Presto

Finally got the Ohlins road & track coilovers installed in my 997.2 C2S. The car had the PASM suspension and the shocks were due for replacement soon due to wear and tear.
Considered the Blistein PSS which are PASM compatible but then figured i would also have to get the TPC racing controller to get the best benefit. Had the KW v3 in my previous car, they were good but wanted to try something new and decided to give the ohlins a shot as they are priced well. I wanted to weigh the oem vs ohlins but forgot, i do remember them to be considerably lighter.

Right now the ohlins are setup at 15 clicks front and rear (approx 34 clicks total adjustment). Damping adjustment can be done with car on the ground, just turn front wheels to one side and the valve is located at the bottom of the strut. For the rears, it is adjusted from the back seat above the shock mount. I have ordered some extenders so that i can adjust them without removing the bose subwoofer and accessing the shock mount. Once the extenders are installed rear damping adjustment will be easy.

Current Alignment numbers are -1 degrees camber up front and around -1.4 rear. Toe in (997.2 oem spec). Cannot seem to get any more camber up front, i would have preferred -1.8 degrees up front ideally. All OEM control arms and toe adjustment. I did replace the front and rear strut/shock mount and the front strut bearings with new OEM parts.
I settled for a mild lowering as the car is daily driven. Also note any further lowering of the rear will definitely require rear adjustable toe links at the very minimum.

PASM must be disabled when going with a non damptronic suspension setup which can be done with PIWIS or a durametric pro. This is still pending and I will have to get it sorted this week. Right now driving with PASM error. It will also prevent sport and sport plus modes from working till the PASM delete coding is done.
Still considering if i should buy spacers, i have the wider wheels (8.5j and 11.5j setup) so anything more than 5-8mm might be too aggressive for my tastes

There is a significant difference in handling. Turn in is much better, almost all the understeer is gone and car is more neutral and very predictable when the rear end starts to go. Ride is quite compliant and does not bang and thud over bumps on the road like it did with the PASM. As per the manual the ohlins do have to be serviced every 30,000 kms (18,650 miles) of road use or 10-20 hrs of track time. Service includes changing the oil, seals etc.

I have ordered RSS semi solid engine mounts to tighten up the handling some more. Will update the thread once its installed.

Mandatory pic

Racetwin2

Beautiful and clean looking 997. Looks amazing. I’ve been looking for this setup myself with Öhlins R&T

I was looking for Eibach springs only at first but thought it might be better with the adjustable height. Also more flexibility for track days etc

The only hesitation I have is ride quality on bad city roads. Is it like with PASM activated or somewhere between PASM and std? Or maybe even more stuff than PASM?

Appraiser

Thanks for the post Presto.

Racetwin2, me too, I know Ohlins has a great reputation in the motorcycle community.

I didn't know about the prescribed 30 hours between maintenance rule, however. Presto, any idea what that servicing cost is and how long the car would be 'down' for?

Thanks again,
Colin

platinum997

Interested in maintenance info too. Does the suspension need to come back off for that. I would assume yes?

Was considering these when stock setup needs replaced.

Presto

thank you. I would highly recommend a set of coilovers over lowering springs. The performance jump is significant and you get so much more ability to adjust and fine tune. The ride quality at my current damping setting would be between PASM off and PASM on leaning on more towards PASM off side. It will not be ideal for lot of bad city road driving.

I have edited the post. Looking in the owners manual it says recommended service is between 10-20 racing hours. Will attach a picture. Costs are around $600 (this is in the middle east)and will take 2 days minimum.
For USA costs better contact ohlins usa directly https://www.ohlinsusa.com/ohlins-usa-service
Yes suspension would need to be removed, so keep in mind additional costs for labor, alignment etc.

from the owners manual, recommended service schedule. It is the recommended, i have seen others use it for much longer than the recommended schedule.



This is the damping suggestions based on what type of driving you will be doing.

vern1

How many miles on the car and how did you know the shocks were due for replacement? Were they leaking?

Cheers

Presto

47k miles, rear shocks had a very small leak. Also while driving a bit hard you could feel the shocks were not doing a good job with the damping. I have a feeling the previous owner liked to fly over speed humps.

shekmark

Do you know...can bad shocks cause a "creaking" sound, as well as a poor ride? I have 52K miles and ride is hard for me to judge being new to 911's, but I have a distinct creaking or squeeking on bumps.

Fined

cool. good info. I have 49k miles and definitely eyeing a suspension refresh for the spring/summer.

Presto

i sat in another 997.2 on oem pasm and did feel my oem suspension was on the harsher side, so my ride quality was definitely poorer. No squeaking sounds but I did have some creaking sounds from the front, which I suspect was the front strut bearing (ball bearings with grease had a lot of dirt in it). With the suspension refresh I did, it’s now silent.

I also inspected all the bushes and the drop links for any wear or cracks and they all look to be in good shape. You might want to inspect the bushes, cheaper solution than replacing the suspension.

alexb76

I've had top of the line Ohlins (with extra oil reservoir and both rebound and compression adjustment) on my Audi and they were AMAZING, probably the best coilovers money can buy... BUT, it was an absolute nightmare to setup 100% correctly, and I could never dial it in perfectly... I think I wasn't experienced enough to be able to change the rebound and compression settings for best street or track setup. I kinda went with what my supplier suggested and it was OK, but not perfect... so I decided to get rid of them as I wasn't fully utilizing their capability and it was kind of a waste.

I think generally OEM Porsche suspension is dialed in BEST for street/track combo duties, and I've NEVER come across a better combo setup... they're either too soft, too hard, too bumpy, etc... TPC chip is probably the best option for street/track. I think a suspension like Ohlins would be great if you primarily track and can dial it in perfectly.

Presto

I went for the ohlins road and track(R&T) as its the best compromise for a daily driven car with some track/spirited mountain runs. R&T is single adjustable which means turning the adjusters adjusts both rebound and compression at the sametime. Easier for setting up.

I agree the double/triple adjustable ones are a lot harder to setup and its more for cars that see a lot of track use. I disagree with you on the OEM C2S suspension being the best for street/track use though :-)

Presto

Presto

took a quick snap of the mounts in case anyone wants to see. I assumed it would be silver but it has a slight pinkish hue to it

awrryan