Suspension Arms 987.2

mbooth83 · Mar 7, 2021

Guys my first post on here and I am hoping you can help me out. I have a 987.2 Cayman S that I bought early last year, I have used it a bit on track and it’s quite impressive in standard form but I am looking to slowly upgrade the suspension bit by bit, I am planning Cayman R springs and dampers at some point as I want it to be a good fast road and track set up and for me the Cayman R set up should achieve just that. The point of my post is that my coffin arms are first to do as they are due replacement anyway. I am looking at the Eibach or PowerFlex adjustable ones for the front, I am not sure which ones to go for does anyone have any experience with either of these? Would I need the full kit for the Eibach ones including the fork arms also or just the coffin arms and the spacer kit to allow the standard fork arms to be used? Any need to get adjustable ones for the rear or just go for PowerFlex standard ones? I have seen posts elsewhere for GT3 arms but seems you need to get shims for them to get the set up you want so the Eibach ones seem less hassle than that?

I have also read that to avoid excessive tyre wear I will need to run about -2deg camber on the front, I am not sure the Powerflex ones will allow as much as this? Does anyone have suggested geo settings to give a good road/track set up?

Any other suggestions also welcome but I am on a budget to a point!

Motorhead · Mar 7, 2021

Hi Martin,

Unfortunately I can’t offer any specific advice on the two suppliers you mention who seem to use different methods of adjustment - I’m not sure how durable they are in terms of maintaining adjustment? - but you may want to consider using 997 GT3 lower control arms which use shims to adjust the camber, a tried and tested method for both road and racing. I suspect that they’re expensive - which may be a problem if you want to keep the cost down - but as a Club member you will get a 10% discount but I’ve a feeling that the shims are additional cost items.

I’m sure someone will be along to offer you advice on geometry set-up but the adjustable lower control arms will allow a greater degree of desirable negative camber not achievable with the standard set-up; as you say, something of the order -2 degrees.

If you’re planning to change to a CR chassis set-up - springs, dampers and ARBs - have you thought about evaluating that first before making any other changes? If you’re changing the front suspension you may want to consider making the rear more adjustable, although I believe that’s limited to rear toe.

Good luck, and keep us posted on progress.

Jeff

mbooth83 · Mar 9, 2021

Thanks for the input Jeff, I would love to start with the Cayman R bits but my coffin arms are passed it really so they need to be done first as don't have funds to do the lot in one go and obviously want the worn parts replaced first. For the GT3 arms do you know if they come with shims or do these need to be bought separately and does anyone have a part number and price for them?

Cheers,

Martin

Motorhead · Mar 9, 2021

Martin,

I don’t know if the GT3 LCAs come with a basic shim kit - probably not - and I know the shims aren’t that cheap because Twinfan (Dave) bought some for his 718 GT4, so you may want to PM him for advice or alternatively contact your local Porsche dealer.

Jeff

Twinfan · Mar 10, 2021

The shims I bought were from Porsche (2x5mm, total £47.68+VAT) and for some reason they vary in price massively depending on which size you need. Other suppliers are available though, e.g. RSS:

https://roadsportsupply.com/rss-camber-alignment-shims/

Any good indie that does alignment (Ninemeister, JZM, RPM Technik etc) will be ably to advise and supply.

JohnCRS · Mar 10, 2021

Suspension can be a bit of an expensive minefield. Whether just replacing as standard, or modifying for a particular purpose, I think this would be a good topic for a Zoom meeting. We have a number of folk, including Dave, who have experience of going down that road. I think we might have a contact from within the business who could come on the call. Any other ideas, please mail me.

Back to the OP's question, research and good advice is the key. Given your need to fix the coffin arms first, before going too far, I would still contact someone who can offer the full solution and take on board their advice on how best to go forward.

CentreGravity have a good reputation for bespoke set up solutions and there are quite a few others as Dave suggests. Perhaps find someone who you can talk to first.

mbooth83 · Mar 10, 2021

All good info thanks gents, Centre Gravity would be my ideal place to go to but I am based in Aberdeen so not really practical even more so in the current climate. My plan in future would be a track day at Anglesey and make a stop at CoG on the way down to get a good set up from them. I am practical enough and do quite a bit of work myself on my cars so I am happy to install the arms but ideally I would like to go to my local alignment place with settings to give them at least initially as they are not experts in set up but they do have good alignment kit.