Rick Hesel

I was going to have the Neuspeed lowering springs installed, but my friend, who's a chief mechanic at the local Acura dealer and is doing the installs on my car, talked me out of it, at least temporarily. He argued that it would affect the suspension and handling unfavorably and worsen tire wear.

I need some other informed opinions.

TFota

Regardless of which springs you put on, any time you lower a car you need to have an alignment done. Unless you are lowering the car by an extreme amount, you should be able to align the car to get it back to stock specs and then it shouldn't affect the tire wear. You may end up with more camber than stock though, and this will wear the inside edge of the tires. This will help improve the handling though.

One thing you should always do when putting on aftermarket springs is also replace the shocks. The stock springs on the S2000 seem to be more suitable to handle aftermarket springs than most cars though.

If I were going to put on aftermarket springs, I would go with shocks that have a new adjustable spring perch that would allow you to adjust the ride height. The Comptech coilover kit will do this.

Ldogdotcom

Yeah, and then every time that you "adjust" your coilovers, you throw off your alignment, too. Good luck dialing your car back in to the exact position as it was before you adjusted it.

Not many people pay attention to the fact that adjustable coilovers don't mean that "when I come to a rouch road, I can raise my car up."

If you must get springs, get the best ones out there, and the most sensible drop, Eibach. They keep your car within specs, and you won't need adjustable camber plates, either.

But then again, a 1 inch drop means that you have about 3 inches TOTAL of ground clearance. I would be more concerned about that than tire wear.

Keep it simple, or problems will arise, it's just a matter of time.

RevJunky

I totally agree with Ldogdotcom. I used to have adjustable coilover springs and it's almost impossible to get all 4 springs set to the same height and i had one of them come loose on me. Also, how many times are u gonna adjust your springs unless you are racing.

Spoon AP1

Rick, I have been contemplating the same thing... to lower or not to lower?

At first, I was convinced that a full adjustable coil-over shock and spring system was THE best because they are designed specifically to work together. Cost-wise, however, you are looking at $1800-$2500 for TEIN or H&R. Even if you are willing to get "only the best" for your baby, you must also consider that the spring rates for most of these setups are 8-12 kg/mm versus the stock 3.6-5.2 kg/mm. Translation? Race-car handling but also race-car ride... I don't know about you, but I love the stock ride. Unless you are willing to put up with feeling all the expansion joints in the road, I think such a setup is best left for the track. And as everybody has aptly pointed out, you need to re-do the alignment every time you adjust the ride height.

So this brings us back to your original dilemma of lowering springs. Adjustable spring perch systems like that from Comptech are intriguing, but face the same problem of alignment changing every time you change the ride height. Going with a good lowering spring seems to be the best solution. As discussed elsewhere on the board, if you want to keep the stock camber settings, you can't lower the car more than 1.5 inches... the suspension just doesn't allow for that much camber adjustment. So ideally, you want to look for something that lowers the car less than 30mm. The other thing to look at is the spring rates. Stock front and rear are around 3.6kg/mm and 5.2kg/mm (correct me if I am wrong). Most of the japanese lowering springs I have read about are around 4.6kg/mm front and 6.4kg/mm rear... so the increase in stiffness is not THAT great. And I agree, the stock Honda SHOWA shocks seem good enough to handle such an increase. SHOWA makes the Spoon coil-overs... so it it a great company.

The only factor I am unsure about is the difference between regular wound springs and progressively wound springs. I have heard good and bad about each, but was never sure exactly what to believe. It seems like the majority of lowering springs available these days are progressively wound so as to maintain a decent ride. I guess it's a minor point, but can anybody shed some light on this?

Sorry for the LONG post, but it's an issue I've been thinking about for a long time... and I STILL haven't decided whether I'm going to lower it yet!

Hope this helps you decide though, Rick!

CoralDoc

In my opinion, I would not lower the S2K. This is not based on concerns over alignment or tire wear (I bet you can solve those issues), but for practicality. I lowered my wife's Mustang and despite the improved looks and decreased nose-diving under braking, I wound up regretting it. The decreased ground clearance was a chronic headache when negotiating driveways, speed bumps, and even strangely cambered roadways. I even damaged an underbody frame brace when I drove over a rock on the roadway. The S2K sits pretty low already. There have been several times when I've rubbed under the chin on curb-stops and driveways. I suggest that you drive the car around for at least several months, and based on your experience with stock ground clearance then decide if you want to lower it.

cdelena

Joshua is right on.. many streets are just too uneven to give up the ground clearance. I have repeatedly scraped the chin of my car slightly (would never make it with a spoiler here). A bit of speed and dip in the road that you are not ready for is really a problem.

Even if you don

lvs2k

Rick, listen to Coral Doc and cdelena, the stook does scrape its nose often enough without lowering. The first time you hang the front end on a curb or parking bump (and you will) you'll know what we mean.

Gregg Lee

The question is Why you would lower it. If you want to mostly run track events on the weekends, the suspension work might make it more fun. But as you have noted, this may require other changes to get full benefit.

If it's appearance tha matters most, then it's a matter af taste. You may like the lowered look. - but you can get the same visual effect with larger diameter wheels.

If you want to drive the car on the street and public roads, then leave it alone. I agree with all that has been said, and I'll note also that the s2000 has relatively good suspension travel. It handles bumps (including speedbumps) and dips much better than many other sports cars, and in fact many sedans. It is significanly better on rear travel than our Miata for example. If you lower you will not only bang the nose, but bottom out the rear suspension much more often.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Rick Hesel:
[B]I was going to have the Neuspeed lowering springs installed, but my friend, who's a chief mechanic at the local Acura dealer and is doing the installs on my car, talked me out of it, at least temporarily.

Rick Hesel

I appreciate the advice. I'm going to leave it stock. It's so easy to imagine doing these things when you don't have the car, but many of them seem so unnecessary when you finally do get it. In the end, I don't like the trade-offs involved in lowering it, so it will stay right where it is.

Anyone want a set of Neuspeed lowering springs? They're now on sale at a great price .