Suspension Refresh + Upgrades / M030 Row Question
 

Starting to get steering wheel vibration at high speeds. My 2000 2.7 is approaching 100k in miles and I'm guessing it's way past due for a full suspension refresh.

I was thinking that while I'm in there, I might as well upgrade the suspension too. I ran into a few dilemmas and wanted to ask the community.

I use my car for canyon drives, about 5-6 autocross events per year, and about 1 hpde per year. Currently all stock on fresh RS4s.

*Note* - I am aware that the upgrades will bump me out of street class in SCCA. I don't really care as I only compete against myself and only attend local events.

First:

This project is going to be costly. It's my weekend car and I will be DIY.

If I broke it up into parts - front, rear, and then shocks/struts last, would I be running into stability issues between projects? Or would it be better to just do it all at the same time?


Second:

I was looking into upgrading the suspension while I was in there. I am highly interested in the FSD/Row M030 set up. I looked everywhere and found that elephant racing has row m030 springs on their website for roughly $584.

At that price, I can essentially make my own M030 row kit myself and be $1000 less then suncoast's $3300 price tag.

Will the drop on the M030 row springs be enough to warrant adjustable rear toe links?

Third:

Is it even worth trying to build my own m030 kit, or should I just go with feal coilovers? Planning on 270/370 spring rates. Are swift springs worth the upgrade for my application?

dollars to donuts says that if you replace your front tie rods then your vibration will go away.

otherwise, decide how low you wish to go; if only ROW M030 then OEM components should be fine (came from the factory this way hey?). any lower and plan not only for adjustable rear toe arms but also front tie rods that can be adjusted for bump steer.

if you want improved track performance but still retain some compliance on the street consider stiffer swaybars first and foremost.

if you want more front camber without spending $ then just slot the openings in the chassis where the strut tops mount. a cheap ebay strut brace will hold them in place.

if i were you i would do tie rods and then some tarett gt3 sway bars and drop links. then a set of coilovers that meet your driving requirements (get the right coilovers and they will come with camber plates), then control arms as they wear.

M030 with camber plates is a very good street/AX/track setup.

I wouldn't slot the strut slots, but get camber plates. With that setup you get decent front camber.

That what I had in my Boxster that I tracked and Ax'd a lot and was competitive in ots class

The vibrations did show up shortly after I put on new tires. I might try getting the tires rebalanced first and see if that fixes the vibrations as it only shows up at around 75mph+.

I took a look at the control arms yesterday and they seem to look okay. If the re-balance fixes the vibrations, that may buy me some time for the full suspension overhaul.

If this is the case, my plan would change to just starting out with either an m030 base rear sway or a tarrett adjustable rear sway.

I was thinking of camber plates, but was also considering the rennline adjustable LCA as it was only a few hundred more.

If you do adjustable LCAs, you probubly dont need camber plates

Yes, I meant LCAs instead of the camber plates.