mmichel310

Hey all,

So I just took the plunge and got my first 911 - a beautiful macadamia metallic Targa 4s - 2008. Only 22k miles so I am obviously over the moon. Only issue...the previous owner had it on springs. I live in Los Angeles and the roads here, at least in the city, generally suck. There are dips, insane speed bumps, etc. I understand 911s are scrape prone to begin with, but this car did not need to be lowered and raising it back to OEM specs is going to cut these scraping incidents in half and also just look more traditional, which is what I want. Here is my issue: I have been to a few independent Porsche shops and they cannot seem to tell what OEM springs to get. They even took the VIN to Porsche and Porsche couldn't even tell them what springs to buy. Apparently the Targa 4S in 2008 had a number of springs it could have come on, and if we put the wrong ones on, the car could be crooked and cause future issues. The only other solution that has been presented to me is to buy 4000 dollar coilovers that inherently lower the car, but can be raised to a little bit higher than the car is now. The car as it stands currently is not SLAMMED to the ground by any means, but its probably an inch lower than it should be with the current springs. Has anyone dealt with this before, and if so, any light shed on the topic would be amazing because the shops I've spoken with seem to be at a loss.

Thanks

TommyV44

Take it to a dealer!

yvesvidal

You probably need to buy new, all the parts for the suspension and rebuild it entirely.
I have done that on a Scion tC which was lowered and when my daughter moved to New York city for a couple of years, we had to change the entire suspension and revert it back to stock. It cost me around $2K, but that is a Scion, not a Porsche.
You may be able to recuperate some of the money by selling the existing suspension components.
Yes, take it to a dealership or independent shop (less expensive) and let them do their magic.

Yves

Scb1712

It seems odd to me that the dealership wouldn't be able to see how the car was originally configured if they searched the VIN. Also - the stock "S" suspension was the Bilsten B4 Damptronic's with PASM as far as i know, but that may not be the case for the 4.. Depending on what is in the car (if it's just lowering springs then you might be able to just replace the stock springs. It would also depend on when the originals were changed out. If it''s from back in 2008, then i'd consider replacing the shocks and springs.

PV997

Do not take it to the dealer unless you like throwing stupid amounts of money at absurdly overpriced parts and service.

Sunset Porsche Parts shows three front springs and two rear springs for a 2008 Targa4S depending on your suspension type. The front has one without sport suspension for all 911s (and a few variants), one with AWD and active suspension - targa, one with AWD and standard suspension - targa. The rear has one with active suspension-targa and one without active suspension-targa. The cost is $285 each front or back, against an MSRP of $353.

https://www.sunsetporscheparts.com/v...and-components

Since it's a 4S it's probably with AWD and active suspension-targa for the front, and with active suspension-targa for the back (since the "4" means it's AWD and the "S" comes with active suspension). This looks pretty straight-forward and if you call Sunset Porsche Parts they'll run your VIN to confirm it. For genuine Porsche parts their prices are hard to beat. I think these shops are incompetent or just jerking you around.

mmichel310

Amazing, thank you. I'll call them and let them run the VIN. I think what the indy Porsche shop was saying was similar to what you were saying above, multiple variants but they just left it at that and didn't want to dig further. I'll proceed with Sunset and see what they advise.

PV997

There's real power in calling BS when people say things that don't make sense (e.g. we can't tell what springs go on your car). In doesn't matter if the reason is laziness (likely cause here), incompetence, or old-fashioned corruption, there's no reason not to in this age where information is at one's fingertips.

This doubly applies to all things Porsche. The clientele often has far more money than sense, bought the car as a status symbol, and will believe just about anything. Those in sales take advantage of that. Might have something to do with why they pitched $4k in coilovers when $1.2k in stock springs supposedly confused them.