Ohlins DFV's installed
 

I had been pondering the idea of upgrading my suspension lately as I felt the stock suspension was getting a little tired. It wasn't leaking or bouncing, but it just didn't feel as "solid" anymore. After researching H&R's, KW's, and Ohlins DFV's, I finally decided the Ohlins would suit my needs best. I wanted a suspension that rode smooth like stock, but provided the extra dampening and spring rates to keep me planted in the corners when the need arose. I really enjoy mountain roads and track days, though I have yet to get the S on the track. I am really looking forward to it now.

I ordered an Ohlin's DFV setup from Patrick of Urge Designs. Patrick was really patient with me as I was having trouble justifying the money for these. It took some persuading, but I finally took the plunge. Urge has a satellite warehouse in Charlotte, NC and with me being a little less than an hour from there I received the suspension next day. It still surprised me that they came so quick considering I ordered them later in the day. Goes to show that Urge is on top of things. On to the suspension.

The shocks came packaged extremely well.

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Opening them up, I found that EVERYTHING was bubble wrapped. and separated by cardboard and foam.


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Assembly wasn't bad at all. The only part I stumbled on was which springs went up front vs the rear. Maybe I overlooked it somewhere in the literature, but the only way I found out was by a picture on the back of the setup instructions from where I could barely make out the part numbers on the coils in the pictures. Other than that, setting the spring preload was simple and not far off from how the perches were set as shipped. I elected not to mess with the height setup on the shock bodies. (these have separate height adjustments independent of spring preload.) I figured I would drive around on them for a while and let everything settle before I started making the final height adjustments. As for the rebound and compression, Ohlins recommends you start by backing off ten clicks all the way around. From other reviews on here I decided to do 8 up front and 10 in the rear.

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Side note* I did have an issue with one of the adjustment knobs for the shocks. Three of my shocks had a total of 33 clicks of adjustment and one had 36. I also noticed that the one that had 36 clicks did not have resistance until 11 clicks in from fully backed off. The other three had resistance at 8 clicks in. I started doing some measuring with my calipers and found that the one adjuster was machined slightly off. The depth of the collar under the allen key way was more shallow by .26mm as compared to the rest. I called Patrick on it and was told that this was known to have happened before. He is forwarding the info to Ohlins, so they can get to the root of it. This in no way affects the performance of the adjustment since all the adjustments are made from the fully tight position and backed off.

I got kind of carried away on the installed and failed to take pictures of them being put on. This isn't a how to anyhow, just a review. I do however have one shot of them on the car. :photo:

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Lowering the car off the lift and jousting the suspension, I found that the car sits around 1" lower than stock by leaving the height adjusters alone. This worked out great since I wanted to see how much clearance I have getting up my driveway back home. I proceeded to do the alignment to factory specs for now until everything settles.

Now the fun part; the test drive. This suspension is top quality for sure. The ride is crisp, but not firm or bouncy at all. It feels almost just like stock riding down the road and hitting medium bumps. Over larger gradual bumps, you can feel the suspension reacting responsively. My neighborhood is a gravel/asphalt mix and the shocks really shined over the high speed compression and rebounding that this road delivered. It felt better than stock even. The shocks allowed the tires to move with the road imperfections and created a clean smooth ride. On the way home, I pushed the car a little on an on ramp. The car felt planted and inspired a lot of confidence. I never once had that iffy feeling of over steer like I used to. So far, I am loving this suspension. I can't wait to play with it some more.

I'd recommend this setup to anyone that is on the fence about upgrading their suspension for fears of a harsh unpleasant ride. That was me in a nutshell. I love the s2000 for everything it is from the factory. I like adding parts that "enhance" the cars natural abilities without taking away from it's core rawness. The Ohlins DFV's do just that.

I've been looking at these, let me know what you think when you get ~1000 miles on them, and/or if you take them to the track.

Thanks for the review so far.

Will do. I took them on a long trip yesterday and had no complaints. After being in the car for over two hours, I could tell that I had stiffer springs on it. It wasn't uncomfortable, but all the little imperfections on the interstate were a little more noticeable to me. My wife never once said anything, so as far as I know she couldn't tell the difference between stock and these. That's got to count for something right :)

Are you making sure all the knobs are fully seated? They are sprung so you can pull up on them, so maybe one isn't returning back?

They are all fully seated. I could transfer the knob to another shock and the amount of clicks would follow.

You are fine on the money. At their current price point the Ohlin DFVs are probably the best available. The stiffer springs and increased relative front roll stiffness account for the handling...while the shocks themselves are a solid monotube design.

We were able to get a new knob out to Ryan and now all the knobs are the same length and he has confirmed all shocks have the same number of adjustments.

Ohilins opened all the kits they had to verify those knobs are the same length as well. Seemed like it only affected one batch.

Agreed...

Any updates or track time on these?

So I finally got to try the suspension out in a more demanding manner. I took a trip to deals gap (dragon's tail) this past weekend and pushed the tires to their limits. I have Bridgestone Potenza RE760 sports all around with sizes 225 and 265. I had just made a trip to deals gap on the same tires and stock suspension two months ago, so I still had a fresh idea of what to compare to. The car was so much more predictable around the corners. The roll was much eliminated and getting the car to transfer and settle its weight was way easier than before. I got to the point to where I could feel when tires would lose their grip and slide a bit. The suspension was so in tune with the car that it was easy to find the edge and be sure not to overstep it. So i'm adding safety as another perk to this suspension.

I plan on purchasing some of the pictures taking while I was up there. I'll attach a picture that I purchased on my visit two months ago with one that I have snipped from this trip to show the difference in body roll.

Ohlins left and stock right

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I have two minor complaints and it could by my doings. I was getting a loud crunch sound when taking right hand corners and loading the left front suspension. That, and a metal knocking sound when the suspension drops such as when going over a pot hole or other imperfection. I need to double check and make sure nothing has come loose since installation. But other than that, this suspension is still exceeding what I thought I was expecting.

The crunch and/or the metallic sound may be a front fender liner contacting the tire. Look for rub marks on the liner surface or on the liner fastening pins.

Hopefully you didn't change the spring height to lower the car?