First of all, just wanted to say the Bilstein Damp's completely alters the character of the suspension in a good way....car was aligned and new camber/toe set right after install(I know I should have waited to do this).

1. Road Feel--the "feel" of the car is much tighter now...kinda a heavy feeling without losing the feel for the road...you can now better tell whether your running over a pebble vs a spider......the front end "floaty" sensation is completely gone now...feels very planted now...the tight steering feel was also improved by new 5mm front spacer and 15mm rear spacers...spacers provide better looks but also provides better feel and lateral grip sensation imho by pushing tires/wheels out.

2. Turn In- this is much more responsive now...there is no more lag between steering wheel turn and the car changing directions now...this lag seems to have resolved now...I have the toe set at 0 because I didnt want the twitchiness that toe out can create even if this improves faster turn in...when the car squats with throttle, the toe will turn out slightly on its own and unless you do mostly track driving, neutral toe made better sense to me....camber is set -1.22/1.19 front and -1.6 for rears....did not get it cornered balanced.

3. Bump/Stiffness-some people say with damps its about 20-30% stiffer than PASM on/off...I think 50% at a minimum is more like it...there is no body roll now!...the car is stiff now no way around it...this is the sacrifice you have to be willing to live with for better handling...only place where I would use PASM sport mode is on the track from now on.

4. Ride Height-the car has been dropped 1 in or 25mm at all four corners...I did poor mans measurement from top of wheel well to ground and Im now 25 1/2 front and 26 1/2 in rear...you can definitely feel you are riding closer to the ground now...the look of the car is completely different now...much much better in looks department imho...also, gotta be careful when pulling into the driveway now as I have scraped several times now...cant just pull in without thinking about it anymore.

5. Acceleration??--sounds crazy but car feels faster now...while this prob couldnt be true, I think it has to do with the car being stiffer and nose not lifting and wasting energy and time before accelerating...this is the best explanation I can think of...but car feels abit faster and more responsive with throttle.

Drove some twisties and I can definitely take these corners faster and with more confidence now...car just feels rock solid around corners and begs to be driven harder imo...no roll, no front end diving with braking, no front end lift with acceleration....btw, I got new Bridgestone RE-11's also...these tires are really grippy.


Here are some before pics:

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After Pics:

 

Bad link for "before " pics...here are the pre-Damp pics:

 

Glad you are enjoying the Damptronics. This phenomenon is probably a result of being lower to the ground more than anything else. The lower you go the faster it feels.

 

Great write up. Glad you finally got your suspension nightmare sorted out. Wish I could say the same...

 

Great write-up and I'm glad to hear that everything worked out (perfectly it seems ) I know you went back and forth on your decision to get this done and I think it's obvious it was worth it. Congrats again and look forward to seeing you on the road.

 

Glad you are enjoying them, I find that they are a great set up for the 997, on the road or the track.

 

Great review thanks for sharing!

 

Sorry for being off topic, but after reading your review, I'm really looking forward to having my KW V3 installed tomorrow!!!

Just curious though, did you do the work yourself or did you bring it to a shop? Reason being, I am curious about a comparison between the shop rate in U.S. vs. Canada. I've been quoted anywhere from CAD$500 to CAD$1200, for the suspension swap & alignment.

 

Thanks for the writeup. I also had my damptronics recently installed, along with GT3 lower control arms. The same 25mm drop and the same spacers but I also got a corner weight balance. My findings are similar and am very happy with the result.... except for;
1) the clunking noise when turning at low speeds (see other thread)
2) the new low profile racing jack I had to purchase (as my cheap one no longer fits under the car... and I got sick of driving up on wooden blocks)
3) my GT3 chin spoiler gets even more scraped than before...

But it's all worth it for the better feel you get...

 

glad that your coils. I'm jealous that your car remained silent and mine had the dreaded clunk. I'd agree with pretty much everything you said with the exception of the acceleration though. That seems pretty absurd to say that it feels faster. I was actually shocked when I first put on my spacers and how different the car felt. Now I have a car that really feels like a Porsche....

 

Ed,

sorry to hear you're still having issues...Im sure it will be resolved in one way or another soon...goodluck!

 

hehe...if you would have asked me a week ago I would say GMG springs/sways but since I have my car back now Im good with my choice of Damps....btw, Jeremy at Matrix was great to work with...great communication throughout whole process...now Bilstein/SSF customer service thats another matter...

Hopefully I can still check your car out at the Coffee/Cars soon...the p-cars gotta stick together....

 

I paid 750.00 installed with alignment...was supposed to be 950.00 but I am repeat customer and I begged for lower price as I am a victim of Obamacare...

most places seem to charge 600.00-900.00 for install from my research.