Betternotbigger

Anyone had experience upgrading the suspension on a boggo C2S? I'd love to have a GT3 but I need ground clearance as my drive has a very steep on/off ramp and I need occasional rear seats to ferry the kids. No tracking, but weekly hoon around local mountains, otherwise daily driver on quite decent twisties and motorway.

I'd like to improve steering feel, which is a bit lacking in the 997.2 and sharpen the handling without shaking my fillings out.

First stop is a geo which I plan to do as soon as I've swapped my tyres for winter ones. I understand altering castor will beef up the steering feel. And at the same time, we can adjust toe/camber to improve turn-in. Any thoughts? Any downsides?

Above all, I'm interested to hear what experience anyone has of changing suspension components, be it dampers, sway bars etc, or ride height, in search of that GT3 "feel". Porsche OEM parts preferred in order to preserve warranty.

Any advice gratefully received. Thanks.

iJeremy

What package did you opt for on the car?

rijowysock

on my 997.1 and 997.2 i opted for "KWv3" coilovers for the car and the ride was amazing to say the least... i removed them from my vehicle recently to put it for sale and ever since, well. it has sucked... the car no longer handles very crisp and direct instead its very sloppy and all over the road..

i would reccomend the KWv3 coilovers 100%, only downside i noticed was the front felt loose under accel on my 997.1 BUT when i put the same model coilovers on my 997.2 this feeling was gone (have heard they did changed up front on 997.2)

not trying to "plug" this post, but if you are interested in a set, i have my set available.. of course for a discounted price against what they would run new.. .

on my 997.1 i changed out the suspension links and so forth with all the "race hardware" and i would say that was overkill as it didnt help much at all for the street and actually made the car much more harsh to drive.. coils alone and a good alignment and you should be more than set.

atr911

I don't think it is going to work out for you.

If you just drive the car on the street, it is going to be pretty darn near impossible to make it better.

If you are building a track car, you can do it but it'll cost an arm and a leg.

On another note, I have a hard time understanding your concern with the 'feel' of the car. IMO, even after spending $15K in part alone on the suspension, the car felt worse. It performed at the track like nobody's business but was bad on the street.

Just my two cents, but you're going to spend a lot of money and make the feel worse.

ADias

You should ask the question in the GT3 forum. I think a few guys there can help you tweak the suspension without major surgery, using Porsche Motorsport parts.

I find the 997.2 PASM suspension quite versatile:

SC Normal, PASM Normal for bad surfaces
SC Sport, PASM Normal for reasonably good surfaces
SC Sport PASM Sport for silky smooth surfaces - this version is simply awesome when the roads are good.

964C4

I put TECHART lowering springs on my 997.2 C4S

Small drop, but perfect and I am very happy !

Mike in CA

I agree with atr911. On my 996 I started by upgrading to Porsche's M030 ROW (Rest Of World) suspension kit. I should have stuck with that as it was a reasonable street compromise. Instead, I did JRZ adjustable shocks, Eibach springs, GT3 sway bars and lowered the car about 35mm. Cost me a bundle. Great for autocross but literally a pain in the **** on the street and in some respects ruined my enjoyment of the car. On my 997.2 I got smart and ordered the Sport PASM which is a totally reasonable street setup but still does very well on track.

My point is, suspension changes can be problematic and the results can be very subjective in that one person's "oh yeah it's perfect" is another person's " OMG this is un-liveable". If you're committed to doing this, at least get an extensive ride over different kinds of roads in someone's car who has done mods similar to what you're considering.

For a car that's never going to see the racetrack, and speaking from experience, I'd be very careful about going too far with suspension mods. These cars are awfully good just they way they are.

ADias

That is the absolute truth.

alexb76

+2!

Betternotbigger

I couldn't agree more, but I think I'm like a drug addict always looking to make that hit that little bit better. I suspect that the SPASM setup would have suited me very well but I'm in the UK where pretty much no one has that configuration so it's impossible to find a test drive. The 997.1 Sport suspension developed such a bad reputation on our potholed roads that the dealers actively discourage anyone from selecting 997.2 SPASM despite the adaptive dampers. They certainly put me off when I specced the car!!

RonCT

Gen 2 PASM and especially SPASM (which I have) are fantastic suspensions and you'd probably ruin a good thing changing too much. If you are looking for sharper steering, then it's alignment you want to reduce understeer. With PASM you can probably find upwards of -1 degree of camber up front, anything goes if you change to GT3 lower control arms up front (I have -2.3 degrees for street / track). There are also some newer camber plates I've heard of designed for our 997s, but I don't have any experience with them.

brendo

i had stock PASM on my 2007 and got PASM sport on my 2009. i prefer the sport, where the regular setting is between the regular and stiff on the old one and the "sport" setting is stiffer than the previous - does that make sense?

i suspect that's similar to the Bilstein PSS10 (?) setup you can put on.

i'd search on bilsteins here and on 6speed to get feedback, etc.

http://www.tirerack.com/suspension/s...+Coil-Over+Kit

RonCT

Some like the Damptronics, I didn't on my 09. If I had normal PASM on my 09 I'd pay to upgrade it to SPASM and stick with stock parts. Somebody here described the parts required and it wasn't that expensive. You are only lowering 10mm, but I'm that sold on SPASM and I track a lot (instructor).

utkinpol

I think best way to start is to get a proper alignment done with what you have now, then start going to DE or auto-x events and as you progress you will see yourself if your suspension works for you or not. Give it some time.
If you not sure and ask for advices on 'what to change' - imho you do not need anything to be changed there. especially if you do not track, do not use r-comp tires, why would you need to stiffen up car and lower it down? nothing of that is needed for street only driving.

mdeleeuw

I've been looking at used 09 .2 S cars, and reading only good things about the Sport PASM, but finding it very hard to find cars equipped that way.

Can the Sport option be added to a .2 S which already has PASM? Do the dampers need to change, or is it just hardware (bars, springs, etc)?

Any idea the cost if it is possible?

Or is it a "factory only" option?

Thanks for the help!

Mike