paulossz

Hi Guys,

I need your expertise on this one:

Last week i lowered my 997 CS (with PASM) with the Eibach pro kit springs cause i like the look more of a 997 when its lower on its wheels. When i picked up the 997 after the spring change, the guys from the tuning-shop told me that I need to get it aligned. But first i need to drive with it a couple of days to let it settle. Which sounds fine to me.

But directly after i started the car and drove it home i noticed the car felt floaty, so when i take a corner or a bump it feels like if a huge wind haze hits the car and therefore makes it shake\wobble (like a boat on sea hitting a wave). My first thought of course was that this must be due to the alignment.

Five days after i got it aligned at my local alignment \ tire specialist, unfortunately it still doesn’t drive as it did before.

Weird thing is when i use the PASM option the car drives better, a bit harsher then before with PASM but it’s with it feels like a brick on the road (which i would expect it to be without PASM).

Now i called the tuning shop and they said that i should not just go to any alignment shop but to a tuning \ alignment specialist who knows the best alignment setup for this car with the Eibach setup, they gave me an address near my house and i made an appointment for next week to get it re-aligned.Now im wondering, will I ever get my 997 to drive it as it did before, or even without the float feeling. Or did I just ruin the car with the new setup? If I did, what can I do (besides going back to the OEM springs) to get the car back to its best handling.

p.s. I also notice a plastic smell from the back tires, LThanks in advance, Paul

cosm3os

A floaty feel is not related to the alignment.

You changed the suspension geometry (lowered the car) and changed the spring rates without thought as to whether the new rates/height are optimized for your dampers. So, no, you can't get your stock ride back without going back to stock.

TheBruce

How many miles on the car?

I have Eibachs on a non-pasm base Carrera and the ride quality is slightly better than stock and actually removed the rear-end "float" I experienced in high speed turns.

I also dont think its alignment. Only thing I can think is your struts are shot and the new spring rate exacerbated the problem.

vern1

Assuming they were installed correctly then any change in springs, whether they be Eibach, Techart or H&R is very subjective. Some love it, some hate it

There are many threads on this if you care to have a look

If you don't like it go back to stock or coilovers - only choices

vern1

PS you should delete the identical thread you posted, cheers

Crester

How old are your shocks? Something similar happened to me when I put Eibach lowering springs on another car I had that was several years old. As far as I was concerned my car drove completely fine but when I switched to lowering springs it started to feel floaty. What happened was the new lowering springs were stiffer than the stock springs and the aged shocks couldn't deal with the increased stiffness of the spring. Or in otherwise the old shocks I had on that car could not control the new springs I put on. Once I changed my shocks as well (used Bilstein HD)... the car rode fine with lowering springs.

krispe

Eibach springs are progressive springs. This means they are initially softer than the original 'linear' springs fitted as standard, but get stiffer than standard the more they compress. I found the ride was improved with Eibachs but I was not so keen in the extra initial body roll from the Eibach springs when cornering so I then fitted H&R rollbars, which effectively increase the spring rate and reduced the roll.

paulossz

Hi guys,

Thanks for the responses.

So this is a 2005 997 CS - PASM with 55923, miles on the dash.

If i would chnage the shocks which ones will you advise for my car? And i assume it drives fine after ?

Thanks

(i deleted the other post)

cosm3os

One person's "fine" is another's "too floaty" or "too harsh".

okbarnett

I changed several cars to lower springs. My impression, every time, you cant hardly feel any difference, except a little firmer on bumps and the cornering. You can only tell differences with shock changes. Use the example of regular and sport button pasm. Normal is soft. Sport is noticeably harder.
Same difference in stock shock and performance shock. But the ride of the spring going down the road is negligible.

ATSR

I think either your shocks are worn, or something wasn’t installed properly when they did the springs. My car rides and turns MUCH better since installing the Eibachs and it has nothing to do with alignment.

Saaboteur

FWIW, I put the Eibachs in my 06 C4S with PASM in the summer and felt no difference in ride quality (one of the reasons I went with Eibachs)

Presto

Did the place that did the alignment give you a before and after printout of the alignment settings?
Are you confident the shop that did the install did not mess up? Maybe they didn’t tighten everything up in the front? Any clunking noises?
was the right part number of the eibach spring used and not something meant for another model car?
Just some some suggestions to narrow down the issue. It could also be the shocks like others have mentioned.

bilstein has a b12 prokit that is pasm compatible and comes with eibach springs[i think] and bilstein shocks. Might want to check it out.

Petza914

It's possible that the shop didn't reconnect the PASM wires to each dampener with the proper polarity, but that usually results in the PASM system defaulting to full hard for safety (like if it were to get a fault on a track at high speed) but since you say yiu can feel a differences when changing modes that is probably not what's going on.

Your next best option may be to buy TPC's DSC controller where you can customize the stiffness of the dampers based on G-forces and it will also give you a fully active suspension too.

Hilltopper

Eibach on my 997 and URQUATTRO and feel and track is spot on!