Porsche 911UK Forum

Welcome to the @Porsche911UK website. Register a free account today to become a member! Sign up is quick and easy, then you can view, participate in topics and posts across the site that covers all things Porsche.

Already registered and looking to recovery your account, select 'login in' and then the 'forget your password' option.

Shock Absorber Upgrade Dilemma

jondrayton

Well-known member
Joined
28 Jun 2014
Messages
102
Evening All

I feel like I have a bit of a dilemma....

My car is a 997.1 Carrera and last year I upgraded my suspension and added Techart springs. This was primarily to improve the look of the car rather than modify the overall dynamics.

This year during the annual oil change light misting has been identified on one of the front shock absorbers. Consequently, the service engineer believes that my car will require new front shock absorbers next year.

My car is a 2006 model year 997 and has covered 30k miles. The dilemma I now have is do I replace with original equipment shock absorbers or take the plunge and upgrade to ohlins. Sod's law the rear shock absorbers might also be on their way out considering the age of the car.....

My car is summer use only and will potentially be used for the occasional track day.

Do you think I am likely to benefit from upgrading to ohlins or should I stick with the standard shock absorbers? Also I have sometimes felt that my car has sometimes felt a little light and unstable occasionally when accelerating hard but maybe that is just me.... I would want to retain the overall comfort and compliance but am wondering whether ohlins would improve the dynamics without making the ride too hard...

Would appreciate your thoughts.



Many thanks.

Jonathan
 
This is the very reason why i havent fitted my TECHART springs i got during last Christmas group buy to my original PASM shocks, id rather put the springs on a new set of Bilstein B6 with new top mounts and new coffin arms that im soon looking to order then fit !!

I say go for Bilstein B6, i reckon it would be a good combination with the Techart springs!!

J
 
CG will be fitting new B4's to mine, with the Eibach springs, as I wanted to try
a bit lower with minimum ride comfort impact. Worst case then I can always
go back to the OEM springs.

I figured if I didn't like the B6 ride I'd be stuck, and I do 10,000 miles p.a.

Mine is a PASM car with the DSC module too. I think if I had a non-PASM car
I'd try the Ohlins route - nobody seems unhappy with the choice.
 
jondrayton said:
Evening All

I feel like I have a bit of a dilemma....

My car is a 997.1 Carrera and last year I upgraded my suspension and added Techart springs. This was primarily to improve the look of the car rather than modify the overall dynamics.

This year during the annual oil change light misting has been identified on one of the front shock absorbers. Consequently, the service engineer believes that my car will require new front shock absorbers next year.

My car is a 2006 model year 997 and has covered 30k miles. The dilemma I now have is do I replace with original equipment shock absorbers or take the plunge and upgrade to ohlins. Sod's law the rear shock absorbers might also be on their way out considering the age of the car.....

My car is summer use only and will potentially be used for the occasional track day.

Do you think I am likely to benefit from upgrading to ohlins or should I stick with the standard shock absorbers? Also I have sometimes felt that my car has sometimes felt a little light and unstable occasionally when accelerating hard but maybe that is just me.... I would want to retain the overall comfort and compliance but am wondering whether ohlins would improve the dynamics without making the ride too hard...

Would appreciate your thoughts.

Many thanks.

Jonathan

I would say that à–hlins would be a major upgrade to a car with 13 year old shocks, and a significant upgrade to a car with new shocks. à–hlins is at another level, and the adjustability means you can set your ride height (and rake front to back) as well as the damping rates.

I run à–hlins on the other car, and switch between settings for soft in winter (for traction and comfort) to fast road (i.e. firm) in summer and hard (for the track). You can tune your suspension, improve ride and body control ... no stock suspension can do this.

And to offset the cost, you can even sell on your current springs.

I have PASM & the TPC Racing magic box on my 9972 but if it had come on passive suspension, I'd have ordered à–hlins R&T, no hesitation.
 
hermes said:
CG will be fitting new B4's to mine, with the Eibach springs, as I wanted to try
a bit lower with minimum ride comfort impact. Worst case then I can always
go back to the OEM springs.

I figured if I didn't like the B6 ride I'd be stuck, and I do 10,000 miles p.a.

Mine is a PASM car with the DSC module too. I think if I had a non-PASM car
I'd try the Ohlins route - nobody seems unhappy with the choice.

I had new B4's fitted to my 997.1S with Eibachs and DSC. (I also had H&R rollbars). There was a noticeable improvement in ride quality and damping from the new B4 shocks, (the originals had only done 60k miles when replaced, I just got carried away when replacing a few parts and fitted new shocks as well even though they were probably fine :lol: ). Also with the DSC module the handling was awesome especially on track where the car just stayed flat through the corners and particularly under braking. B4's, Eibachs and DSC is an awesome combination for daily road, trips to the alps and occasional trackdays. Brings the suspension bang up to date and my 997S rode better than my current 981 GTS PASM...
 
Oh good. I'm surfing for ARBs now :D
 
hermes said:
Oh good. I'm surfing for ARBs now :D

To be fair with DSC you probably don't need the uprated rollbars. I had them fitted shortly after the Eibachs when I got the car. The Eibachs are progressive wound so a little softer initially than the linear OEM springs, so I felt a touch more initial roll (before they then stiffen up firmer than the OEM) and decided to then add the rollbars. The DSC module and new B4's were fitted a few years later which combined made the biggest difference to ride quality and handling.
 
Best price for ohlins seems to be tarmac sportz @ £2170.

Has anyone have experience of this supplier?

Cheers

Jonathan
 
Correct me if im wrong as i was told from a porsche technician last year that the Bilstein B4 is what porsche use as standard shocks unbranded?

Cheers

J
 
That's my understanding.
 
hermes said:
That's my understanding.

So one better next up in Bilsteins rank would be the B6 which is desired, and just right for lowering and within budget!

J
 
A quick update. The misting shock absorber has got a lot worse and caused an MOT failure!

Ohlins are being ordered Monday!
 

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
124,354
Messages
1,439,461
Members
48,713
Latest member
3sp1f8
Back
Top