First off, YES, I have done an extensive search on this site w.r.t. coilovers; however I still do not believe I am at a point to make a well informed purchase.

My budget:

$1500.

Intended use ('03, stock):

Non competitive track days, perhaps some autocross, and guessing 5K miles/yr on the street, mostly in the rural twisties. Do not plan on any other major upgrades - with two motorsport hobbies (motorcycle road racing, and now getting into this), must draw the line somewhere.



A couple systems I've had my eyes on are the Buddy Club and the Tein RA's..... but certainly open to others, if there is compelling rationale.

Spring rate: Seems the 'standard' spring rate is around 10KG/mm - quite a bit higher than stock..... but stock is certainly too soft and too underdamped. Any insight into spring rate selection, based on my intended usage, is appreciated.

thanks in advance,
Mark

 

No repsonses? Perhaps I have posted in the incorrect forum?

 

Why do you want these? As far as stock being way too underdamped and too soft, you are wrong. Have you ever actually tracked your car? The S2000 is a very capable track car. At your budget all you are going for is bling. In order to make real gains over stock your budget should be double that. If you just want the lowered look you have lots of choices from koni yellows to some japanese system. You make think stiffer and lower make for better handling, but it doesn't. Suspension is science and art, there are no easy answers.

Try posting in the racing and competition forum, but expect the same answers only more straightforward!

 

I have the H&R ajustables they work just fine for me.got em for $1300.00

 

I base my (subjective) evaluation of the stock car's handling on aggressive rural roads. I have driven these same roads hundreds of times on my street/track motorcycle ('04 Yamaha R1), and know what the bike feels like when the suspension is not setup correctly (note that compression, rebound, and preload are all easily adjustable on these bikes). Over bumps, dips and rises in the road, the car, for lack of a better expression, feels like a Caddy.

Somewhat of an apples/oranges comparison, I understand........... but over the same roads, the car, in stock form, has the feel/feedback of the bike when the bike's suspension is set too soft..... For track use, I must crank up some on the compression and rebound damping, as well as change spring preload....... Figured the same applied to cars.

 

The problem is the S2000 has a very nice suspension setup from the factory. The rear dampeners have reserve reservoirs and have coil-over springs. You want the car to compress so it loads up the front tires for braking. Unless you are running some serious tires, to generate serious G's on braking to compress some very stiff springs you might not get the proper load up and actually increase braking distance with stiffer springs. There are lot of other reason why a virtually stock S2000 won't benefit from very stiff springs and dampeners. Also, I would say some if not all of the cheap coilover systems are suspect in quality. I would post, or better yet search, all through the racing and comp section and check out what the experienced racers have to say about coil-over systems. I hope you will be pleasantly surprised and realize you don't need to spend any money on suspension bits unless you just want a different look.