Hey guys, so i have a 03 Carrera and over a year ago i upgraded my suspension to bilstein which i noticed a pretty significant change in the way my car handles. I was talking to a friend and he was telling me that sway bars are also a good thing to upgrade, so i called around and this one place here in Los Angeles was recommending that i get the GT3 sway bars...

Has anyone done this?
Any thoughts?

 

The answer is yes, but it depends on what you are going to do with your car (just enhanced street driving, some track, etc.)

If you are going to upgrade the sway bars I would recommend only upgrading the front to the GT3 sway bar (and you will need drop links) running in the center adjustment hole. Leave the rear stock. I am assuming you have the Bilstein PSS9 coil-overs?

 

Just as pmkazz said it depends on what you plan on doing with your car. The GT3 sway bar is 27mm thick but it going to give you a little more adjustability with five different settings then the H&R (26mm) and is non adjustable. For more information on the sway bars and drop links Click Here.

 

Im looking for for enhanced street driving.

Are the GT3 sway bars the way to go? And yes i have the PSS9.

 

I have GT3 sways with Bilstein PSS10 on my car. I have adjusted the front sway to the middle and the rear to second stiffest setting, which gives near neutral handling. A little understeer on corner entry can easily be adjusted to oversteer with the throttle.

One important reason I chose the GT3 sways was their low weight compared the non-OEM brands.

After first making the mistake of trying some cheap DesignTek front adjustable drop links which both snapped, I bought the Tarett engineering ones. They are at least Porsche OEM quality.

Personally, I would not experiment with different type front and rear sways. Adding a stiffer front sway while keeping the rear sway will increase understeer, this is the last thing you want to do if you aim to improve handling on a 996.

 

There are other sway bars that you could use, however, I would probable go with the GT3 bar and a good set of drop links. Tarett Engineering has a good product.

For the street, I would adjust the PSS9 to setting 7 (Front) and 6 (rear). I would add the GT3 sway bar to the front and I would leave the rear sway bar stock. This would be a good starting point for you. It you want the dampers to be stiffer you can make adjustments from there. This is generally a good combination for enhance street driving..

Feel free to email me for a more detailed explanation.

 

Can you please explain how adding a stiffer front sway bar can improve handling?

 

Eibach makes a sway bar kit with 25mm back and 24mm front then put in the front strut brace and you are gold.

 

I thought one of the better street setups was to upgrade just the rear to an H&R or similar since the 996 understeers with stock sway bars and this would make it more neutral handling?

 

I did some research and an aftermarket front strut brace on a 996 is just an ornament as the car already has an internal brace. Get one if you like the look.

 

Hi David! I agree. An adjustable rear sway bar even at one of the softest settings will reduce understeer. As I heard that the rear GT3 swaybar at its softest setting is still stiffer than the stock bar I decided to install the front GT3 sway as well. With the PSS10 at 7 front and 8 rear, the GT3 sways at middle front and second stiffest rear, and GT3 wheel alignments the handling is in a different league compared to stock.

However, with the Tarett Engineering front drop links this setup about 3x as expensive as replacing the rear sway only, so going with the rear first should certainly be worth trying.

 

Thanks bjarne996, good to hear I was not hearing the wrong thing. I plan to do this upgrade shortly.

David