dmbgamer

I would like to lower the stance of my 993 without sacrificing the softer ride of my stock suspension. I do track days but don't feel the need to beef up the suspension just for that. Frankly, I don't want to spend 2-3 grand to lower it. Any other alternatives out there?

chris walrod

If your car is relatively low mileage, and already have M030 dampers, just install a set of ROW M030 springs. I feel the ride with those springs dont really mess up the ride of a stock (US M030) 993..

Greg H.

You want the M033 suspension. Same ride as you have, but the ride height of the ROW030 suspension. Do a search for 033 as it has been covered before.

Greg H.

Jeff 993TT

So I'm assuming that your budget is < $2K??

Well, just to install anything ( regardless of the parts costs ) is going to be about 1000. So you have 1K to buy parts. That's going to be difficult.

ROW springs are about $400 and are progressive, which should give you a softer ride over small bumpy surfaces. They will also lower the car by 3 cm.
So I guess you could do that, but then you'd have to reuse your worn out shocks and your inferior sway bars.

Bilstein HD's are out the price range. PSS-9's are out the price range.

Keep in mind that if you ever wanted to change your shocks again, the same $1000 installation charge applies. So personally, I would go up to the Bilstein HD with euro TT sway bars at least.

Alternatively, you can troll around on ebay. Sometimes, there are some really good deals that come up. Or you could try to convince somebody here that already has HD's to upgrade to the pss-9's and get them to sell you their HD's. Or the same thing with pss-9's and motons. Or the same thing with moton and ???.

ca993twin

If oldguy decides not to buy them, I have the ROW springs and Euro TT rear sway bar off my turbo. I'm not sure if they're MO30 or MO33 or whatever. I've just put PSS-9s on my car, and these are the take-off parts (sort of... I just bought the Euro TT bar, and then found out that my early TT came with that same bar as stock). $300 for everything, and you pay the freight (oh gadzooks... how would I package that sway bar?). Oldguy gets first dibs, and he's pretty close by.

Howdy993

Hi All -

If you do the suspension mods on a budget - don't you also have to get an alignment / corner balance for another $1K? or is that factored into the $2K budget?

Just wondering

Howard
98 C2 cab tip glacier white / black top

Edward

Hi Randy,

There are lots of methods out there to just lower your car. IMO, though, the inexpensive methods shortchange you in the longrun. The case is just as Jeff put it. Labor alone for the installation/alignment (we'll forgo the corner balance for cost sake) will be in the 800-1000 range, maybe even higher if you have the shop remove the springs from your shocks and replace them with lowering springs you've purchased (maybe another $300-400 for this).

Sure you can save labor by doing all on your own, but lets say you're in now for $600 or so for the alignment and used springs you found on your own, and you did all the work. What do you get? Your old, more-likely-than-not tired struts mated with springs that will most likely be oversprung for your underdamped shocks. Result is a bouncy, even jittery ride, and possibly worse than you had in the firstplace because of the mis-match of shocks to springs. This doesn't sound like a deal to me. I'd wait for just the right shocks or full suspension to come up used. I'd wait (or troll) for someone to upgrade their "old" HD, PSS9, or H&R setup and you're golden. Or do what I did: save some $$ over time, be patient in quiet envy of all those other R-listers getting suspension upgrades, wait until I had enough $$ to do it right the FIRST time, then shop around for the best prices and do it. No regrets, no wasted time or cash, and immense satisfaction from rewarding my own patience with getting exactly what I want without compromise. OR, you could just go out and waste your dough

Edward

Howdy993

Edward -

Very well put and sage advice.

Howard
98 C2 cab tip glacier white / black top

jdoc7

dmbgamer,

I was quoted $580 for installation of Bilstein HD's with H&R springs at my local import wrench in Peoria, IL. A proper 4 wheel alignment, (kinematic toe), and corner balancing was an additional $200. Hope this give you an idea.

dmbgamer

for all the information. Based on what everyone is saying, doing a suspension upgrade on a budget is difficult. Assuming that I do upgrade to HDs at some point, how much do they impact the ride?

JasonF

I am installing Bilstein's early next week and keeping the stock springs. From many other posts I've read, the ride quality will be much improved, even if you keep the original springs. My OEM shocks have 62,000 miles on them, and boy are they shot (my 1979 Ford Fairmont handled as well!).

My Porsche dealer is charging just under $1,000 to install the shocks and do a complete alignment (my car is a C4). I'll report next week when they're in...As for lowering the car, I may be mistaken, but the HD's I ordered from Gert have addtional threading that will allow you to lower the car slightly from North American specs.

mike cap

Jason,

I thought the same as you, that installation of the Bilstein HD's with the additional threads would allow me to "lower the car slightly". This was on my 1997 C2. I went through this about a month or so ago. I just wanted to scare a 1/2" or so off the ride height and thought I could do it with the stock springs and HD's.

Unfortunately, this plan doesn't work. The HD's with the stock springs will give you the exact same ride height as you have now. May be a bit higher. This is the real deal, by the best Porsche independent in New York and them following the correct installation and clearance requirements.

Don't make the mistake that I did and expect to lower the car with the Bilstein HD's alone - I had to spend the money 2x, the second time to change over to the M030 springs to get 1" lower ride height, still using the HD's.

If you want more info on this, call me at the office at 800-333-0519 x 106.

JasonF

Thanks Mike. I better inform Gert that the extra threading won't allow you to lower the car. Honestly, I was not interested in lowering the height anyway. However, I also don't wan't the car higher either. Is there something I should tell the dealer to do to make sure the car isn't any higher?

Thanks for the heads-up.
Jason

mike cap

Jason, Give me a call - easier to explain on the phone.

Surj-993C2S

I was under the impression that it was the springs that did the lowering (on the most part) - not the shocks.