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For what it's worth, this is my reply to a poster interested in my opinions of ROW M030 vs US M030 for the 996. I converted to ROW M030 from US M030 for several reasons: Slightly lower ride height...nominally -20mm front and -10mm rear. Lowered ride height equals significantly better dynamic handling due to lower center of gravity. Race cars are lower for that reason. I preferred the lower look of the car and the way the wheels filled out the wheel wells. When I investigated, I found that the only parts common to the US and ROW M030 are the anti-roll bars. The shocks and springs (and alignment) are different. The Pano article on comparing the two pointed out to me that the US M030 (and all the other US suspension differences, for that matter including alignment) bias the dynamic handling of the car toward understeer and away from the way the factory balances the car for the Rest of the World. For whatever (legal?) reasons, they make cars for us that are balanced toward understeer. I wanted to start with my car balanced like the ROW. I tracked my C4 lightly before and after and can confirm that all that is true. Also, given the design of the front suspension you have a very narrow range of front camber adjustment available to you. At the raised US front ride height you are lucky to be able to get any negative front camber at all. At the lower, ROW front ride height, you can get up to about 1 degree of negative front.....the GT3 front alignment, for instance, specifies 1+/- degree negative. I ran about 50 minutes of negative for the street with the ROW and found the turn in crisp and to my liking. As for ground clearance.....personally, I found the ROW M030 no problem with the stock front bumper cover. Later, I install the factory GT3 AeroKit and then did find that I had to be more careful with driveways.

Gary....When I converted my C4 from US M030 to ROW M030 I did the same part number research. Then I ordered a set of the shorter spring/spacer/compensators for both ends of the car. The springs come in matched axel sets so both are either the shorter or longer tolerance groups for a given end. I wanted the lowest ride height for whichever tolerance group springs I got and so decided to go with the thinner compensators/spacers no matter which springs I had. I ended up with the slightly longer front springs and the slightly shorter rear spring tolerance groups and put the shorter spacers on both ends. It looks great and handles just fine. We are only talking about 2-3mm differences anyway.

Welcome to RennTech.org, Viken. I've respected your knowledge and appreciated your no-nonesense demeanor on other boards for some years. I am a waiter for a June/July(!)/August(?) build GT3 and help moderate the GT3 section. Glad to have you here!

Have a look at 996 Tech Service Bulletin 3/00 6315. "Installing Cup Aero Kit". Loren can send you a copy if necessary. I installed the whole Cup Aero Kit on my '99 C4 and the rocker panels were not quick nor simple. The front bumper cover is straight forward. The spoiler lip is a separately orderable part and comes with the plastic rivets.

Duane....I agree with all that Loren said. My personal experience is with a 944Turbo driven hard on the track. My routine was to do as much cool down on the track as possible and then let it idle in the pits with the AC on....that ran both fans (on the 944) and would run the 996 fas at high speed for better cooling. I would watch the oil pressure at idle and finally got to learn when the oil temp had dropped somewhat by watching the pressure(since we don't have oil temp guages). It's less of a problem now with water cooled turbos....but you cant' be too safe on this issue. A coked turbo bearing will wear itself out very soon.

PAG has worked with Michelin and Pirelli to produce new versions of tires specifically for the new GT3. The new P Zero Rosso will not be available until late July, so all GT3s produced so far will come with the Michelin Pilot Sport II. According to TireRack, that tire is not yet available in the US. Gert Carnewal can get the new Michelins in 1 to 2 days and ship to the US at the following prices: The price for a set of tires : 2x Michelin Pilot Sport II 235/40-18 N2 2x Michelin Pilot Sport II 295/30-18 N2 is 1450 Euro shipping to the US included.

The June issue (#111) of 911&Porsche World has a "review" of the new Michelin Pilot Sport II N1 as spec'd on the new GT3. It is somewhat of a disappointment as it just reports on one journo's experience at a Michelin sponsored event at Paul Ricard. There is mostly quoting Michelin on the performance, though, since someone stuffed an RS6 into the Armco and stopped the festivities. Michelin says of the Pilot Sport II: "greater emphasis on grip and steering precision", "more rigid than before=>better grip", "larger tread blocks on the outside shoulder", "on a dry circuit an unspecified 320hp sports car (!) with the new Pilot Sports could lap fully one second quicker than precisely the same car with the old tyre" We shall see........... <_<