944 / 968 suspension kit

[rcsalmons]

Guys

What do you think about this?

http://www.design911.co.uk/fu/pt65_615_ ... uspension/


Less than half the price of KW and cheaper than GAZ.

At the moment I have the front suspension/brakes completely removed from the car very tempted......

Group buy anyone???


Rich

 

[ChasR]

That's not much more than Koni Dampers on all 4 corners either!

The BK Racing one interests me though. Similar price and it comes with top mounts too... Choices eh? It's only for the 968 but I wonder if that would stop it from being fitted to a 944.

 

[DivineE]

I might just be in for that if a group buy came about. Perhaps worth shopping around to see if its available cheaper elsewhere or direct?

I've been thinking about KW for a while but its a lot of money out of my budget. Getting the last 10th of a second per bend isn't really the point for my road car and spax have a lot of experience so their product is unlikely to be bad.

...In fact they were excellent on my friends classic mini, they were the product everyone wanted if that counts for anything.

If I can replace all four worn dampers, reduce my body roll and lower my car for under £500 that's a lot more tempting. Lets see what the interest is and what deal we can get but you can count my name on the list.

 

[DivineE]

I've emailed Spax to see what they can do / what numbers we'd need.

 

[edh]

I've heard good reports about BC racing http://www.bc-racing.co.uk/ suspension fitted to an E36 M3 - couldn't see any Porsche stuff on their website

Again only what I've heard, but Spax stuff seems to be a bit on the harsh side. I would expect it to be more like an M030 car & be a bit crashy. People who drove my Leda equipped car commented on the improvement over std M030.

Take a drive in a KW car before you rule it out - I only drove a few miles, but the main benefit for a road user as far as I can see is a much more controlled yet compliant ride, which really makes the car feel more solid & more modern.

 

[ukmastiff]

I would potentially use the Spax kit. In my mind they are a known manufacturer who experience with many manufacturers ( dont know re Porsche ?) and I cant see them being anything less than 'as good' as OE replacements. Also if nothig else then you have at least the ability to adjust damping for 500 plus fitting.
It doesnt seem a bad option for the normal 'enthusiasts road car' does it. Of course if we had a guini pig then it becomes even better lol.

Regards Mas

 

[Diver944]

The only trouble in directly comparing that kit with the KW or the GAZ is that it doesn't have coilovers at the rear, so all that talk about easily adjustable ride height and corner weighting is slightly bunkum.

I only have one experience of passengering in a Spax equpped car and it was a slammed [8|] Citroen Saxo, very harsh, very stiff and bouncing all over the place. Truly awful from a handling perspective. Hopefully this kit would not be the same for a 944

 

[Porka944s]

im intrested in a group buy, let me know what you find?

 

[ukmastiff]

I know nothing about this but it does say " Front Legs with Top Adjustable damping plus Ride height adjustment & Externally adjustable Rear Shocks & 2 Front Springs & Assister Springs" so it claims you can adjust ride height front and rear ? .

I have to say I didnt even look hard enough to notice there were only two coilovers oops

 

[Eldavo]

My guess is that the decription is standard for the RSX line and that they are just front height adjustable. I wonder if anywhere does just the fronts?

 

[DivineE]

Rear ride height on our cars is already adjustable though altering the angle of the torsion bar. You could have any height you want on your car at the rear it would just look a bit silly and be massively out of ballance as you can't adjust the height of the standard fronts. Spax would fix this but they haven't got back to me and what's this about quality?

 

[rcsalmons]

Best price I got was £511inc delivered - no discount for quantity.

Rich

 

[zcacogp]

ORIGINAL: DivineE
... what's this about quality?

'Tis (or certainly was) true. A (distinctly iffy) friend of mine had dealings with Spax a good 15 years ago, and the products he got from them then were dire. They worked very well (Mk1 Golf) but the quality of manufacture was shocking. (And he didn't take that well to me pointing it out to him either!)

I appreciate that this is 15 years ago and things may well have changed dramatically in that period.


Oli.

 

[rcsalmons]

A couple of guys have bought them on another forum so we'll see.

Rich

 

[DivineE]

ORIGINAL: rcsalmons

A couple of guys have bought them on another forum so we'll see.

Rich

Oh which forum. Excellent. I have a response from the supplier I contacted who although directly linked to the spax website say they are quite small. Will have a price tomorrow but I would like to hear some feedback on quality.

There's no point buying suspension if it falls apart after a few hard track days!

 

[sawood12]

You can't judge these things from sticker prices. Just because they are half the cost doesn't mean they will be even in the same league or even ball park as something like KW or Gaz.

My advice would be is if your budget doesn't stretch to KW or Gaz then don't try to get something to imitate them - stick with stock. You get what you pay for and unless you are going for a coil-over setup then you may as well stick with stock or try to sort yourself out with M030 or M474 or something like that.

Alot of the 993 guys get all dreamy with mention of Bilstein M030 but I know from someone who has had that and KW on his 993 that the KW is in a different league altogether, and the Bilstein M030 is a comparable price to KW.

Sorry to bang on about KW so much, but it is not often in life you are so impressed with a product that you feel you need to preach about it!!

 

[rcsalmons]

I dont think anyone would kid themselves to think these kits are close to KW.

A guess the question would be how much of an improvement will be seen over 20 year old stock suspension.

Rich

 

[DivineE]

To be fair just because it's twice the price also doesn't mean it's twice as good. The rear springs are far less important than the front springs because they just help stiffen the torsion beam. They don't do all the work like the fronts.

It would be extremely useful to hear from someone who uses them.

 

[ChasR]

ORIGINAL: edh

I've heard good reports about BC racing http://www.bc-racing.co.uk/ suspension fitted to an E36 M3 - couldn't see any Porsche stuff on their website

Again only what I've heard, but Spax stuff seems to be a bit on the harsh side. I would expect it to be more like an M030 car & be a bit crashy. People who drove my Leda equipped car commented on the improvement over std M030.

Take a drive in a KW car before you rule it out - I only drove a few miles, but the main benefit for a road user as far as I can see is a much more controlled yet compliant ride, which really makes the car feel more solid & more modern.

I can agree with that. I know it's 'only' an MGB, but it's quite crashy around bends, compared to ones with stock lever arm dampers in good condition or the Red Koni Classics (I have yet to try a Gaz equipped 'B but I have it on good authority that it is an improvement over the Spax.

Ed, I am getting the information emailed over? How were the BMW boys impressed? If I was to buy them I'd be wanted to use them on a daily.