C4S993

Symptoms: Harsh ride (rear) even at soft setting #1.
About 40k miles of use and can no longer tolerate the metal clanging noise (over bumps).
Did I arrange incorrectly the tophat pieces ? Front PSS10 are sweet at any settings.
Thanks

Both L/R drop links were rotated CW and so tight it took 1/2 hr each to get them off the 18mm sway bar.

I see no red paint markings.

Where are the red markings ?

Is this right ?

C4S993

Does this arrangement look right ?

993KT

Hard to tell from the pictures, but I think the spring is supposed to sit inside the spring perch. I.e. The spring perch should be like an up side down cup. Also make sure there is no contact of the shock drop link mount to the toe link or sub frame. The metal noise indicates there is either interference, or the spring is not sitting right. Sometimes the spring can get caught, rotating the spring might help. If your car drove fine when you first had the pss10 installed, then maybe you have worn shock mount? They don't look that bad in the pictures though.

Ponchobroke

I would suggest that :
1) the 1 setting is the harshest ride setting
2) the fact that you are getting bumps and your drop link have rotated that you are getting interference somewhere.
3) If you secure your sway bar mounts with a second shock ring that your "bump" will go away

That's my project for the winter...

Richard C2S

C4S993,

I agree with John that #1 setting may be the stiffest. Kind of counter-intuitive. But, I found that out ten years ago when I put PSS-9 on my car.

I also think you may have the "tophat" upside down. Call Bilstein. They have been accomodating (with info) in the past.

C4S993

Thanks guys. These are PSS10 and for some unknown reason the PSS10 setting #1 is soft. versus the earlier PSS9 which was firm at setting #1. Bilstein is on vacation until after NYday.

I checked my supplied Bilstein instruction sheet and it notes that the shiny metal 'cup' should not be upside down (just like I installed it).

Looks like the large Porsche rubber bushing sits inside the cup and the cup sits atop the springs. I did find out that the "L" &"P" logo Porsche rubber bushing side is actually the Red-Paint-Splash-Marking side which should point to the eng fan housing. Strange, that metal bushing (item "b") that sits between the cup and the springs just floats around in there; wonder if they supplied the wrong size small metal bushing as I see it doing nothing buy clatter; it falls right past the top shock threads (not catching machined collar's ridge and falls to hit the top of the cosmetic blue rubber weather guard). The latter small metal collar/bushing is useless.

I am researching the install for the Rennline RS PSS10 tophat system. Anyone here toss the PSS10 tophat for the RS setup ? I suspect my Porsche factory tophat setup cannot handle the PSS10 (no offense). The Posrche tophat was new when I installed it and after 40k miles it is beat up and dry.

C4S993

Upon further review it looks like the Rennline RS PSS10 rear tophat system has noise-over-bump issues as well ! I think instead I am missing some rear parts (items #6 & #7).
But why is item #7 ("intermediate piece") offered in three different mm sizes (3,0/5,5/8,0)?
The part's guy noted the three metric sizes are for adjusting ride quality.
Since I mistakenly did not include part items #6 & #7 in my PSS10 installation,
that may have negatively affected my PSS10 ride quality.

963K993

If the drop link mount "G" moved, the sway bar could be hitting the lower control arm.

k722070

if you had it put together according to those bilstein instructions that would not have been your problem. I had my pss10 rears in the correct order and they worked fine.

the bilstein supplied spacer is 8mm thick, if put together correctly it is torqued between the top lock nut, shock mount and the top of the shock shaft, it doesn't float. it you remove it you'll just have 8mm more threads on top.

not sure what you are referring to in your last comment.
the pss10 top hat does work, it is supplied by bilstein not porsche.
the rennline spring hat will not work with the porsche shock mount.
the rennline monoball shock mount works with the rennline spring hat but not with the bilstein spring hat.

the most likely problem of the metal clanging noise is the top bolt wasn't torqued down or the 4 bolts holding the shock mount weren't torqued down.
next likely is the sway bar mount hitting the a-arm. I don't recognize the sway bar link, did you have the sway bar above or below the a-arm?

C4S993

Yes, when installed the PSS10 supplied drop links quickly popped out of their cheap rubber bushings. Mine are custom Tarrets (metal bushings) that surprisingly held together despite being stretched to the max by rotation of both lower droplink perches.

C4S993

[QUOTE=k722070;11003545]if you had it put together according to those bilstein instructions that would not have been your problem. I had my pss10 rears in the correct order and they worked fine.

Yes you right. I am hell bent of working on my 993s as I am tired of getting ripped off no matter how many mistakes I made.

Quote: "The bilstein supplied spacer is 8mm thick, if put together correctly it is torqued between the top lock nut, shock mount and the top of the shock shaft, it doesn't float. it you remove it you'll just have 8mm more threads on top."

That makes sense, but in the supplied directions that 8mm thick bushing is shown elsewhere where it is 100% useless (except for gentle clattering noises). I think the correct washer for the top shock nut (item #9) is that boat looking washer that helps distribute force against the tophat rubber hat. That 8mm think metal bushing is not for the top shock's nut (item #10). I think that useless metal bushing should be pictured in the instructions between the bottom of the factory Porsche tophat and the inner of the PSS10 supplied tophat/cup.

Quote: "not sure what you are referring to in your last comment.
the pss10 top hat does work, it is supplied by bilstein not porsche."

Yes your right, but I made a mistake and failed to install items #6 & #7 from the factory Porsche tophat system.

I researched the Rennnline system (complete with the Rennline RS style tophat) here on RL and lots of posted issues there as well with over-bump-noises. So that is a no-go for me.

Quote: "the most likely problem of the metal clanging noise is the top bolt wasn't torqued down (see above regarding that floating useless bushing). or the 4 bolts holding the shock mount weren't torqued down."

In my mind those are gently torqued 4x 13mm hex heads just like the 2x 13xmm hex head nut engine mounts for the sole purpose of ruling out rotation of the mounts.

k722070

my comment is based on the spacer being where the bilstein instructions place it.
the 8mm spacer takes up space on the shaft of the shock. if you push the blue rubber or plastic cover down you will see the 8mm spacer stops on a shoulder of the bottom part of the shock shaft. if you remove the spacer the porsche shock top mount will then sit on the shoulder.
the B and OEM in the bilstein diagram refer to bilstein and porsche parts so you don't need those parts in the second diagram you posted.
if the bilstein drop links broke it was likely because they twisted, the perch needs to line up directly over the top of the sway bar otherwise too much force is applied to the drop link.

the torque for the 4 bolts holding the shock mount to the body is 33Nm.

as an idea, remove the bilstein spring and reinstall the shock, then move the suspension up and down to figure out where the noise is coming from. at least you'll be able to rule out the sway bar hitting the a-arm. beside the top bolt not being torqued down the noise could be something random like the sway mount being loose, or maybe one of the control arm bushings or monoballs is toast, or maybe something crazy like one of the subframe bolts is loose.

k722070

ToSi has a great write up on pss10's and rs mounts,
https://rennlist.com/forums/993-foru...ein-pss10.html
in post 2 first pic you can see the shoulder of the shaft that the 8mm spacer sits on. my guess, but not confirmed by bilstein, is that the spacer is used for the 993 instructions so the same shock length can be used on a different car.
using the rennline monoball shock mount and ToSi's instructions the 8mm spacer is tossed and 2 rennline spacers are used above the spring hat ending up with the same configuration as the 2nd pic in post 2.

C4S993

Thanks guys, I will look in few hours (w/pics) to see why that 8mm thick metal bushing is floating past the shaft's edge all the way to the top of the blue rubber weather protector. Perhaps it is the wrong inner dia supplied bushing as the PSS10 shaft is 12mm outer dia ?

C4S993

Here is the metal bushing in question;
once I stand the shocks upright the bushing simply drops to the top of the shaft near the rubber weather guard.


Here is the bushing if I place it within the large rubber bushing.

But once the shock is upright, the bushing simply falls downward and does nothing but bounce around.
You can see the amount of shaft that the bushing can move up/down;
I have never seen a bushing float around like this before.