Achillies

Anyone have an estimate of how many hours it should take to instal the RoW M030 suspension? I was quoted 12 hours plus alignment by my local indi shop. Thanks

Doug Donsbach

Seems like 6-8 hours too much labor.

UCrazyKid

I did it myself in the garage without air tools or a lift, for the very first time and it took 9 hours. That includes driving around for an hour and a half looking for a spring compressor to rent.

They are ripping you off, look elsewhere.

jetskied

I could do the struts and springs in 2 hours and then the sway bars take another hour. If I run into problems maybe 4 hours. A shop should not charge more then doulbe my time so 8 hours should be max. Then they want to charge an alignment on top of that???? Go find somone else.

JC3D

Took me about 6 hours, If I drank less beer while doing it, I could have done it in 4. It was also my first time ever changing suspension.

nycebo

Whatever you end up paying, at the very least, the end result is fantastic. Very planted on the road now. NO more boating in corners.

perryinva

I'm VERY interested in the difference between ROW M030 and USA M030...besides lowering the car, are the springs & struts much different? How much heavier are the sways? I've only had my '02 C2 for a week, and to me, the suspension is pretty stiff, though it does nose dive a little on heavy braking. If I track, it will be pretty rare, so I wonder if it is worth it? I've changed out suspensions on BMW's and I have a lot of air tools and access to a low scissors lift, and I LIKE working on cars. What dos the ROW M030 normally go for?

Achillies

Suncoast has them for $1087 for early 996 and 1185 for face lifted. Plus shipping

Doug Donsbach

http://www.pca.org/panorama/sample_article_3.html

Miller_arch

It should not take a shop more than half a day, if they have done it before. I found it longer to replace the front sway bar than anything else…only because nobody every talked too much about how to do that so I worked slowly unbolting everything and then being careful about the torque values to put it all back together.

The difference in ride quality is amazing by the way. The car did not lower that much. After researching it a little more I think with the car not being driven too much, sitting for so long it caused the suspension to settle in a little lower than what I would have expected. I have concluded that time as much as miles will take a toll on a suspension system.

Orient Express

I did mine in about 6 hours taking my time. I'm sure I could have done it in 4 if I had rushed, but I was taking pictures of everything, and using the time to clean everything up.





Always look for the suspension with the "Green" dot!

BrandX

Orient, I love seeing pictures of your car, especially the underside!

nycebo

100% agreed. I'm pretty damn organized and it brings a tear to my eye to see such dedication to cleanliness.

10 GT3

Both use the same sway bars. ROW M030 is 10mm lower in front. Keep in mind that there is a +/- 10mm variance in the rated height. Going from US Std to ROW M030, my car is 1.25" lower in front and 1" out back. It took about 3 months for the front to initially settle (about 1" front and .75" rear). With a lot of track driving, it settled another .25" over the last year.

It is really easy to install. I did mine in 2.5 hours. This was doing all the work by myself in my garage. I used the faq from Renntech as a guide. I do have a full tool chest, 3 floor jacks, an electric impact, air compressor and spring compressors. It is a lot easier if you do both sides at the same time (use mutliple jacks). I have also swapped suspension on a dozen cars in the past. Although this was the first time on a 996, it isn't really any different than any other car. If anything, it is easier as you can get to everything without sraping your hands up or using special tools. The only additional work is you have to remove the front undertray to change the sway bar. With an electric or impact wrench, this is an easy task; but time consuming with hand wrenches.

perryinva

Just so I get it straight, you said both use the same sway bars, but the additional work is to change the sway bar? Do you mean that you have to detach & re-attach the new swaybar links to the new strut body, but the sway bars are the same..OR...the sway bars are physically different but the same diameter? Thanks for your help, I seriously appreciate it!!