Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Hi all

Its a slow progression of jobs on my car, I am thinking down the line a little with this one,

what would you say is a good option for a decent suspension overhaul.

I would like to say I am not made of money.

I will be operating the spanners to save costs.

As fitted looks standard.

A few questions

would I be able to overhaul the top mounts on the front.

Are my springs on the front re-useable.? They look okay.

Are koni inserts a good option for the front?

I was looking at boge standard dampers on the rear, are those okay?

Any suggestions warmly welcomed.

regards

Mark

Top mounts are not owner serviceable, and what ever you fit on the front same on the back or you compromise the handling.

Konis are a good option cut and shut inserts, everything else lowers the car by about 30mm

Springs are ok to use again

Original equipment from OPC will set you back close to a grand and most of the stock is years old already

Spax is a popular option

IMO I would go with:]

1) Konis - they are good VFM, and generally do things quite well.
2) OPC - On the assumption that you are getting newish items.

Maybe I have been unlucky but on my previous daily drivers there has been a gulf of a difference between 'OE' branded suspension and what you get from the dealers, both in terms of longevity and performance (I did 230k in one car, so saw my share of action in it (it went through 2 or three spring and damper combos) and 100k in another, again the same kind of car). The names included Boge, Monroe and Bilstein B4s. I'd have recommended B6s (IMO they are better than the Konis) and are a true upgrade (Monotube dampers bring many benefits ; my 205 (again on OE dampers that were 3-4 years old) went from being a lift off oversteer deathtrap at low speed to being very playful on the limit when I went over to B6s). However, I understand that fitting them to an S2 is not a simple task unless you (or the mechanic fitting them) are quite brave.

Given their age it wouldn't hurt to refresh the springs also.

Front springs are about £180 from OPC

Id prefer Bilstein dampers over Koni, but you need threaded struts so that's either Boge, or a modification to your own.

I'd agree with Waylander on the Springs. Almost every aftermarket spring I have bought has settled down lower than stock and approaching lowered. A car of mine had genuine springs up front fitted 50k before pattern items were fitted on the back (I think the rears were Boge or Sachs). You can guess what stance the car had 30k down the line and it was not a nose down stance or a level one!

The other thing to take into consideration is all aftermarket shocks will be 20% stiffer or more than the stock items

Might upset your ride quality

And do not mix brands of shocks

Thanks for all the advice guys.

I am thinking koni inserts front with opc springs
and matching with koni rears.
What do you all think.

What about top mounts can any third party refurb these items.

Finally do I need to get all the above set up by a third party and at what cost?

thanks for the sage advice.

Mark

I think that Bilstein are FAR better now.

Top mounts cannot be refurbed with any success, the bearings are a real odd size so you would need to make inserts for the bearings, they are pressed in and then crimped


New ones are not cheap, when I asked about new ones for my 968 they were £308.00 per side!

Solid adjustable maybe they only solution in the future

+1 for Bilstein B6 on my S2 too - they are great

Rob

Hi Mark -

I replaced my original worn out suspension on my S2 with Koni Sports front and rear. The fronts are just an insert replacement into the original shock tube and easy to fit. The front and rear are adjustable (soft, medium, hard) - mine are set at medium (no track work) but you can dial in the front with the Koni supplied key (works via the top mounting). I also replaced the original front springs with lowered (25mm) Konis. Yes, Koni make lowered springs for the S2 - and they are brand new! Don't forget to replace the bump-stops and the weather shields - these maybe expensive from OPC but I got mine from the States...

Also the front roll bar (sway bar) bushes I had replaced at the same time - worth doing as knackered ones do influence the suspension/handling. I went with the standard rubber bushes.

Hope your project goes well!

Dave CT SA

There is a guy on ebay.de that sells refurbished top mounts, about £130 for the pair removing the bearing is hard, I scraped one mount doing mine, I made a insert for the bearing which worked well

These will do for getting the threaded part for the B6 conversion

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=191499122685