Ever since I purchase my used S2000 I noticed the steering wheel is slightly turned to the right when driving straight. It doesn't seem to pull in either direction when driving (or if it does its not noticable). My question is, do I still need to get an allignment to fix this, and if YES, is it ok to have any regular shop do it or does it need to be done by a Honda shop (ie, is there anything special/out of the ordinary that needs to be taken into consideration when doing allignments on our cars?) The reason I ask is that being this is my first car with an electrical power steering system I'm not familiar with whether or not this would come into play. Also, I read something about the steering being "progressive" as you turn it, meaning the more you turn it the "tigher" the turn gets with each turn. If that makes sense to everyone

The reason I ask is that I have a friend who works at a Tire shop and can get be a good deal on a 4-wheel allignment, but I won't have them do it if there is anything else "idiosynchratic" about our car that he needs to be aware of. If so, then I might just take it to the dealer.

TIA guys.

 

In my opinion, yes you need to get an alignment to fix this. Any competent shop should be able to do an S2000 alignment. The electric steering is not involved in the alignment, only the relationship of the tires to the car and the road is adjusted. The Hunter machine that looks at all 4 wheels at once is one of the best machines to use. Make sure your friend has access to a quality 4 wheel alignment machine.

I just used a local shop that had a Laser alignment machine with a Windows based program that showed the settings on a big and bright CRT as they were being adjusted. The adjustments are carried out by adjusting the front and rear attachment points of the bottom wishbone and the tie-rod length. The camber is changed by the front, caster by the rear and toe with the tie-rod. Basically, pushing the wishbone in/out changes camber, twisting it changes caster. As you can see, changing one upsets all the other measurements. Thus the need for a quality 4 wheel alignment machine.

It's important to have your tires correctly inflated before the car is aligned. A lot of shops forget this important prerequisite. The stock pressure is 32 psi in all four tires. A lot of owners are raising pressure a few lbs. with slightly higher pressure (2 or 3 lbs.) in the front. For instance 36 lb. front and 34 lb rear. Just make sure pressure is adjusted to the inflation pressure you'll be using regularly. Also make sure the shop uses a quality tire pressure gauge to adjust tire pressure (no pencil gauges), if necessary take your own quality tire gauge to the shop to adjust pressures accurately.

Below are the UK specs for the stock suspension that seem to make the most sense. These were developed in the UK after running several S2000's at a track to find the "best" settings. Try 'em you'll like it if your S2000 is stock.
Front
Caster Left 6