piemanpilley

I’ve owned my S2000 for coming up for 4 months now. It’s a 2009 Moonrock Grey with just shy of 50k on the clock. I absolutely love the car but the ride quality - particularly at slower speeds - is starting to grind on me. It crashes in and out of bumps and the damping is very poor - it feels like riding in an old black taxi cab!

I considered quite seriously getting rid of the car and recently test drove a number of ‘hot’ hatches. However none gave me the connection and excitement that the S gives me. They just didn’t feel special.

I’d therefore like to see about getting the ride quality improved. All the suspension components on the car are stock, and after 10 years I imagine they are getting pretty tired. I’m looking for advice on what would need done in order to do a full suspension refresh? I’ve read good things about the Ohlins Road and Track coilovers but what about all the other components such as bushes, roll bars, etc? What should be changed and what with? The type of driving i do is fast B roads but also town driving as I live in the centre of Edinburgh. Track use is rare.

I wouldn’t be doing the work myself. I’d probably take it to PerformanceTek in Glasgow who I hear good things about. Cost isn’t a big concern, although I obviously don’t want to spend money for the hell of it.

noodels

If Ohlins ,get 100nm all round,eibach front sway bar on soft,or 01 or CR.<usa>can keep rear sway bar><arb>
Am on staggered oem wheels..225/255
check castor bushes they are prone to fail,others should last 200k.

RobinA3

First question is what tyres are you running? If you have a tyre with a stiff tyre wall then it might be worth going for something with a softer tyre wall to help with the ride.

Also has the alignment been checked?

noodels

^^ tyres have a serious effect too..
to soft a wall and will bump steer like a ford capri !

piemanpilley

Thanks both. I’ve got Potenza RE050As all round with decent tread levels. psi all at 32. The wheels are OEM and staggered (wider at rear than front).

Alignment hasn’t been checked under my ownership and I’ve no record under the previous owner. I thought about getting the alignment done but it feels like money down the drain if I’m getting new suspension parts?

Booti

Have you checked the transport packers have been removed from the springs?
its seems Honda didn’t always do this and some people had them fitted for years, yours been a last year model.

BenRNBP

I was thinking this was worth a check too

Nottm_S2

get coilovers with helper springs. i would give a few a call, Nitrons are in the UK

https://www.nitron.co.uk/

you could fit winter tyres for now, they are unreal on mine

Irish TuneR

Good idea, found 4 on mine when i imported it and that was 7 years old....

piemanpilley

checked this afternoon and couldn’t see anything. After 10 services at Honda I’d have been seriously doubting their service department if they were still there!!

i think I’m going to go down the Ohlins route (with ride height -10mm) as I’ve not read a bad word about them. I’ll hopefully be able to recoup some of the costs by selling the old stock shock absorbers... expensive way to improve the ride but I can’t continue with the current crashing and juddering in and out of Edinburgh’s roads!