Reliable

Hi Everyone,

This is the first topic I have started, I hope some find it informative for those looking to lower their S.

What I use my S2000 for:

Weekend drives with the Wife, spirited driving in the hills/country side, odd track time.

My Requirements:

To lower the S2000 just a little bit for a sportier appearance
To reduce the large wheel gap, but still look like Honda done it
To keep the cars performance the same or better.
Economically as possible $$$$
To keep NVH to a level the Wife can handle
To avoid certification $500 (unique to New Zealand height adjustable coilovers would require a LVV certification)

Thought Process

To avoid certification I needed to use a spring/shock combo. This gave 3 options for dampers: CR dampers, Stock AP1 dampers, or Koni yellows. Lowering Spring options were Swift Spec R, Swift Mach sport, and Eibach all options meet my requirements for quality/design.

I ruled out both the Swift sport and Eibach as they spring rates biased towards the rear, this is a negative for me as I prefer a spring that is a little stiffer in the front to help tame the rear end (overseer and inside rear wheel lift off). You will notice all the fast race prepped S2000 seem to run equal F:R rates or a little stiffer in the front, this naturally left the Swift Spec R's as my only option.

The only issue I had with the Swift Spec R springs was they lowered too much for my likening, I was afraid they would spend significant time riding the bump stops because of the reduced stroke, the S2000 already has quite a short stroke for a street car. To overcome this issue I decided to move the spring perch higher this would keep full droop and compression at stock points plus gain back some valuable damper stroke, IMO a better solution than top hat spacers.

This presented another choice what ride height do I want? One that does not destroy the suspension geometry/roll moment/handling/performance and one that looks nice to my eye. For this I settled on 14mm lower front and 21mm lower rear, to achieve this drop on the Swift Spec R's which drop 30mm F:R I needed to raise the front perch height 11mm and the rear 6mm (calculated from the motion ratio F: 1.42x R: 1.5x). Moving the perch height on the OEM dampers seemed possible but difficult this is were I decided to use the Koni Yellows thanks to Koni's snap ring system this simply meant lathing new grooves in, it also gave me adjustable rebound dampening (and possible re-valving down the track).

Result:

Well the math worked out perfectly lowering 14mm front and 21mm rear, a true testament to the quality control of Swift springs. Driving the car immediately felt more planted and firm but at the same time just as compliant over the road imperfections as the stock suspension something many have said about the Swift Springs.

Anyway I don't believe one can give a fair review on suspension changes for the first couple of months as we are always bias to the things we have just done to our cars and it will take a variety of driving conditions and situations for me to really know what I think about the changes made.

Photo's after the install, looks stock but is actually lower 14 to 15mm front and 21mm rear.












I could ramble on for hours about why I made the choices I did but this is already long enough, so if you have any questions I will try to answer them.


Cheers.

hai1206vn

Thumbs up for Koni yellow. I'm sure the springs have some effect but proper dampers are key to a good ride.

Get the pics up!

Reliable

Picks up ^^^

As you know I have been reading your thread, given your experience I'm wondering if you have any additional tips, pointers and recommendations for damper adjustments given our spring rates are similar.

Cheers.

billios996

are your motion ratio calcs specific to AP1, or does it apply to AP2 as well?

overahundredgrand

I can't imagine it being any different, as this is calculated based on the position of the coilover mounting location on the lower control arms.

Reliable

I would agree, I believe AP2 only changed the upper control arms and the toe control rod/mount point, neither would effect the calculated wheel height more than 1%.

hai1206vn

The goal is to get the rebound to about 60-70% critical damping, which is impossible to get right without measuring equipment. Here's my home brew method to get it in the ballpark.
- Look for a big road bump, big enough to compress the springs a great deal. Choose a damper setting such that when you drive really fast over that bump the car takes one full oscillation to settle (i.e. about twice the amount you'd expect from the ideal setting). This damper setting is about 40% critical.
- Then find a road section with consecutive medium bumps (about 1-2 meters apart), like rumble strips but a bit taller and spaced farther apart. This time you're trying to find the critical or just overdamped setting. Crank the damper stiffer and drive over that section, until it starts feeling harsh. At critical or more damping, the suspension doesn't get enough time to extend back after each bump, so after several adjacent bumps the car is "jacked down" and you're now riding bump stops.
- Now you've found the rough 40% and 100% marks, the sweet spot is somewhere between those two.

Mine end up being about 1/2 to 3/4 turn from full soft. It's easier to adjust the rear because you're feeling the road almost right under your butt. Fortunately, for the S the front and rear dampers are quite similar, as are the springs, corner weight, and motion ratios, so I just use the same setting front to back.

bakedgoods

Can you provide a long term review? I am debating on matching these struts with cr springs or going the swift r route. I dont know about the lathing of new perches if i go the swift r route. I am wondering how the swift rs do on the top koni perch vs your modified perch.

Slowcrash_101

Koni with swift spec r is 1.5" lowered, conversely you can use cr springs comfortably on the lower perch for .75" lowered.

Mccormick009

I plan to pull the trigger on the Koni's from my SoCal Koni shop who will be lathing the grooves at the same height as above. Will match them to my Swift Spec Rs. Doing this to a 2007 AP2. In a couple weeks ai should have on the car and will provide a review.