987 Suspension upgrades?
 

Took the Boxster in for a tech inspection for a track day, and the shop suggested that the shocks are near end of life. Not too surprising, I guess, with 52,000 miles and probably 20 track days on the car, but if I'm going to replace the shocks I might as well do an upgrade.

The Spyder/Cayman R upgrade was popular a few years ago, but the shop suggested Bilsteins (probably PSS9s, but maybe just this "Sport" setup, need to clarify) might be better and more durable, and cheaper.

Any thoughts on this?

Bilsteins are high gas monotubes. Expect a rougher ride, especially with the PSS9 stiffer springs. Handling will be a lot better.

We have Bilstein B8s in the 993 and are a lot happier with them. But the 993 OE shock supplier for the US market is MONROE. :jawdrop:
...and they were definitely used up after 98k miles and a LOT of track days.

My two cents are that you'll probably be best off leaving it alone until you feel like you want to do something.

It's worth noting that high gas monotubes feel and ride *amazing* at speed. Nothing else compares. But because of the internal gas pressure, they don't do well at low speeds as they resist compression. It's not a matter of valving, so much as the gas pressure. More modern monotubes are integrating bypass valves so that the shocks will handle these conditions better. (Ohlins Road and Track for example.)

Josh, I'm with Nick on this one. My car is approaching 80k and it feels like the dampers are getting near end-of-life.

A friend of mine has the Ohlins R&T on his RX-8 and says they ride very well on the street (he lives in Brooklyn, so not exactly great roads) and are tolerant of reasonably high spring rates.

https://www.ohlinsusa.com/parts/2006...to-rt-pou-mr80

$3k is a lot, but if you're thinking you'll keep the car for a long time, as I am mine, maybe it's worth it? I was never a fan of the street manners of Bilsteins on my 986.

987 PSS9s are not much of a cost savings, either.

Thanks--that's very helpful. It's obviously a car I use on the street much more than the track, and while I don't mind a firm ride I also don't want to punish myself. If John didn't like the Bilsteins on the 986 for the street, that probably answers the question.

Yeah. If the Ohlins had been a viable option for the 993 back when I did the suspension (they didn't exist), I would have gone that way. Today, they exist, but are $6,500, so still not viable.

Yeah; they're a lot cheaper for the 987 (and are only about $700 more than the PSS9s).

My real question is whether it's worth doing those over a set of stock shocks, given that I'm mostly driving the car on the street.

I'm still at the "is it worth doing any shock changes at all? place. The shop saying your shocks are on the worn end doesn't mean that you need to replace them, unless it bothers you.

Yes, that's probably the best place to end up right now, especially since I'm also doing the water pump and tires and am...slightly tired of spending money on it at the moment.

EDIT: How hard would it be to DIY those coilovers?

Shouldn't be hard. The biggest question I'd have is how hard is it to find the top mounts? You have to do mild disassembly on the 993 to find them, since they are at the far back of the engine bay.

That part looks easy enough. It's like the M3; the convertibles are simpler to access b/c there's less trim to remove.

I haven't driven any 987 on PSS9's or other aftermarket suspension, but I'd approach those with suspicion for the street. I have test driven the Spyder twice, driven it at Monticello demos and have test driven and almost bought the Cayman R. Firmer than the usual 987 but still fine for the street. Probably a little off how good it can be for the track but do you really need that in your street driven car? Suncoast used to sell these as a package, I'm sure there are other places.

Cayman R retrofit is basically right between PSS9 and Ohlins in terms of cost:

https://www.suncoastparts.com/product/9872CSPS.html

I tend to agree that the Cayman R setup is the kind of thing I am looking for, though my guess is that high-quality aftermarket might last longer...though who knows, it's hard to imagine keeping the car another 14 years and 50K miles.

You might not want to, but your son might...

Learning a lot in this thread. Thank you guys.

OK, time to get serious on this, since that 987.2 didn't pan out.

I'm now down to the Ohlins v. the Cayman R setup, and also thinking about "how bad could it be to do myself, on my patio, after watching a few YouTube videos?"

The answer to the second question is probably "that's a good way to make your Porsche into a lawn ornament," but it's a simple enough procedure that I'm tempted to do it anyway."

The answer to the first question is really, "do I want to spend the extra $400 for Ohlins, and is having an OEM setup important to me?" Just typing that out suggests the answer(yes, and no), but I need to give it a little more thought.

EDIT: I should note that the weakness of the shocks was pretty obvious at the track, when the car moved around way more than I liked, and checking after getting home I can see the front bump stops are pretty shredded, so I think it's time. Plus I'm in a good mood after Tuesday, so why not spend some money.

Maybe just go with the cheapest acceptable solution / minimum viable product? It's not a high worth low-mileage car. The engine reputation is not terrible but not stellar. Even fresh stock? Or someone dumping an R/Spyder suspension? What is your street/track use %?

I've never done suspension on a car. Way above my DIY abilities/tooling etc.

What driving the 987.2 taught me is that as much as I'd love a 9A1 engine, it's going to cost a lot to get out of this car and into a 987.2, and it's honestly not worth it.

So, if I'm going to keep this car (and, to be very honest, I love it and would hate to part with it), I might as well do it right.

If you believe YouTube, strut replacement is pretty straightforward. Something like 6 bolts per wheel, badda bing, badda boom. I have no doubt I'll find a way to screw it up, though.

Nothing at all wrong with keeping your car... Sometimes I wish I'd kept my first 06 Atlas Gray Cayman S (saw it listed in Jalopnik comments one day as a steal!).

Do the suspension if you can. Those bolts could be hard. Don't springs have to be compressed and what not? I just don't see the point of top shelf parts in one area of the car. Just something to freshen it up. How much are Ohlins? They are big $$ for motorcycles.

$3K for parts for the Ohlins. The Cayman R stock pieces are $2600. Plus whatever labor would be at a shop.

PSS9 Bilsteins are $2K for parts.

My suggestion would be that you should come to the garage of doom when the weather is nice (so we can leave the door open) and where the tools are plentiful.

An offer well worth pursing.

Having never seen the garage, I'd like to come down and heckle, assuming there's an invite there (no worries if not due to COVID or whatever).

I wouldn't mind putting eyeballs on the Ohlins stuff too, as I'll have to go through the suspension on mine sooner than later.

This is an excellent offer and a great idea, and I will def take Nick (and JV) up on it!

That's your solution right there. It's six nuts, but when one is stuck beyond an amateur's ability or some other practical problem arises with reach that somehow doesn't plague the DIY videos, that's when the *semi-pros*, the space and the tooling will save you. :)

[I've been battling a few, seemingly trivial, motorcycle projects... Well, everything is trivial if you've done it before. Also working outside and without a second set of eyes/ideas is no fun... So yeah, some haven't gone too well, but not posting stuff on 2-wheelers on this car forum)

So I haven't watched any videos nor have I dug into what is required to do a suspension swap. But I did the 80,000 mile service on my car the other day (plugs / drive belt / oil change / filters / inspection) and it looks pretty similar to my 986 under there. I recall from my 986 days that swapping out the rear struts required the axles and a few of the rear suspension links to be disconnected.

I don't suspect it'll be a problem, Nick likely has all the required tools. But on my 986 there was a specific type of tapered-fastener removal tool (a.k.a a ball joint splitter) required to get those links off without damaging them.

One of these

I have one, so if you need it let me know.

You are absolutely invited. :)

Excellent, thanks--yes, this seems right based on what I've seen. And I think the suspension is essentially identical to the 986.

Pelican says the procedures are the same for 986 and 987.

So axle and (toe?) link need to be disconnected in the rear.

That's what I remember. The hub / knuckle assembly needs to be able to move freely to get the strut assembly out and removing the axle from the differential flange and removing the toe link allow it to drop down and pivot.

Do you have PCA membership? This ad is for 987 Ohlins for $2500 (which is not much of a discount, but perhaps there is some room there):

https://mart.pca.org/ads/46917

People pay WAY too much for used Ohlins in my experience.

People pay way too much for Ohlins period.

These are new in box. If JST was going to get them for $3k, perhaps this guy will sell them for $1800 or 2000. Doesn't hurt to offer... Unless.. there is some other suspension that he wants.

I do have a membership but I can’t contact the seller for whatever reason; equ does it work for you?

They have changed the site. You need to log in to pca.org then again make sure you are logged in on the classifieds/mart site. It doesn't look like contact is blocked. Do cayman & boxster use same rates?

Funny, this thread inspired me to browse for 981 wheels that I occasionally hunt for (19" , 8 to 8.5 & 9.5 to 10 widths and good offsets. No overly wide rears).

I hadn't been on pca.org for weeks as I drive the boxster not all that much.

An OEM 19" set was powdercoated or dipped or something so passed on it a few months ago. Looks like I just missed a nice OZ 19" set (8.5 & 10 with correct offsets)... Looking for wheels, I saw the 987 suspension. :lol:

It literally won't let me log into "Mart." It just kicks me back to pca.org, where I am already logged in. Not sure what I'm doing wrong but I get the same thing on both Safari on my phone and Chrome on my PC.

Log into pca. Open mart in a new tab and log in there as well. Third step try the link I posted. This works for me mac/chrome

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

Yeah, doesn't work. Just keeps referring me back to login. :dunno:

EDIT: Equ, if you can get a contact email from that ad, can you send it to me on FB Messenger?