Yep, the rear will still step out one ya (both if you want it to, and if you do something stupid.) Even so, the overall tendancy is a tad bit towards understeer (in a good way, gives you great stability to get onto the power much sooner than otherwise) yet still retains very good responsiveness.

An aftermarket coilover setup can be tuned to do better, but of all the OEM configs I've driven (MY00 stock, MY03 stock, MY04 stock) the MY03 coilover, MY00 rear swaybar and aftermarket front swaybar is the best. (Okay, not exactly OEM, but close enough. )

 

Thanks guys, I've basically concluded that I will have to get used to even more oversteer, which is ok with me..

I will probably just drop on the 00' suspension, and leave the sways the same. The tire set up I'm running is 235/255 which seems to work well with the original set up. I can deal with oversteer, just not understeer..

Thanks again for your help!

-Mike

 

Having owned and driven hard both an '00 and '03, I strongly recommend that you at least swap in the slightly larger front anti-sway bar from the '00 donor. There's a big difference in the balance of the two setups, and making an '00 suspension more tail-happy is a bad idea.

They say a picture is worth 1000 words, so here's a picture to make my post shorter. This is the result of oversteer on corner exit, even while on power with the steering wheel unwound.

 

Ouch, like they say "Oversteer if when you hit the wall with the rear of the car"

I would agree though, definitely add a larger front bar either way and run lots of rear camber/toe in.

 

Ouchhh, that makes me reconsider a bit..

-Mike

 

Understatment of the century.

The stock '00 suspension was made to be neutral under gentle acceleration... like a well balanced race car. The byproduct of this is that the car is loose under braking and under hard acceleration. Its damn near impossible to provoke understeer in the car, but oversteer can be found with the smallest of driving errors.

While I logged hundreds of autocross runs in the car and was successful with it at the National level, I was never really comfortable driving the car on the street. I found that I could never casually drive the car. The car simply demanded nearly full attention, even at normal highway speeds.

 

Anyone know how do the OEM shocks compare between the 00' and '03?

From what people have posted, it appears the consensus is the 03' rear springs were softened up to neutralize the smaller front bar. Is it safe to assume then that the 03' dampers are softer than the 00' dampers?

I've done many searches, but it seems that no conclusion has ever been reached in regards to this. Thanks!