Geometry Options. Suspension set-up and opinions required.

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rjk

rjk

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Hi Guys

after speaking to numerous people regarding suspension set-ups I have come to the conclusion that I wanted the set-up on my car checking and adjusting to get more from my cars handling. Ideally I would like the car to be a little more predictable and stable at higher speeds.

my previous car was a Civic Type R which had a generic fast road set-up applied and it improved the car a little but wasn't really tailored to my requirements.

With the S2000 I have done as much reading up as I can and considered pretty much all options available whilst trying to sift through a lot of conflicting information on here.

A summary of what I was reading is this:
cheap coilovers are rubbish. avoid.
lowering springs are rubbish. avoid


now my car is primarily for road use and it will see the odd track day. I appreciate that coilovers are perhaps overkill. given that I don't know enough about suspension set-ups to have in mind my ideal setup, a solution with many variables and adjustment is probably a pointless exercise. That train of thought ruled out the lower end sub £1000 coilover setups and the mid range to high end £1000+ coilover set-ups.

My car is a 2006 on 50k and had a recent alignment to within Honda specification a few months before I purchased it. With this in mind, I am hopeful that my suspension adjustment hardware is in serviceable condition and doesn't need to be replaced, nevertheless I am prepared for that eventuality.

I have opted for progressive springs from Eibach. These will be installed onto a totally stock car. Reasoning behind it was that I don't have advanced enough knowledge to adjust/maintain a more specialised coilover kit.

Once the lowering springs are installed onto the car I have two options:

1. Install springs, then contact an S2000 specialist such as Center mavity who are able to offer an overview of current adjustment hardware before carrying out more work. Then proceed with their Road Package.

2. Install springs, then take it to a local alignment specialist to put the car to Honda spec. This will surely highlight any seized adjustment hardware and give an indication of any further work required.

I am a little unsure of how to proceed here so advice would be welcomed.
 
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There must be someone in the office who does a lot of track days and knows a thing or two about suspension? ;)

What are the stock S2000 handling characteristics like?
 
Go on s2ki for proper answers.

But for road use Koni yellows with Eibach springs get raved about. I run the koni dampers but at standard height. This is with poly bushes too and all the braces (front upper and lower and rear). This will also make it less gay than the 04 soft settings, you could also look at moving to the early /whiteline uprated ARBs.

WiM are much cheaper than CG but a lot further away, WiM setup my car and its a weapon even on crap bumpy roads.
 
^JP^ said:
There must be someone in the office who does a lot of track days and knows a thing or two about suspension? ;)

What are the stock S2000 handling characteristics like?
Click to expand...

firmly damped but feels unsettled at higher speeds. best way i can describe is that feedback is excellent but it doesnt inspire confidence if that makes much sense.

Simon said:
Go on s2ki for proper answers.
Click to expand...

have pretty much posted this thread on there for feedback also.

Simon said:
But for road use Koni yellows with Eibach springs get raved about. I run the koni dampers but at standard height. This is with poly bushes too and all the braces (front upper and lower and rear). This will also make it less gay than the 04 soft settings, you could also look at moving to the early /whiteline uprated ARBs.

WiM are much cheaper than CG but a lot further away, WiM setup my car and its a weapon even on crap bumpy roads.
Click to expand...

would you say that polybushes are worthwhile on a road car though?

did you have yours installed for peace of mind or for performance and if so, what difference did it make in your opinion?
 
Simply dropping on the Eibach's will likely make it more unsettled at high speed. Dialling in factory settings wont help much as the toe setting, which is the setting that affects stability at speed most, is set by factory for a different spring rate and ride height.

If you only do a couple of track days a year and mostly drive on the roads, then personally I'd forget about changing springs unless your actually doing it for the "stance" rather than handling characteristics.

S2000 OEM set-up is pretty decent from what I remember, I'd focus on getting bushes checked/refreshed, checking steering components are tight and getting the alignment set-up to achieve what you want. At that mileage there will be wear unless replaced recently.

Go to any decent specialist/alignment bod and they will be able to achieve what you're looking for without changing the springs.
 
My castor bushes were ripped ans all the rest seized so replaced the lot with poly as cheaper. The mugen bushes are still rubber and are inserts into the existing arms.
 
HummuH1 said:
Simply dropping on the Eibach's will likely make it more unsettled at high speed. Dialling in factory settings wont help much as the toe setting, which is the setting that affects stability at speed most, is set by factory for a different spring rate and ride height.
Click to expand...

my plan was to install springs, then take it locally to have factory spec put on the car which will highlight anything that is seized and also so that it has sensible settings on the car until I can take to a specialist to have it configured to suit me, if that makes sense
 
How much lower do the springs make it? I have to say I quite liked the oem suspension on the s2000, in terms of ride and controlling body roll it was a nice compromise, better than the wallowy stock rubbish on a mk3 mx5. Not sure id go for springs by themselves, never driven anything that was genuinely improved much by springs by themselves, especially when put on well used dampers.

My initial inclination is to get a good geo setup, replace any bushes that are knackered (potentially pretty costly if you dont want to replace with polybushes) and see how get on with the car then. Might be happy with how it is on the road, on track you might need more body control but not sure springs alone will do much for that.
 
Hi there

In short.
If your bushes are worn, knackered, just replacing for new would transform the car, going to polybush will make it feel tighter and more settled at higher speeds. Like Simon says, pretty cheap too but just a lot of hours labour to fit, get JPR to do it.

Allignment: Anywhere with an alignment machine can do an alignment, you don't need to go somewhere special charging high prices. You just need to know the settings of which to use and which Simon has kindly provided so go with those, anywhere with the machine can input these settings, XJK would do that for circa £100.

Does a geo transform a car, that depends, if the car had 4 wheels all pointing in different directions before the geo than of course it will. If your alignment is spot on then inputting a geo for fast road as per Simon's spec will make the car feel more settled, more confidence inspiring and more stable, you will go faster and when it lets go it will be more progressive. Putting a track geo on the car won't improve it on the road, so don't bother if your doing 1-2 track days per year, fast road will be fine for some track fun.


P.S. On springs, I'd not bother, Honda designed the current dampers and springs to work together, why change that and upset it? If your going to lower the car get a tried and tested setup, like the Koni's Simon recommends, if you go coilovers use a set which are used a lot so you have settings to use on road and are not the guinea pig, but again on coilovers don't buy cheap Chinese, they are crap. Do what I did, find a premium brand second hand and buy those, but I think your cars ride height looks OK and the ride quality is fine, only issue here is if your dampers are maybe worn out could mean the rebound is not what it used to be and is why high speed stability seems poor, though sorting geo first is far cheaper. But of course if your intent on spring/dampers or coilovers get those first and then do geo/alignment.
 
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I would agree with Gibbo that bad damper(s) are more likely to cause the car to be 'unsettled' at speed than geo. That said, unsettled is quite a non-specific thing.
 
mine doesnt feel unsettled unless you aren't driving smoothly.

I would be surprised if it is far out of spec given how recently it was checked but that remains to be seen.

feeling unsettled at high speed is different to poor handling.

Unsure of where to proceed here.

sensible head is thinking of just getting the alignment checked now. then deciding where to go from there and leave the springs in the box until I decide what to do.
 
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