Rear Toe Control Arm

[HorsiesInDaBack]

Hello, my 2004 986 S suspension is overdue for a refresh. I had considered refreshing the strut setup and ultimately decided to go with a coil over. I intend to use FEAL 1-way coilovers with 441+ swift springs and radial bearing upper spring seats.

I will lower the ride height a modest amount that keeps it easy to drive throughout the week on surface roads.

My understanding is that to maintain proper wheel alignment once lowered an adjustable rear toe end link is necessary and I have decided to use tarett. I am trying to decide if I should choose their motorsport style or not.

I see the biggest differences are locking style, OEM rubber vs spherical teflon end link, and bumpsteer adjustment. Price being $250 difference.

For use case, my 986 is a hobby and passion. It is my first Porsche but not my last and I will drive it and work on it until I run out of room or it's wheels fall off. I love the engineering, the experience, and satisfaction of seeing the work I do improve the look and feel. I some times use it as a daily driver for my work commute and when the weather is nice. I want to start visiting the track but I will not compete. I do not have an unlimited budget but I can afford to indulge in the car every few months. Ride quality is less of a factor than wanting the "oh, that is nice" on a windy road feeling. I however don't want ride quality to degrade to the point that I loathe the drive to said roads.

Is the motorsport style worth it for the long term to cover any possible future changes and give me the best feel/performance? Or will their standard adjustable links be enough for my use case?

[husker boxster]

These are the toe links from Tarett that I used on my Cayman. I imagine these are the teflon style you described.



Very happy with them and they didn't affect the ride quality. I do 2-4 DEs / yr and have the camber set at -2.0 in the rear. These arms are miles ahead of the factory egg-shaped bolt as far as keeping your alignment set. But the majority of my Cayman's life is on the street, so ride quality is important.

Anytime you start replacing factory bushings with harder materials, you're going to feel it on the street, however it's negligible to me with these arms. I have quite a bit of Tarett's engineering in my suspension. The only item that affected the ride was replacing the hockey pucs, but it wasn't bone jarring, just harsher.

I would recommend buying those toe arms. And another item to purchase are the monoball bearings for your LCAs. If you're still on the factory bearings, they're probably shot. If they're not shot yet, they will be when you start to do DEs.

Be careful - Tarett products are crack for the track or street addict. They have a crapload of great products and you can ring up a big bill if you're not careful. To keep things under control, I tend to add 1 or 2 of their items ea yr. My next purchase will be droplinks.

[HorsiesInDaBack]

Husker, thank you for your feedback! Is bumpsteer a real problem I should care about? That and the spherical links on both ends of their motorsport style are what appealed. Seems like I don't need all of that if the standard model is working well for you.

Also, crazy thing is I grew up in Omaha. Whole family is still there. I had to leave after I commissioned into the Army. How do you keep the cayman rust free up there? Do you put winter tires on ans still take it?

[husker boxster]

I don't have bumpsteer, but my car is not lowered (well I do have PASM so it's 10mm lower from the factory). I do have the max rear camber as mentioned before. Our local track (I-29, nee RPM, nee MAM) has become very rough and no noticeable bumpsteer. Drove at COTA back in Feb and there are a few bumps there that didn't cause any uneasyness.

I had the dealership do my suspension changes - Tarett monoballs on all 4 corners, GT3 control arms on the front, Tarett toe arms on the rear, and Tarett thrust arm bushings (hockey pucs). Added a race alignment of -2.6 front and -2.0 rear. When the tech came back from his test drive, he stated that that's how Porsche should've set the car up from the factory. I've since added Pedro's rear bar that connects the bottom portion of the suspension and backed the front camber back to -2.3.

I drive my LE from spring to fall and my CSS is my 'winter beater' as well as DE and show car during the summer. I have an old set of Blizzaks that I use in the winter and she gets around great on ice or snow < 4". When I was working, I had to get to work and she always got me there. This was pre-work from home and even when that was an option, I'd come in to prove I could. Porsches have great insulation from salt plus you do lots of hand wash jobs. A typical winter only has 2 or 3 really big storms. Now that I'm retired, I can plan ahead with provisions and stay home when it snows big time.

And when someone asks if I drive my Porsches in the winter, I say in my best German accent, "Dey have snow in da Fatherland ".

[Gilles]

Originally Posted by husker boxster

Tarett toe arms on the rear, and Tarett thrust arm bushings (hockey pucs).

Hello Husker, do you have the Tarett hockey pucks on the front and rear thrust arm bushings?
Saludos!

PS: Tarett products are indeed addicting..

[husker boxster]

Originally Posted by Gilles

Hello Husker, do you have the Tarett hockey pucks on the front and rear thrust arm bushings?
Saludos!

PS: Tarett products are indeed addicting..

Hi Gilles, sorry for the delay in responding. The shark battery was dead (10 days appears to be the limit) and I couldn't get Sydney on the Quick Jacks until yesterday. The answer is:

2 - only front. I couldn't remember when I wrote the post and that's why I didn't say 2 or 4. But after looking yesterday, they're only on the front. Hmmm... maybe I need them on the rear, they're probably worn out by now. Add to cart?

[Gilles]

On my car I have the Tarett sway bar drop links (F&R), the steering links (F), and the toe links in the rear and I am happy with them.

However, I believe that the kind of spherical (teflon/nylon?) will eventually start rattling once they start to wear down on uneven roads.
I am already on the second set of rear toe links (first set was from Rennline (installed first on the 987 and then moved to the 981), and the second set is from Tarett that were installed about a year ago.

But now I started to hear a bit of rattling on the rear end and not sure yet if the noise comes from the Tarett links, or from the OEM coffin arms, the car has about 39k..

PS: The bottom line for the OP question, for the long run I would recommend the OEM style rubber bushings, that are supplied by several good European manufacturers like Lemfolder, TRW, Mahle, oh, and by all means avoid URO..