make sure all you guys putting in new suspension get an alignment done asap (after the setup settles of course), even the slightest adjustments/additions to our suspensions throw them out of spec

 

On the ROW M030 setup. Is this a sport suspension offered as an option by the factory? At the prices you are quoting it appears half the price of the PSS9 and PSS10 setups, am I missing something here? Is it comparable (I have a 2000 C2 Cab)? Does it include springs? Is it adjustable for damping and ride height? On all these hi performance suspensions, are sway bars, etc required to make them work properly? Thanks for the advise.

 

Dharn55, newbie to the 6speedonlie threads; but I find your experience very interesting. Last year in Colorado at the Porsche parade I purchased a 996, The Essential Companion. It steps the DIYer throught the PSS9 install process, but apparently undersells the weight/difficulty issue on C4/C4s [I own one]. Does mention jacks for support and old style VW jacks for rear shock absorber 'pulldown'. Do you think those would have made things more to one man job? Lastly what was the result of your 300lbs torque requirement on the front axels?

 

The rears were easy, did not need a jack or anything. Used a set of spring compressors to allow easier compression of the shock. All you really need to do is disconnect the sway bar, undo and pull out the lower bolt on the shock, then mark the location and undo the three upper nuts on the top mount and the unit comes right out. Then disassemble the unit and install the new coilover, you use a few pieces from the old assembly. Then re-install the mount at the top. I was able to push the shock up enough by hand to re-install the lower mounting bolt, no need for a jack. Did not even take off the caliper on the rear.

As I said before, the fronts on a C4 are more difficult. The front driveshafts prevent the wheel carrier from lowering enough to get the top of the assembly out from underneath the fender. So you have to take off the caliper, undo 2 ball joints and pull out the driveshaft. However, the instructions in the service manual are a little misleading. They say to take off the nut on the driveshaft at the wheel carrier to disconnect the driveshaft. Don't bother, the only way the driveshaft is coming out of the wheel carrier is with a press. Leave that nut on (it is the one with the 300lbs of torque) and simply pull the driveshaft out of the center differential, it will easily slide out. Protect the splined shaft that goes into the differential from dirt and debris as you will be moving it around some. Now the wheel carrier will come out enough to get the assembly out from under the fender and the shock out of the bottom mount. Then do the disassembly and reassembly of the coilover (note the reused parts per the Bilstein instructions). I recommend cleaning and re-greasing the bearing at the top. The put the lower end back into the wheel carrier and re-install it. This is where two people are helpful as the whole assembly is pretty heavy. You have to align the driveshaft in the differential to slide it back it and them lift the assembly up to mount the top and it is very helpful to have someone at the top to help guide the bolts through the holes and start the nuts. Then re-install the ball joints, etc. Now you will have to push the driveshafts all the way back into the differential, us a wooden dowel and a rubber mallet to slide them all the way in. You might want to take off the lower plastic shield so that you can see that they go all the way in ( I did not do this at first and ended up with differential fluid all over as the shafts were not seated in the seals at the differential).

Then drive the car a little to settle the springs and get a 4 wheel alignment.

 

So is ROW stiffer than PSS9 when PSS9 is set to soft?

 

I just put a set of K-Sport coil over in. Took me 3.5 hours including ride height setup.

Going to get alignment this friday with corner weight for $250.

 

I just had PSS10 installed, plus alignment for $700 on a '99 C4. It was setup to GT3 alignment specs which lowered the car almost 2 inches. Great Upgrade! I was surprised how easy the 10-way adjustment is, turn feel the click, done. Simple to change for track and back for street use.

 

Not sure how you could get 2 inches of lowering, and the alignment spec is based on how low the car is but does not raise or lower the car. You should know though that while the Height adjustment on the PSS10's will let you raise and lower the car quite a bit, Bilstein instructions really only provide for a 5mm range of height adjustment, which is really for corner balancing. Outside of this range interferes with the proper operation of the shocks. You can do it but it is not recommended. With my PSS10 install I got about 1 inch of lowering. If the installed dialed down the adjustment to get 2 inches then they have to way out of the range recommended by Bilstein.

When I was researching coilovers and even when I bought the PSS10's I thought they were "height adjustable" but when installed correctly that is really not the case. There are coilovers that provide for more height adjustment.