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A journey to a great handling 993

jcbaldock

Well-known member
Joined
5 Mar 2012
Messages
93
Having owned my 993 C2 for a little while now, I was never really happy with the handling. "Doesn't inspire confidence" is probably how I'd sum it up. It understeered quite easily, was really nervous on poor road surfaces and tramlined badly to the point that when pressing on there were times I felt that I was holding on, rather than fully in control. I could never trust it to do exactly what I told it, even at normal speeds and especially at higher speed.

So, after seeing rave reviews of the Centre Gravity team's work I gave Chris Franklin a call, talked through the issues and booked in. In the meantime, I was already booked in with Steve Bull to have the HT leads replaced (they were original and a bit past their best) so while it was there asked them to have a quick once over of the suspension to check the fundamentals. The verdict - one dead shock and both front mounts were completely split! After discussion with Steve, the shocks were all replaced with Koni FSD's and the front top mounts replaced. As I had the car booked in with CG two weeks after this, I didn't have a geo done. The difference was already noticeable though, the ride was more compliant and direct, but it still tramlined a lot (not as badly as before though), understeered and just didn't feel right or confidence inspiring. So, two weeks later it was off to spend a day with CG....

Pete took the lead on a very thorough, controlled test drive and he checked all the aspects of the cars handling to assess it on various road surfaces, with a commentary of what he was looking for at each stage, relating it back to the components on the car. Back to the workshop for the checks under the covers. Generally, the suspension components were in good shape, just a couple of inner tie rods needed. It's also the first time I've been able to get under the car with the under trays etc. off and was pleased to see a completely dry engine and gearbox, all the visible heat shields intact and generally in really good shape :)

After a discussion of what I was looking for from the car, they did a corner weighting and geo in a meticulous, logical manner, where everything was explained in a way that worked for me. I enjoyed this as an educational experience if nothing else! We went out for another test drive on the same route with Pete driving first to check everything was as expected and then over to me.

The end result - It's now everything I wanted: planted and confidence inspiring with neutral to gentle oversteer at the limit. B roads are now an absolute blast! After a great 150 mile cross country drive home I didn't want to stop. It now just feels right... I think this might be the start of a long and happy relationship :)

Great cars, these 993's when they're properly sorted :thumbs: :D

Cheers, Jon
 
Great result, love the story (just needs photos :grin: ) and here starteth the journey.

Enjoy. :thumb:
 
orangecurry said:
Great result, love the story (just needs photos :grin: ) and here starteth the journey.

Enjoy. :thumb:

Unfortunately the camera on my phone has died so I didn't get any pictures of the process. Chris did take a video of the kinematic toe adjustment for his blog though, so will link to that when he posts it.
 
Well done JC, Chris is the man when it comes to setting these cars up.

Remember when he first fettled mine, couldn't believe it was the same car afterwards.

Another chap picked his 993 up whilst i was there, he'd bought it on a bit of a whim and was all ready to sell up and move on it handled so badly. Needless to say he came back from the test drive looking like all his christmases had come at once :D
 
Completely agree, jcbaldock. My car went to CoG in early February. Pete and Chris are first class and the 'CoG experience' is just fascinating; the way they include the owner in all aspects of their work, the sense of involvement in the before and after drives, and their willingness to rework the proposed setup to the satisfaction of the driver. I had to drop the car off, and work pulled me away, I'd have been happy to spend the day there learning about all aspects of suspension, geometry, and how it related to real world driving, certainly they are happy to teach it. This edification is the real value added extra which sets CoG apart from other places you might get your geo done.

I'd not gotten around to posting so here's a couple of pics from my own trip.

Lindsay964differentialMikeHughes993chassistuneanddesiez036.jpg


Lindsay964differentialMikeHughes993chassistuneanddesiez040.jpg
 
These cars are SO sensitive to being set-up correctly, even down to the tyre pressures.

Get it right and very few cars can touch the sheer fun in the wet or dry, as I found out today bombing through the roads of East Sussex in pouring rain.
 

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