Coffin arms 991 style
 

Has anyone tried the 991 style coffin arms on their 986?

Wondering if it provides any improvement..

I haven't, but I was just watching the 11 After 9 podcast and they had a guy on from FCP Euro who was saying that Porsche has come out with a revision of the control arms for 968/996/987/997 that is more like the 981/991 style? I'll have to revisit it as I am probably due next year for a refresh. It wasn't clear what the difference was other than looks.

Here is the Pelican updated part. Can’t see a difference from the pic.

Part number 996-341-053-16 has been superseded by part number 996-341-053-20-OEM
Control Arm 996-341-053-20-OEM

Control Arm
Part#: 996-341-053-20-OEM
Genuine Porsche
This fits your 2002 Porsche Boxster S Convertible
(See part in the catalog)
MSRP $563.71
$519.16

(8% OFF)
May Qua

I think it will take time for pictures to get updated. FCP Euro shows a different style for this part number, but if you zoom in it is a 991 part number in the picture. It is likely that the part in the picture is what the new 996 part looks like. It also says on FCP Euro that you have to do both sides of an axle pair with the new design arm, and you need to use the new design trailing arm as well for 986/996 applications, so looking like $3,000+ in parts alone for a whole car. Pelican doesn't mention any of that, nor does any of the other sites I checked, which is interesting.

Very interesting actually. By the looks you'd think the 991 (at least the updated part number mentioned and the picture at fcp euro) appearts weaker.

I just did the front side of my car last winter and had different options, the beefier ones (which I chose) and the ones which seem weaker (and look a lot more like the part number mentioned here)... And indeed, then you can still mix and match the tuning forks... Mine are very thick where they fork across the coffin arm, the old ones were much thinner. Don't know why I would want the thicker ones, seems total overkill, but they were the best buy at the time..

So why is the updated style supposed to be better?

That really is the question.
If actually heavier (probably due to the 99x greater porcine factor) then how does that benefit us?
I suspect it just simplifies parts procurement and stocking for Porsche and dealers.