M030: A Comprehensive Write-Up

[geoff]

...Yes, I'm a member of the Boxster racing forum. I get a lot of sort-of answers with a search but little specific info. Suncoast sent me an e-mail today that they will give me a discount but haven't said how much yet. I'm hoping it will be under $1300.00 for the whole kit. If the US M030 for the base Boxster is worth more than half a second on a 60 second nationals style course, it will be worth it for me. I would like to find some people who have autocrossed with the base suspension and the US M030 but so far can only find people who have tried the RoW M030. The problem is that the RoW drops the car which really helps the camber.

See http://boxcar-racing.com/forum/index.php?topic=286.0;all starting with my reply #10 asking why everyone on the Boxster racing board only talks about the US 030 suspension

[loosecannon]

...Yes, I'm a member of the Boxster racing forum. I get a lot of sort-of answers with a search but little specific info. Suncoast sent me an e-mail today that they will give me a discount but haven't said how much yet. I'm hoping it will be under $1300.00 for the whole kit. If the US M030 for the base Boxster is worth more than half a second on a 60 second nationals style course, it will be worth it for me. I would like to find some people who have autocrossed with the base suspension and the US M030 but so far can only find people who have tried the RoW M030. The problem is that the RoW drops the car which really helps the camber.

See http://boxcar-racing.com/forum/index.php?topic=286.0;all starting with my reply #10 asking why everyone on the Boxster racing board only talks about the US 030 suspension

Thanks for that info, it's very helpful. I will be biting the bullet and purchasing the US M030 piece by piece to ensure that I am Stock legal-I hope it will be worthwhile.

[loosecannon]

Ok, I installed the RoW M030 suspension and used the US M030 springs, it took a total of 5 hours and I did it by myself and never pulled a ball joint. It was mentioned earlier that the RoW M030 shocks are 1" shorter, not true. The shock body is exactly the same length but the front shock rod is 3/4 " shorter and the rear shock rod is 1/4" shorter.

[insite]

Ok, I installed the RoW M030 suspension and used the US M030 springs, it took a total of 5 hours and I did it by myself and never pulled a ball joint. It was mentioned earlier that the RoW M030 shocks are 1" shorter, not true. The shock body is exactly the same length but the front shock rod is 3/4 " shorter and the rear shock rod is 1/4" shorter.

you are exactly right. the bodies are identical. the rods are shorter to prevent the shorter springs from coming unseated during full droop. the shorter rods keep some compression on the shorter springs when the suspension is fully extended.

[loosecannon]

Ok, I installed the RoW M030 suspension and used the US M030 springs, it took a total of 5 hours and I did it by myself and never pulled a ball joint. It was mentioned earlier that the RoW M030 shocks are 1" shorter, not true. The shock body is exactly the same length but the front shock rod is 3/4 " shorter and the rear shock rod is 1/4" shorter.

you are exactly right. the bodies are identical. the rods are shorter to prevent the shorter springs from coming unseated during full droop. the shorter rods keep some compression on the shorter springs when the suspension is fully extended.

The car feels really good with the new suspension. It's slightly stiffer over bumps but I really notice the difference when I do hard left and right turns. I'll know more after today's auto-x, I just hope the ride height settles a little because it sits 1/2" higher than before.

[bar10dah]

I just received my RoW M030 kit today. Considering holding off on the install and ordering some replacement parts to install while I have my suspension apart. One of my rubber bump stops is breaking apart. One of the boots won't stay connected. And thinking of replacing the shock absorber mounts and front shock mount flange. Not sure that those are worn out or not, so not sure if I even really need to replace those parts. MY car only has 66k miles but it's a 13 year old car.

For those of you that already did the M030 install, did you replace anything else?

Any other bits of advice?

[infocusf8]

I had the ROW M030 suspension installed on my '99 a little over a year ago and can vouch for what insite is saying about handling. The first thing I noticed was the car felt new and on the drive home, from the install, I noticed how quickly and accurately the car moved around on the freeway at all speeds. One of the most welcome differences is the ROW suspension may feel like it makes no difference when going over bumps and potholes but my 64 year old back noticed that the suspension absorbes the bumps and potholes and doesn't transmit the shock up through the seat like the OEM suspension. The car is much more pleasant to drive. I've read recently that Porsche has stopped supplying the ROW and I hope this isn't true as, in my opinion, it is the best bang for buck suspension upgrade that can be done on the early Boxsters.