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=============== STR Threads ===============

STR Prep - Suspension and Alignment
STR Prep - Shock / Damper and Springs Discussion
STR Prep - Differential Discussion
STR Prep - ECU and Tuning Discusson
STR Prep - Wheels and Tires
STR Prep - Exhuast (tip to tail)
STR Prep - Weight Reduction
STR Prep - Sway Bars
SCCA Solo - STR Rules Discussion ---> (Debate rules and proposals here...)
STR Prep - AP1 vs AP2v1 vs AP2v2 vs CR
STR Prep - Intake • from DIY to Mugen
STR Engine Mounts

=============== STR Threads ===============

What alignment do you use? Include weight, springs, ride height, sway bars. Shocks will be covered in another thread.


UPDATED 9/11/12

Car: 2003 S2000 AP1
Weight: 2650 lbs with 1/2 tank

Shocks: Penske 8300
Shock Body Length (lower bolt center to top of body/shaft bearing see photo below): Front = stock " --- Rear = 10.5"
Valving: OTS from Penske tables
Pistons: Compression - digressive --- Rebound - Linear

Springs: Hyperco 7" 950f/ 8" 750r

Front Sway Bar: Comptech Adjustable on full stiff (~900 lb/in)
Rear Sway Bar: 2006 MX-5 Front Bar with stock MX-5 bushings

Ride height: 12.25"f/12.5"r hub center to metal fender edge
Tires: 255 square Hankook RS3
Wheels: 949 Racing 6ULR 17x9

Alignment
Front Toe: 0.0 in
Front Camber: -3.0 deg
Caster: 5 deg

Rear Toe: -5/16"
Rear Camber: -2.6 deg

Bushings: OEM

murderedrsx

Im about the same as everyone else.


Car: 2000 S2000 AP1
Weight: (est) 2700 lbs

Ride height: 13"f/13.5"r hub center to metal fender edge
Springs: 671f/520r
Front Bar: Eibach 32mm full stiff
Rear Bar: None
Alignment: -2.0f, -2.4r camber, 0" toe front, 1/8" rear toe, max caster front
Tires: 255 square Hankook RS3
Wheels: 949 Racing 6ULR 17x9 +63, with 3mm spacer in front.

daverx7

Okay, here are my settings that worked quite well at the Blytheville Tri-State Tour:

Car: 2001 S2000 AP1
Weight: ????

Ride height: ~13 1/8"F/~12 3/4"R - hub center to metal fender edge
Springs: 800F/400R
Front Bar: Gendron with custom 1.375 Hollow 5 out of 6 (almost full stiff)
Rear Bar: 2006 MX-5 Base FSB
Alignment: Tires: 255 square Hankook RS3 (36F/33R psi)
Wheels: 949 Racing 6ULR 17x9

I'm ready for the flames on the spring rate, but it works GREAT for me and my co-driver.

-Dave

zo7vette

Not flamming, but a few questions about your spring rates. Have you run the car with higher rates in the rear (650+)? If so, what is the difference in handling for your surfaces compared to the softer rear springs? Is the car pushy/tight? Any bottoming out issues?

I am very curious, I was thinking a softer rear spring after I run the current norm for STR, I ordered 800/700 to start. I have my suspension on order, Penske 8300's, and should have them by next week, and hoping to run them at the end of this month, if all goes well.

H22A_CD5

I'm curious about the reason behind the increased camber and decreased caster on the driver's side. Is this planning for the additional weight on the driver's side or something?

daverx7

Early last year, I started moving from Stock to STR and went with 650F/500R, and it worked okay. The car was pretty loose, but not too bad. Note, we were still using the crazy big early AP1 rear bar. We could tame it by disconnecting the bar, but it sucked in the quick transitions and we were slower overall.

My co-driver, Mark, just came from developing a Miata for STS and decided that we would go further away from the S2Ki norm. We went closer to what he and another very well sorted Miata owner were doing with spring rates. This is how we landed with 800/400 and we threw on the MX5 FSB on the rear (BTW, Mark was the 1st to try this as he just took his MX5 FSB off which looked very similar to our RSB).

The car was very good in the quick transitions, but did have the tendency to push in the sweepers. This did allow me to drive it more like I did in the stock class and the downshifts to 1st were beautiful. The push at Nats sucked and had a hard time getting on the throttle when I wanted.

After this, we (really Mark) changed the ride height (lowered the front and raised the rear to the settings above) and added more rear toe-in. Unfortunately/fortunately, the left/front shock rebound got stuck on a wet/soft setting .5 turn from full soft vs. the typical full firm (2.75 turns). This addressed the push in a big way. In fact, I was doing some counter steering, which really wasn't happening much before. Here is a video showing how it was handling on day 1 at the Blytheville Tri-State NT.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obs43zCI5_Q[/media]

As of bottoming out, I've only heard rubbing in the front... nothing in the back.

Hope this helps in some way. It will be interesting if others decide to try a bigger stagger and have success with it... or not.

-Dave

daverx7

I'll confirm, but I am betting it is as simple as it is the max camber we could get out of that side.

-D

imstimpy

Car: 2006 S2000 AP2
Weight: 2750 lbs

Ride height: 13.0"f/12.9"r hub center to metal fender edge
Springs: 850f/700r
Front Bar: Gendron 1.25"x0.25" @6
Rear Bar: stock
Alignment: -2.6f, -2.4r camber, 0" toe front, 1/4" rear toe
Tires: 255 square Hankook RS3 @35psi or 255 square Dunlop Z1* @35psi
Wheels: 949 Racing 6ULR 17x9
Differential: stock Torsen

Bushings: OEM, Mugen front compliance bushing, J's S1

From my last setup I increased camber from -2.4f, -2.2r to -2.6f, -2.4r with a corresponding spring change from 850f/750r to 850f/700r to try and increase lateral grip. I'm not convinced it is any faster. Though the car is well balanced in the corners, acceleration grip was compromised. I tried to supplement the increased rear camber with less spring rate, but I think it is harder to accelerate. The rear is more finicky under power. It feels really balanced in the corners. At this point I will either decrease rear camber, decrease rear spring rate, or add a differential.

User 121020

Car: 2000 S2000 AP1
Weight: ~2650 lbs

Ride height: 12.875"f/12.75"r hub center to metal fender edge
Springs: 900f/800r
Front Bar: Modified Saner (4 adjustment holes) on full soft
Rear Bar: none
Alignment: -2.9f, -2.8r camber, 0" toe front, 1/4" rear toe
Tires: 255 square Hankook RS3 for warm weather, 255 square Star Specs for cold/wet
Wheels: 949 Racing 6ULR 17x9
Bushings: OEM (98k miles)
Camber kit: J's Racing S2
Differential: OE torsen

The car feels quite neutral with this setup for my driving style. It's fairly easy to toss around, stays well behaved in slaloms and offsets and can put power down well at corner exit. I had an NC FSB on the rear at the 2011 nats, which worked well on the east course because it made the car easier to rotate. It was disadvantageous on the west course and should have been disconnected between the two days.

I am likely going to try stiffening the FSB to the next setting (or 2 settings stiffer) and reconnecting the NC FSB in the rear. The goal of this would be to further improve the transitional response of the chassis without affecting the front-rear roll stiffness balance.

oinojo

Jake, I would try a run with the rear raised two turns and see how you like that. I have found that dropping the rear lower than the front introduces a bit of push (increased stability), with the effect of slower transitional response and the front not working well.