S2 Suspension

[richthomas]

As my dampers are as Mark from Autofarm put it, past their best, I'm looking to replace them, and probably some of the bushes as well in the not too distant future.
I'm not after an M030 setup or anything, and was thinking about replacing them with standard stuff, but was wondering if anyone had any suggestions?? I've seen a set of adjustable Konis (rebound only I think) for about the same price, so I am ummming a bit now. I wouldn't mind a firmer ride, and would like to lower a little really, but don't want the cost of the torsion bar adjustment. The Koni's will work with standard springs so I might just go that route.

I would be particularly interested to hear from Paul, as I see you have recently done yours. Did it make a noticable difference, and what parts did you use?

Cheers,


Rich

 

[Diver944]

Hi Rich,

I wanted to go down the Koni route and had been planning to for some time, but in the end my car needed new dampers for the MOT and I had to rush it, so I got completely standard Sachs dampers front and rear from Bert at Berlyn Services. The fronts were £150.40 each and the rears were £52.88 each, this includes vat and delivery was £6 for a total of £412

The ride is much more controlled now. It does not feel firmer but there is less roll when cornering, less dipping under braking and a little less of the front rising under acceleration. My Turbo has M030 and it is a lot harsher and firmer which is great on track but I have to admit that for everyday the S2 has a much better ride.

My original plan was to buy Koni inserts from www.motorsportworld.co.uk for £88 inc vat and then genuine M030 rears from Exeter Porsche OPC £60 [:-] don't tell anyone, but Exeter are great for prices on parts. The front inserts require that you cut the original shock, drain the oil and then slide in the insert. There are full colour instructions at www.paragon-products.com Unfortunately, there are no stocks of the Koni insert in the UK (that I could find) and Koni in Denmark quoted 3 months to make some [] So I had to go the standard route

I am very happy with the standard ones (but still hanker afer the adjustable Konis that would have been cheaper)

 

[richthomas]

Cheers,

I have been phoning Motorsport World since late last year to see if they could get those inserts, as they are on their website (8641_1414S) but not once did anyone get back to me, so I have given up. I have also discussed the cut and shut aproach with Jack Phillips at Autofarm a few times, I was a bit weary of doing this even though it looks pretty good. Cutting and bolting suspension stuff never sounded good to me.[]

The other ones I was looking at are a complete damper set from Porscheshop [:-]http://www.porsche-shop.co.uk/acatalog/944koni.html They are a complete replacement damper so no need to butcher the old ones.[] They also do a top adjustable kit with lowered springs, but I don't know if I want to mess with the torsion bars.[&:]

My car has been displaying the same symptoms as yours, a bit rollypolly, dips a lot when braking and the front rises easily when accelerating.

I'll keep you posted on what I eventually decide to do[]


Rich

 

[Fen]

ORIGINAL: Diver944
My original plan was to buy Koni inserts from www.motorsportworld.co.uk for £88 inc vat and then genuine M030 rears from Exeter Porsche OPC £60 [:-] don't tell anyone, but Exeter are great for prices on parts.

I'd be prepared to bet Adrian is the best Porsche parts guy in the country - and it's my local OPC [][][]

Who was it on Titanic that was gojng for Leda? I thought it was you, Paul. Was it Dave Mallings then?

 

[Diver944]

Yes, Dave Malings has ordered the full Leda coilover kit and is getting it fitted by EMC motorsport in Birmingham (they prepare/ convert the cars for the burgeoning 944 race series).

He ordered it just before Christmas but there was some mixup and the order got lost [8|] so he had to order it again. He should have them fitted within the next fortnight []

Rich, that's a shame about your dealings with Motorsportworld. I called them once and the guy was very helpful and rang me back twice after he'd rung all his suppliers and then Koni. I then popped over to a local maxpower tuning place near me (Jamsport in Northampton) who are a Koni dealer and they also did the ring round and confirmed the same stock situation []

I've seen the Porscheshop kit but the price just seemd too expensive compared to the cut n shut insert and genuine Porsche rears (mind you if they actually have stock.........)

 

[Fen]

If Porscheshop can get it then presumably so can someone else, and since everyone else can sell the same things as Porscheshop at 25%-50% less then you might find a deal on it elsewhere if you look.

I'm interested to see how the Leda kit goes as I think that's my top choice for the turbo.

 

[richthomas]

That's what I thought too, but no-one else seems to do a comlpete koni front strut for some reason. They all seem to be discontinued. I phoned Porscheshop to try and get hold of the Koni part no, so I could find somwhere else that might do them cheaper, but they told me they only have a PS stock code as they are made specially for them[:'(] Sounds doubtful, but I can't find them anywhere else.

It's the fronts that are the problem, the rears are a lot easier to get hold of.

Like I said, I might just go for Sachs ones and save all the hassle, unless anyone has an idea where I can get some koni's[]

 

[Diver944]

The American part suppliers seem to have stocks of the insert, though they are slightly more expensive (even with the current exchange rate) so it might be worth emailing them.

Just had another thought (and I dunno if you'd be interested) but Dave Malings (mentioned above) is only changing his because he is a Nurburgring Addict and his standard Turbo suspension is too soft and he grounds out on some very fast tight corners. I know his car has only done about 60k miles and it was definitley riding better than my S2 before the new shocks. He won't need the shocks or springs when he goes Leda and they will bolt straight on to your S2, so he may be open to an offer for his old ones.

 

[Fen]

Does Dave have M030?

I might be interested in it, thereby releasing some standard S2 struts that have only done 11k miles, mostly motorway, over 8 months.

 

[Suffolk944]

Hello Tim and welcome to both the forum and the joys and pains of 944 ownership !

Various people will have various favourite suggestions regarding suspension replacement.

Personally, assuming you are not after the full coil over conversion I would suggest Bilstein as the after market option or even looking into new standard Porsche items.

 

[edh]

Discussed here very recently

http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=852443

For a turbo, but S2 pretty much the same really. If you can afford it, KWv3 is great, if you're able to source the parts (modified struts), Bilstein inserts would be my choice for a cheaper option.

 

[Waylander]

Spax do three kits they all lower the car by about 20mm and will be about 20-30% stiffer than Std

so will bilies and Koni be about 20-30% stiffer. but will not lower the car

the Porsche original option will set you back about £1200.

its only the spax kit that will not require cut n shut on the front struts.

 

[pbrett]

with the spax kits do you have to lower the ride height or can you stay standard?

What kit works for the early (1986) Turbos? 104 or 118?

Thanks

 

[944Scott]

You can have a relatively standard ride height, if you are not really interested in lowering the part coil over kit will be fine 104? (I really should know as I have them)

 

[ChasR]

With everything that has been going on I would probably go for Konis as a good VFM and relatively hassle free shock change.

Otherwise I would have said the Bilsteins but it seems they are not all that simple to change. KWv3s are the ultimate but they do require deep pockets.

 

[pbrett]

what has been going on?

what is the difference between the 104 and the 118 kits? apart from the cost obviously!!

best supplier?

 

[ChasR]

One set of them come with rear spring assisters (aka helper springs) so as to aid in effectively stiffening the rears, the others do not. I would ask Andy about his experience with the the spring assisted versions .

 

[pbrett]

Not on here so much that I can get your innuendo!! Did Andy have a bad experience with the assister springs? or a good one? Nightmare or no nightmare, avoid if putting on spax set up or go for?

Does the RSX104 kit fit onto the early 944 turbos?

 

[ChasR]

ORIGINAL: pbrett

Not on here so much that I can get your innuendo!! Did Andy have a bad experience with the assister springs? or a good one? Nightmare or no nightmare, avoid if putting on spax set up or go for?

Does the RSX104 kit fit onto the early 944 turbos?

In a nutshell the assister springs were very noisy over the bumps etc. I believe that he has since removed them. Searching on here should bring up his issues with them.

 

[andy watson]

Hi, yes the rear helper springs were a nightmare, couldn't get them to stop banging any bump bigger than a pebble!!
Spax sent a replacement set of rear springs and they were just the same.

I run without rear helpers, re-indexed for the money very good there are plenty of far better quality kits out there but for what you pay Spax fully adjustable, are far better than 20 year old suspension! And perfectly adequate for road and track use.

Don't buy from Spax direct, hunt around for deals, RSX kit gives you fully adjustable to each corner, just throw away the rear helper springs and you will be fine, naturally you don't need to re-index but a full geo will be required