Measurements of Lowered Boxsters

[Gary in BR]

Originally Posted by insite

here's my preferred setup for a street boxster:

Front Sway: M030 'S'
Rear Sway: M030 'Base'
Springs: M030
Struts: Bilstein Sport or M030

the reason for the base rear sway is that it's thicker than the S and takes out some understeer. a primary reason i love the M030 springs is that while Eibach and H&R lower the car evenly, the M030 lower the car more up front. again, this takes out understeer.

the bilstein sport (and HD; they're damped the same) are supposedly a bit more stiff than the M030, but i can't tell the difference. either is great.

the eibach sways are almost identical to the M030 listed above, but twice the price. the H&R sways are WAY too stiff for the street and will be underdamped by M030 or Bilstein struts; your car will porpoise.

Essentially, if you buy the full M030 kit and have them swap the front bar to the S M030, you will have a full package that works very, very well together.

This seems like a great idea. All OEM equipment but I will do the H&Rs or Elibachs. I had Elibachs at one time and may go back to them but the possibly lower H&R are tempting.

Thanks for the help, I should have thought of this on my own but I didn't I guess thats what you guys are here for.

[insite]

Originally Posted by Gary in BR

This seems like a great idea. All OEM equipment but I will do the H&Rs or Elibachs. I had Elibachs at one time and may go back to them but the possibly lower H&R are tempting.

Thanks for the help, I should have thought of this on my own but I didn't I guess thats what you guys are here for.

gary -

sounds like you are moving away from the coilovers to the M030. i'm doing the opposite since i see the track a lot. want to work out some kind of trade?

[insite]

gary -

just realized your first post mentioned you really liked the low look of your car. if that's the case, you want the H&R. i don't have the measurements handy, but they lower the car quite a bit. if boxs2000's car is 24-7/8 with the eibach pro, you'd be at your current ride height with the H&R.

the H&R are a little stiffer than the M030, but not much. i would go with the bilstein sport struts since they're supposedly valved a little stiffer than the M030; this will balance out the stiffer springs. don't even consider sway bars other than M030 for what you're looking to do.

[Benny986]

do you know what your exact spring rates are?

i am running C/Os, granted I have motons, and the ride is VERY plush.

spring rates with the same shocks can drastically change the ride characteristics. as can the wrong tire and wrong air pressure.

i have the re01-r. which i like a lot.

[insite]

Originally Posted by Benny986

do you know what your exact spring rates are?

i am running C/Os, granted I have motons, and the ride is VERY plush.

spring rates with the same shocks can drastically change the ride characteristics. as can the wrong tire and wrong air pressure.

i have the re01-r. which i like a lot.

the RE01-R is a VERY comfortable tire.

[Gary in BR]

My current spring rates are 300 front and 500 rear.

I know these are very stiff, my original thought is to just go with softer springs. Most spring rates for the 986 are 200-300 range. The reason I am considering just going to a Bilsten-H&R setup is I will only have to do the work once.

DO you guys think softening the springs will help with the "porpoising" I am getting?

[fishyfishfish]

Another interesting point, which should have been obvious to me (preferably, before I purchased them), is that the after-market camber plates are relatively thick... the ones I bought, schnell, which seem to be as good or the same as all the other ones, are 1/2" thick, so by using them i will be able to get more camber (duh) than stock allows, but i'm also going to be raising the car higher, changing the lower front/higher rear setup of the factory M030 and probably affecting the handling characteristics in a negative way (e.g. more understeer)... so, now, the only way i will now be able to alleviate the understeer and or get the ride height back to the way i love it, is to get adjustable coilovers!!! Thus, like insite, I may be looking to trade/sell my MO30 package as well...

Oh, the webs we weave!

[Benny986]

Originally Posted by Gary in BR

My current spring rates are 300 front and 500 rear.

I know these are very stiff, my original thought is to just go with softer springs. Most spring rates for the 986 are 200-300 range. The reason I am considering just going to a Bilsten-H&R setup is I will only have to do the work once.

DO you guys think softening the springs will help with the "porpoising" I am getting?

thats actually kinda of soft, and the range is interesting. i'm not too family with boxster spring setup, but is the 200lb difference front to rear normal?

i have 400s up front and 550 in the back. i also have a dual spring setup, so its actually a bit higher than that.

i also have higher canister pressures up front than out back. by about 100lbs i think.

my ride is very comfy.

are you on 19s? go back to 18s if so. what is your exact setup now? and describe how the car rides.

and by porpoising. do you mean that under acell, the front end seems to lift up? if so, i think our cars just do that.

[boxs2000]

DO you guys think softening the springs will help with the "porpoising" I am getting?[/QUOTE]

Just a thought, your porpoising may be from the flex you are getting as the result of removing your center support where your inter-cooler now sits. As stiff as your suspension is set at, I really don't see how your car would be porpoising. It may be that as your car dips and the shocks are stiff, your actual suspension arms are flexing since there is no support to keep them together. Just a thought...