Lower Control Arm Kit for Porsche 996/997/986/987

Technical

Camber Adjustment

Increase Camber for More Peak Lateral Grip

One of the biggest improvements to cornering grip you can make is adding more front negative camber. This also will significantly improve tire life by reducing heavy wear on the outer portion of the tread that occurs when there's insufficient camber angle relative to body roll.

Elongating the lower arm will add more camber without the need for adjustable camber plates or eccentric bolts that could potentially slip. However, pairing the SPL LCAs with camber plates allows you more adjustability options for inner and outer tire clearance as well as elongating the track width while retaining a specific camber angle.

Caster Adjustment

Set the Ideal Caster for Better Lateral Grip

Another important alignment spec is caster angle. Caster angle is particularly helpful on a McPherson strut suspension because it increases the amount of camber that is gained as steering angle is increased. It also improves the centering torque on the steering wheel for straight line stability and additional tire feedback. The result is better grip mid-corner and an improvement to peak braking by slightly reducing the need for static camber.

Adjustable caster also allows you to adjust the wheel location (side view) to prevent tire rub with the front bumper, or fender in some cases.

Track Width Adjustment

Get More from the Inner Tire

Extending the front track width promotes a more neutral handling behavior and reduces the overall amount of weight that shifts off the inner tire and onto the heavily loaded outer. This is a big reason why Porsche has added nearly 5" (124mm) to the front track of the 911 GT3 since the 996, and nearly 3" (72mm) to the Boxster/Cayman since the 986. The SPL front lower control arm, SPL tension / traction arm, and an adjustable camber plate allows you to properly maximize front track width and set your ideal camber angle.

Roll Center Adjustment

Reduce Body Roll with Geometry not Spring Rate

Roll center is the imaginary point that the chassis rolls about during cornering. The distance between the roll center and the center of gravity (front-view, vertical) is essentially the amount of leverage the chassis has to produce roll. When you lower your Porsche the roll center drops further than the center of gravity, resulting in a larger roll moment (force). Using the roll center correction spacers to correct the angle of the front lower control arm brings the roll center back up, resulting in less body roll at the same spring rate and less tendency to understeer with fast transitions.

Anti-Dive Adjustment

Fine Tune the Chassis Response Under Hard Braking

Put simply, anti-dive geometry is similar to roll center, but viewed from the side rather than the front. The more anti-dive (expressed as a %) a car has less the front suspension will compress under braking. This geometry becomes more important as cars increase braking force with grippy tires and aero, especially on bumpy tracks and softer front spring rates. Changing anti-dive geometry can be helpful when setting up the front suspension to maintain acceptable front splitter heights or sufficient front suspension travel.