Mccormick009

I'm long overdue on my review of the Ohlins DFV Shock setup and Patrick with Urge Designs. To start off I am not stating anything other than my opinions and I imagine I will get some trolling and negative feedback but, again, I am only stating my opinions.

I drive a 2007 AP2 with approx 100,000 miles. We reside in San Diego and the car is predominantly used for daily use on Southern CA freeways. My job requires a lot of travel and I often drive up to LA/Santa Barbara/OC etc. When I bought the car I was rolling around on 17x9 square Weds Sport TC105N with mismatched garbage tires and Swift Spec R springs mated to OEM shocks.

I contacted Patrick (many times) to discuss how to make the car more livable. It was crashing over bumps and so low I scraped on almost all speed bumps and frankly hated driving it. I had a lot of experience with Ohlins from many years of motorcycle racing and figured it might be the best options to gain more compliance.

Patrick was world class in his knowledge of the car and ways to help. I picked the Ohlins up and installed them with fresh 255/40/17 Bridgestone RE71R tyres. Wow. Big difference. Now to the fun part.

Patrick and I set the height to about .5" lower than stock (higher than Ohlins recommended setup) with the suggested 2mm of preload. This was excellent in gaining much needed ground clearance and travel.

Over the past 2-3 months Patrick and I have been playing around with the dampening level. Honestly I am still not completely happy with the on road stiffness but there has certainly been no lack of support from Urge Designs. I am using the dampers on full soft front/rear (33 clicks from stiff) and for the most part I'm happy but the spring rate is high enough that it is still jarring over certain pavement.

Call me picky and this is where I assume the trolling will come but I would like the S2000 to feel more German GT car than road race roadster. Patrick and I are now looking into Swift Springs at possibly an 8k/6k or 8k/7k rate to better help the ride quality.

On to the race track. My previous cars were E46 M and recently Integra Type R. I do enjoy track days. I told Patrick I wasn't going to publish this review until I have the setup a fair shake at a track event and due to work I have had the suspension much longer with no track time than I'd like to admit. So here it is, Streets of Willow time.

I now realize why people usually mate the Ohlins with higher spring rates. I ran 4 sessions in pretty abnormal weather for SoCal. The temp was about 40-45* all day with tyre pressure and rapid cooling of the rubber making the first two sessions really difficult to set up the car to drive how I like. Again, to compliment Patrick and Urge on amazing service, I call him mid day (Saturday) and he helps me out with setup ideas. Truly a credit to the s2000 community!

Trying to keep pressures around 33-35 (hot) I ran the dampers on 7/8 clicks out from full stiff. This really made the car a joy to drive. I could feel some roll and movement in the suspension which I assume is why many go with stiffer rates but it was quite fun to drive with. If this was purely a weekend or track car I would certainly up the rates myself however due to the main purpose of the car I will have to enjoy the controllable movement of the car.

One track is certainly not enough to give a solid review of these coil overs and I will update this review as further changes are made. I will most likely seek Patrick's help, yet again, to move to a softer spring to help soften my commuter up. I realize my needs and wants are very specific and may not match your goals. Again these are my opinions and hope they give more insight on this amazing product and incredible partner.

The Ohlins has always and still is an incredibly well made product and I feel it is probably one of the best on market; certainly prettiest! Once I find my desired spring rate I assume I will be very very happy. Already I am worlds better than where I started and look forward to more fine tuning. Patrick - thank you. I have yet to see a negative review about you or your company and trust I never will. You have gone so far above and beyond making this car more enjoyable for me. Please keep doing what your doing so we have a source like you to work with.

B serious

I doubt anyone is going to troll you for this. I think a large faction the community has shifted toward making the S2000 more comfortable for daily use.

I wonder if PSS9's would have maybe been a better system for your uses. As good as the öhlins dampers are, a system will softer rates will inherently crash over bumps less.

You might also try stiffening the dampers a click or two to see if it helps. Under damped shocks can be crashy as well.

Mccormick009

I certainly hope I don't get trolled but the last time I put a review up some members just went off. Unavoidable online sadly.

Overall I'm very happy with the Ohlins. Once Patrick and I soften the rates I think it will be mustard

afzan

I would try some different tires before swapping springs.

Car Analogy

Makes me wonder what you would have thought of the stock shocks and springs for your commuter comfort, since you never got a chance to try that configuration.

Sent from my SM-G920P using IB AutoGroup

Rmgibson

When I first installed my Ohlins it took some time to find the right combo for daily driving. Eventually I settled at 21/23 clicks from stiff as going full soft all around bounced way too much. Now that I'm back on the stock suspension I can tell you that the Ohlins damping really makes the most difference as the ride quality is worse IMO with the original shocks. I'd try staggering your clicks with a stiffness bias towards the front before swapping springs, only takes a minute!

Mccormick009

Appreciate the feedback guys. I have driven a few stock s2000s and they are definitely more harsh. All in all I'm pretty happy but I think I can do a bit better. Patrick and I have been talking a lot about the Swift springs for these coil overs and Inherently their design is probably softer and will absorb more shock.
I may end up going a bit softer but not by much. I have a few other projects to tackle on the car first before I go back to suspension but will keep all updated.

jamesac83

You're at full soft, and can tolerate driving it like that? I found my car almost undriveable on the road with anything less than about 10 clicks from full soft. I'd stiffen up the shocks a bit just so they're actually controlling the spring. As for the ride comfort you're looking for, how low is the car set? One issue with the Ohlins is that the rear doesn't have a whole lot of travel, so if you're super low I could see the shocks bottoming out.

RedCelica

I ride 5/5 from full stiff both on street and track. Love it and I personally think it rides way better than stock. I was at 7/8 and the car felt too soft for my liking.

Mccormick009

I have the ride height about .5" lower than stock. I adjusted the Ohlins higher to get more ground clearance. There is no way I could go 5 clicks from full stiff on the streets in SoCal. It would rattle the car to pieces.
I did stiffen up the front a tad and will test that out for a bit