Tarrett front drop links - DIY? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

gschotland · 10-10-2009, 11:32 AM

My front end has been rattling pretty badly lately. Mileage is pushing 70k. While at a tire/suspension shop today (owned by a long time PCA member, they do lots of Porsche work) to have my wheels balanced I asked them to check out the front suspension, but didn't mention the rattle. They said everything looks "perfect, nice and tight."

From old threads it sounds like one or both of my sway bar drop links are shot. The stock ones at ~$90/pr don't seem to last long, so I'm thinking Tarett, the ones that are $275/pr, not the fancy 5 position ones for $625/pr.

Are these a simple DIY bolt in job?

sb01box · 10-10-2009, 12:14 PM

there are previous threads that discuss this in detail. use search with "drop link".
I don't know how to link to those threads..
I been contemplating similar replacement, but have not done it yet. but based on Brad Robert's reply in other threads, if you are not planning on upgrading to GT3 front sway, you can use the back Tarrett drop links for the front and save some $$$
.

gschotland · 10-10-2009, 08:32 PM

Before posting I did a search and didn't find much, at least not enough to answer my question.

RandallNeighbour · 10-11-2009, 05:35 AM

To answer your question, replacing them is very easy if you have a floor jack, a pair of jack stands, and a couple of hand tools.

You'll need to get the front or rear end on jack stands. If it's the front I raise the rear quite high and put in a jack stand up front and then do the same on the other side.

Once the front end is up, remove the wheels.

Then it's a simple process of using a socket to grasp the bolt and an open eneded metric wrench to grasp the other side of the union to remove the tops and bottoms of the drop links.

The whole process should not take more than an hour the first time and you should be able to do it without uttering Sunday School words or bloody knuckles!

jjanari · 10-11-2009, 05:50 AM

gsc,

It's a very easy DIY; I just installed some tarett drop links (front and rear) last week. Although the drop links did not come w/any instructions, it was not difficult. also, I confirmed with Tarett that the torque values are the same as for the stock drop links.

My tip on install would be to pay attention to the orientation of the orig drop link that you are removing to ensure that you are installing the new tarett link correctly. Therefore, do one side at a time.

I've attached a picture of one of my install pix.

p.s. I think you misspelled "tarett" in your thread, which is common and probably explains why a search didn't pull much up.

-jimmy

gschotland · 10-13-2009, 12:13 AM

Jimmy & Randall,

Thanks for all the info & the photo. Very helpful. Looks like something even a ham-fisted mechanic like me

can easily handle.

Gary

23109VC · 10-13-2009, 03:08 PM

my car is a 2000 base/2.7. I have about 75k on my car. My drop links, and suspension are original. When the car was originally sold, it had the "sport suspension" or M030 option installed. I "believe" that means I have slightly stiffer shocks and/or springs and slightly beefier sway bars, but no idea if my sway bars are only "beefier" than a base, and are essentially no bigger than what a boxster S has, or if mine in fact are thicker than a boxster S... ??

my big question is this : would installation of these Tarrett drop links, make my car handle better assumign I leave all my other parts alone - so I use the Tarrett drop links on my M030 shocks/springs/sways...

one person I spoke to said unless I upgrade to bigger/better sway bars, like GT3 bars, that it wouldn't make any difference to just change out drop links...but i've heard from others, that JUST changing the drop links would help a lot as it would make the existing sway bars more effective..

at about $500 to me - buying JUST tarrett drp links would be an expensive purchase, if it ended up doing nothing to help unless I spent another grand or two on new suspension parts..

thanks.

986FortyEight · 10-14-2009, 06:07 PM

The Tarett droplinks install is super easy.
I did the full switch (GT3 bar + links at the front and Tarett bar and links in the back) last month and was absolutely delighted with the result. My 986 is pushing 127K and after chatting with different spec-boxster racers all agreed that this mod takes priority over the suspension upgrade (which is a logical 2nd step) if like me you can't afford both at the same time.
I did too read some threads stating an improvement over handling with just a drop link upgrade. I believe it, although I absolutely encourage you to try and do the bars as well whenever possible.
Just make sure you get a proper alignment after the install. A proper alignment will prevent/get rid of vibrations and odd reactions you may currently experience.

Mike

23109VC · 10-14-2009, 07:07 PM

i see on the tarrett website, you can get the sway bar and drop links as a "kit" for front and rear, but it looks like their own sway bar, not a GT3 bar....

to get the front GT3 bar do you have to buy that somewhere else? what does that cost? looks like about a $1000 setup to get front rear bars and ddrop links....

i wonder how much stiffer that would be than my M030 setup?

jjanari · 10-16-2009, 07:18 AM

around $281 for gt3 front sway at suncoast:

http://www.e-partssales.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=P&Product_Code=299634379216AN99634370190&Category_Code=986sus

renzop · 10-16-2009, 08:17 AM

Their front sway bar is a GT3 bar. You can get better pricing for the end links and bar from suncoast. The tarret end links are spherical bearings which will transmit more noise than stock, but their alignment is better so it reduces sideloads on the links which leads to longevity. I like mine but they do tend to make a little noise (987 with tarret front links and gt3 bar)

23109VC · 10-16-2009, 09:48 AM

I have the US M030 on my 2000 base. My car also has 77k miles on this setup...

I'm wondering how much stiffer the car would feel with just the new sway bars and drop links..assuming I did the GT3/tarret front and rear bar, plus tarret drp links...versus my stock setup.

i know my car is stiffer/flatter in the turns than a "standard" boxster based on my test drive experiences....i could tell a huge difference between my car vs say a base on 17/18s..... big difference in overall feel...mine was stiffer riding, but much better in the twisties..

i'm sure adding the tarret/GT3 bar and drop links would make it even stiffer, but I wonder how much? a "little bit" or "night/day difference"??

another thing to consider in teh enar future are the shocks. i have no idea at what point the stock shocks begin to need replacement..but i would think at 75k miles i'm getting to the point where they might be considered "ready" for replacing?

another option I've thought of is the ROW M030. I believe that is slightly lower than my US M030...but not sure if the sway bars in that kit are identical to mine or not..no point buying new sway bars if they are exactly the same as my setup...

i will not be doing sway bars/droplinks AND shocks all at the same time..my budget (wife) will not allow that.

I'd hae to do it in stages. if I don't do ROW M030 and opt to do the GT3/tarret bars/drop links...I'm wondering if i should just get new M030 shocks or go to bilstein PSS9s which I see many people here using.... they sound like they are nice!

my ultimate goal is to make my car a corner monster - it's fast enough..i just want to be able to stick like glue through the twisties.... right now, it does...but i'm envisioning that with the right parts, it could e even better!

mikesz · 08-31-2016, 01:16 PM

does anyone know where I can find the boots for the ends of the tarret drop links for 986? Looking for a lower cost alternative. Need front and rears. Also does anyone know of a DIY with pics when installing these?