ccaarmerciill

Do it!

Compared to the stock suspension with 65k miles on it, it truley is night and day. The overall feel of the car is transformed, from that infamous floaty highway feeling to crisp smooth transitions over big dips, and rougher roads. Even shifting, and aggressive braking/ acceleration feels firmer. Overall the car feels planted, honestly it should have came from the factory like this on all base carreras. I don't notice much more NVH, or roughness over bumps, maybe slightly. But the increased rigidity in corners, and uneven roads is well worth even the barely noticeable compromise. My car doesn't feel "sketchy" on the highway anymore, and I am already much happier with my car overall.

It was also a very simple DIY. It was very straight forward, I took my time and did the fronts one afternoon and the rears another afternoon. Basic hand tools work, the only annoyances was having to remove a few extra bolts for the front sway bar on some bits and pieces, and trying to line up the bottom rear shrut mounts into position to return the bolt in place. I did it all on my own, but like others have mentioned it would've likely saved a lot of time if someone was there with an extra set of hands to wiggle a part here or there.

Parts used:
Front and rear shock mounts
Front bearings
Entire ROW M030 suspension kit (sway bars and bushings included)
Sway bar end links
New front shock bump stops (I cut these down a little bit, due to the shorter travel on this suspension compared to stock) rears are already included in the kit

The car is a little twitchy as far as steering goes, although I love this feeling as the car has amazing turn in I know the front Toe is likely out a little bit. (I pushed the mounts all the way inward to increase as much negative camber I can get for auto-x) I have an appointment for a custom alignment on Monday morning, so far the plan is to go with GT3 specs. Also looking forward to some wheel balancing fun as well, since I've had a slight steering wheel vibration since I had my Dunlop ZII's mounted and balanced (I really don't think they balanced them).

Anyway, just wanted to share my thoughts. I had to throw this suspension on ASAP after what recently happend to my hood from a suicide attempt by a wall mounted cabinet in the garage. It's made me feel better already!

PS. For those of you ride height freaks, I've only noticed a little bit of a drop. IMO it looks perfect the way it is now, not too low, but it got rid of a little bit of fender gap. But that's been covered enough already on this forum with pictures etc, don't need to beat a dead horse.

CJWessing

I'm seriously considering this upgrade, thanks for the write up. Did you just have to buy the m030 kit, or the other parts you mentioned too?

I've never done any suspension work myself, but would like to attempt it. Wondering if there's any other bits I should replace while I'm in there (bushings, etc.)

Thanks,
Chris

ccaarmerciill

Depending on mileage...

At least replace the front/ rear shock mounts, front shock bearings, front bump stops, sway bar end links at minimum. These items don't come with the ROW M030 kit. It added maybe $4-500 to the cost, but you don't want to re-use these items then find out they are worn... then you're going to find yourself takinge everything else back apart to replace them. If you want to be really proactive since you need an alignment after anyway, I'd replace the control arm/ bushings, tie rods maybe. Mine seemed to be still in good shape, so I just replaced what I mentioned above.

It is very straight forward. Rent a spring compressor from a local auto parts store if you don't already own one. Taking apart your old suspension, you'll see how everything comes together on your new suspension. These are tools I remember using:

21mm, 18mm, 17mm, 15mm open ended wrenches
21mm, 18mm, 17mm, 16mm, 15mm, 13mm, 10mm socket wrenches
Jack & stands
Rubber Mallet
Pry Bar
Grease for the sway bar bushings
Locking wrench for top part of rear shocks
Allen wrench (socket type) for top part of front shocks (forget size)
Allen wrench (Socket type) for Brake Calipers (forget size)

When removing the front suspension, you have to remove the front calipers from the rotors. This is just two bolts, and another small bolt for the line mount. Make sure you use bungee chords or something to hold up the caliper while taking everything out, so you don't put undue strain on your brake lines. The front suspension will slide outward from the top, and will barely squeeze out if you put some weight on the entire front axle assembly. There are DIY's on here, I didn't actually follow one.. but remember a few highlights that saved me some time. Total was maybe 4-5 hours of labor, it took me longer but I take a lot of breaks and get sidetracked here and there. It's an easy DIY, just nuts and bolts and some wiggling of stuff around.

rb101

i upgraded mine from stock to M030 at about 130K miles. It is a huge change from worn out struts. I replaced a few other parts while I was in there (1 torn CV boot, ripped drop link, and found a bad front wheel bearing).

white out

I didn't 'do ROW, but switching over to coilovers totally changed the 996. It went from feeling like and GT car to a sports car. Front end float was GONE and the car has the best turn-in of any car I've ever driven.

ccaarmerciill

Agreed, the responsiveness now reminds me of my E36 M3 that I had fully set-up for autocross with an aggressive set-up. Car feels like a 911 should now!

rglbegl

Where does one find this ROW m030 set up?

Invius

http://www.suncoastparts.com/product...=996Suspension

rglbegl

Gracias senor

My car was a commuter for the previous owner, I doubt it ever saw the track. But it seems the time has come to replace the suspension anyway. Just ordered the set. Probably gonna install it myself as I have done this tons of times before. Then an alignment and I think my weekend car will be set for the next year.

rglbegl

Done !!!
Sway bars and all. There was a little cursing, and a few bloody knuckles, but it is done. I had a neighbor help me when three hands were needed.
My wife wanted to drive it today, so she gets to wait at the alignment shop.

Little hint for those who want to do this; Most tool companies make pass through sockets now so you can remove the strut mount easily.

chsu74

I would get a few hundred miles in the new suspension before alignment. It allows everything to settle. One of the must dos when buying a used Pcar.

rglbegl

It helps to loosen the a-arms (Or whatever they are called) and not tighten them until the car is back on the ground. This helps set the suspension at its correct height.

My wife is (guaranteed) going to drive the car a bit before the appointment this afternoon. She loves this car.

alpine003

Pics of current ride height?

rglbegl

I never got pics of the before. I planned on grabbing a tape measure and check the difference. But I got too excited and started removing nuts and bolts and forgot to take pics.


Another hint for those doing this at home . . you need a really skinny set of wrenches to get the sway bars off.

alpine003

I don't really care about the before but just like to see the after. Trying to get a sample of ROW owners as lowering has been really inconsistent and seeing if there is some sort of correlation somewhere in there.