Opinion Needed

[blueline]

@Sam_Flat6

Beautiful car & great pics - wonderfully clean lines and clean all-around look on your 718 GTS. It looks good! You're going to have a lot of fun in it!

[Sam_Flat6]

Well it’s been a crazy few months at work so not much car stuff being done until a few weeks ago. Work pays for the car affliction so needed to step away for a bit. I’ve also been working on construction of an unfinished 3 car garage at my home. This has consumed much of my time and money for the moment. Having a highly functional and finished garage is always a priority on any home I purchase.

On another note, I decided to lean out my car stable. After now owning the Boxster and Cayman, I sold the ‘21 M2 Competition. I just couldn’t see myself modifying it for track use given the expense and high weight of that car.

Anyways I did finally install the Kline OAP and exhaust on the Boxster. It sounds amazing at high WOT but relatively unchanged at low speeds. Need to spend more time on and install the M Engineering coder to remove factory valve logic for the exhaust. Also got the alignment adjusted to get more negative camber with no change in factory parts. Just enough to allow it to turn better while still maintaining good tire wear. Steering feels improved on turn in.

The Cayman finally had 1500 miles on it. Took it out for a few trips in the mountains. At this point I’m driving it hard. Working my local Porsche speciality performance shop in the near future to install what we’ve I’ve mentioned and received advice on from this thread. Look forward to reporting back.

In the meantime, a recent pic to share from my recent weekend getaway in the Mammoth mountains. Hope the summer is treating everyone well.

[blueline]

@Sam_Flat6

Excellent photo of a very fine-looking Cayman - the wheels set it off perfectly. It is a gorgeous Porsche - everything seems just right to me.

A friend has Kline OAPs on his Spyder and loves them. I've had good experience w/M-Engineering - going to add it to another car soon. And finally, a big yes to the garage - invaluable space for sure.

[Larry C]

Well it’s been a crazy few months at work so not much car stuff being done until a few weeks ago. Work pays for the car affliction so needed to step away for a bit. I’ve also been working on construction of an unfinished 3 car garage at my home. This has consumed much of my time and money for the moment. Having a highly functional and finished garage is always a priority on any home I purchase.

On another note, I decided to lean out my car stable. After now owning the Boxster and Cayman, I sold the ‘21 M2 Competition. I just couldn’t see myself modifying it for track use given the expense and high weight of that car.

Anyways I did finally install the Kline OAP and exhaust on the Boxster. It sounds amazing at high WOT but relatively unchanged at low speeds. Need to spend more time on and install the M Engineering coder to remove factory valve logic for the exhaust. Also got the alignment adjusted to get more negative camber with no change in factory parts. Just enough to allow it to turn better while still maintaining good tire wear. Steering feels improved on turn in.

The Cayman finally had 1500 miles on it. Took it out for a few trips in the mountains. At this point I’m driving it hard. Working my local Porsche speciality performance shop in the near future to install what we’ve I’ve mentioned and received advice on from this thread. Look forward to reporting back.

In the meantime, a recent pic to share from my recent weekend getaway in the Mammoth mountains. Hope the summer is treating everyone well.

Great photo of an awesome car!

[adamad]

I’m looking for track experienced drivers to weigh in. I just bought a Cayman GT4.0 with LWBS, PDK, and PASM (20mm), primarily so I can drive to and from tracks on for the next few years. I also own a Boxster 25 use it occasionally for some touring purposes (similar car but different purpose). I’m new to Porsche platform but skilled with plenty of track days behind me (currently drive a track built S2000). My goal is to setup the GTS4.0 for HPDE track days and yet retain some street drivability. Unlike the S2000, I understand the Cayman has some limitations on alignment and setup in OEM form. I’ve researched the net and reached out to several performance shops/retailers to get opinions on the following. All of them offer contradictory opinions. Thought I would get knowledgeable answers from this forum and learn how best to approach my goals and mistakes to avoid given my lack of experience with Porsche platform. In the end I want to walk into my local performance race shop armed with good information to compare against their recommendations.

After break-in and some seat time in stock form, I would like to modify stock components for improved safety, braking, and handling while enjoying the car off the track. The intent is to improve safety and performance while on track and not build a GT4/RS replica. I’ve run a non-aero track setup for years so it will a “sleeper” type build that slides under the radar to the eyes of many. Here the list I have so far.

Safety: Half-cage/roll bar with 6pt harness, SS brake lines, seat angle adjuster for proper helmet position
Brakes: wheels studs w/ track pads and rotors
Wheels: Apex 18”
Tires: 200 tread wear in 245/285 f/r specs
Desired alignment: -2.5/-2.0 with 8.5 caster and some rear toe
Suspension: front LCAs/camber plates, rear toe arms, strut tower steel plates
Exhaust: headers, OAP, back box setup w/ tune

I’m keeping OEM shocks and springs for now. May move to Tractive shock body and DSC tune if needed while maintaining the PASM function. Please reply with your thoughts on the following.

1. LCAs or Camber plates or both? Tarret, Elephant Racing or Rennline experience?
2. Strut tower reinforcement needed? Cup plates or Emotion Engineering strut brace?
3. Recommendations of a brake pad compound friendly for HPDE and drive to and from track days.
4. Are stiffer springs a must out of the box?
5. Should I consider tractive/DSC sooner than later?
6. Quality SS brake line recommendations?
7. CMS/BBI/Cantrell half-cage/roll bar experience?
8. Anything else to consider with this platform?

Thank you for your knowledge and responses - PMs welcome as well.

I’ve been sorting out my own GTS4.0 setup this year, and reading your post felt like looking straight into my garage struggles and tiny victories. Coming from a lighter, more communicative platform, I had to learn that the Cayman rewards subtle, methodical changes rather than big swings. What helped me most was starting with alignment and proper safety basics, then building upward. Your list is solid, especially the focus on consistency over chasing a GT4/RS vibe. Midway through dialing in my setup I even experimented with different hardware options—ended up browsing things like Brightstone Engineering Maserati wheel spacers for machining benchmarks—because good tolerances make a real difference when the car is loaded up in fast sweepers. For what it’s worth, incremental changes gave me the clearest feedback: LCA upgrades before camber plates, moderate pad compounds for dual-use days, and reinforcing the towers only after feeling movement during harder cornering.

[Sam_Flat6]

I’m looking for track experienced drivers to weigh in. I just bought a Cayman GT4.0 with LWBS, PDK, and PASM (20mm), primarily so I can drive to and from tracks on for the next few years. I also own a Boxster 25 use it occasionally for some touring purposes (similar car but different purpose). I’m new to Porsche platform but skilled with plenty of track days behind me (currently drive a track built S2000). My goal is to setup the GTS4.0 for HPDE track days and yet retain some street drivability. Unlike the S2000, I understand the Cayman has some limitations on alignment and setup in OEM form. I’ve researched the net and reached out to several performance shops/retailers to get opinions on the following. All of them offer contradictory opinions. Thought I would get knowledgeable answers from this forum and learn how best to approach my goals and mistakes to avoid given my lack of experience with Porsche platform. In the end I want to walk into my local performance race shop armed with good information to compare against their recommendations.

After break-in and some seat time in stock form, I would like to modify stock components for improved safety, braking, and handling while enjoying the car off the track. The intent is to improve safety and performance while on track and not build a GT4/RS replica. I’ve run a non-aero track setup for years so it will a “sleeper” type build that slides under the radar to the eyes of many. Here the list I have so far.

Safety: Half-cage/roll bar with 6pt harness, SS brake lines, seat angle adjuster for proper helmet position
Brakes: wheels studs w/ track pads and rotors
Wheels: Apex 18”
Tires: 200 tread wear in 245/285 f/r specs
Desired alignment: -2.5/-2.0 with 8.5 caster and some rear toe
Suspension: front LCAs/camber plates, rear toe arms, strut tower steel plates
Exhaust: headers, OAP, back box setup w/ tune

I’m keeping OEM shocks and springs for now. May move to Tractive shock body and DSC tune if needed while maintaining the PASM function. Please reply with your thoughts on the following.

1. LCAs or Camber plates or both? Tarret, Elephant Racing or Rennline experience?
2. Strut tower reinforcement needed? Cup plates or Emotion Engineering strut brace?
3. Recommendations of a brake pad compound friendly for HPDE and drive to and from track days.
4. Are stiffer springs a must out of the box?
5. Should I consider tractive/DSC sooner than later?
6. Quality SS brake line recommendations?
7. CMS/BBI/Cantrell half-cage/roll bar experience?
8. Anything else to consider with this platform?

Thank you for your knowledge and responses - PMs welcome as well.

I’ve been sorting out my own GTS4.0 setup this year, and reading your post felt like looking straight into my garage struggles and tiny victories. Coming from a lighter, more communicative platform, I had to learn that the Cayman rewards subtle, methodical changes rather than big swings. What helped me most was starting with alignment and proper safety basics, then building upward. Your list is solid, especially the focus on consistency over chasing a GT4/RS vibe. Midway through dialing in my setup I even experimented with different hardware options—ended up browsing things like Brightstone Engineering Maserati wheel spacers for machining benchmarks—because good tolerances make a real difference when the car is loaded up in fast sweepers. For what it’s worth, incremental changes gave me the clearest feedback: LCA upgrades before camber plates, moderate pad compounds for dual-use days, and reinforcing the towers only after feeling movement during harder cornering.

Thanks for responding. I haven’t updated any progress yet as my build is on hold until I finish my home garage build and a fresh on my S2000 track car which is going full aero.

Interested to know what you used to reinforce the towers? Post up a few pics of your car and list of your current specs and setup. Thanks.