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DSC Sport Plug and Play PASM upgrade

Nice review :) For the money it has to be one of the best (and first) modifications one should do to a 997.
 
Great review , I still grin everyday at how much better the car feels with mine fitted and would say I spend at least 50% of the time in sport if not more. It's one of those upgrades that will appeal to a guy that wants the car stock or someone that wants it modded , they really should have come from the factory like this :thumb: :thumb:
 
Despite being a long term advocate of keeping my 911s as Porsche made them, influenced by such universal acclaim, I couldn't resist the temptation and had mine fitted yesterday.

After jumping in and driving the car my immediate delight was somewhat subdued. The ride definitely seemed a little more supple but perhaps not quite as significantly improved as I had hoped it would be.

Everything changed when I left the rutted and off cambered lanes that my Indy is based on and joined the smoother, but still B roads, that I do most of my local driving on. It only took a mile or so for the smile to grow on my face as I realised just how much different the car now felt.

For the first few miles I revelled in the noticeable extra comfort before testing the car in 'Sport', something that in 3 years I've rarely bothered to do in my home county.

The result was a revelation. Recently I've been lucky enough to drive my local roads in several different newer cars, most notably a Cayman 718S, and had come to realise just how 'old' my 11 year old motor had become. Unbelievably this little cream box of tricks seems to have knocked years off the feel of my car and made it a whole new joy to drive.

I went on to replicate the 50 mile cross-country stint that I did in the 718S last week and am immensely pleased to say that after starting to feel that perhaps a change to a newer, nimbler car would be in order I have found a whole new love my red car.

When I got home I couldn't bear to put the old girl away and persuaded my long suffering '911 widow' to come for a test drive. My missus has always hated being a passenger when driven spiritedly in a Turbo but even she had to admit that it gave a whole new level of comfort to the experience in 'D' and a far less spine jangling, teeth chattering body bashing in 'M Sport'.

All-in-all I'd have to summarise by saying that whilst it is undeniably an expensive bit of kit it's far cheaper than buying a 6 year newer car and has to be THE best way for unlocking the hidden potential of any 911 and most especially a Turbo.

I can't wait to see how the old girl (the car - not the missus) performs on half decent A roads and even more so in the realms of the Eiffel Forest in May. :dance:
 
what a cracking couple of write ups! I am also still enjoying the upgrade! :)
 
Fab news Terry. What took you so long to heed my fine words ;-)
 
Concur with all the above. You can engage sport PASM just about anywhere now :thumb:
 
Jcx said:
Fab news Terry. What took you so long to heed my fine words ;-)

Cheers Joe. I bought mine before Christmas when the car was SORN'd and waited until after warranty renewal before fitting.
 
T8 said:
Jcx said:
Fab news Terry. What took you so long to heed my fine words ;-)

Cheers Joe. I bought mine before Christmas when the car was SORN'd and waited until after warranty renewal before fitting.

:)
 
Terry, you sly old fox not telling any of us you had this planned .Great review and yes an amazing little box of tricks . :thumb: :thumb:
 
I can't stop driving my 911 now!

Poor Boxster hasn't had a look in since fitting this module :grin:

I've just been leaving mine in the harder setting all the time and it's perfect

:thumbs:
 
OK My turn...

I finally got round to fitting my DSC unit 2 weeks ago. Wiring in the 3 Axis sensor is a pain in the arse! There is so little room to pull on the correct wires, splice and solder the connections. At first I wired it wrong and connected the 12V to the wrong red/grey stripe wire (which triggered an airbag fault and also gave the wrong voltage :roll: ) I had Matt at Porschacare check the wiring and he connected it to the correct 12v feed.

We'll ignore the initial test drive with the 3 axis wired up wrong as this just puts the DSC unit in sport mode only and not very responsive, (at this point I thought I'd wasted my money as the car rode better before).

However with a properly wired sensor the DSC unit is OUTSTANDING :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

My car has Eibach springs, H&R rollbars, new Bilstein B4 damptronic front shocks (will fit these to the rear later as well) and GT3 front lower arms. I was already pretty happy with how the car drove with the original PASM unit, (Eibachs are progressive rated springs so the ride is actaully more compliant than the original linear springs.)

ROAD:

With the DSC unit fitted and in Normal mode it is a touch more compliant but has noticeable more control when pressing on our bumping country roads and especially when braking. :thumb:

Sport mode initially does not feel much firmer than Normal (but stiffens up much quicker) and the original 'Sport bounce' has gone. You can genuinely drive round in Sport all the time, (although I still prefer Normal even for fast driving on our bumpy roads as its so controlled.)

TRACK:

I went to a trackday at Bedford on Friday with the DSC fitted. I only used the SPORT setting on track. Initially it felt like there was still a touch more body roll initially on turn in than I'd prefer (although it always has felt like this in the past on track due to my 'progressive' Eibach springs), but then you can feel the car stiffen up and it just GRIPS!!! Braking was also SUPERB (I have yellow stuff pads and ATE fluid which never seems to fade), I could brake very late and hard and the car would just stay level allowing all 4 wheels maximum grip to slow me down. Matt from Porschacare was there and I gave him a passenger ride and he was blown away and just said it was EPIC.

Overall I am very impressed and VERY HAPPY with my current setup. I though long and hard about my suspension choice and for ages considered coilovers (Ohlins, B16 Damptronics etc), but my car is still a daily driver (with the odd Alpine road trip and 2 - 3 trackdays a year), and as good as Ohlins are they will still be noticeably stiffer on the road than I'd want day to day. Bilstein OEM B4 Damptronics, Eibach springs, H&R rollbars (set full soft at rear), and DSC PASM give me excellent ride comfort and control on road and still at the touch of a button great handling on track (for my skill levels anyway, don't actually want or feel the need to go any faster on track than the car can do now).

I've also spent sometime looking at the DSC tuning software and connected my unit to my PC to have a look. (Not made any changes yet). It does seem very easy to tweek the shock firmness ranges for Normal and Sport settings. Our PASM shocks have a range of 1500ma (Full Soft) to 400ma (Full Firm). The default settings on the DSC unit are the range of 1500ma - 500ma for Normal mode and 1200ma - 200ma in Sport mode, (this means the shocks are fully firm 400ma by about 80% cornering G setting in Sport). For my next trackday I may tweek my Sport table to start at 1000ma going down to 300ma, so they are a bit firmer initially, (although to be fair it handled amazing as it was). Like wise I may change my Normal setting to 1500ma - 400ma (ie use the full range maximum soft to maximum stiff), as it will just firm them up a touch more when I'm really pressing on :puh:

The DSC unit (and 3 axis sensor) on a 997.1 are excellent, you may not notice that much during normal driving, but when pressing-on on road or track it excels. (Just make sure the rest of your suspension is also in good condition to get the best out of it).
 
What a great and detailed review mate , I am interested to see how you get on when you tweak the settings for normal use . :thumb: :thumb:
 
Some really useful feedback there.

I suppose the next TPC thread will be how and what to do to modify the software. I find the biggest benefit to the TPC module is the improvement in body control, especially over bumpy roads. As it turns out, I haven't been able to tracked the car since I got the module fitted in September (for obvious reasons), but this summer should provide some great PCF opportunities... !

PS Just one observation the à–hlins R&T, which I have fitted to the other car: I think they're absolutely ideal for a daily as they are so much more compliant (even on the original factory settings) than track suspension (I was foolishly running Bilstein B14s for many years). I would not hesitate for a single minute to buy à–hlins if I didn't have the Bilstein Damptronic/PASM on my 997. They're brilliant.
 
Anyone fitted to a 997.1GT3

Has anyone fitted the dsc unit and the 3 axis accelerometer to a 997.1 gt3 yet. Thinking about getting this. Just had my front shocks rebuilt at Centre Gravity as near side was creaking.
Also anymore people interested in a group buy.
 
Re: Anyone fitted to a 997.1GT3

evodarren said:
Has anyone fitted the dsc unit and the 3 axis accelerometer to a 997.1 gt3 yet. Thinking about getting this. Just had my front shocks rebuilt at Centre Gravity as near side was creaking.
Also anymore people interested in a group buy.

Darren, If you call Ken and talk nicely to him he may just may offer you the group buy price as he brought in a few extra at the time he may have one or two left :thumb: :thumb:
 

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