I know this came up a bit in one of the other forums, but for some reason nobody seemed to want to bother to actually find out for certain (they seem to prefer rumor and speculatoin in the other forums to actual facts). Well, I found out for certain and the answer is....

yes. You guys with '02s have suspensions with different springs, shocks and swaybars... both front and rear. I dont have all the details of the changes yet, but I'm going to do a little more poking around and see what I can find out.

Facinating eh?

You may now discuss amongst yourselves...

cheers,
jason keeney

 

Wow! I'm verklempt!

 

The big question to me at least is the bottom line.

Will these changes help or hurt the handling? My guess is that this was done to reduce the oversteer issue that some feel is a problem.

 

There's another question that I'm considering as well: Are these springs, shocks, and swaybars going to be replacement equipment for the older models? I.e. if my springs get worn out, are these the ones that Honda wants me to put on my car? If this is the case, things get interesting in Stock class....

 

Is the alignment setting the same for 2002?

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by RacerX
[B]There's another question that I'm considering as well:

 

I rode in kster's '02 car at Thunderhill and his suspension felt stiffer than my '01.

 

Well I have an '02 and some people were surprised when I told them that it understeered heavily the first time I autocrossed it. I changed my alignment settings and tire pressures and was pretty satisfied with the neutrality of the handling the second time I drove it. The third time I drove it, I tried slightly different tire pressures and all I got was CRAZY oversteer. I managed not to spin it despite the fact that it was handling worse than my Cobra Replica that particular day. Cold weather and a slippery surface probably exacerbated the situation.

So I'd say that they sure didn't work very hard on removing understeer and the car is VERY sensitive to small changes in tire pressure and environmental conditions. The other S2000's that were there seemed to be fine however, but I was the only one on street tires and I had the least "set up" car. I don't know, maybe I'll try to get Keeney to drive my car at some point and see what he thinks.

Robin.

 

Actually, the rule book DOES allow the replacing of equipment as long as it is with manufacturer-specified replacement parts. e.g. If part 7091 (2001 rear sway bar) breaks, and Honda specifies part 7191 (2002 rear sway bar) as the appropriate replacement, we can put them on our car legally within stock class, ditto with springs. Shocks aren't as much of an issue as we can replace those anyway as per the rules.

Hence my question: If they are the authorized replacement parts, will they offer a performance advantage, I wonder? If they offer a disadvantage, stock up on those old parts!

 

no.. .these are not replacement parts. The parts book for the S2000 lists different part numbers for 00-01 and 02. The 02 suspension parts do no replace the parts on the older cars.