Sylvain2000

Curious to know your other mods and what years is your S

XxMerlinxX

It's a MY02, 17" wheels with 225/45/17 & 255/40/17 RE-11A tires. The coilovers are the only suspension upgrade that I've done so far. I adjusted them another 2 clicks harder and like them even better, but I'm still getting used to them.

whatlag

I got mine on with default setting and I can yank the steering wheel without me or the passenger flying out the window. Steering is very tight and responsive. It will feel better after my corner/balance next week.

MMisencik157

I've had these on the car for about a month now. I chose to adjust the ride height a few turns lower than they were set to out of the box but left them on default rebound settings of 15 from full stiff to begin with.

My car is a little over ~2,900lbs with me in (155lb driver) it and 1/3 tank of fuel. I am using non-staggered 255/40R17 Dunlop ZII and do not have any aero mods (stock body AP2)

I have ~1,500 miles on them so far which includes several "spirited" mountain drives and two track days. I'm coming from the HKS Hipermax III Sport so I'll try to compare a little to those for anyone who is familiar. These are some quick initial thoughts on them:

Street
The spring rates are much stiffer than the HKS Hipermax III Sport (16 kg/mm front/rear for the IV SP vs 13/11 kg/mm for the III S). This is very apparent during small impacts resulting in low speed piston movements and short strokes like over ripples in the road or especially on washboard stretches of the highway. In these conditions the suspension feels super stiff and bouncy as the dampers aren't really able to do much because there is not enough force to really compress the spring. However, the mid to high speed valving on the IV SP is really good- the dampers are more compliant over larger impacts even with the very stiff spring rates. Driving "spiritedly" on the touge (mountain road) the car feels very stiff but the dampers do a good job of controlling the tire and keeping it in contact with the road surface. I'll need to spend some time playing with the adjustments to see how the car reacts in different conditions. Comfort on the street, even at 15 from full stiff, is livable for me.

Track
This is where the Hipermax IV SP are more at home. The stiff spring rates make the car very responsive and as a result turn in and transitions are very good since the car is so quick to load the tire and take a set. You can attack smaller curbs and berms pretty well without the car getting too unsettled but they definitely aren't anywhere near the level of a motorsport grade system in this regard (not that they were expected to be or a surprise that they aren't). I didn't have too much time to spend adjusting anything but I ended up backing down 3 clicks on rebound and set my personal best out at Thunderhill Raceway my first time using them. There is definitely more time to be had with some adjustments and I look forward to playing with them more at different tracks.

Overall Impressions
These are a great damper for the money. They seem to be a good match for the typical track S2000 with non-staggered setups. I think they would be great for cars with aero but they still work on s2000s without wings and splitters. You definitely need to be running at least an EHP street tire (ZII, RE-11A, AD08R, RS3 etc.) to really take advantage of these. I'm not a huge fan of the spring rates if I'm being completely honest, I am finding it trickier to pick up the throttle and put power down early in places I wasn't before. I think 16kg/mm is too stiff but hey, I still broke my PB my first time using them on a track where I have hundreds of laps and am very consistent so there is no arguing they aren't a great option in this price range. I just believe they would be faster if they chose softer rates and valved them accordingly (12-14kg/mm non-staggered is what I would have went with if I could choose). Overall I'm happy with them and will continue to use them through the winter.

Here is a quick video from my first day at Thunderhill on these:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzsz9zdI_HI[/media]

Sylvain2000

Now that is a review !!!

And nice video btw

How lower are you now ??

MMisencik157

Thank you kindly

I went down about three turns from the default settings. I also have 9mm front and 12mm rear RCAs which lower the car more. If I didn't have those I would have gone down a lot more- probably 8-10 turns from the default setting.

For anyone interested the foot sleeve of the dampers have no floor so you can thread the shock body really far down if you so please. I bought the RCAs because I was as low as I could possibly go on my Hipermax III Sports without adjusting preload and I wanted a lower ride height. That won't be an issue with these, which is a plus.

Sylvain2000

Oh !!! Call me a noob but i have the rear rca 12mm installed but not the one on the front yet.

That as to be why the front sits higher than the rear at the moment ???

MMisencik157

Yeah if you have the rear but not the front and you have not adjusted the height on the coilovers then thats why your rear is lower haha. Im curious as to why you bought just the rear? Most people will do just front or front and rear together but I've never heard of anyone doing just the rear before.

alSpeed2k

Excellent review! I was really tempted to buy these b/c of the excellent price, but I was afraid 16kg would be a bit stiff for primarily a daily driver; now my question has been answered, thanks!

MMisencik157

It's not necessarily the spring rates that dictates how comfortable or compliant a suspension setup is on the street (or track for that matter), its more so the valving. I haven't seen a dyno chart but the valving in these feel very digressive to me. Combine that with a stiff spring rate and the low speed damping feels very stiff while the mid and high speed damping feels much more compliant. For the most part these are fine on the street, but there are certain circumstances as I mentioned that they can feel overly stiff and annoying.

I've driven on motorsport grade 3-way dampers with equally stiff, if not stiffer rates (either 16 or 18kg/mm… I can't remember) that felt softer and more compliant than these throughout the entire range without sacrificing body control to get it. Those were magical- you could cut the sh*t out of corners and really hit the big curbs on track. They just deal with it and don't unsettle car much, if any. They cost ~$8,000, though and were set up really well so I guess you would expect that

If you aren't tracking you car that often I would look at the Hipermax IV GT if you like HKS. If you don't mind spending a little more then the Ohlins DFV, KW V3 and Clubsport are all great options that will offer more compliance and comfort on the street than these without being a total slouch on a track if you decide to go more often. They would also work better with less aggressive max and UHP street tires where as these require at least a very sticky EHP street tire, IMO.