Lowering a 964

[roygarth]

I'd be interested in this mainly for aesthetics. Is it basically a spring swap job? Anyone got a pic of a lowered 964 with Design 90 wheels - are D90's 16" or 17"?
Thanks
Piers

 

[tim_haskins]

design 90 are 16 inch wheels.

17 inch cup wheels look better on a lowered car IMO. You should think about changing the shocks as well because you will need a full alignment done after fitting the springs to the old shocks,also something like blistein hd give much more adjustment to get the ride height perfect. I is likely to cost 4-500 pounds ish to get the springs fitted and the suspension set up so for an extra few hundred pounds you may as well go the full hog!!

My set will be on order next week and my decision was made based on the advice from this forum.

I am going for blisten hd with h+r greens

Tim

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

Absolutely - what he ^ said!!!

I've been there and done it. If you lower it with H&R Greens it takes the standard shocks a little out of their best range and if they're not already shot from age they soon will be. It's best to do the whole job at once. The Bilsteins are an ideal match to the Greens and you'll be glad you made the change.

I agree with Tim that the lowered cars look better on the bigger wheels - I can't say as I've seen a lowered car on D90s but I might be mistaken.

Regards

Dave

 

[Steve Brookes]

My lowered car on it's 17 inch wheels I use every day:

and on its 16 inch (used for trackdays) wheels:

 

[tim_haskins]

Steve
Your car looks good on either but I still prefer the 17 wheels. Not sure if D90s will look as good as 16 inch cup wheels (even though I am not a great lover of the 16 inch cups).

Tim

 

[Steve Brookes]

ORIGINAL: tim_haskins

Steve
Your car looks good on either but I still prefer the 17 wheels. Not sure if D90s will look as good as 16 inch cup wheels (even though I am not a great lover of the 16 inch cups).

Tim

I agree Tim (the 17s look even better now I've edited to put a more recent pic of them up) []. My 17s are replicas and heavy. The 16s are originals, lighter and much cheaper for tyres when chewing them up on track []

 

[roygarth]

Thanks guys, I reckon even with D90's it will look better lowered. If I go the Bilstein + H&R route what is ride height reduced by. Will it improve handling on fast road driving?

 

[roygarth]

ORIGINAL: slider

ORIGINAL: roygarth

Thanks guys, I reckon even with D90's it will look better lowered. If I go the Bilstein + H&R route what is ride height reduced by. Will it improve handling on fast road driving?

It will change the ride quality thats for sure! Bilstein tend to concentrate on increasing the compression damping which is great for smooth German roads and race tracks but not so good for B roads! What happens is that the dampers increased compression settings make the bumps much more uncomfortable but the commensurately less uprated rebound settings now offer less control over the return stroke. I have used Bilsteins for about 30 years on various rally and fast road cars so I've had quite a bit of chance to research the topic first hand. Also, reducing the ride height usually reduces the suspension travel so the suspension has even less of a chance to smooth out the bumps. KONI do a much better job for UK roads - My 964 is lowered with Billys and I wish it was standard with KONIS
Looks notwithstanding of course - but hey, they are for driving not looking at (IMHO!).

Won't lower in that case as most of my driving is on country roads. Reckon my 964 is quicker and less of a handful on these roads than my RS. But on track....!