Sports suspension (M030) demo

[pike]

Apologies for the reposting of this message [originally in thread "New springs and shocks fitted"].

I am looking to upgrade from standard suspension on my '96 Carrera 4 to sports suspension with Bilstien HDs but have no feel for how much more firm the general ride would be. I like the comfort of the standard suspension but would like to firm up the handling. There are conflicting responses on how much harder the ride is (it is subjective I guess) and hence have come to the conclusion that really I need to go in a car which has sport suspension

Is there anybody in SW London with sports suspension (the nearer to Wimbledon the better but will travel to whoever offers!) who would be willing/able to let me be a passenger in their vehicle so I can see what I might be sacrificing in terms of ride comfort?

Thanks, Rob

 

[Guest]

If you can make it to Farnham about 30 mins from SW 19 happy to give you a run in my 993 C2 with sports suppension and lowered, running on 18" wheels.

Alan

 

[pike]

Alan , that would be great. Farnham is pleasant blast down the A3 and A31 for me. Have emailed you to arrange.

Thanks, Rob

 

[pike]

Yes sorry, I should have posted my thoughts sooner as upgrading the suspension seems to be a popular idea. First of all thanks to Alan for taking me out in his car.

My two concerns about upgrading suspension were firstly that the ride quality would suffer (particularly on longer journeys) and that ground clearance might be also be an issue.

On both counts I was pleasantly suprised. The ride is noticeably firmer but not unpleasantly so, but the real difference is in the cornering ability and handling of bumps in the road. The car rides a lots flatter in the corners and feels more stable (difficult to judge from a passengers point of view I admit). Ground clearance doesn't appear to be a problem either.

My conclusion was that I would switch to sports suspension at such time as the struts need replacing. Given that I am on the original ones and have now done over 50k miles I am guessing (and almost hoping) that that will be pretty soon.