Nerd-Vol

@Car Analogy

Wow. Great explanation! I do not anticipate getting rid of the factory staggered wheels, so I like the idea of keeping a sharp turn in. I learned to drive on FWD but I’ve owned RWD cars as weekend toys since 2014, so I am comfortable with a neutral car.

Would the H&Rs move the balance more neutral than stock for my 2004? I like the sharp turn in, but I also want good stability on corner exit.

Nerd-Vol

My interests in lowering cars concluded with my first car which I had lowered about 2”. It looked great, but it wasn’t fun to deal with. That was over 14 years ago and I’ve never once thought about lowering a car since.

The s2000 is a fine ride height from the factory, I would set the coil overs to as close to stock height as allowed.

Car Analogy

So I ran all your choices through my suspension calculator. PM me your email address so I can send you the calculator so you can play around with your options further.

I used the stock 2004 swaybars, and plugged in the H&R, then PSS, and Ohlins with 10k/8k, then 12k/10k. How to interpret the attached charts is discussed below.

The discussion about rows and columns only relevant if you download the attachments. If you don't wanna download them, you can skip down to where I summarize F/R bias results.

Row 11, that says Your Car, shows setup being evaluated. You want to compare row 11 to the row for stock 2004-2005, which is row 6.

The F/R balance % is column V/W, Overall Balance. This lets you compare how the static F/R bias compares to stock.


Column X/Y, Natural Frequency, shows how the cars balance over bumps is affected. To avoid the hobby horse rocking effect when the car hits a bump, you generally want the rear NF higher than the front. Simce front hits bumps before rear, a higher rear NF allows it to catch up to front. The longer the cars wheelbase, the more front should be higher than rear. The more soft the suspension, the more as well. A short wheelbase sportscar with stiff suspension this is less of a concern. Indeed, you can see stock suspension for most iterations has higher rear NF!

The overall combined wheel rate of springs and bars combined, along with the motion ratios, is illustrated in columns L/N, Wheel Rate. Think of this as overall cornering stiffness (but not bump stiffness, as swaybars don't really contribute to bump stiffness).

...Charts added as downloadable attachments...

F/R bias results summary: (note, below results applicable to stock 2004-2007 swaybars only, all 4 of these years used same stock bars)
2004: 55.8%/44.2%
H&R: 55.9%/44.1% (nearly identical to stock 2004)
PSS: 59.3%/40.7% (nearly identical to stock CR, which is 59.2%/40.8%, a whole lot more understeer than stock 2004)
10k/8k: 58.8%/41.2% (half way between stock 2009 & CR bias, a lot more understeer than stock 2004)
12k/10k: 57.4%/42.6% (nearly identical to stock 2009, which is 57.6%/42.4%, a bit more understeer than stock 2004)

Note that with your own copy of the Suspension Calculator, you can play around with mix/match stock swaybars from different years, or even aftermarket ones if you know their bar rate, combined with the PSS or Ohlins options, to see what it would take to get them closer to your 2004 stock bias. Then just buy those swaybars.

Hopefully this gives you sufficient content for your over thinking process.

Nerd-Vol

I think I’m definitely leaning towards the Ohlins. Now I’ve got to figure out what path with that. I see that Sakebomb sells a kit with 11k/11k springs, custom valved, remote adjusters for $2650. Perhaps I would be better off just doing 10k/10k? Maybe 11k/10k?

I plan to stay with factory tire stagger and ARB, so a square spring rage should keep me relatively close to factory. I need to run the Car Analogy calculator to double check.

noodels

10k =F55.3%R44.7%
11k would be same

Nerd-Vol

Perfect. Thanks so much! That’s essentially stock.

I may consult with Sakebomb to see if I really need all of these components for a street setup. https://www.sakebombgarage.com/fpspo...ins-dfv-s2000/

noodels

And a stiffer front bar= much better
the remote adjusters wont work with spare wheel in on that side.I dont think ..

Nerd-Vol

*S2000 version not compatible with spare tire

Well spotter. I’d probably be best off with just the base model DFV with the 11/11k. At least with that I will get the 10/8 as an option.

Car Analogy

A stiffer front bar means balance shifts front, toward understeer.

If its a square setup, and especially if its a track car, you need to shift bias foward when both those things are true (as square tire setup shifted bias rear).

A stiffer front bar is also good idea if you are used to fwd, and aren't adapting to rwd.

But none of those things are true for the op. So a stiffer front bar is just going to make his stock stagger street car understeer. That would likely make him faster around a track. But it'll be less fun on the street.

ES2K

"the remote adjusters wont work with spare wheel in on that side.I dont think .."
Remote will not work with spare tire in place; not needed on right side when spare tire is removed. When you find your sweet setting, just put the spare back in. Many people remove spare for track events anyway so changing right side adjustment is not a big deal. However, remote on left side provides access to adjuster which is behind fuel filler neck and other stuff.