987 Spyder suspension wear, buckled rims... our poor roads!!

[jonnyspyder]

Hi all - I have an '11 987 Spyder 59k miles, bought 4 years ago with 16k miles, used as daily driver so exposed to our well surfaced roads!!. I am lucky to have a mate with a workshop so have just had the car on a car lift to change the pdk oil and was able to scrutinise the car underneath, the car has a shudder in the steering and clatters over bumps, a prize bar shows that all of the suspension bushes are excellent, still supple and no play...- I can't feel/see any broken springs but I can lift the rear wheels 3 and 5" respectively before there is any resistance from the dampers, my experienced mate thinks the dampers are knackered but I am aware that the damper top plates can fail and am wondering (hoping) that this symptom might be due to this rather than the dampers... anyone had a similar experience or can shed any light? Also Porsche say that the Spyder dampers part numbers are different to Boxster S, unique to Spyder, Caymen R and 2.9 Caymen 2012 base model... does anyone know if the dampers for the 987 Spyder are actually any different to regular 3.4S of same age? Are there any damper upgrades for the Spyder? Cheers in advance...

 

[FZP]

The guys at centre Gravity have a machine you drive onto that tests the shocks. I was told by another highly lauded specialist in the north west that i needed a suspension refresh to the tune of £5k. It turns out i needed two PSI in tyre pressure and a wheel alignment from CG. The results of the machine showed that my shocks were in as new tolerances after 30k miles.
Night be worth having a chat with them to sort out your suspension gremlins

 

[jonnyspyder]

Thank you, not far from me I will book the car in with them

 

[pothole]

Yes, Spyder dampers are different to those of a 3.4 S.

 

[Slayer]

Well worth taking it to CG.

I had similar clattering type of noise over irregular surfaces and it turned out to a diagonal arm which needed replacing.