Pasm shocks need replacement: Tractive or oem?
 

So I have a 2011 RS and it seemed to be a collector car before I had purchased it. And since the car sat for so long, the oem pasm shocks went bad, and finally the dealer confirmed they need replacing. Car is basically in sport mode all the time. Harsh ride and unstable on corners.

So here’s the question? Do I just replace with new oem shocks or do the tractive setup? I’m entertaining tractive as the cost between the two is negliable. Oem replacement is around $6700, while Tractive will be 9k. Wanted you guys opinion on long term ownership of the tractive?

The reason why only Tractive or OEM is because I would like to retain front lift system and PASM.

I have 2 buddies who are basically suspension gurus, @boostedt0y and @Spyerx who constantly spend my money.

I won’t be de’ing this car much. Maybe in a blue moon. It’s mostly for spirited driving. And also to note, it’s a dead man’s car. Will never get rid of it, so as my friend put it, “if you’re going to keep the car, have it setup exactly how you want.”

Any real world input would be awesome. Thanks again guys….

You know for the longest time, I always thought "the greek" looked like the guy in that pic....

You live in FL
the roads suck
you're not tracking the car
go OEM

Why do you need lift in FL, there are no hills?

If you were going to drive the car I'd suggest Ohlins or maybe an active setup like Tractive (which I don't have experience with). The Ohlins TTX on my car are magical, but a little aggressive for the street. We do have hills here.... :-)

Did you look at the MCS 3-ways... I don't have much experience to form an opinion it just seems like the go-to adjustable so you can have your cake and eat it too... I guess maybe your looking for a more OEM function where the sport button is all it takes to get into track mode.

Shocks can also be rebuilt. Have you explored that route?

https://rennlist.com/forums/997-gt2-...y-regrets.html

Sounds like we might not be able to anymore...

Bummer. Sorry you have to replace your dampers. Tractive makes a plug and play damper (direct OEM replacement) set called "touring line'. $5K, uses OEM springs and top mounts and plugs directly into, and uses PASM. Comes with axle lift. Worth a look.

Apparently the OEM dampers are twin tube and can't be rebuilt. Crap.

I'll definitely look into that. Thanks for the heads up. I guess my concern was longevity of aftermarket systems vs just going oem and being done with it.

Yea, that is what I gathered when researching. Blows.

I was definitely looking into them, as that was my friends first suggestion. I just kind of liked the idea of the tractive working with axle lift, and retaining the PASM capability. Kind of like a OEM + setup.

What about the Bilstein B16's for PASM cars?

I have had the Tractive system + DSC on my 997GT2 for six years/25000 miles now, my car also has solid bushings everywhere.

I use relatively light springing, from memory 336lb front and 616lb rear.

I have the DSC pretty much how TPC tuned it apart from I reduced the stiffening up at relatively low ~70mph speeds.

My car rides like a BMW 3 series, this is the incredible thing and something I almost s****** at everyday, it soaks crappy roads up for fun, and our roads are bad !.

My car is pretty much a daily which involves stop go road traffic on poor surfaces and 150mph blasts often and has been tested up to 210mph, no track work but plenty of spirted corners, I had a set up done by a talented specialist last year and the drive is even better, so neutral and really flingable feels like getting exceptional contact patch area from tyres. The soft springing shouldn't be enough for my power level but with the clever dampers is works perfectly for my use.

I ran Bilstein PASM B16s for a few years which were OK but more suitable for German smooth roads ie they were quite hard and unyielding.

At my last service the tech said he thought there may be some leakage but is was more a weep so I didn't do anything and all seems good but I enquired and it is quite easy to get them refurbished which I will if my upcoming service spots leakage.

This was the feedback I needed to hear. Thanks so much for the breakdown. Longevity was chief concern of mine.

No, we don't have a lot of hills in FL. However, we do get a TON of rain. Therefore, a lot of driveways, entrances to business centers, etc. are very angled/steep. They do this to help control the flow of water with all of the rain. Front lift is actually really handy down here. Wish I had it!

I properly setup Tractive system will transform your car. Don't get it too low or stiff, let the dampers do their job. You won't regret it.

^^^^^ This 100%

Fitted TracTive Touring Line suspension to my 997.2 GT3 with FAL Stunning upgrade!

A FWIW, this is what one of my rear Tractive dampers looks like after 5.5 years and 25K miles, apparently needs a new damper rod as it was damaged from the crap one picks up through daily street driving.

https://i.ibb.co/m4X10D7/Tractive.png