Sway Bar Upgrade

[ike84]

Originally Posted by BrantyB

That would be me!

Nankang AR-1 235/40/18 front & 275/35/18 rear; with 24.0mm M030 front bar and 19.6mm M030 rear. And I love it for autocross. But I do prefer a bit of understeer, the bigger rear bar helps balance out the front to my liking.

Rear wheels are 9" O.Z. with 43mm offset. Fitment is fine and without issue, but I tried it with 5mm spacers and it rubbed, so there's not a ton of room.

With the spacers installed where did the rear tires rub? Outter wheel well?

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[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by 986 Boxster

Did you experience less body roll with the track focused alignment?
I got pretty much the same suspension set up that you have and I was looking to add an H&R rear sway bar, but after I had a track focused alignment done, after installing the suspension, most of the body roll, if not all is gone now.
ike84 is right, the factory staggered set up of 205 front & 255 rear on these cars suck, I was experiencing a lot of understeer before I changed to 225`s at the front also. I mentioned that before on a thread on here and I am surprised that none of the track gurus pointed to the width of the front tires as the cause of the understeer.

The track focused alignment was very aggressive, which reduced body roll a bit but it just wasn't practical for driving on the street. My personal preference is to keep a mild alignment and to let a sway bar provide assistance or compliment the overall suspension capabilities. I am debating if I want a rear sway bar, but will have to wait. I ended up buying a Tarrett GT3-style front sway bar and will try that first and decide if I want a rear later on.

I don't think I would recommend my previous alignment to anyone. There were a few scary moments on the street, even at traffic speed.

[ike84]

[QUOTE=bcrdukes;637191

I don't think I would recommend my previous alignment to anyone. There were a few scary moments on the street, even at traffic speed. [/QUOTE]

Ok I have to ask, what happened? I know that increasing toe and camber will trash tires but I'm ignorant to other types of issues...

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[bcrdukes]

There were a few times where I had to make sudden lane changes to avoid a collision or a quick turn of the steering wheel to avoid very deep potholes and the entire car just jerked and bounced in a very unpredictive manner.

Since going back to a mild street alignment, it hasn't happened.

[986 Boxster]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

The track focused alignment was very aggressive, which reduced body roll a bit but it just wasn't practical for driving on the street. My personal preference is to keep a mild alignment and to let a sway bar provide assistance or compliment the overall suspension capabilities. I am debating if I want a rear sway bar, but will have to wait. I ended up buying a Tarrett GT3-style front sway bar and will try that first and decide if I want a rear later on.

I don't think I would recommend my previous alignment to anyone. There were a few scary moments on the street, even at traffic speed.

I was in the same situation as you, but after my alignment I decided not to add the H&R sway bars. I`m probably gonna go thru tires a lot quicker, but at least the car handles great

[BrantyB]

Originally Posted by ike84

With the spacers installed where did the rear tires rub? Outter wheel well?

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Yep. Not a lot, but the Nankang's have a wide section width and the extra tire height probably didn't help. Rear camber is 2.5deg on stock suspension.

[bcrdukes]

I'm glad you like the Koni Special Active setup! I'm slowly hoping to convert more people over to it. Such an under appreciated set of shocks, which is the #1 seller for the 993 and 964 guys, but everybody here seems to praise the temple of Bilstein.

[986 Boxster]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

I'm glad you like the Koni Special Active setup! I'm slowly hoping to convert more people over to it. Such an under appreciated set of shocks, which is the #1 seller for the 993 and 964 guys, but everybody here seems to praise the temple of Bilstein.

I like bilsteins too, I have them on a couple of cars, we`ll see how long they last with the H&R sports springs. I would've liked to match them with the eibach springs, but as you know they are very hard to find. The eibach springs are a bit softer than the H&Rs.

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by 986 Boxster

I like bilsteins too, I have them on a couple of cars, we`ll see how long they last with the H&R sports springs. I would've liked to match them with the eibach springs, but as you know they are very hard to find. The eibach springs are a bit softer than the H&Rs.

Yes, agreed on the Eibach. I know they can be ordered from Europe but I didn't want to go through the hell of Customs etc. That would have been my preference.

I personally have not had good experience on Bilsteins; Koni has always worked very well for me.

[986 Boxster]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

Yes, agreed on the Eibach. I know they can be ordered from Europe but I didn't want to go through the hell of Customs etc. That would have been my preference.

I personally have not had good experience on Bilsteins; Koni has always worked very well for me.

Sucks that you`ve had a bad experience with bilsteins. I`ve never had any problems with them, and I`ve used quite a few sets over the years. I did have KW V1 coilovers before that started leaking after a couple of years on the car, that`s why I stay away from KWs and ST coilovers.

[986tate]

I just got the Eibachs from someone on here. I have stock dampers and springs and super happy with it the way it is. Increase in ARB had negligible impact on daily use, won’t try it on track until October

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by 986tate

I just got the Eibachs from someone on here. I have stock dampers and springs and super happy with it the way it is. Increase in ARB had negligible impact on daily use, won’t try it on track until October

Which hole/setting did you set it at?

[986tate]

I put it full stiff because that’s what the other guy did, solid logic, right?
Seriously, I was going to start full soft and inch it up but when I saw what he’d done I figured I could handle it. Babied it for a bit, then flung it around corner pretty good last week without issue so I think it’s alright.

[bcrdukes]

And this is for both front and rear sway bars?

[986tate]

Front isn’t adjustable. It’s the same shape as stock so they couldn’t add holes to change leverage. Uses stock drop links though, so that is nice

[bcrdukes]

I ended up with a Tarett Engineering GT3 front sway bar and Elephant Racing adjustable end links.

I'm planning to tackle the job myself in my garage - anything I should know before getting knee deep in this? There aren't very many articles on how to remove the existing front sway bar and vice versa. Thanks in advance.

[Quadcammer]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

I ended up with a Tarett Engineering GT3 front sway bar and Elephant Racing adjustable end links.

I'm planning to tackle the job myself in my garage - anything I should know before getting knee deep in this? There aren't very many articles on how to remove the existing front sway bar and vice versa. Thanks in advance.

its very simple. from memory, you need to remove the braces under the gas tank, and potentially loosen the plates into which the thrust arm bolts, but I could be wrong on that. Its a very easy job compared to a 987, no need to lower subframe.

[911monty]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

I ended up with a Tarett Engineering GT3 front sway bar and Elephant Racing adjustable end links.

I'm planning to tackle the job myself in my garage - anything I should know before getting knee deep in this? There aren't very many articles on how to remove the existing front sway bar and vice versa. Thanks in advance.

The following link has all the info you will need. It is what I used when I replaced mine.

https://www.renntech.org/topic/21534-help-with-sway-bar-instal/

[bcrdukes]

Wow, thanks!

Was it a pain pulling the original sway bar out? I presume one would have to be very patient jimmy'ing it out of there in the first place.

And can this be achieved with the car on jack stands?

[ike84]

It's pretty easy to get the front out, rear is a bit more involved but still easy. I did a writeup on the bushings replacements. The only additional steps would be to remove the drop links.

On a side note, does anyone know if the gt3 sway bars from newer generations (9x7, 9x1) will fit the 986? It seems that some of those pieces are reasonably priced and look like the same shape but obviously that doesn't mean they fit.

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