Jump to content

Suspension brands to buy or avoid?


zcacogp

Recommended Posts

Chaps, 

Quickie, I am looking at doing a suspension refresh on my 987.1 Cayman and it seems that there are numerous brands of parts to choose from. What's good and what's not? 

- Spyder Performance seem to be very well priced and well rated. They are out of stock at the mo but are probably the ones I will buy. 

- Meyle I understand to be good. 

- TRW are OE? 

- Triscan? 

- Monroe? Shock absorbers straight out of the 1970's but are their parts up to anything now? 

- Febi Bilstein are NOT Bilstein (totally different company) and I understand that they are not up to much. Is this correct? 

- Lemforder? 

- Corteco? 

- Delphi Technologies? 

- Stark? (Lots of this on Autodoc.)

- Vaico? 

- Mapco? 

- Bugiad? 

- Moog? (I thought that they made synthesizers, and very good ones at that?) 

- Optimal? 

- dys? 

- Fortune Line? 

- DAKATec? 

- Ridex? These look too cheap to be any good. Am I cynical? 

In short, what's good and what's bad and what's ugly? What's worth spending money on and what should be avoided like the plague? 

 

Thanks! 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have used Meyle drop links and oem arb bushes about 18 months ago. I'm in the process of fitting all new Spyder Performance front parts (coffin arms, tuning forks, track rod ends, top mounts) based on recommendations here. Must say very impressed with speed of delivery and packaging. Everything in bubble wrap bags inside individual boxes and rubber bushes on coffin arms and track rod ends sheathed in protective plastic covers. Suggests a decent operation. Time will tell on performance. Using Bilstein dampers and oem springs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks RR. Others have said good things about the Spyder Performance parts. What do they look like in person - are the rubbers nice and beefy, do they look like well-finished castings etc? 

Sadly it seems that Spyder Performance are out of stock of at least one of the parts necessary for their pack of 4x tuning forks and 4x coffin arms at the moment. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Give type911 a call and talk it through with Matt the owner. He has several options and seems to be able to get most things. He is a member on here but can never remember his username. 

re suspension, lots of people swear by brand x or y but compared with what? if your existing stuff is worn and not set up properly, my experience suggests that anything new and properly set up is going to be better than before you did the work and comments like transformed can not be solely due to the make of parts used. 
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lemforder makes OEM parts for various German car brands particularly Mercedes. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just finished refresh on the rear of mine and used mostly Spyder as I used them for all the front and quality is good. Nice finish to all the parts with engraved spyder performance lettering, which gives confidence as you wouldn’t advertise if your parts were sub standard?

Also used Meyle, Moog and Lemforder (sounds like a 70’s duo!)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

+1 for Spyder Performance.  Parts appear good quality when fitting them and I certainly have no complaints in the 3000 miles since doing mine.

I also have Koni(special Active shocks), Sachs (actually OE front top mounts), Febi-Bilstein (Yes NOT Bilstein, rear top mounts), Meyle (front ARB rubbers), Imperium (front & rear bump stops), Moog (drop links) and Monroe (boot gas struts) aftermarket parts on the car.  All have fitted well and no complaints.

Do your research to avoid knock off or cheap Chinses brands and you will be dine.  Otherwise for reassurance fork out a lot more money for original Porsche parts if you have any concerns.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/15/2021 at 11:33 PM, ½cwt said:

+1 for Spyder Performance.  Parts appear good quality when fitting them and I certainly have no complaints in the 3000 miles since doing mine.

I also have Koni(special Active shocks), Sachs (actually OE front top mounts), Febi-Bilstein (Yes NOT Bilstein, rear top mounts), Meyle (front ARB rubbers), Imperium (front & rear bump stops), Moog (drop links) and Monroe (boot gas struts) aftermarket parts on the car.  All have fitted well and no complaints.

Do your research to avoid knock off or cheap Chinses brands and you will be dine.  Otherwise for reassurance fork out a lot more money for original Porsche parts if you have any concerns.

Agree, although I would also avoid the cheap Chinese brands, Chinses is more your Laura Ashley..............

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

46 minutes ago, Menoporsche said:

Mmm, long hair platform boots and tight silver vests...

Well that's another fine thread totally ruined by some off-topic comments. Thanks chaps! ☺️

(In fairness, I think we've answered the question though. Thanks.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/15/2021 at 6:15 PM, Deano37 said:

Also used Meyle, Moog and Lemforder (sounds like a 70’s duo!)

 

Trio surely??

Down market version of Emerson, Lake & Palmer maybe.

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Escy said:

Powerflex also offer complete suspension arms, running them on mine.

Do they buy in some of the cheap castings with balljoints and press in their own bushes?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just be aware that there have been some coffin arm failures with after market push in bushes if the bush rubber or insert is too hard and inflexible.  The suspension design on the Boxster relies on flexing of the inboard bush as the metal core of the bush is clamped in position.  If the flex is constrained too much the load in the arm goes up and it can fail.  Unless you using it as a hard core track car, the standard spec bushes should be fine.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...