Porsche Stability Management

[DWBOX2000]

I was just searching BAT and someone mentioned for the money, someone could get a 987 (vs 986) with PSM. With car enthusiasts, does PSM bring value?

I know in a new car market it is needed to keep up with the competition regarding safety but will it be the preferred by people buying these cars later down the road?

Opinions?

[techweenie]

You mean PASM?

In my experience, it adds a bit of value for most buyers. It can be switched off when not desired. For performance drivers, it's less desirable because it complicates (adds cost) to shock replacement.

[Matt Monson]

Not the same thing. Two different things:

https://www.*****************/blog/index.php/2012/06/27/pasm-psm-or-sport-what-does-it-mean/

So many of them had it that I don’t think it makes a value difference. It is a hindrance on track cars and we clip the yaw sensor to disable it.

[Matt Monson]

Bastards. No idea why Design 911 is blocked.

[Driven97]

Design 911 sells parts, so that's likely why they are blocked.

You could get PSM on the 986, it was optional. All 987s have it standard.
Sport Chrono (the dash clock) makes "off" closer to "really off" for PSM on the 987. It's always at least a little on.
PASM is the e-shocks. Adaptive in real time, not a crappy two-mode like some 90s cars. PASM on a 987 also gets you 10mm lower ride height.

Top left button around the radio on the 986 with either be a blank or "PSM off" depending on if the car has it.
987.1/987.2 has the clock and a "sport" button if it has sport chrono.
987.1/987.2 has a button with a little picture of a shock if it has PASM.

My Civic Si has adaptive dampers. It's the ZF sourced CDC system so it's a little different than the Bilstein system Porsche uses. But the capabilities and effect are pretty darned impressive on a $25k car.

Unfortunately, a lot is lost on the layman. They hit a switch and they want the ride to toggle perceptibly between stiff and soft and they think that's it. In reality, the car is working very hard to take data from accelerometers, height sensors, yaw sensors, steering angle sensors, and other inputs and adjusting each shock individually at 100 times per second (give or take.) The real effect is limited only by the coding of the module. Enhanced pitch and roll rate control, stabilization or enhanced maneuverability in transition, improved launch and braking, enhanced stability in emergency maneuvers, etc. The stuff they can do with this tech is amazing.

Back to my lowly Civic, the ZF CDC system on that doesn't have height sensors as a cost cut. Instead it interpolates suspension deflection from accelerometers in addition to the slew of additional sensors on the car. Yet it has a tangible ability to "fix" dynamic issues in real time, something even the fanciest-of-pants race Ohilns or Penske shock can't do.

TL;DR adaptive shocks (PASM on a Porsche) are one of those tech leaps that the function itself is nearly imperceptible to most, but makes a car incrementally that much faster, easier to drive, more comfortable, and more effective in more situations.

Can you tell this is a topic I'm interested in?

[Mocker]

About a decade ago I was looking for a Cayman S with PASM, as I wanted a double-duty DD and track day car. Very few were made with PASM; my recollection is that it was a $2k option. I ended up finding an '07 S with PASM in Dallas, negotiated a good price, flew down and drove it home.

I liked it--the soft setting is softer than the standard setting on cars without it (great for beat-up side streets) and the firm setting was good for the track and highway. Ended up selling it after a couple of years, primarily because it was guards red and I felt like "that guy" whenever I rolled up in it. I just can't DD a red car, sorry.

So, yeah--there are people who will pay a premium for PASM (btw, all PASM cars also have the sport chrono package--at least the early Caymans did).

[racer]

PSM = Porsche Stability Management
PASM = Porsche Active Suspension Management

They are different things. PSM was once optional on the 986 but became standard on the 987. Those who track say it hinders fun by interrupting the car vs driver desires. When first out, some at the track called it Porsche Save Me

PASM is a suspension system. Either your car could be "base", "X73 sports package" or PASM equipped. X73 was stiffer and lower springs/shocks. Was maybe $800. PASM was more complicated and priced accordingly. Eventually, even the X73 was phased out and I believe had a very low take up rate.

That said, Panorama did a compare of a PASM vs X73 cars and iirc, they actually suggested the X73 is the better system.

All that said, if you are going to rip out the suspension to build a race car, than non of it really matters.

[robertmark]

When I ran with the Porsche club at the Indy 500 Grand Prix circuit 2 summers ago, all of us with minimal track experience made damn sure these items were turned on. Some instructors would shut them off. And one instructor paid dearly for that decision. IMO I would want it, because you can always turn it off...….if you dare.