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Cabrio owners 996 and later: suspension tweeks?

T

tikkathree

Montreal
Joined
18 Aug 2013
Messages
539
One reads in Porsche mags various sniffy comments about the Cab having a less sporty and a more GT ride.

Whether in the real world of UK speed limits, non-existent road maintenance and no longer brand new cars these things can be either detected or quantified I'm too humble to admit to.

That said I am prepared to believe that whilst car manufacturers such as Porsche will try to replace body stiffness lost through the absence of an integral tin roof. Do they not succeed? This must be what the journos can detect.

Well, here's a thought. 996 Cabrio. Strut braces front and rear - a couple of hundred of my hard earned quids: should be worth a try shouldn't it?

Anyone already done it and able to speak from actual experience?
 
You could probably improve the ride by fitting smaller wheels with taller tyre sidewalls. Stiffening it up may make it handle a little better but would you want a vert to be a crashy ride? I went from a 996 carrera4 to a vert Carrera 2wd and I like the softer ride. It's a fast touring car. If we wanted race car chassis and ride wouldn't we all have squeezed ourselves into a lotus?
 
The structural issues with cabrio's is not across the front struts particularly as the lack of a fixed roof potentially looses out in the twisting along the centre line of the car and front to back in a bending action which a strut brace will do little to resolve.

It begs the Q, have you found it lacking?
 
porscheski said:
You could probably improve the ride by fitting smaller wheels with taller tyre sidewalls. Stiffening it up may make it handle a little better but would you want a vert to be a crashy ride? I went from a 996 carrera4 to a vert Carrera 2wd and I like the softer ride. It's a fast touring car. If we wanted race car chassis and ride wouldn't we all have squeezed ourselves into a lotus?
Click to expand...

Not sure I'm so much trying to improve the ride as put back some of the stiffness which the platform loses by not having a fixed lid. The ride comfort I don't have an issue with.

Chris_in_the_UK said:
The structural issues with cabrio's is not across the front struts particularly as the lack of a fixed roof potentially looses out in the twisting along the centre line of the car and front to back in a bending action which a strut brace will do little to resolve.

It begs the Q, have you found it lacking?
Click to expand...

Actually no, course I haven't found it lacking. There's as much chance of me exploiting this car's potential on UK roads as there is of meeting up with Celia Imrie tomorrow at dawn.http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1797304576/nm0408309?ref_=nmmd_md_pv
 
Whatever you do don't fit a hard top to stiffen it up. They weigh a bloody ton!
The standard car corners pretty well considering it's a vert. Less chassis twist than any of the verts I have owned previously. Just from seat of the pants feeling I don't think it makes any difference to chassis stiffness with the hard top on or indeed soft top erected. I have yet to suffer scuttle shake on the Porsche and I have on all my previous verts.
 
porscheski said:
Whatever you do don't fit a hard top to stiffen it up. They weigh a bloody ton!
The standard car corners pretty well considering it's a vert. Less chassis twist than any of the verts I have owned previously. Just from seat of the pants feeling I don't think it makes any difference to chassis stiffness with the hard top on or indeed soft top erected. I have yet to suffer scuttle shake on the Porsche and I have on all my previous verts.
Click to expand...

Are you talking about the OEM ally hardtop for the cabrio? Fitting it for the winter certainly won't affect stiffness, not unless I get it welded to the body :floor: :floor:
 
yes i meant the alloy hard top from the factory. even though its made from light weight materials its huge and correspondingly heavy.
we took my daughters mx5 hard top off today to clean the drain channels out in preparation for winter and it can be easily lifted on my own. the 996 hard top is a two man job....
I'm sure it won't add much stiffness too...
 
porscheski said:
yes i meant the alloy hard top from the factory. even though its made from light weight materials its huge and correspondingly heavy.
we took my daughters mx5 hard top off today to clean the drain channels out in preparation for winter and it can be easily lifted on my own. the 996 hard top is a two man job....
I'm sure it won't add much stiffness too...
Click to expand...

Aye, I know. The car came with it fitted which is how I ran through last winter whereas my much smaller and fibreglass MGF roof is just practical to handle by one person. I suspect someone with a younger back than mine could do the 996 roof by themselves. In four years I never ran the MGF with a hardtop other than on collection and parking up in storage.
 
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