Batman33

Any epilogue to this matter? I hope there is a - hur-rumph - happy ending.

WRT the polarity of at least the stock PASM dampers, I did not pay any attention to mine when re-installing them after replacing the springs. While there was an issue with the PASM afterwards, as I offered via an earlier post, it was do to the front toe being out of spec due to replacing the tie rods at the same time. Seems to me that if the dampers only functioned "one way" the Germans, what with the way the engineer things, would surely have made sure they could be connected only that one way. But WTF do I know?

Recruiter_Bruno

Yes there is an update.
At the end of the day the shop figured out that the coilovers were installed correctly and with the OEM Pasm box that everything was functioning correctly.
It's just because the B16's are so much firmer than the OEM Suspension, pushing the button doesn't make as much of a difference.
I had a hard time differentiating between the two settings so that's my mistake.

Where the confusion still sits is regard the TPC box. With the TPC installed pushing the button makes no difference at all.
I connected to it with my laptop (and did some troubleshooting with Tom a couple weeks ago) and everything seemed to be functioning.
So after talking to Tom again we agreed that he needs to see the box and test it himself so I immediately shipped it down to him.
And that's where we are, waiting patiently for feedback.
I don't want to rush them since the car is totally driveable but I would like to see the normal setting set to a softer level for my daily commute.

Thanks for everyone's help and feedback. I'll update the thread when I know more.

Petza914

One of the primary benefits to the DSC box is being able to customize your own suspension profiles based on your exact setup and vehicle use. My guess is that the box was probably fine and the profiles they preloaded them with for a regular 997 with PASM aren't all that great for the Damptronics setup you're running as those are probably stiffer all the time so your 2 profiles are probably acting line really stiff and super stiff, so you can't tell a difference.

With my damptronics setup, I have the suspension set to full soft (1500) until 40% on the g-table and then incrementally stiffen it to a max stiffness rating of 850 at 100% in the STREET profile. For the SPORT profile, it starts stiffer in the first box (1,350) and incrementally stiffens to the max stiffness value for the Bilsteins of 500 as it works through to 100%. The Sport setup works very well for aggressive mountain driving or high-speed highway driving.

I've now gotten used to these settings and am probably going to tweak them a little further. In Street mode, I'm probably going to keep it full soft only until 30% now and I'm going to start the Sport setting a bit stiffer at 1,250 instead of 1,350.

With the current settings, the car if very comfortable on the street except on the worst roads that have high-frequency washboard bumps, but I regularly take it on multi-hour highway trips. If you want to send me an e-mail to petza914@gmail.com I will send you my current Street & Sport profile maps so you can offload whatever TPC sends back to you to keep, and try mine. When you reinstall the DSC box, leave a pigtail USB cord connected to it and then you can change them whenever you want, just by fishing out the end and not having to pull the carpet back to retrieve the box each time.

Batman33

Great. Glad to hear/know things are looking up.

Recruiter_Bruno

Thanks so much for that offer! I will take you up on it. Yes I did leave the cable sticking out for the few weeks I was using it.

gsxrjjordan

I'm looking at a set of B16's after doing the DSC box and enjoying the upgrade - very keen to read Petza914's post above about settings that work well on the street.
I have another "racier" car so my 997,2 TTS is just a street machine, and I drive in PASM Normal most of the time and getting it to ride similarly to B16's when full soft is one of my goals - thanks @Petza914 !.

tarmacrdr

Any more updates on this? Curious as I am about to pull the plug an a B16 damptronics kit.

tarmacrdr

Any more updates on this?

Recruiter_Bruno

Yes all was okay in the end.
Now that I'm on the B16 kit the difference between sport and normal PASM is so little.
I rarely turn on Sport anyways.
Either with the factory PASM box or the TPC.

RBCar

Hey guys. Would you mind replying and letting me know what you are paying for the B16s? I bought my 07 Turbo last year with the B16 kit installed. Receipt showed the parts were about $4k. Actually, maybe that included labor too. I’m not sure. But the car was having suspension issues up front. Binding and popping and croaking. Took it to the shop and it was missing a few parts like a spacer and such so those were to be repaired and that’s it. Car was put back together and mechanic said that the sounds were 98% gone and it was satisfactory.... BUT.. they were now getting a PASM error. I never had that before. Troubleshooted and couldn’t stop the error. I’m told that at this point they feel the electronics in the shock are malfunctioning and it needs to be replaced. This is front Driver’s side. The initial noises and repair were on the passenger side. So then they said if you’re going to replace the left, you should also replace the right. I’m being quoted $4600 for just the front two and that’s with a labor discount applied for the unplanned expenses I’m having to incur. I told them the entire front and rears were that price when installed originally. And reading this thread I saw mention that user Batman33 was getting a PASM error due to the car needing a good balance. Makes me wonder if that shock is truly bad or not? Ugh. Small repair turning into replacing the entire damn suspension kit it seems now. If in fact I do have to move forward with replacing it with new B16s, what should I be expecting to pay? Again they are quoting me approx $4600 just for new fronts from TechArt. $4k of that is just the parts.

Petza914

Bilstein shocks can be sent to Bilstein in CA for refurbishment for just a few hundred dollars and they'll rebaseline and analyze them sending a printout with the shocks that come back. You'll be without your car for a couple weeks while this goes on though.

I bought my B16s used and in shipping the rear wires were damaged by the way they were packaged since they come out the center of the top post. The shock slid back and forth in the box and eventually cut through most of the wire. The seller I bought them from was the original purchaser and setup for me to ship them to Bilstein where he paid for the refurb, which I think was $300 for all 4. Came back with new wires and have worked perfectly for 6 years now.

I'd pursue that avenue before I'd drop another $5,000 on new shocks, and maybe find a different shop that's not trying to just sell you something and maybe even charging you double for it. My understanding is that a new set of 4 is between $3,500 - $4,000. TechArt stuff is way over-priced IMO. I put NHP exhaust tips on my Cayenne Turbo S that look similar to the TechArt interlocking oval versions for about 20% of the cost of the offerings from TechArt.

ThomasShawn

do you know what b16s you had ? Currently in a 997.1 TT.
I see the b16s that are damptronic pasm friendly come in “comfort” and “clubsport”. Tom over at TPC told me he has never seen “comfort”and feels the sport version isn’t all that stiff anyway.

What I don’t want is to lose the noticeable difference between the sport and normal. I love the dsc module on Oem shocks but am looking at adding the cargraphic front axle lift, which If I want to maintain pasm best option is b16s. But I don’t think I need FAL if I’m going to sacrifice ride quality.

Petza914

One of the best features of the DSC module is that it's completely customizable. No reason to lose the differentiation between Normal and sport. In fact, you can make normal more comfortable, yet still active and sport even sportier.

ThomasShawn

I don't disagree with that. However, out of the box with the stock setup I had no need to tweak anything. There's a noticeable difference between no DSC module and also a much more noticeable difference and the Comfort level of normal and the drivability of sport once the DSC is installed. I felt no need to tweak anything.

this is really the first time, this thread, that I've heard somebody say that after adding the B16s they were unhappy with the ride and couldn't really tell a difference between the two modes so I was simply wondering if it was the difference between maybe the club sport versus the Comfort models or any of that really makes a difference at all