Warpig

Took the car in to have the rear struts/shocks installed. I did the fronts myself a couple weeks ago, but couldn't get under the rear of the car with my limited jacks/stands. It looks like I need to shop for a new jack.

Took the car in to have the rears done since I was quoted 3 hours labor for the job and I was going to take it in for alignment anyway. So got her back yesterday. I decided to go ahead with the corner balancing also so I know she is set up to be at her best. It happened to be raining when I picked her up and took her home, and I'm pleased that the car was very solid and felt wonderful in the rain as compared to the nightmare experience I had before the new tires/shocks/alignment/corner balance. A completely different car.

Turns out the car was much lower than ROW height. I figured it was as I had noticed a bit of bump steer at times, and don't like the feeling of bump steering even if just on occasional bumps in the road. I realize this may be blasphemy around here but I actually had the car raised.
Don't freak out, I only had it raised to ROW height. It appears as if the bump steering may be a thing of the past (so far) as well as the car drifting all over the road. Ran into bad bushings on my lower control arm on each side so there was an unplanned additional $450 in parts needed, but I'm sure that was also part of my previous problem. She feels like a different animal now for sure.

I'm off work today, my last vacation day, and want to take her for a romp really bad, but it's still raining from yesterday.

Nick

ga993

hmmm...as you know I am having the same problem. Raising my car makes my stomach turn. Glad to hear it worked out for you, hope it continues to ride nice.
p.s. just curious, did you happed to have a "crunching" "clunking" type noise from the rear when driving over potholes, etc.? I am being told that it is normal to hear this after a PSS10 install and lowered ride (never mind, I just read that you have springs, not coilovers). The sound is driving me crazy.
brandon

Warpig

just springs & Bilstein HD's here. the PO put the Eibach springs on and I have no plans to track the car so I figured I'd save the cash and go with only changing the Shocks to the Bilstein HD's as opposed to the PSS10's. The car was very low, the tops of the tires were completely inside the wheel well and I could not even fit one finger between the tires and the inside of the lip. So I decided to raise her to ROW height to combat the bump steer I would get when hitting bumps on the highway. I do hear an occasional loud bump/slam in the rear. Just assume it's the nature of the beast. I find that my car sat for many years in the hands of the PO and many of the bushings are shot. It would not surprise me in the least if my motor mounts are weak and may be the source of the slam. I will have to see if it still hapens after the new changes.

Nick

mongrelcat

Congrat's Nick Suspension sorting was the first thing I did with my new-to-me 993, made a world of difference too.

I replaced the front bushings just because and needed new rear toe control arms which were replaced. I went with RoW-Sport height which actually required the shop raise the rear end slightly and lower the front almost an inch. (already had BilHD's w/ RoW M030.) I do not have any slam type noises but I do have a fair bit of bumpsteer at times. Motor mounts were replaced by the PO not too long ago.

Regarding the rain, go for a drive anyway!!

Warpig

Met some friends out for dinner tonight. Took the 993. I had to... the rain has let up and most of the streets are pretty dry. Got to drive her down the highway a good 15 miles and am happy to report it felt great. No bump steer or slamming in the rear so far. Nice ride not too harsh and was great fun. My new tires now have about 300 miles on them, we will see if the backs last more than 4K miles this time. I'd like to get at least 12K out of em. I don't dump the clutch or anything and spin the rears so they should hold up ok. Looking back at my invoice, my control arms replaced were the rear toe control arms also.

Nick

95cab

Hi Nick,

I am thinking about the suspension upgrade and one shop is recommending Bilstein HDs w/Eibach springs and RS Sways at ROW height, which sounds pretty much like what you've got. Do you have aftermarket sways?
Thanks,

MarkD

There should be no clunking noises from the rear with PSS10s... I am surprised someone would say that is normal.
I would check for contact between sway bar and control arm and soon.

If you go VERY low you will need to use the curved drop links so that the sway bar is oriented below the control arm. This would be VERY low though.

boulderbobo

This is not right.

This is not right.

+1 Listen to Mark here.

Unless you are really low (way below ROW RH) there should be no clunking, slaming, or any other un-natural noises emitting from your suspension. The PSS10 properly installed is very quiet.



Bob-

Warpig

I am not sure my "slam" sound is coming from the suspension. I actually don't believe it is. Seems to me it sounds like something heavy experiencing an occasional hard bounce, like the sound should be absorbed but is not. i admit I don't know a ton about these cars yet, but 90% of the issues I have had with this car since I have purchased it have been to do with bushings or shock absorbing parts being weak or bad. I am not sure, but my guess is that my motor mounts may be weak or bad and on an occasional large bump are bottoming out. I may have to pull them out soon and see what shape they are in. This is not a constant thing only when I hit a bump big enough that it wants to launch the car off the road straight up into the air. That is much less frequent now that the Bilstein HD's are in.

Nick

OSL993

I have the exact same sound as you describe in my 94 C2, and it appeared after installing PSS10 + changing a lot of bits and parts in the undercarriage both front and rear (arms etc.). The sound is clearly most prominent when the car is coming back up from a compression of the suspension, and mostly after a succession of bumps in the road - for example over cobble-stones etc. If I didn't know better I would think that something large was lying on the 'hat shelf', coming up with the car after a bump in the road and then falling down again shortly after.

I am taking the car back to the workshop wednesday and they will try to change the rear coilovers as they believe the sound seems originate from the top of the coilovers (brand new), and as they can not see anything else that is wrong. This is a Porsche exclusive, RUF-approved workshop, so if they cant figure this out I dont know what to do!...

All tips and prior experiences on this topic is welcome! The sound is really driving me crazy, and it was NOT there prior to PSS10 installation. In my mind the 993 exists in one of two states; perfect or broken. Right now it is broken, not a good feeling!

-A.

ga993

Yes, I consulted a different mechanic and was told I should not be hearing any crunching noise. I will be taking to him. He said he would first remove the sway bar and test drive (not sure why, but..). From there, he will have to uninstall the PSS10s and look for source of noise. So, I am basically paying to have the install done all over. Very disappointing.

ga993

Yes, I consulted a different mechanic and was told I should not be hearing any crunching noise. I will be taking to him. He said he would first remove the sway bar and test drive (not sure why, but..). From there, he will have to uninstall the PSS10s and look for source of noise. So, I am basically paying to have the install done all over. Very disappointing.

MarkD

Removing the sway bar to test drive is a good plan.
The noise could be the bar contacting the lower arm. This will tell him if that is it or not.

If all mounting HW is tight, there isn't much that can be wrong with the PSS10s.

Good luck sir!

alexl911

Check out this thread:http://www.jackals-forge.com/lotus/ and click on "Suspension 993"


The ARB was fouling and could be the reason you're having a "scraping sound"

Birol

@alexl911

What a superb site !
Thanks !