What suspension have you used recommend 944 turbo ?

[ukmastiff]

LO all, on the grounds that most 20 odd year old cars dont drive anything like they should on their old strutts , I would consider upgrading mine. I'd be interested in what folk have done re replacements. I know anyone can go and put very expensive dampers or coilovers on but I'm not sure I want to go silly on it. I would also not be suprised if something not much more expensive was far beter ( or not) than standerd if you see what I mean.

What dampers etc you have used even if standard ones ( or not) and how much or little did they change the handling and feel of your 944 for how many english pounds []

Regards Mas

 

[Diver944]

For road use and maybe the occasional trackday I would recommend the standard struts and springs. Both my cars were treated to new standard struts (standard Turbo and M030) within the past 5 years and each time the difference was night and day compared to the 15 year old worn out items. Much less roll so better handling, but with better damping too so more comfortable on poor surfaces - result []

I've driven nearly all of the aftermarket offerings Leda, Gaz, KW (not Bilstien Cup or Spax yet) and yes they are stiffer and more focused for trackwork but they cost more and unless you really want to go down that direction I would say keep it standard but renew it.

At the moment it will cost around £600 + fitting to replace front and back standard Turbo struts. An alternative is to fit the Koni inserts to your existing front struts at around £100 each + fitting and replace the rears with standard, again at £100 each plus fitting. The Koni inserts are mildly stiffer than standard but nowhere near unbearable on the road

 

[zcacogp]

As Paul said.

Spend your money wisely. £X on KW V3's (the current must-have suspension) will be £X wasted if you don't also do bushes, castor mounts and (critically) get it fully aligned. Things like steering tie rods and possibly changing the ball joints on the end of the wishbones could count in this as well.

If you have a given budget, I'd deduct the cost of an alignment (£180ish), castor mounts (£80), bushes (£50), and labour, and work out what you can afford with whatever is left.

I fitted Koni's to my S2 about four years ago, along with doing all the above, and it transformed the car.


Oli.

 

[944 man]

GAZ offer a greater range than I think everyone realise. They also produce road orientated slightly more sporty dampers (as well as focussed competition parts and more extreme road dampers). Price for a set of these would be about £300+VAT, Id guess: making them competitive with OEM on price but, for most people, much better in terms or ride/performance.

 

[steve 944t]

I have the KW on mine, so I guess top-end budget wise. I also have 968 castor mounts, poly ARB bushes, ARB support brackets, new steering rack and tie-rods, and strut brace. All in it probably amounts to about £3k (although the KW has come down a lot since I fitted it a couple of years ago). The car is excellent on track, but also very comfortable on the road. The difference over the old M030 set up was a revelation, but that was about 100k miles old, so not a fair comparison.
In my opinion the best bit about the KW is the clever bypass valve (perhaps the wrong terminology) so that even on occasions that I have left the suspension on track settings, it is manageable on the road, although I wouldnt want to use it for long without re-setting.
For a pure road car my setup is probably overkill (though mine is likely to do very few track miles in the near future [] and [][]) but for a combination road/track car it suits me perfectly.

 

[MarkK]

Road car and occasional track car the KWs are really worth it,comfier than standard suspension,brilliant damping,good on a circuit.

 

[Suffolk944]

Any of the options mentioned above are worth it depending on budget and/or usage, just dont go down the track of trying to find some M030 (even if it has been refurbished). Its far too crashy for road use and really feels its age imho compared with anything else (even "normal" standard shocks) that you could get.

 

[Eldavo]

Koni inserts for £100 ish, where?

 

[evoboy69]

I spent ages with the same dilemma! My car is used as a tonic for the modern Auto Diesel I drive daily and I absolutely love it!!

I'm lucky if I manage 3000 miles a year. Subsequently, I just couldn't justify the cost of the KW3's, especially by the time the rear end had been reindexed. I know people have had positive results with the Koni insert option but I didn't like the idea cutting open my old Struts.

I decided to go for replacing with original Sachs S2 front Struts and rear dampers. At this point I'd love to report on how it drives but unfortunately I haven't had a chance since it was returned to me the other day and then quickly put away in the Garage!

 

[ChasR]

I'm not sure where you can get the Konis from for £100 a strut. I'd also consider the Bilstein B6 Montoube dampers which come in at £100 (a little cheaper than the Konis per corner) and have been very effective on most cars (Pug GTis of old indeed came with Bilstein dampers up front as standard). Only catch is that you cannot adjust them for rebound, but then how often do people muck about with the Konis?

I wonder if a car rolling on 17" wheels will need stiffer dampers too. I know many manufacturers will sell you different dampers (OEM this is) depending on your wheel size (Ford and Jaguar being two such companies who sell Sachs dampers for your wheel size).

ORIGINAL: 944 man

GAZ offer a greater range than I think everyone realise. They also produce road orientated slightly more sporty dampers (as well as focussed competition parts and more extreme road dampers). Price for a set of these would be about £300+VAT, Id guess: making them competitive with OEM on price but, for most people, much better in terms or ride/performance.

Not quite so great in variety anymore from what I understand. When I called Gaz a month ago, I was quoted around £650+VAT for the Gold setup. I was informed that their other lines had been discontinued too except EMC's remote reservoir line (but we are talking not far off KWv3 money for these I understand). On the basis that I worked in the trade he said he'd knock me a significant proportion off that price (I'd say it comes to around £100 more than what 4 Koni dampers would cost).

I know the reviews for them on other cars seem very mixed too (the Golds that is), with the threads being widely criticised for seizing up, and with the dampers being 'old technology' apparently. But I guess the only way to find out is to go in a car with the setup that you are enquiring about before decisions are made up. Any test pilots here?

To further muddy the water here, BK Racing sell coilovers for the Porsche 968, which I guess could be used on a late 944... These cost around £399+VAT and come with 10lb springs from memory.

 

[DavidL]

Gaz Golds seem to be around the 800 mark, Kws around the 1100.
Both plus fitting and set up so plus 500? to include various bushes etc. Sadly not a reindex though.
Someone bought a set of Gaz for about 500 I thought - Alasdair fitted them oop north. Anyone remember who it was and where they came from?
If the difference is "only" 300 then I think I'd probably stump up.

 

[ChasR]

He got lucky from Gaz. AFAIK, Gaz do not sell to the public. Best to call someone like UK Shocks (they are a Gaz dealer) and EMC Motorsport who sell both their own kit which is a Gaz remote reservior kit as well as the Gaz Golds.

 

[Diver944]

ORIGINAL: Eldavo

Koni inserts for £100 ish, where?

Go to http://www.motorsportworld.co.uk/ and enter in your car details and go to the suspension section. Eventually you'll find the Koni Sport front inserts for £119 inc VAT

 

[Eldavo]

Thanks.

 

[sawood12]

ORIGINAL: zcacogp

As Paul said.

Spend your money wisely. £X on KW V3's (the current must-have suspension) will be £X wasted if you don't also do bushes, castor mounts and (critically) get it fully aligned. Things like steering tie rods and possibly changing the ball joints on the end of the wishbones could count in this as well.

If you have a given budget, I'd deduct the cost of an alignment (£180ish), castor mounts (£80), bushes (£50), and labour, and work out what you can afford with whatever is left.

I fitted Koni's to my S2 about four years ago, along with doing all the above, and it transformed the car.


Oli.

I'd agree with your sentiments Oli, but in the same token i'd say that no matter what suspension you go for any car would benefit from new bushes and ball joints after 20yrs and 100k+ miles so it sort of cancels itself out.

The benefit of the KW is that they give you the best of both worlds - a setup that normally would be reserved for a dedicated track car that is compliant and comfortable enough for the road. The other coil-over systems on the market can't do this and you have to make compromises against either your road or track compliance.

So ultimately it depends on what you want. The stock stuff even when new will not hold a candle to the aftermarket stuff - but is more than adequate for a weekend B-road blast car. If you want something with a bit of a more modern feel and better performance then you're into aftermarket kit. KW's are not that much more than other aftermarket products and i'd say that if you want a predominantly road car with uprated suspension then KW is your best option. My problem with stock stuff is that it was not cheap enough compared with aftermarket considering the performance benefits.

I can also say that decent chassis mods will unlock more real-world performance improvements than engine power mods - therefore it is money far better spent in my view. The KW's were the best money I spent on any car and when you consider it is the cost of a mid range mountain bike it suddenly seems very cheap in my opinion.