nvmys2k

I've been going back and forth whether to get 17" or 18" wheels for my S2K. If you have to choose it again, would you still go with 17s or 18s? If you have 17s, how is the gap b/t the tire and the fender compared to stock? I've seen Comptech's S2K with 18" wheels, they seem to leave perfect gap. Appreciate any info you can provide.

fluxen

I prefer my 17" for sure, for weight/performance reasons. My 17" Kinesis are lighter than the stock 16", plus I get to put 225/255's on the car, so I've got significantly more grip than stock. As far as the gap, it really won't bring that down much. For that I turned to the Comptech adjustible springs, though for like $200 you could get the Espliar springs from MG Racing.

I think for show, the 18's would be better, but if you value performance over show, go with 17". Here's my car with the lowered gap (and I could drop it further if I wanted to).
http://24.15.143.47/s2k/images/mys2k-side2.jpg

BigRedESS

If you put lower performance springs on the car, do you need to change the shocks as well? What does the lower spings do to the already stiff ride? How will affect the car's already superb handling?

I'm interested in putting 1.5 inch lower springs on the car and 18" wheels, but don't want to negatively affect the handling characteristics.

BigREdESS
S2K --Red/Black
450 miles

fluxen

I can only speak for the Comptechs, which are stiffer than stock, but not too much. I noticed that the car doesn't dive as much under sudden braking as it did with the stocks on.

The Comptech's are pretty well matched to the stock shocks, so I left them alone. The car doesn't "bounce" like many lowered cars do, because of this good match.

If you at all feel that the car is currently harsh, you are not going to want to lower it. If you feel that the car could be just a little stiffer, and it would be perfect, then go for it.

As far as handling, I think it handles better than it did stock, but then I've got the bigger patch, etc, so it's not an apples and apples comparison...

Rick Hesel

I faced the same decision and finally ordered the 17" for three reasons:

A lower risk that wheel will be destroyed or severly damaged by a pothole

Less degradation of an already stiff ride (I don't plan to race and my car will be a daily drive)

Better looking (I think the 18" proprotions are a bit too big for the overall feel of car, but that's just my own taste).

I also have a set of the Neuspeed springs that lower the car about 1.5 inches with no (claimed) degradation of ride quality.

I still don't have the car, BTW. Looks more and more like the end of November, now.

Rick

Spoon AP1

Rick,

Have you considered any of the japanese lowering springs? Kgmm is an excellent company that makes sport and race lowering springs for the S2000... and Spoon also has a set. I would tend to lean towards those 2 since they probably spent the most time tuning the springs to our car. Price shouldn't be too much more either.

Rick Hesel

The Neuspeeds come from Japan, and I think they'e been tuned for the car as well.

Rick

Luis

I think you should consider carefully replacing the springs without replacing the shocks. If you do, try to get a spring rate as close to stock as possible.

Springs and shocks go hand in hand.

If you increase the stiffness of the spring and do nothing about the shock you'll put the shock under a lot of load that it was not designed to handle.

Your car will pitch and roll less as a result of a stiffer spring but it will do so in an uncontrolled manner because the shocks cannot control the spring compression and rebound as they should.

Spoon AP1

Luis,

I know that the lowering springs are not an ideal solution. Actually, I posted this very question elsewhere before, but nobody gave me a reply. Are the stock S2000 shocks good enough to deal with stiffer springs? Other people with other cars that have installed lowering springs have suffered blown shocks in a very short amount of time. Lowering springs is the easy and inexpensive solution... but it may end up being more expensive in the long run.

BTW... I luv all the mods you have done... wish I had the spare cash to do the same. If you are looking for coilovers though, there is a company called Zeal from Japan that makes a set that isn't too expensive. I think I remember you saying that you were looking into Bilstein coilovers... but I don't know of any that are much cheaper than Spoon, Mugen, Tein, etc... The Zeal only came to my attention because my friend can get them at a good cost...

TFota

17" are more practical. They ride better, are less prone to wheel damage and the tires are much cheaper than 18".

That's why I went with 17".