h i 9 h r 3 v z

I would keep the OEM suspension and maybe get Swift sport springs. Comfortable set up with a bump in performance.

twohoos

For ride comfort, in order of importance
- OE springs & dampers, any year (except CR), they're all pretty comparable for ride comfort
- Find and kill interior rattles (important! rattles are a huge part of *perceived* ride harshness)
- OE 16" (AP1) rims, new tires
- AP2 swaybars

If you don't think rattles are important, try this: drive over the worst local stretch of road with the top up, then circle around and re-drive it with the top down. Top-down, the common soft-top rattles will be gone, and the open-air ambient noise will drown out most remaining interior rattles. All of a sudden everything will seem smoother - you still feel the bumps through your seat, but with the rattles gone, they seem "rounder" and gentler, and overall far less harsh.

Car Analogy

Ok, I'm with you on interior rattles. And I agree with the taller, and lighter, 16" ap1 wheels. And certainly the stock suspension offers more comfort than most any lower quality, inexpensive coilovers (though I think many would argue some of the good stuff is more comfortable than stock, even though sprimgs and damping are stiffer).

But unsure about the softer ap2 swaybars. Over a bump that affects both wheels, swaybars have virtually no effect. Of course, a bump that affects just one side, the swaybar should make that corner feel like its got a stiffer spring, as the spring and bar will act together, pushing back against the bumps efforts to deflect the wheel. So in theory stiffer bars equals a stiffer, less comfortable ride.

But I put the stiffest ap1 bars on my '06 ap2, which has stock shocks and springs (I felt it had too much roll), and didn't notice any loss in comfort. So basically I went from softest stock bars to stiffest. Car is a 3 season dd, commute is ?80 miles, and I'm kinda old.

I agree the bars *should* make some difference, but I haven't noticed any.

twohoos

^LOL that's why it's listed last in order of importance.

But you're right, the bars don't really make a difference in comfort (unless you get the dreaded endlink clunk, lol). I've run aftermarket, '00, AP2, and *no* bar at the rear, and there's basically no perceptible difference in ride.

jaor.s2k

I'm sure it would be different if you had the stock Ohlins springs, 10k front and 8k rear. Of course having 14k springs would be far stiffer than OEM.

Manga_Spawn

Yes but having driven and ridden in plenty of other S2000 with a range of cheap to pricey coils the OEM still feels far softer to me. I guess comfort is subjective to the person in the car.

GSteg

I started out with stock Ohlin springs and the ride was still stiffer than OEM. Comfort is subjective but go over some uneven bumps and you could tell they're sprung stiffer than OEM. On smoother roads with small irregularities, the Ohlins feel nicer to me but as soon as I hit a bad road, I get thrown around more regardless of damper setting.