Convince me..... I’m absolutely clueless

[rsrguy]

So I’m collecting pieces to inject tinkerbell(the kids named it) a 72 t. I’m having a set of bilstiens rebuilt to be compatible with semi aggressive mountain, canyon and de driving with no wet. I’ve been tooling through a pile of threads and there’s so much info, I can’t get my head around it.
Please teach me.. I don’t know the correct questions or what qualities to desire.
The wheels are 15x6. It will have a minor to moderate drop
What are the ride characteristics I should think about? What is too harsh what isn’t?
What compromises have worked well for you Fellow narrow body guys
What’s the Pirelli Cn36 All about?
Should I swap out the wheels I have?
What trade offs have been made between all out handling and appeasing the wife’s
arse(a little)
I’m honestly clueless, don’t know where to start or what to focus on...

-G

[Cajundaddy]

I'd say if you had already set up the suspension on a dozen other cars and got good results putting them on the podium at local track events, this DIY is right up your alley. Whenever anyone uses the word "clueless" in the same post as "suspension setup", my best advice is to resist the temptation to DIY. Suspension is complicated, you will get dozens of very different opinions from forum jockeys who may or may not have ever done this successfully.

Figure out what you want from your car, what tires you want to use, and how much you are willing to spend to make this car great. Then take it to a trusted Porsche indy shop who specializes in this type of suspension work and write the check. Most shops would really rather not allow you to watch and learn, but it never hurts to ask. All they can say is no.

As an example, my brother and I both drive Caymans. Mine has fairly simple suspension mods to make the most of my tire patch and lower the car a bit to tune the camber. It was about $3k all in and though it is a clear compromise, it works pretty well. My brother has about $10k in suspension in his car and it is simply phenomenal both on the street and the track. He spared no expense and the car is amazing. Both were professionally set up by leading shops in the area.

[rsrguy]

At this point I think I mainly care about which tires to look at, I honestly had not thought to set up the suspension diy... I’d like to know what long hood narrow body guys have done, why they’ve done it and how it worked out. I’m sure I’ll go through several sets but where to start…? That’s the real question.

[Cajundaddy]

Originally Posted by rsrguy

At this point I think I mainly care about which tires to look at, I honestly had not thought to set up the suspension diy... I’d like to know what long hood narrow body guys have done, why they’ve done it and how it worked out. I’m sure I’ll go through several sets but where to start…? That’s the real question.

Tires I can help.
How many miles do you plan to put on the car each year?
Will you regularly drive it in temps below 40F?
Do you want to maximize dry grip or is wet grip also important?
Comfy quiet ride, or stiff aggressive sidewalls and significant tire roar?

These will give you awesome dry grip, decent wet grip, and wear out quickly. 15" wheels have a limited selection of quality modern tires but these will fit and work well. They will generate some tire roar, are N rated, and $$$pendy.
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Pirelli&tireModel=P6000&partnum=87WR56000N3&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

Ask 100 long hood owners about their suspension mods and get 100 very different answers ranging from $1000- $10,000. A slight exaggeration but not much. It will get very confusing very quickly.

[Arne2]

As a fellow owner of a '72T, and a former tire guy from back in the '70s through the '90s, here's my input.

Tires will be the largest impact for the dollar in your handling. But you have some limitations to consider.

One is that the tire width will be effectively limited to 205, due to the narrow fenders and 6" wheels. Wider 7" wheels don't really help the selection much as the fenders are still a limiting factor. In the 205 width you will want to keep to a short tire, especially if you will be running at a lower ride height than stock.

But the second limitation plays into that as well - a '72T already has shorter 7:31 ring & pinion, so tires that are shorter than stock (~25" diameter) shorten the gearing even more. First gear can rapidly become superfluous with tires that are too short.

So to me, that limits you to just a few sizes. The stock size for 15x6 on your car was 185/70-15, that fits fine. A slightly wider more modern size that works equally well is 195/65-15. If you go to the 205 width, may people like 205/60-15. That is about as short as I personally would want to go, moving to a 55 or 50 profile changes the gearing too much.

There are not a lot of choices in those 3 sizes.

In the 185/70-15, the P6000, CN36 and perhaps the Dunlop Sport Classic (said to be available soon from Coker) are probably as good as it gets for street oriented tires. Avon makes a streetable track-oriented tire in this size as well.

For 195/65-15, the P6000 is again available, but other than that, most tires in this size now are mini-van fodder. My car had Sumitomo HTR A/S PO2 in this size when I bought it. I'd call them adequate for semi-spirited touring, but not truly grippy.

205/60-15 is not much better in selection, with virtually no real summer performance tires made in this size any longer.

FWIW, when I next need tires on mine, I will probably go with 185/70-15 in either the CN36 or Dunlop, maybe the Avon if I was really planning to push it hard or track it. The other size offerings don't seem compelling.

[GH85Carrera]

Good luck with your journey into old 911s.

Depending on how much you want to keep the wife riding with you and budget are the two items to start with. I like heving my wife with me on road trips a I have a 1985 911 so it is 13 years newer than yours. The tires are indeed the easiest thing to change, but 15 inch choices are very limited. The P6000 is likely your best overall compromise.

Enjoy your new to you toy. They are a blast.

[rsrguy]

I've had this for 20 years now, I work on and drive it a little every year. The carbs suck, one of the po's pulled the mfi years ago so my drivability suffers on long road trips. With efi it will be much closer to a daily.

So the cn36 seems intriguing as does the Dunlop SC..

They seem like retro throwback fad options, but what do I know? What are these tires actually like? Are they the same compound as they used to be, or is it an updated compound in an vintage (albeit super cool) tread pattern.
Im absolutely not a wet weather driver in this car, I'm a dry-spring/summer/dry-fall driver I'm not overly turned off about tall sidewall height so 65-70 is fine.
I'd like to be able to drive this hard in the mountains around me, I'm very curious about what kind a difference this will make to the stock handling, much less when I put the new shocks on.
What should a guy expect out of life/wear on the higher performance options?

[GH85Carrera]

Coker tires are usually identical to the original, so it is the old tire compounds. And they are usually pricey. Coker makes great tires, if you don't mind using old technology for tires.

[Trackrash]

Does the car have sway bars?

Don't go too low on your set up or ride will diffidently suffer.

[rsrguy]

I have a rear sway bar... Flirting with the idea of a tarret for the front. I have it lowered in the front and have 50 series on it, harsh ride, I'm looking forward to 65 or 70's

[Cajundaddy]

Originally Posted by rsrguy

Im absolutely not a wet weather driver in this car, I'm a dry-spring/summer/dry-fall driver I'm not overly turned off about tall sidewall height so 65-70 is fine.
I'd like to be able to drive this hard in the mountains around me, I'm very curious about what kind a difference this will make to the stock handling, much less when I put the new shocks on.
What should a guy expect out of life/wear on the higher performance options?

A 180 treadwear tire usually lasts 5k-10k miles for me depending on how keen my alignment is and how I drive the car. Current RS-4s are approaching 10k with quite a few track days on them.