Suspension FAQ for Noobs
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Joined: Jul 2006
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From: NJ
I'm looking to:
1) Plant the Rear-end more (oversteer is scary)
2) Lower the center of gravity of the car.
3) Improve handling as much as possible without sacrificing ride quality.
I also plan on getting some 18" wheels, so that has to be added into the equation.
1) Plant the Rear-end more (oversteer is scary)
2) Lower the center of gravity of the car.
3) Improve handling as much as possible without sacrificing ride quality.
I also plan on getting some 18" wheels, so that has to be added into the equation.
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Joined: Nov 2000
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From: Azusa
I can tell you that there is very little wrong with the car's handling with the stock suspension. It can be improved to some extent with wider than stock front tires, but that conflicts with your "oversteer is scary" concern.
An aftermarket suspension is not really going to give you a massive improvement in grip to the extent that you don't have to worry about exceeding the limits. If grip is your problem, I would recommend better tires.
What an aftermarket suspension is going to do is make everything happen faster. Including oversteer. If you have the correct instincts and fast enough reflexes, then that can be good. However if the handling of a stock S2000 scares you, stiffer springs will just make it worse.
You may find some benefit from using aftermarket shocks with stock springs, if you know how to adjust them or if you can find a shock builder who really knows what damping rates are likely to work.
On my own car, I have the stock springs, with custom-valved shocks set to the stock height, with a very stiff front stabilizer bar. And do you know what? I use different shock settings on the street than I use in competition. Very close to the stock damping rates, I would guess. The car handles great.
I strongly recommend getting some safe high performance driving experience (autocross, track instruction, racing school) before you try to trick out your suspension, or you may just screw things up and not know what you did wrong (or not even know that it's screwed up). I've seen it happen more than once.
To quote a multi-time autocross national champion in the Street Mod 2 class after a couple of years developing his own suspension setup from scratch, "I now have a lot of respect for factory suspension engineers."
I have two rules of thumb for any new owner/driver:
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. -- Traditional mechanic/engineer saying
Could you at least try it before you mess with it? -- Taco Bell commercial
An aftermarket suspension is not really going to give you a massive improvement in grip to the extent that you don't have to worry about exceeding the limits. If grip is your problem, I would recommend better tires.
What an aftermarket suspension is going to do is make everything happen faster. Including oversteer. If you have the correct instincts and fast enough reflexes, then that can be good. However if the handling of a stock S2000 scares you, stiffer springs will just make it worse.
You may find some benefit from using aftermarket shocks with stock springs, if you know how to adjust them or if you can find a shock builder who really knows what damping rates are likely to work.
On my own car, I have the stock springs, with custom-valved shocks set to the stock height, with a very stiff front stabilizer bar. And do you know what? I use different shock settings on the street than I use in competition. Very close to the stock damping rates, I would guess. The car handles great.
I strongly recommend getting some safe high performance driving experience (autocross, track instruction, racing school) before you try to trick out your suspension, or you may just screw things up and not know what you did wrong (or not even know that it's screwed up). I've seen it happen more than once.
To quote a multi-time autocross national champion in the Street Mod 2 class after a couple of years developing his own suspension setup from scratch, "I now have a lot of respect for factory suspension engineers."
I have two rules of thumb for any new owner/driver:
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. -- Traditional mechanic/engineer saying
Could you at least try it before you mess with it? -- Taco Bell commercial
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 20,274
Likes: 4
From: Toronto, Canada
A 100 lb sub woofer enclosure in the trunk will solve #1 and #2.
In all seriousness if oversteer bothers you the only real fix is to be found behind the wheel. Beyond that you can disconnect the rear sway bar but you wouldn't be improving anything only making it less "scary".
In all seriousness if oversteer bothers you the only real fix is to be found behind the wheel. Beyond that you can disconnect the rear sway bar but you wouldn't be improving anything only making it less "scary".
Thread Starter
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 818
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From: NJ
Well right now the car has two different sets of tires front and rear. Not sure what tire at the moment, since I keep forgetting to write it down.
Yes a driving school is in the future, but they cost big bucks.
Regardless, I still see a bunch of the guys on the racing/competition forum modding their S2000 to reduce oversteer. Heck, even the Competition FAQ talks about front sway bars to reduce oversteer.
The S2000 has a whole lot of oversteer, and it's that "Snap" oversteer that is sometimes hard to predict. Luckily it can be easy to recover from, if you react in time.
To be honest I think my current setup has crappy tires, wrong tire pressures, and probably an off-alignment.
Am I going to track the car? Maybe once in a blue moon, to see how she does. But this car is my dream car/baby. I want it to perform well, as much as I want to customize it's looks.
When I want to go for some spirited driving (and I mean spirited), I'd like to extend the safety margin.
A few nights ago I punched second gear on a very straight piece of highway.
It was wet and dark outside. Within a spilt second I was facing sideways at almost a 35 degree angle! Let's just say I want to make that stop!
Yes a driving school is in the future, but they cost big bucks.
Regardless, I still see a bunch of the guys on the racing/competition forum modding their S2000 to reduce oversteer. Heck, even the Competition FAQ talks about front sway bars to reduce oversteer.
The S2000 has a whole lot of oversteer, and it's that "Snap" oversteer that is sometimes hard to predict. Luckily it can be easy to recover from, if you react in time.
To be honest I think my current setup has crappy tires, wrong tire pressures, and probably an off-alignment.
Am I going to track the car? Maybe once in a blue moon, to see how she does. But this car is my dream car/baby. I want it to perform well, as much as I want to customize it's looks.
When I want to go for some spirited driving (and I mean spirited), I'd like to extend the safety margin.
A few nights ago I punched second gear on a very straight piece of highway.
It was wet and dark outside. Within a spilt second I was facing sideways at almost a 35 degree angle! Let's just say I want to make that stop!
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From: █ SF, CA █
Originally Posted by dthondatune,Dec 1 2006, 12:26 PM
Heck, even the Competition FAQ talks about front sway bars to reduce oversteer.
Auto-x would be the cheapest/most effective mod.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 17,004
Likes: 7
From: Santa Cruz, CA, US
OMG "Schools Big bucks" but you want to buy shocks and swaybars?!
The s2k does not have a whole lot of oversteer. You need to learn to drive.
"Extend the safety margin" by learning to drive.
The s2k does not have a whole lot of oversteer. You need to learn to drive.
"Extend the safety margin" by learning to drive.
