Lowering the ride height on the 996 GT3
#1
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I know this has been discussed here several times and the concensus seems to be that if you go any lower from the stock settings you are sacrificing performance (unless you make the suspension to work correctly by replacing parts)
Now my question is, how much of a sacrifice are we talking about?
As much as I bought the car to have fun on the track I still like driving on the street and for better looks, I would like to lower the car about a half an inch to 3/4 inch...
The low hanging splitter is not a problem, I've done 3k miles with the car on the street and haven't scraped once. I think my M3 with full track setup/coilovers was lower than this car and I never had problems with it either. And I did drive 30k miles with it on the streets.
I'm not trying to be the fastest on the track, hell I couldn't even beat the lap times of the miata guys if I tried. So will it really make a big difference in how the car performs if I drop it half an inch??
Now my question is, how much of a sacrifice are we talking about?
As much as I bought the car to have fun on the track I still like driving on the street and for better looks, I would like to lower the car about a half an inch to 3/4 inch...
The low hanging splitter is not a problem, I've done 3k miles with the car on the street and haven't scraped once. I think my M3 with full track setup/coilovers was lower than this car and I never had problems with it either. And I did drive 30k miles with it on the streets.
I'm not trying to be the fastest on the track, hell I couldn't even beat the lap times of the miata guys if I tried. So will it really make a big difference in how the car performs if I drop it half an inch??
#2
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will it really make a big difference in how the car performs if I drop it half an inch??
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Could be a 1/10th second in a 1'52" lap..... ( Provided that you can really feel that IT was the reason of loosing 1/10th..)
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#4
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Originally Posted by DanH
Don't you guys in the US have jacked up ride heights from the factory anyway?
Cheers.
#6
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10mm higher front on U.S cars (125mm vs. 115mm ROW). Rear is the same at 128mm.
Reducing ride height while keeping the stock spring/shocks is not going to help.
Reducing ride height while keeping the stock spring/shocks is not going to help.
#7
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Originally Posted by Jim H.
Nope, same ride height as ROW for US GT3. I thought I heard a rumor that we got more horsepower though (emissions?).
Cheers.
Cheers.
US spec engines are designed to meet the requirements of California, ie fuel that bears a strong resemblance to peanut butter and pointlessly complicated check managment systems. This fuel does not make for great performance and even causes FSI engines to perform sub-optimally.
Most manufacturers change the engine managment systems for their cars in the US (and gearing) to emphasise a low 0-60mph figure.
The US tends to have rather poor roads and low ground clearance unfriendly road furniture. To be honest, if we take the 996 GT3, the softer springs of the GT3RS would be better suited to prevailing conditions than the set up in the standard GT3.
If yoiu want to make your car look low and mean, why not just jack up the rear and write 'YEEEHAAAH' along the sides?
R+C
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#8
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Originally Posted by Nordschleife
Excuse me whilst I fall around laughing.
US spec engines are designed to meet the requirements of California, ie fuel that bears a strong resemblance to peanut butter and pointlessly complicated check managment systems. This fuel does not make for great performance and even causes FSI engines to perform sub-optimally.
Most manufacturers change the engine managment systems for their cars in the US (and gearing) to emphasise a low 0-60mph figure.
The US tends to have rather poor roads and low ground clearance unfriendly road furniture. To be honest, if we take the 996 GT3, the softer springs of the GT3RS would be better suited to prevailing conditions than the set up in the standard GT3.
If yoiu want to make your car look low and mean, why not just jack up the rear and write 'YEEEHAAAH' along the sides?
R+C
US spec engines are designed to meet the requirements of California, ie fuel that bears a strong resemblance to peanut butter and pointlessly complicated check managment systems. This fuel does not make for great performance and even causes FSI engines to perform sub-optimally.
Most manufacturers change the engine managment systems for their cars in the US (and gearing) to emphasise a low 0-60mph figure.
The US tends to have rather poor roads and low ground clearance unfriendly road furniture. To be honest, if we take the 996 GT3, the softer springs of the GT3RS would be better suited to prevailing conditions than the set up in the standard GT3.
If yoiu want to make your car look low and mean, why not just jack up the rear and write 'YEEEHAAAH' along the sides?
R+C
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I was just asking if it made a big difference in performance if I lowered the car less than 1" from the stock setting...
Read my post again, with thought! I said I'm not the fastest guy out there, I don't want to be and will never be so why not sacrifice a tiny bit to make the car look sweet...?
It's not like I would be putting 20" chrome spinners on the car or filling it up with stereo equipment...no, just 1" lower...
If you cannot give an answer to that or have nothing to add to the conversation, please take your hate elsewhere!
peace
Juha
#9
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Originally Posted by Juha G
WOW!!! What's with all the hostality? Why so much hate???
I was just asking if it made a big difference in performance if I lowered the car less than 1" from the stock setting...
Read my post again, with thought! I said I'm not the fastest guy out there, I don't want to be and will never be so why not sacrifice a tiny bit to make the car look sweet...?
It's not like I would be putting 20" chrome spinners on the car or filling it up with stereo equipment...no, just 1" lower...
If you cannot give an answer to that or have nothing to add to the conversation, please take your hate elsewhere!
peace
Juha
![Roll Eyes (Sarcastic)](https://rennlist.com/forums/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif)
I was just asking if it made a big difference in performance if I lowered the car less than 1" from the stock setting...
Read my post again, with thought! I said I'm not the fastest guy out there, I don't want to be and will never be so why not sacrifice a tiny bit to make the car look sweet...?
It's not like I would be putting 20" chrome spinners on the car or filling it up with stereo equipment...no, just 1" lower...
If you cannot give an answer to that or have nothing to add to the conversation, please take your hate elsewhere!
peace
Juha
No hate - I gave you a valid option to lowering the front, which is raised for good reasons, raising the rear will give the car a 'mean' look.
I was laughing at the idea of giving the US spec cars 'more power' than they get in the ROW - its not going to happen for all sorts of reasons, one of which I gave - the fuel being of lower quality (and I mean more than just octane) is only one of those reasons - factor in high ambient temperatures, long warranty periods and a taste for habitually accelerating the car hard from 0-60.
The Yeehhaaah is optional, although a little self parody never goes amiss, so don't forget the purple lights
R+C
#10
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Just to back up R+Cs point, apparently BMW are having trouble deciding to deploy their FSI engine tech to the US due to the high sulphur content in a lot of your fuel. At least that's what Autocar said this week!
#11
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Originally Posted by Nordschleife
Juha
No hate - I gave you a valid option to lowering the front, which is raised for good reasons, raising the rear will give the car a 'mean' look.
I was laughing at the idea of giving the US spec cars 'more power' than they get in the ROW - its not going to happen for all sorts of reasons, one of which I gave - the fuel being of lower quality (and I mean more than just octane) is only one of those reasons - factor in high ambient temperatures, long warranty periods and a taste for habitually accelerating the car hard from 0-60.
The Yeehhaaah is optional, although a little self parody never goes amiss, so don't forget the purple lights
R+C
No hate - I gave you a valid option to lowering the front, which is raised for good reasons, raising the rear will give the car a 'mean' look.
I was laughing at the idea of giving the US spec cars 'more power' than they get in the ROW - its not going to happen for all sorts of reasons, one of which I gave - the fuel being of lower quality (and I mean more than just octane) is only one of those reasons - factor in high ambient temperatures, long warranty periods and a taste for habitually accelerating the car hard from 0-60.
The Yeehhaaah is optional, although a little self parody never goes amiss, so don't forget the purple lights
R+C
I'm all in for humor and parody but your comment just didn't fit the bill here as I (at least think) I was asking a relevant question.
I would've bought your parody if I were asking if putting RS stickers would make my car go faster or something...lol!!
Oh, and I missed your point about the front, but that might just do it!
I'll show you what I'm talking about....see, I tried my BBS racing wheels on the car the other day and took this photo. The offset is right on but the height really bothers me.
It just doesn't sit correctly. Mind me, I'm an Architect (Naval), and I'm all for pure/clean lines (like with the ships hulls and all) so this kind of "unpurity" bothers me alot.
I want everything to look perfect!
And I'm willing to sacrifise a fraction of the cars performance to make it look perfect in my eyes...that's just how I am...
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Cheers!
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Juha
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#13
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Originally Posted by datax
What size are you BBS, Juha? BTW, I bought the car you went to look at Champion Porsche. We are CW GT3 buddies now.
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The BBS's are 9x18" and 11x18". I got them used from a local Porsche lunatic as he upgraded from 996 to a 997 RS!
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Edit: Time to update your sig!
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#14
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Originally Posted by NJ-GT
10mm higher front on U.S cars (125mm vs. 115mm ROW). Rear is the same at 128mm.
Reducing ride height while keeping the stock spring/shocks is not going to help.
Reducing ride height while keeping the stock spring/shocks is not going to help.