2002 Suspension Upgrade - what would you do?
Registered User
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,870
From: San Diego, San Francisco
Rep Power: 116
Duane, That's helpful information to include in a suspension post. It is definitely the 19s/tire size combo effecting your lack of camber adjustment. The eccentrics have a range based on the specs of the OEM tire height and width (P-Zeros). Beyond that and all bets are off!
For the Tarred Drop links, are yours clanking or squeeking? For squeeking we used white lithiium grease. For the clanking, we found that the angle was slightly off and making slight contact with the control arm. Simple adjustment took care of that!
Mike
For the Tarred Drop links, are yours clanking or squeeking? For squeeking we used white lithiium grease. For the clanking, we found that the angle was slightly off and making slight contact with the control arm. Simple adjustment took care of that!
Mike
I crawled under the rear end (both on the gound and in the air) and found out the drop links are twisting on the ball joint ends as the suspension travels up and down. Tarret said this is an occasional problem but there is an easy fix. I got some O-rings and put them on each side of the
ball joints. That stops the twisting movement (which isn't needed) and its a cheap fix.
Last edited by Duane996tt; Jan 8, 2010 at 11:02 PM.
Registered User
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 594
From: Taiwan
Rep Power: 47
Duane, That is VERY GOOD info to have, man! Thanks!
Mike
Mike
Hi Mike,
I crawled under the rear end (both on the gound and in the air) and found out the drop links are twisting on the ball joint ends as the suspension travels up and down. Tarret said this is an occasional problem but there is an easy fix. I got some O-rings and put them on each side of the
ball joints. That stops the twisting movement (which isn't needed) and its a cheap fix.
I crawled under the rear end (both on the gound and in the air) and found out the drop links are twisting on the ball joint ends as the suspension travels up and down. Tarret said this is an occasional problem but there is an easy fix. I got some O-rings and put them on each side of the
ball joints. That stops the twisting movement (which isn't needed) and its a cheap fix.
Registered User
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 4,880
From: In a Canyon - Really :)
Rep Power: 290
I went with an aggresive front camber and rear H&R bar. Kept the rears as flat as possible to save tire wear. My logic was that rear tire tires are expensive and already wear too fast. The fronts on the other hand get no wear. The car has significatly better front bite now and drives the canyons much better.
Probably going to get GMG dog bones to dial out the rest of the rear camber. The rears carry too much camber when lowered IMO and kill the tires...
Probably going to get GMG dog bones to dial out the rest of the rear camber. The rears carry too much camber when lowered IMO and kill the tires...
Registered User
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 3,787
From: Edmonton, Alberta
Rep Power: 209
All of the adjustable bars out there are going to be an improvement over the OEM stock non-adjustable bar. The H&R has three holes for adjustment and is a stock-ish diameter where as the GT2/3 bar has an extra hole or two for more adjustment... Regardless which bar you buy, you'll likely end up with the front at the softest setting, so keep that in mind when pricing bars...
Mike
Mike
Banned
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 684
From: San Francisco
Rep Power: 64
i had pss9's in my old car, and was fairly impressed although i felt that you really had to set them stiff to get them to handle right.. therefore the springs were not sprung high enough and had to counter that with the shock which is a no no..
i guess i will have to drive a car with pss10's and get a feel for them. i have been told that achieving gt2 alighnment may be tricky with the pss10s'
is it true that the pss10 shocks can bottom out if you lower the car too much??
mike
Registered User
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 2,018
From: el salvador
Rep Power: 147
Me too, the more i think about it i think that PSS10's are the right choice over the KW V3's... you cant beat the build quality of the bilsteins or the easy adjustment.. i think that the v3's would be a pain in the *** to adjust every time you take it to the track..
i had pss9's in my old car, and was fairly impressed although i felt that you really had to set them stiff to get them to handle right.. therefore the springs were not sprung high enough and had to counter that with the shock which is a no no..
i guess i will have to drive a car with pss10's and get a feel for them. i have been told that achieving gt2 alighnment may be tricky with the pss10s'
is it true that the pss10 shocks can bottom out if you lower the car too much??
mike
i had pss9's in my old car, and was fairly impressed although i felt that you really had to set them stiff to get them to handle right.. therefore the springs were not sprung high enough and had to counter that with the shock which is a no no..
i guess i will have to drive a car with pss10's and get a feel for them. i have been told that achieving gt2 alighnment may be tricky with the pss10s'
is it true that the pss10 shocks can bottom out if you lower the car too much??
mike
I had a PSS9 for a M3E46 that i sold to buy my 2002TT and i had KW'2 for Renault Clio Sport that i used to race track and i prefer the KW over the Bilstein because it was easyer for me to set up my car.Maybe the Renault was easyer to set up then the M3,but it was my experience.Later on i hope to save to buy the KW'3 ,if i don't get to save enough i'll buy the PSS10.
Rolando
Former Vendor
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 572
From: orange county, Ca
Rep Power: 0
Well, I finally pulled the trigger on some Bilstein PSS10's coilovers. I am thinking of upgrading the swaybars to H&R as well. The car spends 99% of its time on the street, albeit spirited driving
. What additional mods would the board suggest? I don't really want to lower the car and I run stock rims/tire widths.
thanks!
. What additional mods would the board suggest? I don't really want to lower the car and I run stock rims/tire widths.thanks!
You sound like you have a great street setup that's both aggressive looking and comfortable.
If you plan to lower the car quite a bit from stock, you might get uneven tire wear if you don't have adjustable rear links. You can pair them up with a nice set of sway bars for a suspension setup that's designed to perform.
We can get RSS dog bones for you which should help out with this. Please PM or call me for more info.
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 2,058
From: Florida
Rep Power: 125
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 1,076
From: SF Bay area
Rep Power: 83
I just (this past monday) had a set of PSS9's and H&R sways put on my 2002. It's made a HUGE difference in street driving. The front end float is gone, the bump steer crap is almost gone and the car feels so much more secure on all surfaces and speeds. This along with the newly installed 997 SSK has really transformed the car. The stock units had 52K miles and in hindsight were absolutely horrible!