Porsche 911 Carrera (996.2)

A suspension set-up session cures the 996’s disappointing dynamics

HAVING CONCENTRATED ON MAINTENANCE and powertrain mods for the bulk of last year, the final – well, final for now that is – piece of the puzzle with getting the Carrera driving sweetly was arguably the most important of all: the dynamic set-up.

I think it’s fair to say that while the modifications to and replacement parts for the car’s suspension and associated underpinnings were both comprehensive and promising on paper, in terms of creating a car to actually drive I had been somewhat less convinced. A wooden, harsh ride and unprogressive, unpredictable handling probably summed it up. I have to admit, I felt a bit lost with it all, and rather crestfallen.

Did that mean I would have to eat a sizeable portion of humble pie over fitting ‘upgraded’ aftermarket parts to one of Porsche’s finest? Partly, maybe. It has been a healthy reminder that the expertise, experience and development budget that goes into creating a car – any car, but particularly a Porsche sports car – is enormous, and that merely replacing parts with so-called ‘performance upgrades’ does not a better, or equal even, car make.

However, my counterpoint to that is twofold. Firstly, I didn’t want a car that drove like the original; I wanted one that captured some of the GT3 magic without trying to be that car (and failing). Secondly, the new and often adjustable parts fitted can only be as good as the set-up that’s been dialled in. That was the light at the end of the tunnel, and to help me reach it, enter Matt Spires.

Recommended to me by industry people ‘in the know’, Midlands-based Spires Tuning (spires-st.com) specialises in chassis diagnostics and set-up, based on Matt’s huge experience as a time-served suspension engineer for UK OEMS, and someone who still has input to current new vehicle development. I

figured sorting my old 996 would be a piece of cake for someone with his innate understanding of the humble spring and damper.

Matt kicked things off by getting my car on his inspection ramp and making sure there was nothing obviously wrong. I’d actually supplied him with some replacement adjustable coffin arms from Eibach to try and sort the knocking noise from the front suspension, but his examination revealed I already had their most up-to-date versions fitted, and that the issue was that the pattern-part tension links fitted – before my ownership – are slightly thicker in section than OE ones, and are fouling the Eibach arms slightly. I’ll need to get some OE or Eibach ones in there when the piggy bank allows.

Matt then took some simple ride-height measurements from the bottom of each wheel to the top of the arch, revealing a mismatch of heights, and commented that the car simply didn’t look right to the naked eye. The next job was to adjust those ride heights to ‘put the damper at the centre of its travel to optimise its capabilities,’ as Matt put it. As you may have already guessed, not for Matt the idea of cars ‘slammed’ in the name of aesthetics…

So, the car was raised about 20mm front and rear. ‘Your car had very little compression travel,’ explained Matt with a wry smile. ‘It was effectively sitting on its bump-stops, not on its springs, and on track it would have felt underdamped because the damper wasn’t able to do its job.’ No wonder it rode like a Steinway being pushed down the stairs.

Then it was onto the set-up ramp for corner weighting and geometry. The first shock was the number on the scales. Gen 2 996s are supposed to be slightly heavier than the early 3.4-litre cars (1340kg versus 1320kg), but 1410kg?! And my car is a non-sunroof, fairly lean example, with the middle sound system and rear parking sensors the only obvious options.

How ironic: there’s me, going around extolling the virtues of 996s and their light kerb weight versus the current 911’s, and it turns out that they’re not as light as I thought. Perhaps the weights quoted by Porsche back in the day were for base-spec German cars, which came with plastic trim for the dash and doors, no air-con, no leather, etc.

Anyway, you probably won’t be surprised to hear that the corner weights were out, so through adjusting the spring pre-load and ride height these were put to 50:50 across each diagonal axis. Then it was on to the geometry, which revealed quite a few anomalies, including the left-rear toeing in much more than the right. I can’t explain why these measurements should be out, but they were, so Matt dialled in the factory data but with a bit more negative camber.

The result? It takes something really profound to affect a car so much that you can tell the difference before you’ve left the car park, but the smile as I turned the wheel and drove 20 yards said everything you need to know. By the time I’d reached the first roundabout I was actually laughing out loud. It’s a car completely transformed, unrecognisable from the one I drove to Spires earlier that day. The steering is consistent, the car breathes with the road, the poise is back. We’ve set the KWS a bit firmer but the ride is so much better; I may soften them off further still.

We all spend considerable sums on our pride and joys from time to time, so at just £300 for the full works of inspection, ride height, weighting and geo (prices start at £156 for an inspection and geo set-up) this was hands down the best money I’ve ever spent on a car. Full stop.

Adam Towler (@Adamtowler)

Date acquired May 2016 Total mileage 85,577 Mileage this month 130 Costs this month £300 mpg this month 29.1

‘The ride heights simply didn’t look right to the naked eye’