Ride Height

[dsnow]

I have a 2002 C4S and am wondering what would be the best way to lower the ride Height by 1" to 1.25". I do not track the car just want the look with less wheel well showing. I have put 997 19" turbo wheels on it with the following tire and rim sizes (Front 235/35/19 Rim is 19x8 Rear 315/25/19 Rim is 19x11) to compensate so the diameter of the tire and rim stayed constant with the 18"'s that were on it to begin with. Thanks in advance for your opinions.

This is with the 19" wheels. Kind of on a downhill slope from the nose of the car with a shadow in the front so makes the front end look high.

This is with 18" wheels. The gap with the 18"'s or the 19"'s from top of tire to bottom of fenders are virtually the same just below 2 inches.

Thanks again for any advice.

soutahc4s

Edited April 6, 2011 by soutahc4s

[msaif]

I have a 2002 C4S and am wondering what would be the best way to lower the ride Height by 1" to 1.25". I do not track the car just want the look with less wheel well showing. I have put 997 19" turbo wheels on it with the following tire and rim sizes (Front 235/35/19 Rim is 19x8 Rear 315/25/19 Rim is 19x11) to compensate so the diameter of the tire and rim stayed constant with the 18"'s that were on it to begin with. Thanks in advance for your opinions.

This is with the 19" wheels. Kind of on a downhill slope from the nose of the car with a shadow in the front so makes the front end look high.

This is with 18" wheels. The gap with the 18"'s or the 19"'s from top of tire to bottom of fenders are virtually the same just below 2 inches.

Thanks again for any advice.

soutahc4s

Nice ride, although I think the stock look is much in keeping with the 996 lines. Standard 18" alloys with 295 at the back looks right, as does the standard 10mm lower sports suspension. I guess it's a personal preference but I'm all in keeping the 911 look as per the period it was on sale.

[dsnow]

Thanks

Part of the fun is making your car look a little different than the next guys.

Here we are getting ready to go for a burn.

I have a 2002 C4S and am wondering what would be the best way to lower the ride Height by 1" to 1.25". I do not track the car just want the look with less wheel well showing. I have put 997 19" turbo wheels on it with the following tire and rim sizes (Front 235/35/19 Rim is 19x8 Rear 315/25/19 Rim is 19x11) to compensate so the diameter of the tire and rim stayed constant with the 18"'s that were on it to begin with. Thanks in advance for your opinions.

This is with the 19" wheels. Kind of on a downhill slope from the nose of the car with a shadow in the front so makes the front end look high.

This is with 18" wheels. The gap with the 18"'s or the 19"'s from top of tire to bottom of fenders are virtually the same just below 2 inches.

Thanks again for any advice.

soutahc4s

Nice ride, although I think the stock look is much in keeping with the 996 lines. Standard 18" alloys with 295 at the back looks right, as does the standard 10mm lower sports suspension. I guess it's a personal preference but I'm all in keeping the 911 look as per the period it was on sale.

[kgoertz]

I believe my 02 Targa was originally set-up similar to what you are attempting. I don't have the exact numbers handy but it was lowered by the previous owner by more than 1". It was also running 235/35R19 tires on front and 315/25R19 tires on rear.

I love the looks of the car and it definitely appears to fill the wheel wells out more than stock. However I would strongly caution against lowering the car that much. The main issue is that the dramatically reduces the clearance of the front bumper . With the C4S bumper I had to be extremely careful not to scrape the nose. Driveways were the worst since the car is usually angled downwards when it meets the incline of the driveway. In one instance the bumper actually caught a small lip on the driveway and pulled part of the bumper from the car.

A secondary issue was that it was impossible to get the alignment into spec when lowered that far. The rear cambre was too negative at the limit which resulted in too much tire wear on the inside of the tire.

The third issue is that the car would occasionally bottom-out the suspension when there were significant dips in the road. It was only an issue when driving quickly on really bad roads though.

I have since raised the car up so that it is just slightly lower than the ROW spec for the 996. Clearance is no longer an issue and I have managed to get almost 40,000 KM on a set of PS2s :-)

Although the body role was noticeably reduced when the car was lower. The car definitely felt more planted in corners.

The 19" rims have also been a bit of a problem for me. It doesn't look like the 315/25R19 size will be available for either the new Michelin Pilot Super Sports or the new Bridgestone Potenza S-04 Pole Position. I am hoping to drop to 295/30R19 but the diameter is 0.8" larger. If I had to do it again I would have stayed with 18" rims since I believe the car's handling isn't as neutral as with the stock setup. But on the other hand the 19" rims do look good.

[dsnow]

Thanks

Added a side by side photo to the original post above. It is nice to be able to drive this anywhere more or less. My friends in the Lambo and the Z06 are constantly scraping and have to plan their routes around town. The lowered look does look good. Someday I am happy with the height and others I am not. Thanks again for your input.

soutahc4s

I believe my 02 Targa was originally set-up similar to what you are attempting. I don't have the exact numbers handy but it was lowered by the previous owner by more than 1". It was also running 235/35R19 tires on front and 315/25R19 tires on rear.

I love the looks of the car and it definitely appears to fill the wheel wells out more than stock. However I would strongly caution against lowering the car that much. The main issue is that the dramatically reduces the clearance of the front bumper . With the C4S bumper I had to be extremely careful not to scrape the nose. Driveways were the worst since the car is usually angled downwards when it meets the incline of the driveway. In one instance the bumper actually caught a small lip on the driveway and pulled part of the bumper from the car.

A secondary issue was that it was impossible to get the alignment into spec when lowered that far. The rear cambre was too negative at the limit which resulted in too much tire wear on the inside of the tire.

The third issue is that the car would occasionally bottom-out the suspension when there were significant dips in the road. It was only an issue when driving quickly on really bad roads though.

I have since raised the car up so that it is just slightly lower than the ROW spec for the 996. Clearance is no longer an issue and I have managed to get almost 40,000 KM on a set of PS2s :-)

Although the body role was noticeably reduced when the car was lower. The car definitely felt more planted in corners.

The 19" rims have also been a bit of a problem for me. It doesn't look like the 315/25R19 size will be available for either the new Michelin Pilot Super Sports or the new Bridgestone Potenza S-04 Pole Position. I am hoping to drop to 295/30R19 but the diameter is 0.8" larger. If I had to do it again I would have stayed with 18" rims since I believe the car's handling isn't as neutral as with the stock setup. But on the other hand the 19" rims do look good.

[carrera3.2]

As kgoertz has pointed out above, a set of H&R sport springs will bring your car down 30mm, but then you will need to install adjustable upper rear control arms in order to get the resulting too-negative camber under control and avoid destroying the inner surface of the rear tires.

See this thread: http://www.renntech....__1#entry182110

I have experienced no ill effects with my 03 C2 following this procedure.

Edited April 8, 2011 by carrera3.2