MarkTro

I’d love to know what 997 owners think about coil overs and what the cost / value is on them.

I did a quick search of threads and didn’t find much, but please share links if there are.

My car is a 2008 997.1 C4S cabriolet. I will probably not track it, definitely not too often but do a fair amount of mountain driving with it and LOVE that.

Any info would be appreciated.

Graufuchs

Common choices are:

Ohlin Coil overs
Bilstien Coil overs
KWV3 Coil overs

Budget Friendly Coil overs:

BC Racing Coil overs

Handful of threads about them on the forum.

jchapura

Since you have an S, you can use the DSC controller. I switched to Ohlins R&Ts - and I love them for hard driving situations - if I had to do it again, I'd install the DSC controller to complement the original (electronic) struts (to get the automatic adjustability and wider range of adjustment for different situations).

Meraki Autoworks

What kind of questions do you have? Most owners are at higher miles now so stock shocks are blowing. We sell a bunch of options, BC Racing, Bilstein, Ohlins, those are our best sellers.

-Josh

Martyb3g

I have a set of Feals from my 07 4S in the classifieds, like new. Have about 6k miles on them. $500. They are just sitting in my cabinet in my garage.

Goose 993

PO had the BC Racing. I think they are fine for my driving. I put them more toward the stiff dampening.

jamesinger

If you want to keep PASM, get a DSC controller, and if you will never adjust your ride height and etc. get the B12 kit from Bilstein. From my understanding you can get it with Eibachs (Bilstein B8s with Eibach Pro Kit Springs) or H&R (Bilstein B8s with H&R springs). This is also a more chill option for daily and spirited drives IMO. If you want to fine tune your ride height for stance or for corner balancing, AND if you do not want to get rid of PASM, get a DSC controller and Bilstein B16 if you have any kind of budget, OR Tractive coilovers if you do not have a budget (but these would be massive overkill for canyon runs and coffee runs). I would argue both are overkill but the B16 kit is pretty liveable for daily use with the DSC. Without the DSC, you will have a very harsh ride. I just took out what is essentially a B16 kit (OEM GT3 997.1 GT3 coilovers) after 5 years to go to a B12 kit + DSC to get a better ride for commuting and longer drives over trackable canyon carving perfection but louder and harsher for daily duty. The only negative is that I cannot dial in my ride height to exactly where I want it. However, I usually let a suspension specialist do this because I am an idiot and will just slam my car...lol.

To put the DSC box in your car, you or a mechanic who knows how will need to wire in the 3 axis accelerometer in addition to replacing the damptronic PASM controller with the DSC controller (which is plug and play).

If you do not care about PASM, Ohlins R+T or KW V3s should be perfect for what you are asking for. There are other brands too but I have used both Ohlins and KW products for suspension that I OCD level tuned and I got excellent results with both and both offer some kind of PASM delete kit option.

MarkTro

Thanks Josh. I was trying to figure out how much performance improvements are achieved with coil overs on mountain road driving.

I am learning that the coil over are typically added now once the shocks need to be replaced and / or when you want to do a more extensive suspension overhaul.

if that sounds right, I’m all good. Again, appreciate your response and input.

MarkTro

Great input and knowledge drop. Thank you so much for this. I really appreciate it. I don’t want to make the ride too stiff and uncomfortable, so I think I’m going hold off, but this info really helps in making an informed decision.

Again, thanks so much!

Petza914

I love my B16s with TPC DSC controller. Ride is better than stock and so is he handling.

Petza914

Looks like the shocks are assembled incorrectly. The flat section of the spring should sit on the bottom spring perch and the open coil at the top should be captive in the shaped plate at the top.






You need to pass the shock through the UCA before installing it, at least you do if the LCA is installed. I've never changed both at the same time though so maybe if the UCA and LCA are out you can install the UCA first and pass it through from the bottom, then install the LCA.

smrpr

Yours is a .1, right? How difficult was the DSC GPS install?

Petza914

Yes, 05 C2S and I installed the 3-axis accelerometer in the rear near the DME. I think this location works better than the center console as it's closer to the balance point of the car. Not difficult other than working in the cramped back seat. Have to remove the Bose subwoofer to get to the stuff underneath.

Depending on mileage, that would be the time to renew your rear shock top mounts too as tha acres to the mounting nuts for the top caps is there too.

tsulli1

Last week I installed B16's to replace the Ohlins R&T that a previous owner had installed on my 2012 C4S.
I have no idea when the Ohlins were installed, but the car now has 85K miles on it and it felt like it needed a refresh.
The Ohlins seemed to be good coilovers, but they were basically always a bit stiff, and adjusting them wasn't what I would call easy.
I wanted to utilize the PASM (so I also removed the PASM cancellation resistors that were installed) and will probably be getting a DSC sometime in the future.
So far I love the Bilstein B16s and the fact that the damper stiffness changes at the push of a button.

Hootsama

I'm running stock PASM set-up and have no experience with coilovers on a 911, but I highly recommend getting a TPC DSC controller before making any other investments. I think you will find the improvement it delivers to be meaningful. If you still ultimately need to replace your stock shocks OR you require further improvement, this will give you a very solid starting point.