The site won't allow a search, and I don't remember reading anything specific to the MY04.

First of all I want to say that my car handles great, incredible grip, the rear comes out only when I want it to and then is very easy to control. I am @ 1800 miles.

BUT The initial turn in on the car sucks. My F150 truck feels a lot better on initial turn in. Is this indicative of MY04 cars? I would like feedback from people who have driven both MY04 and earlier cars.

I am going to get my alignment checked soon and would like recommendations for some settings to start with.

I can find threads relating to alignment in general, are the 04 specs considerably different?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

"Sucks" is not very descriptive - can you perhaps exploit the prosaic richness of the English language to elaborate? Then I might be able to offer an opinion whether this is characteristic of the MY04, or idiosyncratic to your car. And yes, I have driven both. Even back to back. Thanks.

 

My 10 minute reply was eaten by my DSL or the S2K site so here goes again!

It is hard to describe a subjective feel but I'll give it a try.

When you see an obstacle in your path, and you need to steer to avoid it, there is a "lag" between when you initialize the turn, and when the car responds. All sports cars, and even sporty cars, that I have owned had pretty much an immediate response to steering input.

The only way I can describe my MY04 is "sluggish". There is a line between sluggish and "twitchy", but the S should feel better than my truck. Keep in mind, I have not had the alignment checked, so it may be that it cam from the factory.

In the past I have set all my FWD cars @ '0' toe in front.

I hope my alignment is off, and I can correct this problem. I was not exaggerating when I said my truck had a better feel at initial turn in.

Again, the question is: Is this indicative of MY04 S2K's?

 

Hmmmm... my MY04 is not as responsive as my '99 Miata was with aftermarket coilovers and swaybars, but it is still no slouch. I autocrossed it last weekend and it handled quite well for me. I picked up 1st place Novice actually and I hadn't autocrossed in nearly 2 years. I do know these cars come out of the factory with a less than stellar alignment, so you could have it fine tuned.

Kris

 

Kris-

What specs are you using for alignment?

Dave

 

My turn in is fine, it's the mid-turn severe understeer that's my poblem...

 

I think Elistan describes my impressions as well, although i do not find the small amount of mid-term understeer a problem. I had my alignment checked and set to factory specs, and it was off a bit. After, I had the condition Elistan describes, but to a much lesser extent than when new, but since it is now predictable and does not elicit a counter-response from me (which a twitchy set-up would), I am fine with what i have. (Also, the 2004 has a slightly higher steering ratio, which some read as being slow).

Smoothness is seldonly mentioned in Internet Forums, but it is a paramount quality in a car, and a driver. Jimmy Clark was famed for being so smooth in a car - he won many races because he was smooth AND fast, and his smoothness was "easy" on the car: brakes, tires, etc. He often "outlasted" the competition, biding his time and striking like a Cobra - great driver.

So what is my point? My point is that razor sharp response can look fast, and may be the best setup for an auto-x. For street high po driving, smoothness and consistency on any road surface may be the best attributes - something to consider as you setuo the cat to tour liking.

 

You may want to try 0 toe for the front and a bit of negative camber. The toe is what will help with turn-in and the camber will help with understeer. The 04's are noted for a stock setting of 0 camber (I believe) while the earlier cars were -0.5 deg. and even -1.0 for the UK.

First step is to find out what the alignment is and then go from there. There's no reason you can't use the earlier specs as well as the UK specs if you want the handling to be more precise. That will generally return to the earlier car's more spirited handling in stock form (suspension changes will still make a difference).