TheLuggage

Hi: I have an AP1 purchased last October with K1 K-Tuned coilovers on it. Only got to drive it for a few weeks before having to put it in storage.
Love it but it has been radically lowered, scares the hell out of me. Have bottomed out the exhaust a couple of times.
I'm not interested in tracking the car. Would like to have it setup as close as possible to OEM.

If anyone has any experience with this type of situation - I would very much appreciate your insights.
1) Comments on the K1 system? Is it worth investing the cash to have it setup?
2) Recommendations for a shop in the London Ontario area? 519 area code?

zeroptzero

Having owned my S2k for 9 years in London I always did my own suspension adjustments so I can't recommend any shop other than a basic alignment. But if you have the adjustment wrenches for the coilovers all you need to do is raise up the corners one at a time, easy to measure and not that hard to do. Adjusting the firmness settings should be easy as well.

The only real shop I know for a quality suspension adjustment is can alignment in Burlington, he has done a lot of S2000 work in the past. Probably worth the trip rather than finding a place in London. http://canalignment.com/

TheLuggage

Thank you for the quick reply. I did not get the wrenches when I bought the car but I don't mind buying a set (Amazon?). I could do the height myself. But what about the weight balancing? Left to right balance could be approximated by making sure the compressed length of the springs are the same on either side. But the front to back proportioning - I'm thinking I need a shop that has 4 scales to measure the weight each wheel is bearing - or am I being stupid? Is this overkill for a car that just gets driven on the road by a grumpy old man?

zeroptzero

Corner balancing is the ultimate method to tune your suspension, but I wouldn't do it on a street driven car. If you plan on tracking the car it would be worth it. It isn't a necessity but if you have the time and money it's your choice. To do it right you need to be in the driver seat or have ballast equal to your weight in the seat during the adjustment process, along with a certain level of fuel in the tank.

I set up my coilovers myself and I was completely happy with the performance, then I just had an alignment done at a local shop to my suggested specs. With an alignment shop always tell them what settings you want going in there to get things right, don't let them choose for you as they will just try to get it "close enough" etc.

When you sit in your S2000, the driver side rear height can drop 9-10 mm, the front driver side may drop 6 mm, the front passenger side may drop 3mm, and the rear passenger side may drop 6mm (general approximation depending on weight and type of springs etc) Then having a passenger in the car drops the height in a similar fashion only in reverse (left to right) , it can drive you crazy if you really want things "perfectly" balanced, so having it balanced for a street driven vehicle is a bit of overkill.
Id suggest setting the ride height to your preference, then have a good alignment and you can play with the shock settings up and down (firm to soft) as you wish. I wouldn't corner balance for a street driven car, but that's just my 2 cents.

If you have the K-tuned coilovers on the car I'd keep them, they seem decent enough with lots of adjustment to go from comfy to sport driving. Definitely get the spanner wrenches so you can adjust the height, slammed rides often ride terrible and handle worse on the S2000.

TheLuggage

Thank you good sir for the sage advice. I am comfortable with all of it. That is the way I will go. If only it would warm up!!!!
I love Canada and think I am really lucky to be living in southwestern Ontario. We may not have the mountains but we've got so much coastline.
I just wish the salt was off the road and I could park the winter beater.

darcyw

The other option is to put the suspension back to stock AP1, then realign. Any good alignment person can do this- even talk to the Honda dealers- but Joey is right- canalign is a great choice.

I have a full set of AP1 OEM coilovers with 120K kms if you want to go that route. I'm in Sarnia.
Soooo...you'll also want to join us at RTD 2019. come check out the mayhem mid May!
and also, do all your own maintenance or find a mechanic familiar with our cars. Don't let a monkey wrench on yours unless they have experience specifically with the s2000...there are some nuances of s2000 maintenance.

good luck!
darcy

myflys2k

TheLuggage

Darcy: Thank you for the kind offer. I have the OEM shocks for mine. The seller kept them when he installed the coil overs. I think I am going to work with the coil overs, 1st to raise the car up enough that I am not scared to drive it on the street and then I will fool with the spring pre-load - try and make it feel less like a go kart. First I heard of this RTD event - I will look to find more info on it. I try to do maints and repairs myself but some things are beyond me, either equipment or ability and I am never ashamed to seek out help in those cases. Is it spring yet???

TheLuggage

MyFlys2K: What a kind offer!! Thank you very much. I think I will set aside the idea of corner balancing for at least this year. I have no idea how high this car would have been stock but it is definitely too low now. My driveway is relatively level and I have to enter/exit on an angle or the car (air dam or mufflers) will go to ground. There are many half finished roadworks here - and they have those damned manhole covers that set 3~4 inches above the pavement. As I approach them my muscles tense up so tight I think I may do damage to myself. And do not get me started on speed bumps. Whoever came up with those should be hung, drawn and quartered with all that entrails. I'm going to raise it an inch to start with, give it a try and if necessary go up or down from there. Thank you for the response and again for the offer to corner balance the car for me. I am very much liking the vibe or you folks in the SW Ontario forum.

zeroptzero

I had mine set at 648 mm from ground to top of the rear centre wheel well, it was perfect and I never had any issues over big bumps, and no rubbing. about 1.5 to two finger gap approx. I used one of those wooden metre sticks to measure ride height with the car on the ground. I have the big ass style of speed humps all over my neighbourhood, never an issue with the S2000.