Chris S

Hi everyone, I'm about to get my new (to me) '08 S2000 aligned for the first time.

Here's the setup it has:
KW V3's on recommended settings, lowered approx. 2" (just a guess, the car already had them installed)
Gendron front sway bar, set to 2nd loosest setting.
Street setup: 225/255 Star Specs
Track setup: 255 Star Specs all around (next set is R888, will prob. go to RS3's after that) on OEM AP2 V3 rear wheels all around (one pair bored to fit front hubs)

On the staggered setup, it's easy to drive but has too much understeer at the limit. Non-staggered, it feels very loose and doesn't inspire much confidence at the track.

I'm about to take it in for an alignment, and stiffen the front sway bar. Any tips on what kind of alignment settings I should aim for?

Thanks in advance.

robrob

The UK specs are a pretty good compromise for a daily driver. Alignment settings are dependent on your skill level, driving style, car mods, how much street driving you do and how sensitive you are to replacing tires that wear out the inside shoulder from too much negative camber.

Chris S

It's primarily a track car, though I also drive it to work once or twice a week and sometimes play in the twisties on weekends. I'm willing to sacrifice tire wear for better handling.

ZDan

UK specs are going to be too mild on camber and way to extreme on rear toe IMO.

For 90/10 track street setup, I'd want something like 3deg camber all around (+/-, depending on tires and setup).

Regarding toe, in my experience, rear toe doesn't work as advertised, especially with the AP1 (probably not as bad with the AP2). Excessive rear toe makes my 240Z handle like a dog, and makes my AP1 handle very nonlinearly and MORE twitchy than running minimal toe, while also killing turn-in response. I'd recommend 0 front toe and ~0.2-0.3degrees TOTAL rear toe for you. The UK spec calls for entirely too much rear toe imo (0.67deg total).

Excessive rear toe-in => bad for turn-in, bad for tire life, bad for mpg, increased drag down the straights, and in my experience not good for "stability" at all (quite the contrary).

.02c...

aCab

You probably won't be able to get it to handle the way you want with both setups - staggered and non-staggered, so you'll most likely have to compromise one. Just like robrob said, your alignment is a very personal thing. I have my car set up the way I like it, but others that drive it dont like it so much.

That being said, I'm running much the same setup you are - KWv3s with a one finger gap all around, and non-staggered 255s. I've got a Cusco 32mm front bar, no rear bar, and my aligment is as follows:

Front:
Camber -2.7 deg. L/R
Caster -6.4 L/R
Toe 0

Rear
Camber -3.2 def L/R
Toe -.1 L/R = .2 Total

The car is very neutral for me and my driving style with very,very slight understeer that I can play with at the track.
Keep in mind that you can tune the KWs to help with understeer/oversteer to some degree. - if you haven't tuned the coilovers, they aren't really much better than a lowering spring.

Chris S

Thanks, I'll try these settings. Agreed that one setting won't be optimal for both staggered and non-staggered, but I don't drive it anywhere near the limit on public streets, so I want to optimize the non-staggered handling balance.

I extensively tuned my Tein Mono Flexes in my prior NC, so I'm well aware of the benefits of tuning...but I don't have a tool for these, and they are @ KW's recommended settings, so I suspect they're in the ballpark. A friend is bringing a KW adj. tool to the track tomorrow, so I may fiddle w/ it then. Still, the quality of the valving makes it much better than lowering springs!

aCab

Hey Chris,

Not sure if you're on trackjunkies or not, but i recall seeing a similar SN with an NC avatar.

Anyways,

My V3s are set as follows:

Compression:
Front- 2 swipes from full stiff
Rear- 4 Swipes from full stiff

Rebound:
Front- 3 clicks from full stiff
Rear- 5 clicks from full stiff

Good luck!

'09S2K

There is a huge difference in the valving with the KW shocks versus lowering springs. Your car will remain planted after hitting big bumps! I love that about them. Even on my aggressive settings, there is this huge bump on a freeway overpass that used to unsettle my car bad with HKS springs...now, it just soaks it up! No matter how aggressive my settings are.

Regarding your KW tools: I lost both of mine, the needle and the allen wrench. I replaced the Allen with another allen wrench, and the needle with a sports ball needle. Works perfectly!

KWV3's + Swift 12/10 springs + stock sway bars = Never understeers!

Compression: 1 off full stiff front and rear.
Rebound: 2 off front, and 6 off rear. I am curious how 4 or 5 off in the rear would handle, I just get too lazy and leave it alone at the track. These settings feel great, but are also with my staggered Swift springs. I believe they'd work well on the KW springs though too.

Camber: -3.3 all around on RS3's (they love camber)
Caster: ~6 degrees (whatever was max)
Toe: 0 front, 0.2 rear total toe in.

aCab

^^^^ Did you get the V3s revalved with the 12k/10k set up? I've thought about going to something heavier all around, though with no rear sway, Id be tempted to run something stiffer in the rear to control roll.

'09S2K

Whoa! My signature is massive!!!

No I didn't revalve them, but I was told by a few people that 12k is the stiffest that should be put on the stock V3's.

You could do 10/12 or 11/12 maybe? Or risk it and run 11/13 or 12/13?...I am sure there have been some that have pushed the envelope a bit. My goal was to have a reliable daily/track car so I have remained somewhat conservative with things in order to prevent future problems.