considering new coilovers
 

I have a 2001 MANUAL Boxster s with 100K and using the extra time at home to wrench.
Looking at replacing struts since the car is 20 years old and has original shocks. Honestly, everything is working OK from what I can tell. I replaced the suspension stuff in the rear a couple of years ago to eliminate the clunk I was getting at low speeds. Want some opinions, should I replace the shocks or leave well enough alone? Some of these coilovers are really good looking...will it make a difference?

Whether you choose stock or coilovers, at 100K it's past due to refresh your suspension. It may feel fine now, but with a suspension rebuild, you will be amazed at how great the car drives.

I did the suspension rebuild and that stopped the clunking, I didn't change out the shocks...they seem to be working fine. Rebound and no bounce, etc. It's 2 grand and alignment so I'm polling to see if I will really see a difference or if I should wait until something is obviously wrong. I drive the car around town, never gonna race.

I hear that the ROW M030 suspension setup is VERY good for road use and even part time track use.
I got a steal on Ksport coilovers a couple of years back. While they are great for autocross (especially after track alignment & corner balance) they are too stiff for daily driver use.

Yes, the M030 ROW or US spec is a really good upgrade

at around 3 grand, this isnt happening. :+)
I am looking more towards something like the yellowspeedracing setup. not sure they are real, but reviews have all been positive and they are also pretty goodlooking.

https://yellowspeedracingusa.com/collections/all/products/dynamic-pro-sport-coilovers-1997-2004-porsche-boxster-986

I would want to know that it will make a difference to what I feel now, because the stock stuff seems to be working just fine.

I’ll throw in this. I thought my original struts were just fine also.......until I pulled them out to change the bumpers. Two of them had lost their gas pressure and one of the fronts had lost much of its damping. I could feel a large difference between the weak one and it’s mate by putting them in a vise and pulling /pushing them through their travel. Replaced them with Koni Special Active struts front and rear. There is a very noticeable difference when driving. The car is much ‘tighter’’ feeling.

thank you...logic tells me they are past serviceable use, but it'll be 2 grand to sink into a 100K mile car. If several folks weigh in like you and share some life experience, I will probably come to the conclusion that it's worth it.

I'll second this ^^^.

With 100K miles, I guarantee that your shocks are ready for replacement. When you take them off, you'll be able to compress them by hand.

The car will drive noticeably better with new shocks.

A lot depends on your intended use and of course your preferences. For fast road use I prefer the Koni FSD over the M030. I've had old and new M030 and the FSD feels more composed over the bumpy stuff and just as if not more composed when you want to change direction quickly, brake hard and corner hard.

Yep, I think that's enough convincing. I think I'm going with the yellowspeedracing setup, they look really cool and the feedback has been positive, but havent heard from anyone with a 986 that used them. The price is right and again I just drive around the neighborhood (spirited turning and the like, but not racing). I like that it is complete, mounts, hardware, adjustability and shiny yellow. The K sports look awesome also, but about 400 bucks more.

looks like I will button everything up, wait a month for them to come in and tackle that in the early summer. At least I know the bolts will come loose. I will have changed out clutch, IMS, exhaust, driveshafts, water pump, AOS, sparkplugs, tubes, coils, starter, thermostat, belts and any hoses that look dicey. Oh...and new tires, just because.
Doing the IMS today and maybe sliding the tranny back in. Waiting for the Fabspeed exhaust to arrive. That will give me a little time to scrub some of the grime off the underside, my shafts have been slinging grease for a few thousand miles.

I went for the Koni FSD (currently known as the "Special Active" now) over the M030 as well. A lot of the 993 and 964 folks often track their cars running the Koni FSD/Special Actives and have great results without having to sacrifice comfort on the street. I'm happy with my setup.

I'm running Yellow Speed Racing on my 986. They are great value for money.

https://i.ibb.co/DKZYDjR/IMG-20200229-131010.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/bL43PGD/IMG-20200229-131117.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/j4pcL8F/IMG-20200229-131408.jpg

These kits WERE running at $1k.
Looks like they can still be had for $1,700 but at that point you are getting into PSS9 territory (but that doesn't include swaybars).
https://www.********************************************** ******.com/product/SKU986PROMO.html
edit: replace asterisks with
sun coast parts
(no spaces)

[QUOTE=Escy;616962]I'm running Yellow Speed Racing on my 986. They are great value for money.

how long have you been running them and are they holding up? I'm a street driver, although VERY spirited. I dont like a harsh ride but expect to feel the road and the car to stiffen somewhat.
the others I run across in the bargain bin are godspeed (800 bucks) and ksport (1200 bucks). I could go either way or stay in the middle. Ive seen some reviews on the godspeed and some folks say they fail after a few years.

BTW, These look great; I'm sure everyone would like to hear more about them.

I'll look again at the M030 and Koni option. It looks like with these options I am reusing the springs and hardware, but Koni are also on sale at pelican. I guess I am gambling that my springs are serviceable and still equal across the corners, no uneven sagging?

Thx

Stroked...thank you for the link. that is a good price for the M030 upgrade. Something to consider.

I put Bilstein Sport dampers and ROW M030 springs on my 2002 2.7, and am pretty happy with it. Much firmer than stock, but they aren't harsh. The car now sits slightly lower, but it's not really that noticeable.

Since I am cheap, I didn't replace the sway bars, but I did put a used Cayman rear bar on. It is now a bit easier to point the car with the throttle on track. In street driving you don't notice much difference.

I found these this morning while searching. The thing that caught my attention was the remote 40mm air rise and lower.
https://ceika-store.com/products/ceika-type-1m-coilover-kit-for-porsche-986-boxster-96-04?variant=16318692753472&utm_source=google&utm_me dium=cpc&utm_campaign=google+shopping&gclid=Cj0KCQ jw2PP1BRCiARIsAEqv-pTwSxqmM2r4frBoBTF4UHqH1BtAIhmjYYPCMkqqrKfCZ4E-OULm_80aAjVlEALw_wcB

You can check out
coiloverdepot.com

YEP...Pulled the trigger on the yellowspeed...I was almost going for the KSport, then at check out they nickel and dimed me on tax and shipping...sad, they were 200 bucks more already, which I accepted, then...so if KSport ends up reading this, that's why you found my cart full, sitting in an aisle.

Let us know how they are after the install!

I’m going with Feal coilovers. The boys at my local dealer recommended them look to be a good bang for the buck. Might do it toward the end of summer. I’ll be recovering from surgery for a few weeks.

They came in today and I dropped them in the front along with every moving suspension part and the tie rods. It was smooth and by appearance, they are beautiful. If the tools supplied with the shocks are an indication, top notch. Heavy, well made and the shock are attractive. Can’t drop the car off stands for a few more days to test em out, but my hopes are high. Old struts were gone, I can compress them with my hands. I will post separate on my installation tips, learned a great deal, but overall, it was straightforward and easy, even in my 90 degree garage. Many of the YouTube videos seem to complicate this procedure. Hardest part was wiping the sweat out of my eyes.


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What spring rate is on them?
And at what installed length?
Where'd you set the ride height to?
I'm interested to hear your experience with them. I looked at them for a minute as well, but went a different route.

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I looked at them too for my Cayman but wasn't able to find any installed experienced and I didn't want to be the first, but I know there are several 986 installs (some on this forum I believe) - from everything I've heard Feal is top notch.

Maytag, I follow your posts and your experiences help many on this forum, myself included. You figure lots of stuff out and your racing. Thats really cool. Its flattering to be asked to pass my experiences to you, ill start with this and more to come once Im driving again.
They are listed at 6K/8K on spring rates with adjustable dampening, 1-32. I set them at 10 as this is a street car and 8 was recommended, so maybe a little stiffer. I set ride height 1/2 inch lower, pretty close to stock. Intentions were to replace my struts, because the original had 100K, 20 years and after removing them, its clear they were done. A Bilstein setup was easy enough, probably superior but would have been 1000 dollars more, so I went with Yellowspeed based on price. I also had some feedback from local guys that run tuned japanese street cars. Noone had anything bad to say.
My car would roll and pitch when I drove spirited and I am hopeful this flattens things out a bit. As good as the car handled with stock units, I cannot imagine what the future holds but I haven't driven the car yet since I am also replacing most of the plastic and the wheel wells. What did you use?

I eventually went with the Ohlins, with a track spring/valve setup. I'm not sure what the 6k/8k means, because it doesn't seem to relate to what I'm accustomed to seeing for spring rates (But I'm not the pro). My springs are a 450/550 spring, with custom valving to match. (also adjustable)

there's a measurement that people use to set ride-height, based on the Porsche method. I'll attach an image. SPB rules say 90mm is the lowest you can go, but ALL of the racers will tell you that's too low, because once you get too low you get to the point where the LCA moves past horizontal and then you start to give-up camber (and everything goes out the window).

As a starting point, I set mine at 125mm front, 131mm rear (with 18" wheels). My setup guys said it was "pretty close". but of course some of this gets adjusted as further as they do your corner balance.

Looking forward to hearing how they ride!


http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1591806612.jpg

So Im just quoting what is listed on the webpage for my stuff. I understand what they mean by spring rate, I can even translate...6K for 1mm of compression, 12K for 2mm, likewise 8K for 1mm in the rear, etc. That said, I have no experience or preference for what would be ideal for my driving. I left that to the manufacturer while remaining hopeful I am pleased with the result. I drive the car to trader joes or go to the pool, etc. Its pathetic.

I took the initial setting for damping as well and didn't want the car lower, but figured 1/2 an inch? What the heck, do it.

For your chart here, I take it these are the limits for height, as measured from the street up to the cross brace in the rear and the tension arm upfront. Are these limits on lowering or are they a setting you need to adhere to...in otherwords, your car cannot be higher then that?

They're simply the factory spec. They don't represent a minimum or a maximum. But they give you something substantial to look at when you measure where you're at.

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yep, I'm a dummy sometimes. Now I understand these are stock heights and everything else you said falls into place. Seems my spring rate is a little light on the yellowspeed and better understand the importance. If I wanted a stiffer ride, stiffer spring. Let's hope this works out well for the street.
I went looking and didn't find this chart in the Bentley manual, what's your secret?

maytag - His spring rates are listed in KG/mm, which roughly translates to 350lb front / 450lb rear (+/- 30lbs or so)

Aaaahhhhh that makes sense. Thanks!

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Is this a problem?
 

Pulled the rear struts moments ago and looking at them side by side. The new strut is MUCH shorter and doesn't have the mounts for my antilock brake sensor and brake wear indicator wires. The strut didnt stick out the bottom like the fronts...this is wrong!
reviewing ECSY post earlier in this thread (he bought the same coilovers) calms my nerves a little as he shows his rear and the new side-by-side and they look the same, but what about the wires?

Sanity check?

Attachment 22398

Im using yellow speed easy inch lower than stock not a bad ride.

What about the wires?


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Were there any clips or anything with the kit? Ohlins provide some that slip around the strut body and so did KSport, their style sandwiches in between the drop link pinch bolt. There may be 3rd party versions available.

For the height, it probably doesn't compress as far as the very soft OEM setup so loaded up it probably won't be as extreme as it looks in the unloaded state.

of course, no clips. You might be right about the compression, time will tell when I drop the car.

dropped the car and everything looks fine...about 1/2 inch (13mm) lower which I planned for, barely noticeable. Car drives GREAT! night and day. No pitching in the turns, it stays flat, responds to the steering wheel immediately and feels really tight. This is the most significant change I have ever made.
I replaced every suspension component up front, already replaced the rear last year. I will have an alignment done later this week, but I think I "eyeballed" it almost perfectly. Neg camber and neutral toe in for the rear, front tracks straight and no scrubbing. Now I'm curious to see what my guy says about it when they put it on the "laser rack." Last remaining issue is anti-lock and brake-wear sensor wires. I could tie-wrap them to the strut but would like a better solution then that.
Another question...where the top meets the car, it is metal on metal. Do folks usually have a rubber gasket or something between the body and the strut?

Congratulations!

Please keep in mind that after the springs settle and the car will end even lower (perhaps by another 1/2"..?) For this reason you may want to wait a few months before paying for a corner balancing.

However, this didn't happen without any kind of pics.. :p
.

If you are talking about the very top of the strut, with the 3 threaded rods pointing up that go through the slots and bolted on top with the 3 nuts, no, it is metal to metal there both with the OEM strut tops and also the various aftermarket versions.