The suspension design for the 964 marked a watershed for the 911 thoroughbred. The original 1960's torsion bar suspension was gone - to make way for a much more modern independent coil spring design using light alloy lower wishbones, inclined MacPherson struts with adjustable coil springs at the front and telescopic shock absorbers and coil springs at the rear on a light alloy semi-trailing arm supporting a self correcting rear axle.

Spring rates, shock absorber valving and mounting all vary across the model range, as do the anti-roll bar sizes and mountings. The Carrera 2 and 4 both use rubber top mounts for the shock absorbers whereas the Carrera RS uses a monoball mount to eliminate flexing.

The front suspension struts on the Turbo models were fitted in a reversed position, rotated 180 degrees when compared to the normally aspirated cars as well as being mounted further outboard to accommodate the wider track. Note that the Celebration model and the US-shipped wide bodied C4 Coupes retain the standard front struts, albeit mounted in the outboard position and also retain the standard front brake calipers through the use of the standard C4 wheel carrier which does not have the mountings for the Turbo's radially mounted calipers. The wide bodied Cabriolets (including the America Roadster) use the Turbo components throughout.

Coincident with the introduction of the Turbo, a Sports Suspension option was offered - viz. M030 - which lowered the ride height and provided slightly stiffer rear springs. At this time the rear suspension mountings were revised, primarily to provide a significant improvement to the clearance available for the cabriolet roof. Rear shock absorbers designed for this later design cannot be fitted to earlier (i.e. pre-October 1990) cars.

The Carrera RS (and Cup models) use a unique Bilstein manufactured rear suspension which will not fit standard C2/C4 cars.

Porsche and Carrera are trademarks and are the exclusive property of Dr. Ing. h.c.F. Porsche AG