Porsche Cayman Ohlins DFV front strut - under 2 total travel, rides bump stops!

In evaluate the Ohlins DFV coilovers for a Porsche Cayman. The dampers were loan by my customer Murat once he put our FCM Elite-optimized H&R Street Performance coilovers on.

Strangely, the front Ohlins have very limited extension or droop travel, and 2 inch total bump travel. So effectively you are riding around on the bump stops once the suspension is loaded. You can also see from the dyno test that the bump stop comes into play near the end of the 2 inch minimum required dyno stroke.

Also, Murat was running the dampers at FULL SOFT to get a decent ride. The front gas force on the Ohlins was 48 lb, which is quite high considering we could get down to 20 lb with the Bilstein-based H&R Street Performance coilovers using our FCM Elite methods.

The original spring rates were 70 N/mm front and 80 N/mm rear, or 399 and 456 lb/in, which he found FAR too stiff! He went down to 50 and 60 N/mm, or 285 lb/in front & 342 lb/in rear, which worked better but he was still missing the benefits of KBO and Ripple Reducer along with our gas pressure optimization.

He also complained of always scraping the front bumper's air dam going into / out of driveways and over speed bumps. We're adding a longer front shaft to the H&R setup to improve this further but having the ability to extend travel is a big plus!

This is another ready why I don't like the 'adjustable body length' feature because you can't use a long-enough strut tube or shock body length that allows enough extension / rebound / droop travel.

To begin your own FCM Elite Project, send us an inquiry here:

http://www.fatcatmotorsports.com/contact_elite.htm