Porsche 996 Suspension Rebuild. What a Difference!

Are you a Porsche 996 owner wondering how you can improve the suspension of your car?

Read this article and see what we did with our high mileage 2003 996 C2. 

 If you haven't read any of our other blog content yet, please visit MGC blogs.

The MGC Suspensions 996, (Which happens to be my personal daily driver car) has been riding around on a tired, high mileage suspension for too long now. So after 112,000 miles of potholes, dirt roads, and curbs, we decided to freshen things up and make some big improvements.

We started with a completely stock, factory suspension that came with the car  back in 2003. We also had previously installed H&R street performance coilovers to lower the car and give some performance enhancement.

The only issue was the lower stance was stressing the limits of the factory end links, tie rods, and toe arms causing bump steer and rough handling. 

H&R street performance coilover kit that was previously installed. Ride height was lowered about 2 inches. They offer great rebound and compression presets and have ride height adjustability from 1-2.5 inches. Price is around 1900.00 for the kit.

First order of business for the rebuild was to replace the 4 lower control arms and 4 diagonal fork arms. These parts were supplied by Meyle which are high quality direct replacement units that are fairly priced.

We figured they were perfect for a budget specific rebuild. Meyle products are not currently available at MGC, but soon will be. Replacing these arms restores tightness to the handling and gives new ball joint ends to eliminate any of the common 996/986 clunking issues.

 Meyle brand lower control arms with new bushings and ball joints. These were the base for the project, and the only direct replacement parts used.

We then called our friends at Tarett Engineering for some help to put together a kit that was perfect for a daily driver that sees occasional track days and a lot of canyon carving. 

We started with front and rear GT series adjustable sway bars. They are made to the same specs as the factory GT3 bars and are a game changer! Here is the product description from our website about these great sway bars. 

"Made to the exact same specs as the Porsche OEM GT3 bars, for the same perfect fit and performance, but at a more affordable price.  CNC machine bent from aerospace quality 4130 chrome moly material for reliability you can depend on, and finished in black powder coating.  Pair them with our drop links to provide a winning combination!  The GT-Series bars are SPC, SPB, & SP996 spec legal.  The light weight hollow design is half the weight of a solid bar with the same stiffness.  Multiple attachment hole positions allow for quick and easy swaybar stiffness rate adjustments, to fine-tune your car's handling for various track conditions and driving styles.  All components are designed and manufactured to the highest quality standards, and make this the finest and most reliable sway bar on the market.

Shown above is the front 5-hole adjustable GT series sway bar we installed, along with a matching 4-hole adjustable rear bar. We used Tarett drop link kits to compliment the bars, which yielded stiffer, bind free performance which was very noticeable. Setup of the bars depends on driving conditions and driver preference. We set things to neutral (middle holes) to start and may adjust in the future. 

Pictured above are the front drop links we used. Notice the heim joint ends that give greater angle range to keep geometry correct at lower ride heights. They are also length adjustable with a right and left hand thread to make it easy.

Below is the drop link product description on our website. If your 996/997/986/987 is lowered, these links are great even with stock sway bars. 

"Upgrade your stock front sway bar with this simple bolt in replacement for the factory drop links. Left & right hand threaded rod ends allow for simple length adjustment to eliminate sway bar preload.

Eliminates the factory compliant plastic drop link bushings that deflect under loading and quickly wear out.

High misalignment, stainless steel spacers allow for superior bind free operation and corrosion resistance. Precisely connects the stock or adjustable sway bar to the front strut assembly for improved feedback and sway bar response.

• Pinch Style Locking Design: Provides easy alignment compared to the typical jamb nut designs that tend to shift when you lock them down. Several tedious iterations are usually needed to get it right. The pinch style design allows you to simply set toe and lock it down with no shifting and resetting required. It also allows for a significantly increased adjustment range, and is much easier to reach than the jamb nut design.

 

• Bump Steer Optimized & Adjustable: The attachment to the wheel is raised more than any other kit on the market, thus maximizing bump steer reduction on 986/987/996/997 suspensions. Spacers can be added as needed to adjust bump steer, but most applications require raising the attachment point to reduce bump steer.

 

• High Quality Rod Ends: Precision grade 3-piece Teflon lined spherical rod ends replace the compliant factory rubber bushing for improved suspension response and feedback, and also reduces toe changes under acceleration and deceleration. The result is improved rear end stability and control. The rod ends are over sized for high strength and long life, and have a fine thread for more precise adjustability. The Teflon liner is self-lubricating for smooth and quiet operation, and long life.

 

Shown above is 1 of the 4 upper control arms in the upper control arm kit. Simply rotating the link will quickly and accurately increase or decrease the overall length and adds additional camber adjustment over the OEM links. 

Benefits of these arms are similar to the toe arms and tie rod kits:

Tarett Engineering is proud to be able to provide these new Motorsport style camber links. Inspired by the Porsche Motorsport design, this no compromise design is hands down the best rear upper control arm on the market.

• Pinch Style Locking Design: Provides easy alignment compared to the typical jamb nut designs that tend to shift when you lock them down. Several tedious iterations are usually needed to get it right. The pinch style design allows you to simply set the length and lock it down with no shifting and resetting required. It also allows for a significantly increased adjustment range. 

 

• Increase Camber Adjustabilty: The adjusting link has a left and right hand thread on each end. Simply rotating the link will quickly and accurately increase or decrease the overall length and adds additional camber adjustment over the OEM links. 

 

• High Quality Rod Ends: Precision grade 3-piece Teflon lined spherical rod ends replace the compliant factory rubber bushing for improved suspension response and feedback,  also reduces alignment changes under loading.  The result is improved rear end stability, control, and traction. The rod ends are over-sized for high strength and long life with a fine thread for more precise adjustability. The Teflon liner is self-lubricating for smooth and quiet operation, and long life.

We are extremely happy with the results of this project. The suspension has been transformed and is now better than new. If your Porsche, or other German car is on a worn out, high mileage suspension, we highly recommend a suspension upgrade. Nothing else will change the character of your vehicle more. 

All Tarett suspension parts shown above are available on the MGC Suspensions website, Email us if you have any questions or need recommendations. We also have parts by Tarett for BMW and MINI, check the site for more info.

Our friends at Redline Automotive in Orange, Ca. did the installation, setup, and alignment.

If you are in Southern California and need German car service, definetely give them a call. 

 Here are some additional photos 

The best Porsche 911 suspension upgrades are at MGC.