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Old 03-06-2015, 06:51 AM   #1
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Coilover choice?

Hi All, I'm considering buying a set of coilovers for my 2000 S. What options should I consider and stay away from? There seems be a large variety on E-bay, where else should I be looking?

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Old 03-06-2015, 07:15 AM   #2
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pss9 are the big name here. I have ksports and like them. kw also make a set for the 986. note that if you do any lowering you will also require adjustable rear toe control arms (from tarett, topspeed, a few others) and, potentially, some way to adjust camber at the front - adjustable camber plates (tarett) or adjustable toe control arms (oem gt3). ksports come with built-in adjustable camber plates. you may get some bump-steer if lowered; tarett and pelican sell a product for that. if you decide to go in all the way, you will need swaybars. most aftermarket swaybars require aftermarket droplinks (except h&r, but they don't come highly recommended). typical go-to is tarett for oem-style gt3 units.
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Old 03-06-2015, 10:59 AM   #3
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I'm removing my Ksports (one needs repair and I'm not interested in doing it) and going back to factory struts (more comfortable ride). If I were to do it all over, I'd save more and get the PSS9's.

Guys at the track flog their cars weekend after weekend and those PSS9's hold up really well.

Radium's dead on with the adjustable toe arms needed. I have them front and rear so I could get it into alignment.
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Old 03-06-2015, 11:15 AM   #4
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street? street and DE? race?
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Old 03-06-2015, 12:16 PM   #5
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+1 on the PSS9's, love mine. But Paseb is right on, really depends. Overkill if you are just looking to lower it a bit - go with H&R lowering springs and save a TON of money.

If you are tracking / AXing, PSS9's fo' Shizzle, my Nizzle...
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Old 03-08-2015, 05:42 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by Dlirium View Post
+1 on the PSS9's, love mine. But Paseb is right on, really depends. Overkill if you are just looking to lower it a bit - go with H&R lowering springs and save a TON of money.

If you are tracking / AXing, PSS9's fo' Shizzle, my Nizzle...

you're right on too,

spring, pss9, jrz, end thread
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Old 03-09-2015, 12:50 AM   #7
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Thanks for the info so far, to clarify, I currently have Designtek lowering springs, with no adjustable rear toe arms.

My car is not a daily driver, only a weekend car and I do track days once every second month. Im looking to lower the car a little more and have a overall better suspension setup to improve the handling.

I don't believe in using cheap/bad quality parts but do see the KSports, D2 racing and Yellow DPS to name a few are a lot cheaper, what are the thoughts on these brands?

Having read your replies I need the following for a proper set-up, please correct me if I am wrong:

-coilover kit (with or without camber adjustment for front only?)

-camber adjustment plates for the front should the coilover kit not include them/adjustable toe control arms oem gt3- would one use control arms together with coilers that have built in camber adjustment?

-adjustable rear toe arms

-aftermarket GT3 style swaybars with drop links-These are to replace my current swaybars to a stiffer version?

from all the parts mentioned besides the coilover kit, it seems Tarett is the brand to go for? Can any OEM GT3 parts be used and it that better than the Tarett version?
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Old 03-10-2015, 09:47 AM   #8
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PSS9 or JRZ depending on budget. Lots of mixed reviews on Ksports with very few top performing cars running them. Look at the cars winning championships year after year and you will find them PSS9 or JRZ equipped. If you have never done a setup, alignment, and corner balance on a high performance sports car before, have it done by the most experienced shop in town. Coilovers are pretty useless and will beat you to death if not set up correctly.

Also, I have the full Tarret/GT3 front and rear adjustable sway and drop link kit available used at $750 complete + shipping or can pick up locally in SoCal. New it runs around $1200. First come first served.
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Old 03-10-2015, 11:03 AM   #9
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just note that a lot of the racing development for boxsters is via spec, which limits you to pss9 if I am not mistaken. so, the fact that the racing teams are running pss9 is not necessarily because they are better, but because they have to. and if you can afford jrz then fill your boots - they are 3x the price of ksports. also, the ksports apparently have improved over the years (springs, quality) but you know the internet - kiss one pig and you are pedro the pig kisser for the rest of your life. regardless, the adage "you get what you pay for" applies with suspension mods.
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Old 03-10-2015, 11:09 AM   #10
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... but you know the internet - kiss one pig and you are pedro the pig kisser for the rest of your life...
Thanks for bringing THAT painful memory up...
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Old 03-10-2015, 11:53 AM   #11
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Ive got these design tek D220 ones, must get round to fitting them thou been sat in there box for the last 4 months.
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Old 03-10-2015, 03:40 PM   #12
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Gotta give a little K-Sport love. They've done well for me for 5 years. 2012 NASA Mid-Atlantic AX Champion, 2012 Blue Ridge SCCA F-Prepared VA champ; multiple Shenandoah region PCA class and overall champ. Top performer group??? I'd buy them again.
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Old 03-11-2015, 01:32 PM   #13
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PSS9s can be had for a reasonable price from Tirerack (not affiliated).

PSS9 at Tirerack

It think $2100 is a fair price.

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Old 03-11-2015, 02:14 PM   #14
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As Radium King mentioned, when it comes to coil overs, generally you get what you pay for.

Lower priced units may not have very good compression/damping characteristics, and/or the adjustment may not be very linear through the adjustment range, and/or the performance may degrade earlier, and/or they may not be rebuildable.

Will lower priced coil overs work? Sure, for 90% of street applications they will be fine. You don't need perfect compression and damping curves to go to the grocery store. Will they last? Hard to say how long they will last, but if you have 90K miles or more on your original shocks then you're already used to driving with worn shocks and you might be back there in less than 90,000 miles.

One advantage to PSS9's is that because they are the only specified shock for Boxster Spec cars, there is a large installed base with lots of experience in setting them up to work with the other components in the Boxster Spec suspension system (either PSS9 stock springs or Swift 450/500 lb springs and GT-3/Tarett sway bars).

The availability of this experience and knowledge can make tuning the suspension much easier than if you were to cobble together shocks, springs, sways on your own and have no idea how to set them all up to work together to get the car to handle as you expect.

But with that being said, if the objective is plain old street driving with a few canyons thrown in once in awhile, then it may not matter that much which shock you choose or how its set up - just adjust it to your comfort level and forget about the springs and sways and drive it. You will probably be quite happy.
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Old 03-12-2015, 08:19 PM   #15
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Ive got these design tek D220 ones, must get round to fitting them thou been sat in there box for the last 4 months.
What do these run? How is their performance and longevity religion to the pss9?

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Old 03-13-2015, 05:36 PM   #16
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This is a photo of my struts. Note the large diameter of the chromed rod and compare this to your typical PSS9, etc.

Remember that this is a "strut" and not a "shock", which means it serves to locate the wheel and needs to be as rigid as possible to avoid wheel deflection in a turn.

On top of this, the few damping curves I have seen on PSS9's are a joke. I will never understand the love for the PSS9 in the Porsche community.
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Old 03-13-2015, 08:40 PM   #17
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I will never understand the love for the PSS9 in the Porsche community.
Well, I think this is a misunderstanding and "love" is the wrong term to describe the guys who do use PSS9s. A coilover is just a tool to control our contact patch, and when the stock ones wear out we have a few choices to make:

Ksports or M030 for around $1400

PSS9s for around $2200

AST or JRZ for around $6500

A lot of guys have experienced difficulty getting Ksports dialed-in and several drivers have reported blown struts shortly after installation. Some have had good experiences but they are not well known or well supported by most suspension shops.

PSS9s are easy to set up, well understood in suspension shops, pretty durable and reliable, and reasonably affordable. A practical tool to replace worn OEM components and adjust ride height and corner balance. Practical but not love.

AST or JRZ offer a lot more advanced technology in a strut really designed for motorsport but the installed price is often more than the car is worth. Guys do love these and they should. They paid big $$ for that love.

Can a top driver be competitive running PSS9s in classes other than Spec and still win championships? Yes they can and many many 986 drivers do. A set of PSS9s is not the best possible tool but it is certainly good enough to win. Simply a practical solution to controlling your contact patch in motorsport.
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Old 03-13-2015, 08:52 PM   #18
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Wow. That was agresive. Anger towards a product. I have no opinion on any of the coil over solutions, but dang, get over the pss9 hate.
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Old 03-14-2015, 09:58 AM   #19
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Wow. That was agresive. Anger towards a product. I have no opinion on any of the coil over solutions, but dang, get over the pss9 hate.
Sorry guys, I didn't mean to come off as too aggressive.

My point is that struts are devices that are understandable technical devices, and not some kind of mysterious black magic. It really does not matter what manufacturer's name is on the strut, it needs to be evaluated for exactly what it is, and for this you need to look at the ability of the strut to rigidly locate the the wheel, and get damping curves from the manufacturer to see if they provide a digressive set of curves with some linearity of adjustment.

Topless did a much better job than I could in pointing out the price points and value considerations. I personally do not "hate" PSS9's, I just seem them as a low grade technical product carrying a prestigious brand name.
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Old 03-14-2015, 10:18 AM   #20
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LAP1DOUG: Out of curiosity, what suspension setup are you running?

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