Hi everyone,

I recently bought a 2004 S2000 and the previous owner had some hidious aftermarket chrome offset wheels which would have rubbed against the fender so he added some spacers.

When I bought the car the dealer changed the struts all around but had to leave the spacers in because of the offset wheels. The suspension was clunking at every small bump and it was way to stiff! I just swapped the wheels with stock ones so I can remove the spacers thinking it will fix the issue and I have to say the ride is has improved but the suspension still makes loud noises when I go over potholes. Not as much as before though..

When swapping the wheels I noticed that because the spacers were put very high up in the spring and they were the kind of spacers that would be on the inside of the spring as well, the upper part of the strut, the cilindric "cover" in which the lower side goes into when the suspension travels, was damaged from the 2 weeks I drove it on spacers. Damage was not that bad and the guy that swapped the wheels said it's not gonna touch and cause issues.

This is my first s2000 and first convertible with a very rigid chasis. Is it normal for the suspension to be so lound and kinda clunk when going over potholes? I'm used to smooth suspension in well sound isolated cars but this isn't either of those.

I don't believe the struts would have gone in 2 weeks with spacers or not so maybe I'm over thinking this and it's normal in an s2000.
Struts are not leaking I checked.

Thanks,

Cristian

 

Dampers should go that quickly, take a pic of the spacers and post it up.

 

here they are
ugly bastards! the thin pointy part was the one on the inside of the spring hitting the dampers you can actually see the scratches on them. there were 2 of these per spring.





I know it's not the typical spacer that I've seen others had in from the factory.

 

Only thing I can think of is maybe they forgot to install the spacer on the top hat.
Can you take the nut off of the damper shaft and pull the top rubber bushing off, you should see a sleeve in there. When you take it off take a pic and post it up just in case you aren't sure.
Do this with the car on the ground and be sure not to push on the car to compress the suspension.
Don't use an impact gun on the nut.

 

took the car to a shop for something else and had them check the suspension as well.. front dampers are leaking after two weeks and rear ones are pretty much gone too. i even have a busted tire wall because the suspension didn't do it's job.
guess that explains all the clunking sounds

i called the dealer that sold me the car and they told me they replaced the struts with second hand ones and are gonna correct the job so it's all on them.
that's a relief cause the whole thing would cost about 2000$ to fix.


thanks for the input!! you guys are great here as always!

 

The shop might use old struts again. I would try to get cash and buy something you might want

 

they won't go for that because they can get better prices from suppliers and labor is free since they have their own shop. also, the warranty states all work will be done in their shop.

i will be satisfied with seeing an invoice and checking to make sure they look new.
the existing ones that were second hand are crummy and rusted.