ragtophardtop

I'm looking to set up my S without any fender mods and would appreciate help/advice from anyone who has prepped their car for a similar setup. I plan to get a suspension setup this year, run it with the current tire setup I have, and update with wheels next year. I'm curring running stock ap2v3s with 225/255s.

Eventually I plan to have a square setup at stock ride height with at least -2.5 degrees of camber F&R. Right now I'm trying to decide on which wheels I'll eventually get so I can plan/purchase coilovers. I find the 08 stock suspension rolls too much, so I want a higher quality setup that stays flat and is neutral to perhaps ever so slightly front biased.

First question: for wheels, I want the largest square setup, or largest safe square setup, without modifying fenders in any way while running at stock ride height.

Can the 17x9 +62/63 wheel be run with 255s at stock ride height with no roll, such as the Tire Rack C3?
If not, are 245s safe with this wheel?
If not, AP2 wheels with small spacers and 245s up front?

Second question: I'm planning to get Ohlins or Feals and as I said above run them at stock ride height. I see different people discussion different spring rate stagger, but I don't understand why people would have stagger on some setups with the same wheels and no stagger on other setups. For example, running 17x9 square with 255s, some people seem to have stagger such as 12/10k, and I've seen others posting about their setup with 10/10 or 11/11 with the same ohlins. Is it not recommended to get, say, a 12/10k setup with Ohlins and run them on stock wheels/tires before I upgrade my wheels?

Sorry if this has been discussed before, I've search for a couple of hours already and still don't have a full understanding of this. I'm sticking with single adjustable coilovers because I need to keep things simple.

Nate Tempest

Yes you can run square 255s on 17x9 with no roll and 2.5° front camber. That's even with the car lowered, which honestly you probably will want to do to some extent since you're going to the trouble. Around 13" from hub to wheel well fender is a good number for better dynamics without being too slammed. I've run 255 square at 12.5" with no roll, but did get a lot of rubbing on the wheel well liner on both inside and outside, so 13" would be better to minimize that. Might have to go higher if you want to eliminate it completely (assuming you track or autocross the car).

Re your second question, the relative stiffness of your front and back springs (and sway bars) will affect the balance of front to back grip. I could write an essay about how spring rates are chosen, but basically a somewhat higher rate in the front than the rear works well for the S2000 with square wheels/tires. Since wider front tires would give you more grip, the appropriate spring and sway bar combo will change when you go from staggered tires to square. That said, if you do want to upgrade springs before wheels, you could compensate with sway bars, either using an adjustable front bar and increasing the stiffness when you upgrade the wheels, or by sticking with the stock front bar initially, then upgrading to a thicker (hopefully still adjustable) front bar along with the wider wheels.

ragtophardtop

@Nate Tempest Thanks for the details! I would like to run lower, but this is a primarily street driven car and the speed bumps, hills, and driveways will not allow both lowering and me to take the S everywhere I need to go. I do want to autoX and want to avoid rubbing too. Basically I don't want permanant modifications, but want to improve handling and grip for autocross and keep the car comfortably streetable down to 40 degrees F on wet roads, the S is my primary car. I don't commute in it, but I have to be able to drive it even when the weather isn't great.

I think it makes sense to keep stock for now and go with a stiffer adjustable bar once I upgrade the wheels. For my perspective, do I understand correctly then that a staggered spring setup like 12/10k works best for square wheel setups, and a square spring setup works best for stock wheels?

Right now I'm thinking to get the 12k front 10k rear ohlins setup, keep the swaybars stock, wear out my current tires, and upgrade wheels/tires to 17x9 255s with swaybars next summer. If 10k/10k is better for stock wheels/tires, I may put 10k springs on the front and swap out to 12k next summer.

Nate Tempest

I think you'd be fine to just go straight to 12/10, since you're planning to upgrade the wheels soon. You'll get a bit of additional understeer, but it's not like it will destroy the handling.

spdracerut

I agree with Nate, just go straight to the 12k/10k setup. It'll just understeer a bit at the limit, but it'll be about perfect once you go to the square tire setup. 245s won't have any issues at all with fender rub. 255s may be pushing it, but doable. It does depend on the brand of tire too. Some 245s are like other 255s, etc.

freq

This is pretty much my setup. At stock height you'll be fine. Lowered, you may rub the inner fender liner on the front. I doubt you'll touch actual fender lips.

Chibo

I've seen the usual 17x9 +63 setup grab a fender when the car went off track with the steering wheel crossed up, so be warned.

ragtophardtop

Running 245s or 255s?

Nate Tempest

Presumably 255s, but remember it was almost certainly lowered as well, and an extreme/unlucky event (hitting bumps from the off with the steering wheel cranked).

Chibo

Yes, 255 RE71R. It was on Ohlins DFV without the lowering cups, so not that low. I am just saying be careful, it can happen.