The other day, my husband completely replaced the suspension of our air-cooled Porsche, and he wrote an article about the process and how the driving experience changed afterward. Please take a look if you’re interested.

911 Carrera 2 (Air-Cooled 964)

Our Porsche 911 Carrera 2 (air-cooled 964 model) has been with us for two years this fall. It has about 66,000 kilometers on the clock. The only issue so far was a dead battery recently, but otherwise it’s been running smoothly without any major troubles.

Originally, I’m not particularly interested in classic or vintage cars, but the reason I bought the 964 was because I wanted to understand air-cooled Porsches when talking about Porsche as a brand. Actually owning and driving it, I was amazed at how solidly built it is for a car made nearly 30 years ago, and how advanced Porsche was even back then.

Once you discover the charm of air-cooled Porsches like this, you naturally become curious about what it was like when the car was brand new. Of course, some might prefer to customize with aftermarket parts when replacing components, but personally, I believe no tuner can surpass Porsche’s Weissach Research Center in overall performance and balance.

That’s why I decided to refresh everything with genuine parts and try to bring it as close to new as possible.

Bringing the 911 to the shop

So, I consulted with Be-Force, the trusted mechanic for this 964. First, they inspected the car and identified parts that should be replaced and those that didn’t necessarily need it. Considering the budget and expected effects, we finally decided to replace the following (omitting minor parts):

• Front upper mounts
• Complete front shocks
• Front stabilizer bushings
• Linkage
• Complete rear shocks
• Rear upper mounts
• Rear stabilizer mounts
• Stabilizer linkage
• Tiptronic mount
• Rubber buffers
• Tiptronic support
• Left and right engine mounts
• Tie rod ends
• Joint yoke

and more.

I won’t disclose exact prices, but Porsche classic genuine parts have been rising in cost year by year. One genuine shock absorber costs about 100,000 yen, so four shocks alone total 400,000 yen. This time, including labor and other fees, we spent about 1.25 million yen to refresh the suspension.

About two weeks after leaving the car at the shop, I received a call that it was ready, and went to pick it up. Seeing my beloved car after a while, I noticed the ride height was a bit higher. I was told that the shocks were quite worn out, so installing new shocks naturally raises the ride height.

When I asked, “Were they really that worn out?” the Be-Force president casually pressed the removed shocks with his hand and showed me. “Normally, they wouldn’t compress with such light force, but these easily do, right?” he said.

Rear and front shocks of the Porsche 911

Indeed, when I touched them myself, the shocks compressed easily with very little force. I asked, “They were that worn? But I didn’t really feel bad ride quality or instability?” The president replied,

“That’s the amazing thing about Porsche. You’d notice immediately in a normal car. But Porsche is built to still drive well even in this condition. Many customers think their cars aren’t worn out until they replace parts and realize it (laughs).”

I see. I’ve often heard that Porsche spends lavishly on parts and design compared to other manufacturers, and this is probably one of those examples.

Afterwards, the president showed me various parts, saying things like “This one sagged this much,” “This one is really loose,” and “This one is distorted,” and I realized that although the car only has around 60,000 km, 28 years of age definitely can’t be ignored.