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Great drive this morning. Question on Bolstein B8''s

APL911

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15 Aug 2017
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So after adjusting my tyre pressures to 36f and 40r I wanted to give my 996.2 manual carrera a good run out today.

I went for a spirited drive from my House in Walton on Thames to the top of box hill and back. All A and B roads, and some great (relatively) quiet country lanes. Dropping the pressures has definitely improved the ride and grip of my car. No doubt in my mind.
However today's drive got me thinking about body control, or the slight lack of it on my standard shock absorbers. I have new bilstein B4's up front and OEM rears. I put some new designtek lowering springs on and have also replaced front top mounts, all four coffin arms, tuning fork arms and tie rod ends.

The lowering springs have bought about a slight improvement in body roll, and the car looks beautiful with them on. However I am experiencing the usual floatyness that usually comes with standard shocks and uprated springs.

I am thinking of replacing the OEM spec shocks with B8's and at the same time fitting the Eibach anti roll bar kit.

My questions are as follows:

1.do the B8's give a noticeable improvement over the B4's in body control? How do they compare?

2. Has anyone fitted uprated any roll bar kit? How much of a difference was there?

3. Has anyone fitted uprated drop links? Again was the improvement that noticeable?

I'd prefer not to change any of the sub frame bushes if I can get away with it. What do the experts think/ recommend?

I also don't really want to go down the coil over route if possible. I'm only looking to spend around £1,500 more on the suspension all told.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Antony
 
The B8 dampers are a fair bit shorter than standard, as I understand it, they should only be used with much shorter springs. I'm not familiar with DesignTek springs so perhaps they're a good match for B8's.

The B6 dampers are standard height and are the gas-filled equivalent of your B4 dampers.
I have B6's on another car running standard height springs, the ride and handling is amazing on country lanes, more surprisingly though it felt completely composed on track too.

For a shade over £1000 you could buy the M030 kit that includes four B4 dampers, lowered springs, both anti-roll bars & ARB bushes. An astonishing kit especially at that price and it's sublime for fast-road use and occasional track fun.
 
I've gone B8's and H&R springs on my turbo. All told was under a grand in parts, but haven't fitted them yet.
 
I have new Bilstein B8 and H&R lowering springs fitted to my 996 C2.

I'd love to give you a complete review and comparison with the standard B4's but I'm not really experienced with different cars and their set ups.

All I can say is, having had 2 previous 996 C2's, one with original Mo30 shocks and springs and another C2 with original Mo30 dampers and H&R lowering springs, I couldn't say there was a significant difference between any of them!

Not much help I suppose, sorry. All I'd say is, I think the old dampers would have to be fairly shot for their to be a loss of wheel control, based on my experiences with these cars.

I have found the B8's to be firm at low speed around the bumpy high streets and 30mph limits round where I live. Get the car over 40 mph the ride smooth's noticeably. A fast bumpy C road near me can get the wheels thumping and the body moving about a bit, but other than that, when I took the car over mountain passes and the fast sweeping roads of North Wales, the car was beautifully composed over rises and through compression's, with the cliche of it getting better the faster you go being a truth.

Like you, I question the need to spend lots of money on coilovers as the car won't be going on a track. I suspect many who fit coilovers, set them at an "Optimum" then they never get adjusted.......ever! Also, its difficult to know how much better PSS10's or Ohlins are than say Koni FSD's or B8's.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Edit to say, all cars have had Mo30 anti roll bars fitted. The current car has new, standard drop links along with new lower control arms.

Cheers
 
Great shout. Thanks. I've just emailed them for a quote.
 

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