suncoastparts that carry them (for $2,395).

MidEngineRules

Nah. Porsche didn't just phone up Bilstein and call it a day. The way it usually works is the manufacturer gives the supplier specs and they work together to get the desired affect. It takes a lot of testing to dial in a very balanced setup. No aftermarket effort would ever come close to that level of testing and there's no collaboration with the manufacturer. It's not that there's anything exotic about X73 parts, other than they are quality pieces and the end result is a perfectly matched system. Compression and ride height adjustibility isn't needed when there's nothing to gain from it. It's just adjustibility for those who have no idea what they're doing, and most likely users will place aesthetics over function just as the market as proven over and over. Sure aftermarket parts are pretty. But in this case, OEM wins. The aftermarket wants your money. They can't sell anything unless it drops the car almost to the point everything rubs, and no one would buy anything if it didn't feel mega taut, if not teeth jarring stiff. A suspension doesn't need either of those characters. Lowering shouldn't be a requirement for non-race street suspensions. But you buy any coilover and it's forced upon you. X73 is taut but never crashy, or loud, or unforgiving. They really got it right. Why screw with anything else?

Wolpertinger

Just doing some more research. Looks like the X73 is meant for a 981. I've got a 987.2. Am I wrong?

tomhartzell

You are correct. The Cayman R suspension available from Suncoast (no affiliation) and others is the same thing for the 987.2 cars. If you're looking at the Cayman R suspension kit, you would also want to order the Cayman R rear sway bar that is usually not included in that kit.