I just turned 100,000 miles on my 2000 S2000. I need new shocks but Honda doesn’t make the stock shocks anymore. I started researching but there is a ton of information out there that is confusing. Any suggestions? I don’t race, am not interested in lowering the car and don’t intend to get involved in adjustable shocks. Just want the best ride.

 

You can still purchase new shocks from Honda, they just don't sell the entire shock absorber assembly with the spring and upper mount.

Fronts are around 210 a piece:

51605-S2A-A05
51606-S2A-A05

Rears are around 250:

52611-S2A-A04
52612-S2A-A04

 

I am surprised you need new shocks with 100,000 miles.

 

If that is too expensive, you could look for lower mileage used shocks (that someone removed to install performance suspension). But you'll need to look for a long time, as these are getting hard to come by.

Another option is Koni shocks. Most people go for the Koni Yellow's, since they are adjustable, and everyone wants a shiny knob to play with (phrasing!)

But there is also a Koni Orange, the non adjustable version. Similar to Yellow but not adjustable. Stock ride height. Decent performance. Probably a little bit more comfortable than stock (softer compression damping). Maybe a little bit more dive on braking. Way cheaper than new oem.

 

I put koni orange in my e46. They were great as an oem replacement but one of them started leaking after about 10k miles. Maybe just a bad batch tho...

 

I have 121k miles now. And, I think about the day/future when I will need to replace as well. But, they still feel very good and damping well.

 

I have seen so many posts from high milage folks that never mention a shock maintenance issue. Clutches and top replacements seem to be the top ones.


[QUOTE=Fokker;24354695]Finally hit 200K miles. My 2005 SSM has been on road trips, track days, and autocrosses, as well as seeing daily driving duties.

Only repairs of significance have been a clutch replacement, axle cup swap, top replacement, and a wheel bearing. Anything else I've done has been performance upgrades.[Quote]

 

Shocks are one of those things that you really don’t realise how worn they are until you replace them.

 

I can agree with this.

At 100K miles, shocks are close to ready for replacement.

Honda build quality spoils us because their chassis parts will continue to work even after they're well past their prime. Shocks, ball joints, bushings, etc all wear. But since they don't leak, make noise, or break apart for a long time, people don't consider them as part of major maintainence.

I can say from experience, though....a chassis refresh at 100+K miles does make a miraculous difference.

However, at 100K miles, a leaking or totally worn monotube performance shock is not surprising at all either.

 

@B serious you've followed my little journey of suspension refresh, and I'm beginning to think I too have a set of dead dampers on my car. Since several people have told me that while my compliance bushings are not in tip-top shape, it's not in the worse shape yet. And definitely not bad enough to be making noises.

Hence, why I suspect after everything I've replaced at 138,000 miles, the culprit are the dampers themselves.

I have a set of KW V3 ready to go, my only regret is that I haven't the car on a track with the OEM dampers yet. (As Honda intended)