mat59

Hi guys. I am considering buying an S2000. I currently have an RS Eunos and the S2000 seems the logical step-up.

I have considered an Elise s1 but want to use the car every day and take it away for weekends. Plus i like the front engined RWD balance.

I'm looking for one at around the 10k mark but have heard (rightly or wrongly) that they can be a little snappy at the limit. My current Eunos is very balanced and with it's torsen LSD it's easy to get the back end to break away progressively. I presume the S2000 is said to be a bit snappy due to wider tyres and a peaky engine.

My question is, is there anything that can be done to make it more controllable at the limit. I have has full 4 whell laser allignment done on my Euno and I understand that many cars can be set up to handle differently. Is this the case with the S2000? I may also fit some after market suspension. Are there any kits out there (at a resonable price) that will be suitable for fast road and occaisional track work and be more controllable at the limit?

Thanks in advance, Matt

tekstar

The "snappiness" of the s2000 is more attributed to driver error rather than the car itself. Personally I have never had a problem with this.

Here are a few things you can do:

Run different tire sizes. Depending on how you like your car setup, you can stay with the stock 215/245 stagger, or move to a 225/255 stagger (I went this route).

Do a search on the "UK alignment"
The UK alignment is a bit more aggressive than the US alignment and many people (including myself) have had success with this.

If you wanted to induce more understeer, you could get a stiffer front sway bar (gendron, saner, comptech).

With that being said, the stock suspension works perfectly. With the right tires and alignment, you are good to go

ace123

yep. just change tires and alignment, and get springs too if you're really interested.

2004+ s2000s go with 215/245 rubber, CRs have 255 rear (not sure if its 225 front or still 215?), and i know that the 04-07 particular tires narrow for its size in front and the 245 in the rear is wide for its size. the 00-03 models have a 205/225 stagger if i remember correctly.

you can upgrade the springs with bilstein pss9 coilover package, which closely matches the s2000 type-s rates. the earilier s2000s have a stiffer rear spring rate than front, and the type-s is stiffer overall with that balance somewhat reversed (ie stiffer in front than in the rear).

also, there are sway bars and such to look into, but if you get pss9s, CR-sized rubber, and an alignment, your issue will be more than resolved.

Rdizzle

I would take a look at how Honda has been tuning the S2000 over the years and mimick that setup for more controllable handling. For example, they started with a higher rear spring rate but have eventually moved to a higher front spring rate. I think this is one of the key things in helping to eliminate the snap oversteer effect on older models.

You can also play with sway bars (generally, bigger front = more understeer; bigger rear = less understeer) and tire sizes (generally, bigger front = less understeer; bigger rear = more understeer).

Edit: here's a link to the springs thread to give you an idea of what I'm talking about for the spring rates. https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.ph...f=193&t=545870