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Originally Posted by MNBoxster
Hi,
No offense, but if you already bought the H&R Springs, what's the point in asking questions now?
Hi Jim, No offense taken. Yes, I have already purchased H&R Springs, but that doesn't mean that I"ve made my mind up on which direction to go. I'm asking the questions BEFORE I purchase the most expensive parts, the ROW M030. As it stands now, if I decide to only do the ROW M030 without the H&R Springs, then I can easily sell them and recoup probably all but 20-25 dollars of my purchase price. If I decide to lower the car only and not do the ROW M030 setup, then I've already got the springs I want. If I decide to do the combination, then I've already got the springs I want. Thus, the point in asking questions now, is to try and gather opinions to assist me in making my choice.
Merely swapping Springs in a Willy-Nilly fashion to lower the Car will result in altering the Suspension Geometry, which can lead to compromised handling and possible excessive component wear, including the Tires.
Potential agreement here, but probably what I should have asked, is will the excessive component wear be worse with the standard suspension or with the ROW M030 suspension. I wear out tires pretty fast as it is, I'm more concerned with the wear of the actual suspension hardward.
The ROW M030 Kit is designed by Porsche, in it's entirety, to preserve, or even enhance, the Handling and Suspension Geometry.
The Springs in this kit were selected specifically to add to this system through proper Material Composition, Spring Height, Spring Rate, # and orientation of the Coils, etc.
These Springs are a Major component of the Overall System. If you change these, you will alter the System and most likely it's Geometry and Handling characteristics right along with it - The exact things you're hoping to avoid.
It would be impossible, without both extensive Bench and Field Testing, to ascertain whether the System will be excessively negatively compromised, by switching the Springs. It all may seem OK at first, only to find out that Control is lost at the edge (or under certain conditions at the edge), or that 3k mi. later, your Tires are Bald.
Porsche puts a lot of engineering and testing into it's performance upgrades. Expertise which is derived from thousands of hours, and years of acquired experience in accumulated testing, not to mention, large amounts of cash. It's naive to assume that one can casually out-engineer them, or a combination of ignorance, arrogance and dumb luck. Which is not often the case.
I agree with the majority of this. However, I do not believe that Porsche is the "end all" voice on the components or creative use of components on their cars. We are all aware that the Boxster could have been made a much better car by their engineers, but that Porsche did not want to have the Boxster directly competing against its vaunted flagship the 911. Also, I'm not trying to out-engineer them as they were not trying to achieve the same goal as I am. I want a car that looks better in my eyes by being lowered even more than the ROW M030 option, but handles better than the base model. A compromise that the factory may not have been willing to make on thousands of cars, but one that I would be on my ONE if I'm not jeopardizing something major along the way. However, as you point out, if it came down to losing control at the edge, that's not something I'm willing to risk although I may never be at that edge in my lifetime. In your opinion, would my combo suspension not handle as well as the base suspension?? What if its taken to the edge?
I've done my fair share of "ignorance", I can admit to having "arrogance", and fortunately, I've had my fair share of "dumb luck", but most "dumb luck" experiences can largely by attributed to making decisions that put me in a place to have that "dumb luck", willing to take chances that others would not, the risk/reward payback, etc.
Were it me, I'd skip the H&R Springs and just go with the ROW 030 kit in it's entirety - as it was designed, for the reasons stated. You, of course, can heed or ignore this advice as you choose. Good Luck!...
Thanks, I'm just trying to figure out if this sounds doable or if there is evidence that my idea is all wrong. I appreciate your opinions and you make a lot of valid points. Take care,
Mike
Happy Motoring!... Jim'99
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