Suspension-where to start
 

OK my first post here. I bought a 1998 986 with 102K miles about 2 months ago on a whim for a weekend fun car and thought it might be a good project for me to work on with my son. The body and interior are good, and there were some minor things found in the PPI that I had fixed. The problem is that it just doesn’t feel tight when I drive it. Ther are no big clunks or rattles (but there are some minor rattles). I had the independent shop that did the PPI replace the lower front and rear control arm links and that helped but did not cure it. I just assume the suspension needs further work. I am trying to control the rate at which I spend money on this car so I would like to try to solve this in an incremental fashion. Can anyone help me identify the most most likely components to check, how to check, and help prioritize the order of repair/replacement.

First step would be check the tyres for quality and uneven wear, then an alignment check. it is amazing how sensitive these cars are to poor alignment and how odd tyres can affect the handling.

Rebuilding the suspension (if yours is original, it's time; 102K is probably 20K past the time that stuff has worn out. German parts don't last nearly as long as American or Asian parts!) in an incremental fashion will be difficult. If you are going to replace the control arms (coffin arms), you might as well replace everything else while you've got it apart. If you replace one component, you should do an alignment, so doing it all at the same time will save you the trouble and expense of having an alignment done repeatedly.

I rebuilt the suspension on my 146K 2002 Boxster, and it made a world of difference. On my car, everything was shot - it made so many different squeaks, rattle, and creaks that it was difficult to have a conversation in the car while driving. I replaced every component except for the rear toe links, and it drives great now. It wasn't cheap, though; I think the grand total for the parts was around $3500. Since I did all the work myself, at least there was no labor expense.

I have a 2000 S at 94000 miles and just rebuilt my suspension. Replaced all the control arms, drop links, sway bar bushings and trailing arms. It definitely needed a full on alignment after that, but it drives much better. It was very squeaky and creaky. You could definitely tell the old parts were shot once they were removed. Mine still needs some shock and/or spring work to solve a few more squeaks. I did it myself over a weekend. It's really not hard, just take your time and be methodical.

Thanks for your responses, that is what I was afraid of. A few more questions. Do I need to worry about struts? I am not quite sure how to tell if they are OK. Then since I am still trying to minimize cost, does it matter if I use OEM replacement parts? And lastly If I were to do only front or only back for right now, which would be biggest bang for the buck?

If the shocks are original, then they are worn out. May as well replace them since you'll have everything else torn out of the car! Replace the bushings on top of the shock, as well.

You have very few choices in shocks for the Boxster. Bilstein or Koni, basically. I believe that Bilstein makes the oem shocks. Do some shopping around, often certain vendors will have specials on shocks. I usually check Pelican and ACS Tuning.

I got the Bilstein sport shocks, which are the equivalent of the ROW M030 sport suspension shocks as far as the valving goes. I've heard good things about the Konis, too.

You'll probably just have to bite the bullet and budget the time and money to do it all at once.

I am in the same boat. I have to replace the right inner cv joint so planning on replacing everything. Perhaps those who have done this already can provide some advice? I want to replace the wheel bearings also. Trying to figure out how best to do this whole process.

I found that my rear seemed more worn than the front, but not by much. I also didn't use OEM parts. I found aftermarket on both Pelican and Car Parts Discount. Car Parts was less expensive overall by a few hundred dollars.

I've replaced all the suspension on both my Boxsters. First one was a standard S at 65k putting in new arms, new M030, new top mounts, drop links etc. This time round at 118k I had already done all the arms 10k previously but now thrown out the M030 dampers and springs and fitted Koni FSD and H&R springs keeping the M030 ARBs. A worth while and noticeable investment both times.