Hey everyone. First off, I'd like to let you guys know how helpful this forum has been while lurking and doing research for the past few years, even before I owned an S2000. The community here seems a lot more mature than the WRX/STi forums that I'm used to, which is nice. Just for a little background, my previous cars were a 1998 Prelude (coilovers, exhaust) and a 2005 WRX ("stage 2", tein springs, cusco rear sway bar) so this is my first rear drive car.

As of now, the car (05 Rio) is completely stock except for an invidia q300 and my only complaint about the car is the cheap all-season sumitomos the dealership slapped on the car before putting it on the lot. In my opinion, it's borderline dangerous putting all-season tires on a car like this. The car is just unstable and have no grip even going around slow turns in my neighborhood so I've decided I'm going to order a set of star specs or RS-3s. One other complaint is the wheel gap, but that's to be expected on a stock car. This car will be driven on the street 95% of the time with maybe a track day or autocross event this summer so I don't need to go balls to the wall on suspension, but I would like a nice street setup that is capable on some twisty mountain roads.

I've done a good bit of research but I couldn't find a thread discussing the two setups I'm choosing between. My budget is right around $2,500. The first setup would be a square setup with Enkei PF01s +60 and 255 star specs or RS-3s, Swift Spec Rs, and a Cusco front sway bar. The other option would be to keep the stock wheels powdercoated gunmetal grey ($400) on with a 225/255 tire, and Bilstein PSS9s.

My fear with the first setup is the non-adjustability of the springs and the fact that I've read they can be a bit bouncy on stock struts and that the 1.25 inch drop may be a bit too much for speed bumps (two in the parking lot at school and a bit of a nasty entrance/exit to the lot that I was barely able to clear with my WRX. I also read in one of the stickies that springs are a shortcut and don't actually have any performance benefit and may even hurt performance, but at the same time I've read reviews saying they are very coilover like and handle great.

So I'd just like to hear from the people that have had experiences with one or both of these setups or has any insight on what would be best for a casual street driven back road warrior.

Pics because I feel bad about the long post..

 

For a street driven car I would recommend something from TEIN like the Street Flex. These coilovers are great if your not looking to slam the car and want something comfortable and adjustable. We have them listed for $945 not including shipping. You can add them to cart and enter your zip to get a total!
http://store.excelerateperformance.c...i-1760602.aspx

 

For wheels, I recommend you going with 18x9.5 +40 with 245/35/18 all around. For coilovers, my only recommendation is to spend as much as you can afford. Don't go with cheap taiwan brands. I do also have tein RA for sale, which I really love. But it's more meant for the track setup. It is also nice for street, but like excelerate state, Tein Street Flex is a lot nicer.

 

Extreme performance summer tires are always a good option, but there's nothing wrong with quality all seasons for day to day driving.

I find Swift Spec Rs Are fine for street as long as the streets aren't too crappy. Even on Tucson's shitty streets I find them livable with poly bushings.

Mine is a 2005. I have full poly bushings, CR shocks with Swift Spec R springs, Cusco stabilizers front and back, and stock wheels with RE-11As 225/255.

Video from this weekend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcNRKnvgeJc

 

Hey man, thanks for the reply. How much do CR shocks usually go for? Also, how is your clearance with the Spec Rs over speed bumps?

 

You're welcome. In my particular case, I was able to find a relatively low mileage set of CR shocks for $400. They end up being around $800 brand new from the dealership. If you want to get them cheaper than new, you'll just have to check the classifieds regularly and watch for some to pop up.

The benefit of going this route is you'll have a setup that should be good for at least 80K miles with no fussing about with adjustability that you may or may not have the knowledge nor inclination to deal with. From what I've read, the PSS9 is a good option to rebuild and throw alternate springs on, but it's fairly limited right out of the box.

As far as the drop, I've gotten over some rather large humps with no issues as long as they are taken slowly. The larger ones usually require crossing at an angle. The height I have between the ground and the pinch weld/jack points is about 3.5", which is just enough to clear Harbor Freight 1.5 ton aluminum race jacks.

Overall I'm very happy with the setup and it's capable of going faster than I did in that video. I think there's another 2-3 seconds to be had from the car as is, and it's just down to adjusting myself to find it.