cole328

Sounds good thanks much for keeping me in the loop

sandwedge

Brought the car in today and as it turns out the warranty "repair" is nothing more than tightening up various connections on the suspension. Took about an hour and the tech. said some of the joints were pretty loose and most likely caused the racket I complained about. I say most likely because I haven't driven it since it was fixed.

After they got done with the suspension they the did a fresh recall update of the DME which shut the car down. Got something to do with the cooling fan and my car was the first 997 they have done since they got the software. Either their new software is corrupt or my DME was programmed wrong in the first place. New DME unit being overnighted and installed Thursday or Friday depending on whether they got the order in before the 5PM cutoff.

In summary though......no evidence and no consensus among the service manager and the techs that the lowering springs damage the suspension in any drastic fashion. They DO however accelerate tire wear as I found out with the car on the lift. Dropping the car does affect the camber and I couldn't believe what I saw. My rear PS2's look like they have 50% of life left looking at them from the street level. Seen from below though it's clear that the car has been riding on about 3" worth of tire on the inner edge and the cord was visible in som spots. There's some room for alignment improvement but not much so tire wear may be a bigger issue with lowering springs than blown shocks.....especially since the PS2's I'm buying (305/30/19) have $509 price tags on each of them. Got 11K miles out of the first set.

cole328

Thanks Sand...actually, with that wear, I am surprised that you got 11,000 miles out of them ON my previous M3, I was lucky to g et 10K...but then, I am an aggressive street driver have fun with the car, and thanks for the update I actually decided against the springs, as with that PASM, the car is darn tight and also comfy as is went with the SSK as my new toy instead

cole328

Sand...have decided to stay with the stock suspension for now..thanks for the advice However, now I am stuck on possibly making an exhaust change. How do you like the Tubi's? Are they noticeably louder in the car? Mine is a DD, so don't want to have too much drone or annoying resonance, but would like the car to sound throatier...

andrewdr

This was lowered with JRZ shocks and eibach springs, approx 30-35mm.

cole328

I have the PASM set-up, so not sure that the shocks / springs make sense for me.....

sandwedge

Absolutely love the Tubis. Just the right deep gurgle from idle to 3K and then the howling euro rasp going through 5K. Yes they're louder but same friendly waves from the neighbors still and no complaints from wife when riding along so not a problem.

As has been said here thousands of times though.......exhaust note is a subjective thing. What sounds incredibly sexy to me might signal to you it's time for a nap. Find some converted cars in your hometown if you can and judge for yourself or listen this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nEgNr1Vf2g
Always post that link when this comes up since it's the best clip available on the Tubi (imo). Fairly close to what my car sounds like.

triode

sandwedge, I can tell you've paid visits to Champion Motorsport in Pompano...they're always trying to get me to go for the Tubi and are very high on it. My car is Naveen's former personal car, with the RG5s and H&Rs...plus he put bigger brakes on it, and powdercoated the calipers yellow (still have steel brakes, alas).

mdrums

Of course Champion will push the Tubi because they are the US distributor for Tubi...not that Tubi is bad or anything , they are good, very expensive for what you get compared to Fabspeed and AWE.