Hey guys,

So I'm debating on what to do for a suspension setup. I've got an 09 911S w PASM. I was looking at either the Bilstein damptronic or the PSS9

OR
doing RSS sway bars and lower control arms.

OR
forget those and replace my power comfort seats with the carbon buckets...

PASM Isin't too bad but I'd like to get to the track more this summer. So my thinking was doing the RSS kit to sharpen it up and do coilovers next year... Or bite the bullet and do coil-overs. Since damptronic is the only kit that's compatible is there a big enough or noticeable difference going to that from PASM? Any advice would be appreciated, thanks guys!

 

I had Bilsteins and H&R sway bars on my C2S, loved the way they made the car feel, however on the track I found that the seats were a must. If you budget is limited, buy the seats, and get a good alignment on your current set up.

 

with PASM I believe you will need do the damptronics.

My suggestion would be in this order:

LCA
damptronics
buckets and harnesses
RSS


I did it in this order with PSS9's since I don't have PASM.

I can see doing it Northvan's way if $$$ is an issue. But LCA would be first...since its going to save tire wear over the long haul.

good luck

 

buckwheat986 - LCA is lower control arms from the GT3?

I don't track my car, but I put in Bilstein PSS (since I have PASM) and GMG Sway bars (had to replace drop links in the front to fit them, but didn't need to in the rear). Makes a huge difference around the mountain roads out here, drove it back to back with stock just to make sure I wasn't imagining things. Both cars were on Michelin PS2s.

Car was lowered about 1/2" or so, maybe a tad more (didn't want to go too low, I have the aero kit and that front spoiler scrapes like crazy).

I did a fairly aggressive alignment to match, and I'm not sure what made the most difference out of all these mods. In an ideal world I would do them one at a time (in a perfect world I'd compare stock to each of those mods in isolation but obviously that's not realistic)! I went for it all at once to save on cost and get it done in one trip to the shop, so sorry I can't say for sure which I felt gives the most bang for the buck.

The car turns in faster, corners flatter, and understeers less, and on some turns where I had to do a slight lift to rotate, I can now just hook up on the power (although you can still fine tune and rotate in off throttle if you like).

Take this with a grain of salt, as these are at responsible street speeds, the track is a completely different story - I haven't had the car out there to see, but I suspect it would be great.

I do have the stock seats, and they are now the weak link as others have said. On the track I would be flying out of the seat and would definitely put in sport seats. Even on the street I'm moving around a bit more than I'd like in the seats, and might consider sport seats as well, definitely a very good idea, in fact if I was going to the track and could only do one thing I'd do sport seats (and an alignment) before I'd use the stock seats and add to the suspension.

With these mods, the car is even more of a pleasure to drive in the street, even when taking it easy, took a fantastic car and made it even more fun, it didn't lose any of the 911 personality, just more balanced.

-- Gordie

 

lol just do both!

 

modenaboy,


great set-up and I can see how it made a difference. Seats and alignment are one way to go especially if you track the car allot. If its a DD also, then I'm no so sure.


yes..gt3 LCA's.

I did mine a little at a time and the seats and harnesses last. I only have one day, this past friday on the track in the seats and harnesses.

I can say that with the seats and harnesses I can feel the slip angle of the car at every turn.

thanks for posting in such detail. I enjoyed it.

 

The suspension mods will pretty much "force" to get more support from your driver seat.

Regarding the suspension mod choices that you are considering:

Coil overs of any brand are going to make your car stiffer: MUCH STIFFER.

Going with after-market adjustable sway bars will give you flat, adjustable handling without causing your car to be uncomfortably stiff on the street.

If after you install the sway bars, you still want the coil overs you can add them.

LCA's for the front are going to be required to get enough camber for track use (2-3 degrees negative camber). You can get the needed rear camber with the stock eccentric bushings. (should be set to about 1/2 degree less camber than the front).

The end results are still overall determined by the driver. Improving driver skill is still the most important time/money spent.

 

if you want to keep PASM functionality - get damptronics.
if you are going to run on track and will need to boost camber to -2.5 or -3 degrees in front - get RSS Tamrac or GT3 LCAs. if you will only drive on street - do not do LCAs.

if car will run on track - put on both most recent GT3 sway bars, front and rear, also front fork arms, also rear toe arms.
seats and harnesses are must if you will also put proper rollbar.