Struts with lowering springs or cheap coilovers?

[JimmyBad]

Recently, my front struts have gone bad. I am trying to use this opportunity to lower my daily-driven base 986 a tad bit from stock and get adjustable dampening for the weekends. I looked at pss9 and have concluded that they are too pricey and over-kill for my case, so I am trying not to spend more than $1000. I gathered these reasonable options below.

I found these adjustable Koni struts for a great price at $800.

https://www.tunersports.com/koni-sport-series-yellow-shocks-8741-1573sport-x-2-8740-1574sport-x-2_p46349.html

I would probably want to mate these with H&R lowering springs and adj rear toe links later down the road, which is already over budget, or.... I can get these!

https://www.ebay.com/p/Godspeed-MMX3830-Monomaxx-Coilovers-Suspension-Kit-for-Porsche-Boxster-986-96-04/2286936976

I don't know how to feel about them. Did anyone run these? Which would be a better choice to go for?

Also, I am not trying to drop more than $1000 at once.

[Boxstard]

Was in your shoes a few months ago, blew up my original front strut at 89K. Went for Bilstein B8 with H&R sport springs (red one with 1.5” drop) and just love it for my daily driving over ****************ty Michigan pavement. Very tight and responsive steering, and still reasonably comfortable not quite harsh. I’m 100% happy and I see no need of adjustability for my purpose.

[JimmyBad]

Originally Posted by Boxstard

Was in your shoes a few months ago, blew up my original front strut at 89K. Went for Bilstein B8 with H&R sport springs (red one with 1.5” drop) and just love it for my daily driving over ****************ty Michigan pavement. Very tight and responsive steering, and still reasonably comfortable not quite harsh. I’m 100% happy and I see no need of adjustability for my purpose.

Did you have to get adjustable rear toe links to get back in alignment? And did you use the stock strut mounts?

[Racer Boy]

One thing I'd find out about those eBay specials are the spring rate. It's also likely that the quality of those isn't going to be comparable to known brand names.

[thstone]

I'd vote for new quality struts with lowing springs. As you have found, a good quality coilover is simply out of your price range.

[Topless]

Originally Posted by thstone

I'd vote for new quality struts with lowing springs. As you have found, a good quality coilover is simply out of your price range.

^^ This!

Even PSS9 are a significant compromise for street/track and I have no experience with lesser struts. A nice pair of Bilstein HDs and a set of lowering springs should work well for dual purpose and not rattle your fillings loose.

My 987.2 car has stock struts, lowering springs, GT3 A-arms and a pro setup. It is a nice dual purpose car and I like it a lot better than my 986 with PSS9s.

[maytag]

Originally Posted by Topless

Even PSS9 are a significant compromise for street/track and I have no experience with lesser struts.

Tell me about this?
Do PSS9's suck for a dual purpose car? (Track / street)

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[Gilles]

Originally Posted by Topless

My 987.2 car has stock struts, lowering springs, GT3 A-arms and a pro setup. It is a nice dual purpose car and I like it a lot better than my 986 with PSS9s.

Topless, do you have stiffer sway bars along with the PSS9's, or just the coilovers..?

I am curious, because on my 987CS I first installed a set of H&R sway bars with Tarett links 'before' installing the KW-V3's and now, on my 981CS I installed the KW-V3's (no sway bars yet) and I noticed a Big difference between the 987 and the 981.

On the 987 with a combination of the sway bars and coilovers the turn was much crispier (..?) and cannot wait to install the sway bars, but unfortunately H&R does not offer them yet for the 981 chassis, and the Tarett's are a bit pricey.
.

[JimmyBad]

Thank you for your recommendations. I had the same gut feeling about the eBay ones. I bought the Koni struts and will invest in some good lowering springs in the near future.

[JimmyBad]

Godspeed seems to produce a lot of cheap suspension parts of which I feel sketchy about. I found these lowering spring that they make. Any ideas?

https://godspeedproject.com/traction-stm-performance-lowering-springs-for-porsche-boxster-986-1997-04.html

[Gilles]

the H&R Springs are great and very reasonably priced :-)