stiffer suspension, no lowering

[The Radium King]

hello. looking to stiffen my suspension without lowering my car. coilovers are too expensive at this point. i appear to be limited to US M030 or Bilstein HD. two quesions:

- anyone have a source for US M030 suspension?
- what springs would i use with the Bilstein HD's? i can find aftermarket ROW M030 and H&R springs, but they both lower as well. any aggressive solutions out there that don't lower the car?

thanks, and any other opinions welcomed. trk.

[ekam]

Keep the stock springs and buy a set of Bilstein HD.

Or just do front & rear swaybars.

[Pat]

Anti-sway bars aren't going to stiffen the suspension. New shocks and/or springs will.

[Gilles]

Originally Posted by The Radium King

hello. looking to stiffen my suspension without lowering my car. coilovers are too expensive at this point. i appear to be limited to US M030 or Bilstein HD. two quesions:

- anyone have a source for US M030 suspension?
- what springs would i use with the Bilstein HD's? i can find aftermarket ROW M030 and H&R springs, but they both lower as well. any aggressive solutions out there that don't lower the car?

thanks, and any other opinions welcomed. trk.

Radium;
I believe that the springs used on the PASM equiped cars are about 30% stiffer than the non PASM cars, these coupled with a good set of Bilsteins should accomplish what you want

[Topless]

You don't say what year or mileage car but if your current shocks are not worn out you might try just sway bars first. This will greatly reduce body roll and sharpen responsiveness without giving up much ride comfort. What are your goals?

[The Radium King]

thanks. i drive rough twisty roads on a regular basis. i don't want to get rattled off the road, i don't want to scrape the bottom off my car. i do want to reduce the amount of body roll and increase steering precision. i have 60k km on the car. can i get what i want with just sway bars? if so, gt3 front/m030 rear the best combo? thanks again.

[Pat]

It sounds like anti-sway bars would be the way to go. They would help decrease body roll. I wouldn't say they increase steering precision, but would make the car feel like it reacts to your steering inputs faster.

[Topless]

Originally Posted by The Radium King

thanks. i drive rough twisty roads on a regular basis. i don't want to get rattled off the road, i don't want to scrape the bottom off my car. i do want to reduce the amount of body roll and increase steering precision. i have 60k km on the car. can i get what i want with just sway bars? if so, gt3 front/m030 rear the best combo? thanks again.

Ok,
If your primary use is mountain driving the M030 sways should be a good choice as they are already tuned to your car. If you do a lot of track days and need adjustability the GT3/Tarret are the way to go..

[Lucky]

I concur with others. For your use leave springs/shocks alone for now and add the M030 bars. I do have one added suggestion -- replace the stock sway bar drop links with a set of decent aftermarket parts. The stiffer links will make the sways work even better.

[The Radium King]

thanks folks, this sounds like a good direction to go. two questions:

- if i chose to upgrade my droplinks as well, then i would note than the gt3 front sway is only $10 more that an m030 and is lighter; would it make sense to go this direction even though i would be running it at full soft the whole time?

- i've seen some dialogue about the standard vs 'S' versions of m030 suspension. any advice on how this affects swaybar selection and, should i decide to eventually upgrade shocks/springs, if there is any variation here between standard and 'S' versions?

thanks for your advice and patience with my pestering. trk.

[Topless]

I don't know. Changing up sways at the track is fun to see and understand how they affect balance and handling, but if it was my car ( and it isn't) and tight mountain roads are my objective I would choose factory tuned M030 bars and stock drop links. They were designed to work together and they work very well. Adjustable drop links on a fixed/tuned sway bar are probably overkill. The Tarret links are well built but they are expensive. You could probably find a used set of M030 sways for $200 or less. The GT3/Tarret combo front and rear is around $1200 new. That is a big $ difference for almost Zero performance improvement. Ultimately though it is your car and your dough.

[chaudanova]

Some of my suspension goods may be up for sale if anyone is interested... Some of which may possibly include: M030 front 24mm S sway bar, M030 rear 19.6mm base sway bar, rear adjustable monoball hardrace thrust track arm, front adjustable monoball hardrace diagonal arm, 996 GT3 upper front monoball strut mount camber plates, eibach pro springs, OHLINS adjustable dampers, ROW M030/Bilstein Porsche struts/dampers, OEM front/rear say bars, rear lower stress bar...

[extanker]

Originally Posted by Topless

You don't say what year or mileage car but if your current shocks are not worn out you might try just sway bars first. This will greatly reduce body roll and sharpen responsiveness without giving up much ride comfort. What are your goals?

i agree....

[Topless]

Originally Posted by chaudanova

Some of my suspension goods may be up for sale if anyone is interested... Some of which may possibly include: M030 front 24mm S sway bar, M030 rear 19.6mm base sway bar, rear adjustable monoball hardrace thrust track arm, front adjustable monoball hardrace diagonal arm, 996 GT3 upper front monoball strut mount camber plates, eibach pro springs, OHLINS adjustable dampers, ROW M030/Bilstein Porsche struts/dampers, OEM front/rear say bars, rear lower stress bar...

I may be interested in some of this. I believe you are also in SoCal. Email to davndirc@yahoo.com