Hey all,

I recently bought my S2000 which came with Ohlins DFV's and the ride is really hard. Like, on rough roads where I live in the East Bay of CA, I and the car are bouncing over a lot of roads. I feel every manhole, crack and road turtle as a harsh thump. Honestly my back is starting to ache (I'm just 36!) and my wife, who only rode in it for like 5 minutes, said it's going to aggravate her herniated disc. I can't even drive speed limit on some 25 mph roads because of how much it upsets the car. At speed on some bumpy sections it affects my right foot and throttle position. I know roads are in rough condition where I live, and I shouldn't expect prius-level of compliance, but this is too much. Driving the car I love how it handles on corners but I dread every crack and bump

Everything I've heard about Ohlins has been extremely positive, but I can't say the same for my experience. When I test drove the car it was on really smooth roads so it felt amazing, but where I'm at it's really an uncomfortable ride.

Here's the mod lists which I think could affect ride:

1. Ohlins DFV
   1. Full soft
   2. Previous owner said he used Ohlins' recommended ride height and preload
2. Hardrace front sway bar
3. poly bushings
4. Hankook RS4's, 27 psi front, 28 psi rear. Stock AP2 V1 wheels

What should I look for? Is it possible something isn't properly installed? If anyone lives in the Bay Area and has a great feeling set of Ohlins with similar mods as mine, I'd love to take a ride in your car and have you drive mine to compare. Maybe this is what people define as "better handling"? I can't imagine it is but I have no point of comparison

Thanks for your help!

 

What kgs rate springs ?

 

I asked the previous owner. Another thing which may affect harshness is one of the engine mounts is busted. I would think that one’s minor though. At idle it’s perfectly acceptable.

 

I’m pretty sure it’s standard rates, which I think are 8k and 10k, because they’re yellow and not copper-colored. At any rate I asked and am waiting for a reply

 

If the springs are yellow front and back then it's likely OEM rates. In my experience my Ohlins were harsher than I expected at intermediate settings however at full soft I still find it extremely supple. If he set it to OEM Ohlins settings then perhaps you could add some preload if it feels like you're riding the rear bump stops. That said over extremely bumpy washboard roads I also suffer in my car. I've just come to accept that sometimes speed limits aren't slow because people are pansies and can't be expected drive and are slow because the road conditions just don't allow higher speeds. The roads that my S2000 suck over my CRV also rides kind of poorly.

To clarify Is it that the car feels like it's moving around too much over bumps? Or does it feel like the suspension is just banging over every pot hole. To a certain extent having the suspension at full soft may allow excessive suspension movement over undulations and can make the ride feel harsh too or unstable. In regards to feeling that you can't get on the throttle is it because you feel like you don't have traction or that your foot is physically shaking too much from the bumps? As far as traction goes you want to find a middle ground. Too soft and the suspension moves all over the place and you get intrusive suspension movement. Too hard and the suspension can't extend fast enough to meet the ground which can cause jacking down and a skidding effect.

Potentially tires may be contributing however likely aren't the root cause. I haven't run RS4 in a while but I did find them a bit more "percussive" than RE71R. That said they shouldn't affect ride quality that much.

 

On bumpy local roads I can take them faster in my prius than I can in the S2000. It's certainly jarring but would never beat me up like the s2k's ride does.

Good question about what bumps feel like. It's mostly sharp bumps like road turtles, manhole covers and potholes that feel bad. It's more like a solid metal pounding feeling where I'm just falling onto solid metal in the seat. It's like the suspension travel is extremely short or harsh, there's little to no compliance in it.
As for the foot thing, if there are a series of bumps on the road and I'm trying to accelerate over them, it's that my foot is shaking in a resonant way to the bumps in the road in an uncontrolled way. Kind of hard to explain, like I'm involuntarily gassing and letting off multiple times a second.

It's worth noting that I felt I got very little change in playing with the adjustment knobs. When I bought the car they were around the middle setting, maybe 12 clicks or so. That felt really stiff, then I went softer, still felt really stiff. Then I thought maybe the directions are mixed up for some reason and went full stiff and it was all just harsh. Also one of the click knobs on the front has broken apart, which will need to be replaced, so I just backed out the little set screw at the top all the way, which I believe should be full soft.

I'm going to either reconstruct the clicker knob or just buy a new one from sakebomb, but in either case the thing just has no compliance. In the next few days I'm going to take off the wheels and see what I can see, maybe even pull out the coilovers and re-measure the pre-load.

 

Check if you can notice any markings on the springs.
Also make sure all the suspension bushings are correctly clocked.
Edit: Noticed it was on poly bushing now, the clocking does not apply then, make sure they are properly greased instead or just replace them like B says.

 

polyurethane bushings are 100% for sure attributing to your problem.

running "full soft" is also attributing to your problem. A trampoline is soft...but sitting on one while someone jumps on it next to you isn't comfortable. Shocks need to be able to control the springs.

Ohlins recommended preload is 2mm. That's nowhere near enough for 8K rear springs. Its also attributing to your problem. You need something like 17mm.

Suggestions...

Have a reputable chassis shop set up the coilovers. I think SBG is in Norcal?

Or...if you're keen enough, take them off the car and set them up yourself.

See how it rides after that.

Alignment and tire condition will also be a factor. Is the alignment good? Are the tires old, worn, and hardened up?

Look into replacing the polyurethane bushings with rubber or booted spherical ASAP. That is a terrible choice by the PO. The car is gonna ride like a box of nickels falling down a flight of stairs.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Yeah maybe I'll take the care to SBG and see what they say. As for alignment, I don't know the exact specs but I think the previous owner said -2 in front and -2.5 in back, something along those lines. Not sure on the tire age, but there's plenty of tread left in them and the rubber feels pretty soft still. I think the tires still have good life left in them.

Lots of questions on these bushings:

1. So poly bushings are pretty universally known to cause terrible ride quality?
2. Can you tell me more about why they're bad?
3. When would someone want to have poly bushings?
4. I thought poly was supposed to be a balance of harshness and response between hardened rubber and spherical, is that right? I can't even imagine what spherical feels like

Thanks! This sounds like the answer I need, even though now I'm dreading spending $2500 on parts and labor for swapping out these terrible bushings.

 

Ok I actually found a thread on here which answered most of my questions (https://www.s2ki.com/forums/s2000-br...1181640/page6/). It was like B Serious was talking to me from the past

Any general advice when choosing between hardened rubber and spherical bearings? Is there a way I could replace only some of the bushings, and get 80% of the compliance benefits for 20% of the cost? Recommendations on companies / kits?