jbse39

I recently purchased 2002 C4S converted to RWD, which has 107000 miles on the chassis. Aside from H&R Street Performance coilover PO put in, pretty much everything else is stock and I plan to go through them. I plan to replace my trusty e36 M3 with this one as a daily and do 3 to 4 HPDE events a year. I have been mostly participating in BMW club events and am in Advanced group and about to try Nitto NT01s on the M3, but will likely stay with aggressive street tires on the 996 until I get used to the car, after which I will go with NT01. I am researching LCA options and seems GT3 LCA would provide ability to adjust camber settings without camber plate. The car has Tarret camber plate but it makes quite a bit of rattling noise so that will be coming off.

My first question is, should I go with GT3 adjustable LCA on the front and standard on the rear, or adjustable all the way around? I have seen a few posts from folks doing the former, but wanted to see what the reasoning behind is.

The second question is, my mechanic feels Porsche uses harder, heat-treated material for the ball joints in the LCA vs not as strong material in some of the popular aftermarket LCAs. Since the shop builds race cars and campaigns them (going back to the 90's, I think), as well as develop some of the parts themselves, I am inclined to trust their advice. With that said, I am curious if anyone has used Elephant Racing's LCA. Since mine will be street-driven as well as track, I am not sure exposed ball joints would make sense, and Elephant Racing LCA has theirs covered in rubber boot.

My initial thought on the parts list:

• Ohlins R&T (Tractive single adjustable may be an option, but there is hardly any information or feedback out there, so need to talk to the shop more) stock strut mounts. Tractive comes with strut mounts so price difference is actually not that much.
• Possibly GT3 LCAs, either Porsche or Elephant Racing?
• Outer tie rods
• sway bar end links
• and other parts that will need to be replaced as things come apart.....

Aside from LCA, I am hoping to save $ by going with non-Porsche parts were I can. It seems TRW and Meyle come up regularly on online part stores, any thoughts or feedback on quality concerns on those? Coming from BMW world, parts price on Porsche is eye-popping at times.

Thanks.

John
97 M3
02 996 C4S 3.8 LN w/ RWD
10 GT3 welded coolant pipes and 5-lug conversion

Triple Black

Very interested to see the responses to your post, as I am looking at doing the same very soon. My 996 is just about to turn over 100,000 km and I just discovered play in a front strut and tie rod. A suspension upgrade was on my list anyhow so now seems like the time to do it.

Slakker

First off, congrats on the 996!

For shocks, Ohlin makes a great one. Feal is the best bang for the buck in my opinion though. Single adjustable are perfect for 3-4 DE days.

For tires, check out the RE-71R. The sidewall on the NT01s are just too soft in my opinion.

On the top plates, get your Tarrets fixed. Ira is awesome to work with and they will give you all of the camber you need for dual use.

On the LCA's, elephant builds a good product but I don't like how they adjust. Not an issue if you use a mechanic. RSS are my favorite. But I would recommend sticking with stock and take care of camber with your shock mounts.

If you are lowering the car, rear toe arms are a better investment than LCAs.

Let us know how it turns out!

jbse39

Thanks for the feedback and information on the tires. I am leaning towards Ohlins, using TRW parts for the most part. The savings is quite a bit, compared using genuine Porsche parts.

peteb3

I have ohlins and they are awesome
Highly recommend them
Also have the RSS dog bones
Stock upper mounts
Stock control arms though I'm contemplating the RSS ones to upgrade and take out the last bit of slop, I imagine the mounts are tired after 150k km
Tarrett gt3 Sway Bars and end links complete the package
Ira is great to deal with

Nickshu

+1 on what Slakker said. GT3 LCAs are overrated. On my car I was able to hit -3 camber on the front w/ just adjustable top mounts. On the rear you can hit -3 with the stock eccentrics.

Hardback

This is my old car. I believe what OP is trying to achieve is a more civilized ride particularly on the front suspension. The car has tarret camber plates which do not have any dampening compared to stock top mounts They create a harsh ride up front for street use but are terrific on the track which was the intended use. Installing GT3 LCAs or RSS LCAs up front will allow for more adjustment on a lowered car. Couple them with stock mounts and you should find a sweet spot of tuning ability and road comfort. Ohlins all the way don't look back. I'm sure a member here would take the H&R coilovers off of you to help offset the costs. The only drawback with the H&R is the dampening is not adjustable. That being said they perform very well at the racetrack.

jbse39

The car is currently at the shop and the following are being replaced/installed:

• Ohlins R&T Coilover
  • with 997TT front strut mounts based on the shop's recommendation, which turned out to be less expensive than 996 equivalent. No performance benefit, they work and are priced better.
  • also having rebound adjuster extension installed from Performance Shocks to make adjustment easier, since the car has Bose subwoofers in the back
• Tarret sway bars, front & rear with drop links with rubber boots
• GT3 LCA, front
• LCA, rear
• Outer tie rod ends

Additional items added discovered during install:

• Rear toe links, due to play in the joint
• Rear axle due to boots being torn and joints are dry
• Rear wheel bearings since labor is minimal with everything being apart already

I hope to have it back tomorrow evening. On the parts, I bought most everything from Warehouse33, which has very good prices on most things but the suspension components I bought were actually priced quite a bit better at getporscheparts.com, so shop around! With that said, rear axles are priced better at the Warehouse33, so difference would have been almost a wash, had I known.