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I know suspension is usually a very difficult subject when it comes to the s2000, with the stock suspension being as "good" as it is...
After reading numerous reviews on S2ki, I decided to go with the KW V3s. The first issue was where to get them, there is an Australian distributor but I was quoted over $3400 for the V3s. I wasn't prepared to spend that much on suspension, so I looked towards the vendors on this forum.
After speaking to each of them, Logic Motorsports were able to give me the best price, it was just a shame that the exchange rate had dropped by this stage...
As promised, Logic sent them out asap and I had them in my possession within about a week.
The installation was quite straight forward, although it does require use of the OEM top hats, if you don't have access to an air compressor then you will need to have a workshop install them for you.
I don't think there is any weight saving with these coilovers though, they weigh about the same as the stock suspension.
I read that the lowest setting was -2.1" F/R for the V3s, so we initially set the coils onto their lowest setting...turns out that this is a lot more than a 2" drop, the car was almost sitting on the ground! You couldn't even get the OEM jack under it...
I've since readjusted it so that it's at height of about 1/2 gap F/R...
I was amazed at how much of a difference these coils made, I'm currently running on RE55s tyres so the ride was really bad with the OEM suspension and the car would crash around on small sharp bumps.
With the KWs the car is so much more planted over small imperfections in the road. Small bumps can be felt, however, the car no longer gets thrown off by them, rather it reacts fast enough to keep the car on the road without losing grip.
I took the car out for a little drive last night around some local twisties, even though it was wet the car was amazing, at 80% (which was as hard as I dare push the car with the semis on) there was little to no body roll. In the past I would have had to be a little bit more careful over the rougher bumps in the road so as not to upset the rear end, now I can just plough straight through them and the car remains composed.
The car responds so much faster with quick direction changes as well! I'll be giving them a thorough workout at Winton on 28/09 and will report back later
Driving impression updates 5/9/08
I just went for a drive through black spur and reefton spur...I am amazed at how well the car behaves now!
The car remained composed over the rough roads up that way and was extremely impressive, I could put the power down much earlier than before and have the confidence that the rear end would stick, in fact I couldn't even provoke the rear end to slide out on corner exits!
I can't wait for winton on the 28th now!!!
Track Test (Winton) 28/09/08 (PB: 1:42.06[-0.58 secs])
Well I went to Winton for the first time since I've had the coilovers installed...I managed to improve my PB by 0.6 seconds, everything else in the car was the same as the last time I went!
While it may not seem like much of an initial improvement, I still have no idea what the cross-weights of the car are etc and I didn't play around with the bump/rebound settings at all, I'm sure that with a stiffer setting I would be able to go a bit faster.
Driving impressions are very positive, the car reacts so much faster now and a lot of body roll is elimiated. If anything the coilovers allow you to get more consistent laps in! I think if anything the 225/50/16 F/R tyres I'm running are limiting the amount of grip from the car...
I will most likely be going back to Winton again on Oct 11th to have another go and also Sandown on Oct 10th at night, my first time there...
I've just set them to the recommended settings in the manual, I'm still not really sure how adjusting either bump or rebound will affect the cars handling..
09-01-2008, 11:18 PM
KW V3 Review
