Magdaddy

My two options at the moment are:
-complete M030 set up with sway’s
-Ohlins setup with stock sways

Obviously the Ohlins has advanced dampening, and ride height adjustability

I have the opportunity to get the M030 setup for around half to a third less than the Ohlins set up

Any experience with either over the stock set up?

Ideally maintaining most of the ride quality, interested in a slightly more aggressive stance, and sharper handling than stock.
thanks

JasonGuthrie

I've read so many recommendations on suspension setups. All I can tell you is that I installed Fortune Auto coilovers, which even at their highest, are a fair drop over stock (~1/2" or slightly more), and the car has never driven decent since. Could be the LCAs or various remaining linkages that I haven't been able to get replaced yet. But, if your car is high mileage (mine's 120k), consider that even with a good recommendation from members, you may find that you need other parts and pieces to fix your alignment. While troubleshooting the effort, I swapped out the swaybars and swaybar links for the Tarett product line, which obviously did not remedy much as they are not strictly related to the toe/camber and general suspension geometry. However, with the swaybar drop links being shorter, they don't bind on the lowered suspension and with the swaybars having adjustment holes, they can be made softer to allow more articulation on the stiffened lower suspension.

My personal thoughts at this time are to A) hit-up a Porche tuner in the Bay Area and buy something per their advice, replacing the whole setup, or B) toss these FA for Ohlins and basically don't lower the car at all (which sucks because the stock rear wheel gap is literally inches on a 987.1 BS).

Good luck.

bcrdukes

Not what you're looking for but I'm running the Koni Special Active shocks and lowered on H&R. Car rides and drives great in the city and I take the car to HPDE days with my local PCA club. Happy with the setup since 2017 and still going and done a few road trips with it. I feel the Ohlins are just a bit too much unless you are looking to do some serious track days, but if you can afford to get the Ohlins, definitely go for them.

I can't speak to the M030 as I've never ridden in an M030 spec'd car but every one seems to love them. I have Tarett Engineering GT3-style sway bars front and rear for my car. Given my skill level, I should have just left them at stock.

Magdaddy

thanks for the comments…the Ohlins give ride height adjustments, I haven’t decided if that’s really worth the $$. The car will NEVER be tracked, I’m done with that form of adrenaline rush. Ultimately my choice will be about the amount of drop wanted. The new wheels will be fitted first, waiting on the color matched center caps before swapping tires.

M030 gives 20mm front, 10 mm rear drop, Koni sport yellows with H&R will give me 1” drop F&R. Certainly the Koni’s, as a newer design…should be the better strut overall. Maybe I’m making a false assumption there…

Anyway, new wheels are quite a change from stock …so anxious to see how she looks before deciding on the suspension.
18x8.5 ET 45 front, 18x10 ET 40 rears

Nickshu

Buy this now while you still can get it: https://rennlist.com/forums/market/1312816

No longer made by Porsche.

Ohlins have had several recalls, they are not what they used to be, unfortunately.

bcrdukes

I'm afraid I can't find the photos I previously took but I was running a 7mm spacer up front and a 15mm spacer in the rear and the looked really nice. Mind you, I was running on the factory 17" wheels and it was near-flush with the fender. I can only imagine it would look a lot more aggressive on 18" wheels.

My only regret with the set up (read it as a first world problem) is that I feel the car is too low and it has limited my ability to go to my usual jaunts for coffee or grocery runs etc. I've learned to live with the car's ride height but I absolutely love how it handles.

Regarding Koni Yellows, I've read only anecdotal evidence that they are not the greatest on the Boxster where ride quality is often compromised and inconsistent (whatever that means, I am not sure.) A lot of the air cooled Porsche crowd and folks on 986forum.com have moved on to the Koni Special Active route, and in fact, is one of the top sellers for Koni as confirmed by the North American Koni rep.

Magdaddy

the red Koni special active were traditionally not recommended for lowering spring’s, more than M030. Any bigger drop and the struts would bottom out and damage the assembly. The sport yellow’s have been recommended to be paired with lowering springs, by someone’s whom opinions I trust.

I’ll pay another visit to the 986forum.com. I joined that site months ago, and still don’t have the ability to post. Multiple emails to the admin’s have done no good.

There is a Oem (?) cover FS there, that I would love to get…but I can’t comment.

bcrdukes

You are correct in that the Special Active shocks should not be paired with lowering springs. This was validated by the Koni technical sales manager. I took the chance anyway and I may regret this someday. I’ll try the Koni Yellows after.

Magdaddy

@bcrdukes ..how much drop did you get with the H&R sport springs? Any pictures?

Apparently I have been guilty of comprehending only what I wanted to with the H&R drop. “AVERAGE” drop 1” front and rear is how they are described …I have been told that real world is 30-40mm. That might be a little too aggressive in the rear…the new wheels really fill things out. It would likely look very nice, stance would probably be awesome…vanity over ride quality I assume.

Not what I initially had in mind.

bcrdukes

Magdaddy,

If you could describe to me how to measure the drop, I'd be happy to do that for you. I know everyone has their own way of measuring drop, so I want to check with you first.

If I were to eyeball the drop, I'd say a bit over 1" from factory. My gut feels it's about a 1.2 - 1.5" drop. For reference, I am running on the factory staggered 17" wheels and when I had the H&R spacers, I will have to admit that it looked very nice, almost flush with the fender. It is evident, even to non-car people, to recognize that the car has been lowered but I've since removed the spacers as the tires I run were causing serious vibrations.

In my view, I feel the drop is too aggressive, but again, this is a first world problem because the only way I can clear speed bumps to the places I want to go to (emphasis on want, not need) is having to deal with driving very slowly like a ricer kid in California and I will scrape something for sure. Speed bumps and some underground parking lot ramps are very aggressive where I am. I went to a hotel once for a track day event Montreal and I was genuinely afraid the car would not be able to make it in and out of the parking lot. It was very scary.

Pictures - Will post some in a subsequent post. I need to find pictures that showcase the drop.
Edit: Here you go:

Magdaddy

@bcrdukes …I would measure the drop rather “unscientifically”, essentially before and after measurements from road/driveway surface to bottom of fender at top of wheel. I will do those measurements, as well as take post suspension install pictures to better illustrate the change.

Going with Koni Sport yellow’s and H&R Sport springs.

I’ll follow up with the final drop #’s and post install pics when done. Likely be a couple of weeks till the bits arrive…and while those components can be installed any number of places…not sure who I’ll trust with the post install alignment. It ain’t rocket science, but I’ve had decades of Porsche ownership under my ever increasing belt..and unfortunately that has proven time and time again that most all local shops SUCK.

grantmr

one year later, how are you finding the set-up?
I've arrived here after googling - I've recently fitted koni sport yellows with h&r lowering springs, and the m030 boxster s stabilizer bars. I'm finding the car is lower than it was with stock shock/stabilizers and the h&r springs, and it bottoms out on big high speed bumps (bumps big enough to trigger my dashcam's autosave) . actual chassis hitting the road, which it never used to do.
so I'm trying to find out how much the koni shock has lowered the car, and what I can do about it...

JasonGuthrie

I struggled with issues for about a year and it all came down to the spring rates. If you plan to drive your car on the street, 200-300lbs springs IMHO are closest to stock comfort. If you, however, drop more than about an inch, you will start getting into geometry issues (at least on 987.1) which "require" replacement of many additional parts.

I dropped about 2 inches, and had two sets of coilovers and all the associated pieces (lca, end links,...) but both started with 650lb+ springs (front, rear was higher...). After significant review by professionals and the retailers, swapped to 350lb springs, and it made a night and day difference to daily driving. I'm not talking about just comfort, literally to whether or not you'd bounce off the road.

If you are on a racetrack, those 650-850 lbs are ok, I guess.

dave_987

I installed the Koni sports (yellow) with new stock springs and all other new suspension components. I find the ride and handling to be very good - I’m happy with it. I can’t speak to what it’s like with lowering springs - sorry!

max911

Wow, that is low !!!
Looks fabulous though. Very fabulous.
Definitely have to plan your route, I'm sure.