New Suspension Costs?
 

I'm looking at a 99 Boxster. The car has 100,000 miles on it. My test drive revealed what felt like a need for new shocks and maybe bushings(?) as there seemed to be some looseness when hitting pavement irregularities. The seller has agreed to discount the price the amount for the work and parts to bring the car right.

About how much am I looking at for this project?

Everything bolts together & everything is worn so might as well do everything at once. OE parts & labor $2,000+

When you say "everything" what are you speaking of? Struts, springs, control arms, bushings, etc? Pelican Parts shows a base suspension kit at $3,300 and that didn't include the struts.

I figure my allowance will be about $2,000.

The Pelican suspension kit is overpriced because it contains a few Porsche branded parts which have a really high price. For example, the kit contains four Porsche lower control arms priced at $415.50 each!! (total $1,662) vs an aftermarket equivalent for $96 each (total $386).

To replace all four struts/shocks and a few bushings will generally run $2000-$2500 by the time you're all done ($1500 parts + $700-$1000 labor).

To do a full suspension refresh, you're looking at somewhere around $4,000 for the whole job ($2500 parts + $1500 labor).

As you can see, its easy to quickly spend close to 50% of the car's value on a big update like this. You'll get some of this (30%-50%) back in re-sale but its still a big investment. Many of us keep the costs down by doing much of the work ourselves which saves the labor cost.

A suspension refresh could be done for the following:

• Koni FSD struts: ~$700'ish (or other struts, Bilstien OEM replacements ~$1000)
• Front strut top mounts - $50'ish for two, Lemforder
• Rear strut top mounts - mine were still good (I think had been replaced by PO, but would have been $200 for the pair, doesn't seem to be a cheaper aftermarket)
• 4 New bump stops ~$80
• 4 new sway bar bushings ~$70
• Coffin arm: Meyle 99634105317, $94 times 4
• Rear track arm: Amazon TRW JTC1316, $140 x2
• Front "track" arm: 99733104301(It is right) Meyle $102 x 2
• Sway bar drop links: ~$100 for 4
• Rear toe arms: $~$160 for 2
• Front tie rods: ~$160'ish for two
• New locking nuts and hardware (strut top nuts, etc) - ~$15

$2395

You could save some money - front tie rods don't seem to wear out as much, rear toe rods, in fact the common causes for clunky and noise and floppy driving would be:

Struts (might as well do the top mounts and bump stops while in there) and rear track arm, and sway bar drop links. For $200 more might as well do the front "track" arm. $1629

• Koni FSD struts: ~$700'ish (or other struts, Bilstien OEM replacements ~$1000)
• Front strut top mounts - $50'ish for two, Lemforder
• Rear strut top mounts - mine were still good (I think had been replaced by PO, but would have been $200 for the pair, doesn't seem to be a cheaper aftermarket)
• 4 New bump stops ~$80
• Rear track arm: Amazon TRW JTC1316, $140 x2
• Front "track" arm: 99733104301(It is right) Meyle $102 x 2
• Sway bar drop links: ~$100 for 4 TRW
• New locking nuts and hardware (strut top nuts, etc) - ~$15

No clunks while driving? Skip the track arms.
Inspect the sway bar drop links - seem tight? Skip

Struts? certainly worn out after 100,000 miles. $1,045

• Koni FSD struts: ~$700'ish (or other struts, Bilstien OEM replacements ~$1000)
• Front strut top mounts - $50'ish for two, Lemforder
• Rear strut top mounts - $200 for the pair, doesn't seem to be a cheaper aftermarket
• 4 New bump stops ~$80
• New locking nuts and hardware (strut top nuts, etc) - ~$15

Don't forget plus labor, unless you do it as a DIY. Can be done in a garage with a jack, jack stands, and "regular" tools, a good chance to boost the personal tool collection :)

PS sorry if it seems like I am hawking the Koni FSD, it is just what I have and so it is what I used in my examples.

Thanks for all of that info. Since I will not be tracking the car and I don't drive aggressively I probably don't need to do the whole thing. I'm looking for comfort and tightness coming through the wheel. Is that correct?

One problem is that I want to go with OEM though because my experience with Bilsteins and Koni's is that they are set up from the factory stiffer than factory struts. Talking to a Koni tech last month on putting their adjustable shock on a Z4, he said that the lowest/softest setting was still firmer than the OEM shock.

From both of your pricing estimates it looks like I can do struts, mounts, and bushings for around $1,500 + labor. I went through this with a Volvo V70 once and it was determined that they were Boge shocks. Do you know what kind the Boxster used from new?

The stock struts are Bilsteins. I am positive they are NOT the B6 or B8 models; I think the B4 is very close.
BILSTEIN B4 OE Replacement
Your original struts have a couple of dabs of paint on them... these will help ID exactly what's on your car.

I'm going to take it for another drive this afternoon. Can you describe what you mean by a couple of dabs of paint. Will I be able to see them without jacking the car up or taking a wheel off; neither of which I can do.

I checked on the B4's. They are about $205 each from several parts distributors. That seems like a pretty good deal. Install was quoted at 8.5 hrs by independent servicer. Or was it 11.5 hrs?

Go with the B4s . The paint marks are tough to see in good conditions. Peeking through the wheels with a flashlight at dirty struts may not get you a good look.
Here's a pic that shows the paint on the springs. Same on the strut bodies, but. The colors are like brown, red, green.
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/h5gAAOSwbPxXP1Rg/s-l300.jpg

Start with TRW lower control arms and drop links.
Affordable, easy to install yourself, and usually makes a big difference.

Car is headed for a PPI. We'll see what they think. Besides IMS check can they tell how much suspension work is needed? Anything else to look out for?

With regards to the suspension - I installed the Euro spec. RoW M030 suspension kit on my '02 base. Great improvement in handling and performance.
Kit consists of springs, shocks, front and rear sway bars plus bushings.
Suncoast Porsche is selling the kit for $1595.

I also replaced all four strut mounts and all four control arms.
Purchased the control arms at Vertex Auto for $189/pc

IMHO to get it to where you'll be satisfied you're probably spending upwards of $3000 parts and labor.

Yes, but its all a matter of degree.

The Bilstein B4's are the closest to stock.

I agree to the extent that I would suggest that you might want to consider holding off on any suspension work until you can afford updating everything that needs it.

You might be able to find a lightly used stock suspension for sale in the classifieds - hint, hint. I have an almost complete setup listed - springs, shocks, sway bars and sway bar bushings - if you want to go that direction.