garykoo

Hey everyone! So the amuse s2000 R1 and the first gen J's racing s2000 are my favourite s2000s of all time. I really like how these touge oriented s2000s look and peform. Sadly i can't afford the Amuse coilovers nor the J's racing coilovers and i was looking at some alternatives. The only s2000s that i remember seeing on Hot version that are similar to those two are the MCR s2000, Arvou S2000 and the Seeker S2000. Does anyone know of any other JDM tuners that tunes s2000s for the touge or where i can get any of those coilovers and how much they will be?

Kermdaddy

You would be better off getting some racing coilovers such as Motion Control, Penske, Ohlin, or Moton. Do some research in the Racing forum. If you can figure out what you want, look for some used ones. I have Ohlins and bought them used. They are a far better shock than I am driver.

garykoo

Wow those are some big names haha. I don't think even the used ones of those are going to be in my budget. Do you know of any other brands that are similar to those? I'm thinking of just getting kw v3 but i want to also give something a little bit more uncommon a try.

andrewhake

Really one of the more important things to consider with a coil over is can you get it rebuilt locally or semi locally. Every damper will have to be rebuilt at some point. The Amuse cars use Bilstein dampers, J's uses dampers built by Showa. Which you probably couldn't get properly rebuilt in North America without getting the specs from Amuse or J's.

I would say the two best options at a lower price range are the Bilstein PSS9 (reasonably soft spring rate and high quality rebuildable dampers, also free rebuilds for life if you buy them brand new I believe) and the KW V3 as you mentioned. You can't really go wrong with either. If you have more to spend the Ohlins DFV are a great option. I will be using them on my car specifically for mountain driving and occasional track visit.

The dampers are only one part of the package that makes those cars great so don't think your car can't have a comparable suspension setup for a reasonable price. It is the overall setup of those cars that really make them shine, plus the S2000 is just pretty f@#king awesome to begin with.

garykoo

Haha I agree S2Ks are awesome! The KW V3 are honestly a bit over my budget still, but i thought the bilstein pss9s, from what i read, were a bit too soft for track driving? And if i do get a set of pss9s, will replacing the springs for custom ones (may be swift?) with a stiffer spring rate make the PSS9s more competitive?

andrewhake

I think the stock suspension is fine for track driving and I have lap times to prove it. The PSS9 definitely aren't as stiff as the higher end coil overs with dampers to match, but they are still about twice as stiff as the stock AP2 suspension. If you only drive your car on the track than a stiff suspension might be nice with the improved response and feel, but on the touge it literally might kill you and actually make your car dramatically slower and limit the roads you can drive. Anything above 12kg/mm-14kg/mm spring rate on the mountains will start to get a bit sketchy on bumpy roads in most cases. The Gunsai course they test on in Hot Version is a bicycle/race track, not really a touge, real mountain roads are usually quite a bit more dangerous than that so it is about making the car as responsive as you can but maintaining the compliance so it can handle the mid corner bumps and things and bumpy braking zones and so on.

garykoo

I think the stock suspension is fine for track driving and I have lap times to prove it. The PSS9 definitely aren't as stiff as the higher end coil overs with dampers to match, but they are still about twice as stiff as the stock AP2 suspension. If you only drive your car on the track than a stiff suspension might be nice with the improved response and feel, but on the touge it literally might kill you and actually make your car dramatically slower and limit the roads you can drive. Anything above 12kg/mm-14kg/mm spring rate on the mountains will start to get a bit sketchy on bumpy roads in most cases. The Gunsai course they test on in Hot Version is a bicycle/race track, not really a touge, real mountain roads are usually quite a bit more dangerous than that so it is about making the car as responsive as you can but maintaining the compliance so it can handle the mid corner bumps and things and bumpy braking zones and so on.
[/quote]
That's really true, i'm not looking to really push to the limit on the touge but just do some spirited driving, but of course i still don't want it too stiff for the same reasons you mentioned. i think most of the time I will be testing my skills and different setups on the track just to be safe and plus there aren't that many mountains near me so its not exactly a frequent thing. But do you think that having a stiffer springs for the pss9 will be comparable to something like the KW v3 or other coilovers in the 2k range?

andrewhake

I don't think the KW v3's are very stiff really. They are 456lb springs all around I think (around 8kg/mm), so that would be a good setup for the street. The PSS9 have pretty similar rates to the CR suspension so definitely will work well on the street. You probably wouldn't want to go dramatically stiffer on the PSS9 without revalving. Yes I would say they would be comparable with a revalve.

Carbon Blue

There are quite a few who I have talked to both on the forums and in person that use stiffer 70mm id swift springs with success. Ive spoken to bilstein myself and they mention that they wouldnt go higher than an 8k spring on the stock valving. Ive got the bilstein pss and they feel similar to a stock CR, it definitely does have more rebound/compression versus the stock ap1/ap2 setup, they are also very compliant on broken mountain roads as well.

clarkster009

KW V3 are great, if you could find a used set. I think they are great for the track, but I don't have any others to compare to.