Suspension Upgrade

[sjevans]

I have read MPs article in the March club magazine and recent posts.
I am a bit bewildered and have 3 questions:

1. My C2S has done 42K and seems to drive fine. How will I know when the factory shocks are dead? I have only used it on road but am thinking of a track day in June. Would the OPC report it at a full service (done recently). They usually like to find things that cost money to fix.

2. If I need an upgrade/replacement mainly for road use what should I get and who should I get to fit it. Presumably the OPC will be allergic to fitting non-porsche kit and expensive anyway. I live in the Porsche dessert (Cornwall) so a big drive is inevitable.

3. What is an HD ?

Thanks,


Stephen

 

[968er]

1. Chances they are already on the way out as they are basically rubbish
2. If you have read the PP article that will give you a good starter for ten, however if you are looking for an improvement over OEM and do not want to fiddle with settings get a set of Bilstien HD's (B6 in the UK) and consider replacing the springs with a set of progressive ones from H&R. Any decent indie will do the job, but remember to have a full alignment done afterwards.
3 HD I think stands for heavy duty and is the Bilstein damper that Carnewal supply.

 

[sjevans]

Thanks very much.

I have spoken to Crispen Manners before and will consult him again once I have identified exactly which shocks I have.
I have a very bumpy piece of road in mind for testing their mettle.

Regards,

Stephen

 

[968er]

I will be picking my car up from Motortune tomorrow morning as it has been in getting the HD's and H&R springs fitted that I bought from Gert at Carnewal. Can most definitely vouch for the service from Belgium, faster than some UK companies I can think of.

Have asked for the car to be put to M030 height, and as I was running M033 springs, this will result in a very small drop. Will post tomorrow and give my opinion.

Now have a set of M033 springs for sale. Any takers[]

 

[Guest]

I can readily atest to the effectiveness of the Bilstein HDs (with extra thread from Gert) and I matched them with M030 springs.
The H&R springs are a slightly softer riding option.

Note: When I removed the OEM Monroes, all 4 shocks had gone (I was able to compress them very easily by hand) and the car was basically being held up on the springs!! (at 50k miles).

hth

Surj

 

[Shane Hodges]

Now all this suspension stuff still concerns me.

My car has done 55,550 miles. Last year the OPC said the shocks were fine. JZM has just said the shocks are still fine. But this forum consistantly says "original shocks are useless and go at 40k miles"

So am I just lucky ??

Stephen, if the car drives fine, it could well be you are in the same position as me.

Maurice, what colour are the Monroe shocks and the Boge shocks?

 

[968er]

Picked the car up today after having the Bilstein HD's and H&R springs. I went for the standard dampers as there is no need for a UK car to get the extra thread unless they plan to drop the car to RS height.

What a difference. Although the ride is now a little harder it behaves much better on the road. There is less wallow and I am back to being more confident into corners as the car had got to the point of not giving a lot of feedback before the tail started twitching. This was more noticable as the engine heated up which then caused the rear dampers to heat up as well.

Also took it along a road that is fast but the surface is terrible. Before the mod the car became a bit of a handlful as it could not cope with the undulations and rough road, now however it is very stable and I feel in control. Best money spent.

With regard to springs, I have always felt that Porsche springs are very harsh and then coupled with soft dampers was not always a good combination which seem to lie more with accountants calling the tune rather than engineers. With the H&R springs being progressive and matched to the Bilstein damper there is a massive improvermrent over the standard setup.