[RotorOver]

I recently drove a base Cayman with 20" wheels and no PASM. I thought the ride was firm, but more compliant than my modded BMW M240i in Sport/Sport Plus. With that to compare to, I'm interested in how a Cayman with SPASM & 20" wheels would feel in the various modes with respect to handling and compliance, relatively speaking. Anyone with that kind of insight? Thanks.

 

[Viffermike]

I recently drove a base Cayman with 20" wheels and no PASM. I thought the ride was firm, but more compliant than my modded BMW M240i in Sport/Sport Plus. With that to compare to, I'm interested in how a Cayman with SPASM & 20" wheels would feel in the various modes with respect to handling and compliance, relatively speaking. Anyone with that kind of insight? Thanks.

Hey there! ... had to send over a 'welcome' post to a fellow 2Addicts contributor and potential 718 convert ... there are several of us here.

(No SPASM on my car. I do, however, have PASM. I'll let those with SPASM speak to it. There are a few threads in this subforum that talk about it.)

 

[johan]

I have only heard from others that a non pasm car has a harder ride then pasm, pasm.
My BS had pasm and now i have s-pasm on my CS and the CS is a bit harder overall, but together with PTV the corner handling is way better in the CS.

 

[RotorOver]

Hey there! ... had to send over a 'welcome' post to a fellow 2Addicts contributor and potential 718 convert ... there are several of us here.

(No SPASM on my car. I do, however, have PASM. I'll let those with SPASM speak to it. There are a few threads in this subforum that talk about it.)

Thanks brother! Been cruising the threads- great info.

 

[RotorOver]

I have only heard from others that a non pasm car has a harder ride then pasm, pasm.
My BS had pasm and now i have s-pasm on my CS and the CS is a bit harder overall, but together with PTV the corner handling is way better in the CS.

Awesome, thanks!

 

[Ian718]

I recently drove a base Cayman with 20" wheels and no PASM. I thought the ride was firm, but more compliant than my modded BMW M240i in Sport/Sport Plus. With that to compare to, I'm interested in how a Cayman with SPASM & 20" wheels would feel in the various modes with respect to handling and compliance, relatively speaking. Anyone with that kind of insight? Thanks.

I test drove and eventually bought a base boxster with 20 inch wheels and no PASM.

I also test drove a boxster S with SPASM and 20inch wheels back to back with the base boxster. I found the ride was pretty similar.

Compared to driving a 2016 M3 in sport or sport plus both boxster's rides were more compliant.

I eventually chose the no PASM not due to ride compliance but because of ride height and scraping the warning plastic strips on the undercarriage a few times on my test drive.

In hindsight however I would reorder my boxster with regular PASM to get PTV and just accept I need to take speed bumps and steep driveway/street entries more carefully.

 

[RotorOver]

Great info, thanks!

 

[GGG]

I have only heard from others that a non pasm car has a harder ride then pasm, pasm.
My BS had pasm and now i have s-pasm on my CS and the CS is a bit harder overall, but together with PTV the corner handling is way better in the CS.

I have testdriven a non-pasm car and have pasm now (with ptv).
I don't think there is that much of a difference in ride comfort, pasm is perhaps a bit softer, but not in a way that it is a must-have to have an acceptable level of comfort. (It still remains a sports car)

However, handling is much better with PASM and PTV, I can imagine SPASM and PTV being even better.

 

[RotorOver]

I have testdriven a non-pasm car and have pasm now (with ptv).
I don't think there is that much of a difference in ride comfort, pasm is perhaps a bit softer, but not in a way that it is a must-have to have an acceptable level of comfort. (It still remains a sports car)

However, handling is much better with PASM and PTV, I can imagine SPASM and PTV being even better.

Thanks. That’s a good trade off for me and says a lot considering how good the non-PASM is.

 

[DJL]

I tested a cayman with 20 inch wheels with PASM followed by a cayman with 19 inch wheels without PASM. The 19 inch version was more comfortable and generated less road noise. I imagine -but don’t know -that a 19 inch with PASM would have been smoother

 

[RotorOver]

I tested a cayman with 20 inch wheels with PASM followed by a cayman with 19 inch wheels without PASM. The 19 inch version was more comfortable and generated less road noise. I imagine -but don’t know -that a 19 inch with PASM would have been smoother

Ok, thanks. Good to know. Any handling differences?

 

[johan]

I have testdriven a non-pasm car and have pasm now (with ptv).
I don't think there is that much of a difference in ride comfort, pasm is perhaps a bit softer, but not in a way that it is a must-have to have an acceptable level of comfort. (It still remains a sports car)

However, handling is much better with PASM and PTV, I can imagine SPASM and PTV being even better.

The first day with the CS i was like "what the h-ll just happend!"
I was fairly close to what i thought was the limit coming in to a corner and suddenly the car transformed to a pivot.
It felt like back end moved out so the front end got all the grip in the world but not in an uncontrolled manor as when your close to loose grip.
Sitting in the center the feeling was like the the whole car turned with me as the center point, i was not ready for that!


The diff out of the corner was not as spectacular but i could feel that something in the back end pushed the car out.
All was done in Sport+, in sport and normal its like PTV is in light mode, your getting a taste of what it can do.


If i am just medium agressive in to corners like spirited driving the PTV makes it easier to corner, i can be more relaxed in the way i drive.
It is more of a joy if that makes any sense.

 

[cipher]

I recently drove a base Cayman with 20" wheels and no PASM. I thought the ride was firm, but more compliant than my modded BMW M240i in Sport/Sport Plus. With that to compare to, I'm interested in how a Cayman with SPASM & 20" wheels would feel in the various modes with respect to handling and compliance, relatively speaking. Anyone with that kind of insight? Thanks.

I have a 135is and replaced the run flats with non runflat Michelins and went with 225/255 (one size up) tires. I would say the ride is somewhat comparable to my non pasm 718 Boxster with 20” Carrera wheels but the Boxster is less bouncy on the rebound. I like the ride and it does well on DC/VA roads. If I remember correctly, the M235i I drove was more firm and jarring but mainly due to the run flats.

 

[Zydi]

Just recently came from a M4 competition and now driving a cayman gts with SPASM and 20“ wheels. Never drove PASM. All I can say is I‘m so impressed with the comfort level and the ride quality. My M4 did not have this ride quality. I would choose the same option any day.

 

[GTS]

I would encourage you to take ride height into consideration, too. I live in a suburban area with a moderately tall curb into my driveway. My car with PASM consistently, if only mildly, scrapes when exiting my driveway at a 45 degree angle. Scraping on entry isn't an issue for some reason. I can only imagine how bad it would be if it were 10cm lower.

That said, PASM with PTV does make the car pivot around its center point like nothing else I've ever driven. Also, the ride comfort on 20" wheels, in Sport mode, is much better than my old 3 series with runflats. I almost never drive around in the default drive mode, so can't honestly give much comparison there.

Given the responses here, I don't think you'll be disappointed with whatever wheel and suspension combination you pick.

 

[don]

The other day I drove a standard Cayman S with sport chrono but no PASM through some very tight winding roads. The handling was still impressive but on hard driving/cornering it felt a little sloppy compared with the Cayman GTS with SPASM I had driven previously on similar roads. Some how I even got the CS to understeer a little into a very tight 15mph sign posted corner.

Personally, for my style of driving I wouldn't settle for anything less than SPASM. I haven't tested a standard CS with PASM only but I'd imagine it would be a significant improvement.

I thought the comfort was fine on both the S and the GTS models, but the handling of the GTS during hard fast cornering was far superior, presumably due to the SPASM which also comes with up-rated anti-roll bars. The GTS models as you would expect are nearly on par with GT models these days and surpasses the old GT4.

I also noticed that the PTV does help with fast cornering but probably something to get used to as it feels a little like oversteer but isn't.

I think the handling of a standard CS is probably close to a GTS without the PASM button switched to sport.

Note PASM is only a 10mm drop, SPASM is a 20mm drop and the front spoilers angle up so I don't think they are prone to scraping. Although I did get the GTS to scrape a little on extreme tight cornering but I assume that was probably the plastic wheel lining inside the wheel arch or something else but not the front spoiler.

I measured the height of the front lip spoiler on a SPASM GTS and it measured 155mm which is not particularly low and 15mm higher than our 3 series m-sport which has an m-performance lip at 140mm high. BTW my Audi is 130mm. So whilst the Cayman looks low I don't think it is that low for a sports car and the wheel base is short so it shouldnt bottom out much in the middle.

With that said, I think careful sideways exiting of steep drive ways with dips or humps is still advisable with SPASM. Though I think the lip is plastic underneath so if you scratch it up a bit it doesn't really matter.

 

[Chiraoka]

... due to the SPASM which also comes with up-rated anti-roll bars.

Is that confirmed ? What part number ?

 

[Chiraoka]

PASM 10mm drop
SPASM 20mm drop

The non PASM unit has the same shock travel as the PASM unit ?

 

[RotorOver]

The other day I drove a standard Cayman S with sport chrono but no PASM through some very tight winding roads. The handling was still impressive but on hard driving/cornering it felt a little sloppy compared with the Cayman GTS with SPASM I had driven previously on similar roads. Some how I even got the CS to understeer a little into a very tight 15mph sign posted corner.

Personally, for my style of driving I wouldn't settle for anything less than SPASM. I haven't tested a standard CS with PASM only but I'd imagine it would be a significant improvement.

I thought the comfort was fine on both the S and the GTS models, but the handling of the GTS during hard fast cornering was far superior, presumably due to the SPASM which also comes with up-rated anti-roll bars. The GTS models as you would expect are nearly on par with GT models these days and surpasses the old GT4.

I also noticed that the PTV does help with fast cornering but probably something to get used to as it feels a little like oversteer but isn't.

I think the handling of a standard CS is probably close to a GTS without the PASM button switched to sport.

Note PASM is only a 10mm drop, SPASM is a 20mm drop and the front spoilers angle up so I don't think they are prone to scraping. Although I did get the GTS to scrape a little on extreme tight cornering but I assume that was probably the plastic wheel lining inside the wheel arch or something else but not the front spoiler.

I measured the height of the front lip spoiler on a SPASM GTS and it measured 155mm which is not particularly low and 15mm higher than our 3 series m-sport which has an m-performance lip at 140mm high. BTW my Audi is 130mm. So whilst the Cayman looks low I don't think it is that low for a sports car and the wheel base is short so it shouldnt bottom out much in the middle.

With that said, I think careful sideways exiting of steep drive ways with dips or humps is still advisable with SPASM. Though I think the lip is plastic underneath so if you scratch it up a bit it doesn't really matter.

Great info, thanks! I've got a Wavetrac LSD on my M240i and it made a world of difference in cornering. I'm sure on an ME car the LSD plus PTV is even more effective. I'll need to take some measurements for a comparison on clearance. I'm on Dinan springs/bump stops so lower than stock, but less than an inch up front plus .3" taller side walls on the tires than stock and currently no lip.

 

[RotorOver]

Thanks Folks!