Just as my thread title states: anyone here lower their 991 themselves? Was wondering how difficult it was to do. I couldn't find anything out in reference to this here or on the web!


Let me know! It may be time to get low, get low!

 

Yeah fronts are cake rears require a lot of interior panels to be removed

 

Any other info Bacca? How long did it take you and what needs to be removed?


thanks for any addt'l info!


Talk to me Goose!

 

Sent you a pm

 

Lowered with H&Rs over the holidays.... Took me about 4.5 to 5 hours at a slow pace. And then took the extra step of putting back to stock about a week later!

Others have lowered their 991, not many have done it themselves. I am betting that there are various techniques employed to swap-out the springs. For the fronts I followed the shop manual for replacing the Strut/Spring assembly. But my experience may be a bit different than others as I have a 4S, and to remove the front strut/springs you will need to loosen the drive-shaft from the wheel carrier so that you get enough "play" to clear the top of the strut tower bracket. Other than that, the process is not that difficult. Yes, the rears are made more challenging purely due to the tight spaces you have to work with (to reach the top of the mounts you have to dig-in to the rear seat area), but other than that I felt they were easier to replace than the fronts. If you have a Cab this is even trickier from what I can tell.

But I would say, if you have lowered a car before, have the right tools and take your time, this is a DIY that the modestly talented wrench could complete. And if you are "lucky" enough to have a C2, the fronts are much easier to work with. Oh, and you should be prepared with a Strut Nut removal tool, like the one from Schwaben. If you car has PASM like mine, this is a must. I got mine from ECS.... You could also make your own, like Elephant Racing mentions in their posts.....

I took pics for a full DIY, but haven't had time to do the write-up....

Happy to share any experience I had, answer questions for those curious.

 

Curious why you switched back. Did you not like the ride quality. I am thinking of the same switch and am interested in your opinion about the change in ride stiffness.

 

It was purely a choice I made when considering the driving conditions around here this time of year.

The end result of the H&R springs actually brought the car down a tad below the ride height of a car with S-PASM. I don't drive a ton of miles (like 8k annual) but I do drive in ALL weather conditions, and wanted the extra bit of ground clearance during the winter. Just can't stand the noise the underpanels make when scraping along snow and ice, let alone the gravel that PA puts on the roads for ice control.

So the short story is that I actually installed the H&R's as a test project because I just couldn't sit here with those new springs staring at me a day longer! Once I was comfortable with the install procedures, I felt that I could do this again any time....

I drove about 100 miles immediately following, and the ride was just fine. I didn't notice anything being more harsh than running with sport chassis set to on, and honestly all the checks I made after the install I couldn't find much reason to get an alignment either (but likely would have if I kept them on any longer to avoid any tire wear issues).

Hope that helps? So no, this wasn't a ride quality issue for me at all. I will likely re-install in a month or so when the weather improves, maybe at the same time temps rise and I can switch back to my summer tire set.

 

Bacca and plenum: thanks go out to the both of you for this info!

This forum is great! Tons of top notch people willing to share info to help others out! Nice!

 

I have not considered lowering my TTS because I do some driving over speed bumps, and am afraid anything lower would scrape the car. Anyone that has lowered their 911 seen this?

Unfortunately, I cannot avoid these in my daily driving.

 

Where to begin.... Well, for starters with a TTS I believe you have a lower clearance at the front lip than a base or standard 911/S. Then you have those with aero, SD front covers with lower lips that I also believe could be lower.... Then there's those who have the front-end lift kit and on and on. So in other words, there are a lot of variables that go into considering whether adding lowering springs will be "too low" or not. In my own case, dropping 25mm or so won't cause me to worry about centering or banging the underbody panels on every speedbump or driveway. However, I've also heard others on this board state that they rub the front lip on their driveways (with no modifications), and others who don't have any scrapes at all. So the answer to your question is - It all depends, my friend!

My own personal opinion is that if I had a TTS that was my daily driver I would not lower it.

 

Plenum
Thank so much for that clear and complete answer. I too live in Pa and I understand what you mean by the nasty gravel they lay down in the winter, seems like volcanic rock in the spring.

I don't drive my 4S year round and was most concerned about the change in ride harshness. Thanks for the clear explanation. I may give the springs a second look now.
Best
JS

 

Plenum - +1 on the thanks. This is exceptionally useful info for a lot of us.

 

I lowered mine on H&R 18 months ago, it was quicker than with my Cayman, and I don't remember having to remove anything in the interior.



ps the wheels are for sale if you are interested

 

How did you unbolt the shock from the body if you didn't remove rear interior panels ??

 

Unless you came up with a new way to remove the rear springs from the rear shocks you absolutely need to pull back the interior carpet and insulation bits behind the rear seats that are "hiding" the rear shock tower mounting bolts. With the Cab you also have to deal with putting the top in service position and from what I can tell access is much more restricted space-wise....

By the way boatman -- still love that pic! Did you replace those wheels with something more aggressive? Or go back to stock?