My question is, has Honda set this car up perfectly for the street? When I say street, I mean a person that drives normally most of the time, but when the opportunity presents itself that person drives like he's on a racetrack (me ). When I had my car aligned the other day the guy doing the alignment said the factory specs looked weird to him, especially the .58 toe in the rear (maybe it's to keep the tail in ). What could we do to the stock suspension to make this car handle better/more aggressively on the street without too much compromise? I know that this is a system of checks and balances and there is no magic to be gained by adjusting one little thing, but has anyone tweaked their stock suspension for the street, and what have you noticed?

Thanks for any input...

Andrew

 

Not actually talking about the suspension, but go back to stock rims or get rims that keep the stock stagger proportions that also weigh less than stock.

 

Have you had a chance to check out this thread?

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...light=alignment

Factory alignment could be off because the cars had to be tied down for shipping from Japan.

 

In my opinion the factory alignment is fine for average drivers, but if you have experience and know something about weight transfer and have a bit of feel for car balance then significant improvements are possible, even for a fully stock car with factory tires.

Here are some things I would try for better performance and balance:

Front camber: Add more negative camber to increase front end grip and obtain a more neutral balance.
Front caster: Leave this at the factory setting, or reduce slightly to allow for more negative camber.
Front toe: Add toe out to improve steering feel and responsiveness.

Rear camber: Leave this at the factory setting.
Rear toe: Reduce the factory toe in setting to obtain a more neutral balance.

Another important point is tire pressure. Use about 36 psi as your hot, operating target. You need to check tire pressures during your drive to make sure they are close to this value. The change in air pressures as your tires warm up can very anywhere from 4 to 14 psi in my experience, so it is very important to monitor them during your drive.

Here are the setting I am now using. For my style of driving, they work very well on my fully stock car with factory tires:

front
camber -2.0d
caster +5.8d
total toe OUT 3mm
hot pressure 36 psi
rear
camber -1.5d
total toe IN 1.5mm
hot pressure 36 psi

 

I only agree with Mike in the fact that the tire pressures should be at 36#'s all around. Everything else, should be adjusted to driving preference. Too much here or there can induce tire wear, but before I go off topic, I'll just say, get an alignment, because there's a good chance your alignment is out of whack and will not just effect left or right veering, it will effect your driving ability and the ability of the car itself.

Look in the FAQ's there's a basic way of what the effects that adjustments do to your car.

Mine is slightly different, and drives very different I'm sure.
Front Caster +6
Front Camber -1.5
Front Toe 0

Rear Camber -2
Rear Toe -1/8

Tire pressures vary depending upon tires. The S02s work GREAT with 36#'s all around. Other tires, have shown otherwise.

 

In the winter with the colder temps here in the Northeast, I tend to run all my cars at tire pressures that are about 3-4 psi higher than factory recommendation... Normally, just 1 or 2 psi over is fine for sharper steering and suspension feel.

 

Does the car come from factory aligned??

 

Yes, it comes aligned, supposed to spec. But the transportation process can wreak havoc on the alignment....

 

Hey guys, what do you think is better for everyday highway driving? There aren't any racing events going on for the next 2 to 3 months ....

 

If you don't push it and can deal with a bit more understeer, have the front camber be closer to zero to reduce inside wear. You could also reduce rear toe in to offset the front adjustment. Personally, I'd just leave it stock.