TJCS2KAP1*

Hi Folks, After years and years of following this website, it is time to dip into the chat to ask for some advice. I have read many of the threads regarding the different coilovers available and finally pulled the plug this week and got a long over due set...Bilstein PSS9. My car is a 2000- AP1 with 163,000 miles. She has been a rockstar all these years and clocks in about 6500 miles of commute/ street driving. The OEM suspension is intact but the two back shocks have been leaking. She is driven staggered with Firestone Firehawk Indy 500: 205/55R16 91W in front and 225/50R16 92W in rear.

In looking at the Suspension Calculator given stock 2000 sway bars the F/R Balance %, Overall Balance is closer to CR setup.
F/R bias results summary:
2000: 53.7% 46.3%
PSS9: 59.6% 40.4%

Natural Frequency NF
Front 1.31
Rear 1.18

I am set to receive the PSS9 this week and will have my long time mechanic install them. I know nothing about suspensions, so I am stabbing in the dark as to giving any guidance to my mechanic but have been reading through as many of these threads as possible. Based on my recollections I have read:

1) To "clock" the bushings while the car is back on the ground car and at the ride height that you want.
2). I thought I also read to set these shocks at the highest ride height...but this is all Greek to me.
3). These shocks have not been removed in 24 years, so is there some spray advised to loosen the bolts. Will bolts need to be replaced?
4). Because the Sway Bars are original at 393 Front and 427 Rear what would be a reasonable adjustment on the dampers?
5). They mention a UK alignment on AP1. Is there a source? I did download a S2000 manual.

In case you haven't realized, you are talking to a female. Please don't mansplain :-). Please provide the link if it is has already been well described...I am just starting to get lost in what I have researched.

Thanks so much for any advice!!!

B serious

Yes, have them clock all the bushings to whatever your new ride height is.

The tallest available ride height on the Bilstein is about 0.25" to 0.5" lower than stock. If that's what you want, set them there. If not, then tell your mechanic how much you want to lower the car. Don't lower it too much more than about 1" on those Bilsteins.

You don't need to set the dampers based on sway bars. Just set them to how you like or want the car to ride over bumps. Start at full stiff and dial it back 1 or 2 clicks at a time until you're happy.

If your bolts come apart without using a torch, you probably won't need new ones. If you do, your mechanic can advise. Buy them from Honda. Somewhere like www.hondaautomotiveparts.com

Sure, UK alignment is fine.

cosmomiller

I am about to replace the shocks on my 2009 with 85K miles. I do not track and I don't want to lower the car. Keep the OEM springs. I cannot get the rear left shock OEM so I really need to replace all with aftermarket. Lots of friends opined and I went to a S2000/NSX racing outfit that descends from Comptech and Shad (Driving Ambition) recommended Koni Yellows based on what I told him. They are adjustable and he will set them for my desires which is really not much. I was going to do it myself but he gets a better deal on the parts so for less than the OEM if I could get it, he is doing the entire enchilada. The only extra is new rubber for the top hat and he is using an NSX kit. I have attached his estimate which showed up last week.

spider2k

$800 labor without an alignment. **** me.

thoiboi

yeah the labor is a little steep but if cosmo is not comfortable working on shocks/springs then i guess it's worthwhile.. The price for the koni struts is.. fair .

FL: https://www.heeltoeauto.com/shocks/k...8LSP1-140.html
FR: https://www.heeltoeauto.com/shocks/k...8RSP1-140.html
rears: https://www.heeltoeauto.com/shocks/k...79SP1-140.html


OP where did you purchase your PSS9's, care to share how much you spent?

TJCS2KAP1*

Purchased through AJ-USA, Inc.. It set me back $1583.10 but with tax it came to $1705.80. Definitely would have preferred the Koni Yellow prices or even the Bilstein PSS prices. AJ-USA was offering a 10% discount on Bilsteins which brought it down to the price I paid. I have been reading the threads for years comparing the different suspension set-up and finally knew I needed just to make a decision :-). My mechanic is charging $800 to install and alignment. I am doing some additional research to see if I will be needing new top hats and bum stops. If anyone has some sage advice regarding getting these items new ahead of the install, I would very much appreciate it!!!

TJCS2KAP1*

Thanks B serious! Not wanting to lower the car at all... I have many years of bumping that front bumper on parking curbs :-).

I am looking at an S2000 Alignment document online to try to nail down those UK specs. I printed out this one: https://robrobinette.com/S2000Alignment.htm to give to my mechanic. If you have any advice, I would gladly pass along to him as well. Thanks again!!!

Mr.Matchbox

1. Clocking the bushings is important to avoid tear and a costly replacement of the rubber bushings.
2. If the car is lowerd to much at the rear axle, the inner cups of the rear drive axles (at the differential) are known to wear fast and early. Therfore, on the rear axle you will try to adjust the least amount of lowering possible if you simply want to drive the car trouble free for a long time. And that´s the great thing about the bilstein, becuas it is possible to lower the car at the rear only about 1cm - 3/8" with the Bilstein. On the front, you could lower it as much as you want to your personal taste.
You could adjust the ride height - Lowering with threaded collars on the schocks in a given range. It´s all clearly written in the instructions by Bilstein. Read them and obey them.
3. Depends who often the car was used in wet and salty conditions...
4. I have simply set the dampers to "4" from 9, still on the soft side after a little bit of tweaking around. They feel like OEM, but much better. A little bit softer over Potholes, but more firm, planted when you drive spirted. And the rebound damping is better, i´s spot-on.
5. Was answerd allready...

TJCS2KAP1*

Thanks Matchbox for your reply. The car was dropped off this am, and I requested the mechanic to leave it at Bilstein's highest recommended height because based on another post it still will be slightly lowering the car at the highest setting. I got your message after the drop off, so the mechanic is setting the damper at closer to 6. I gave him the specs for the alignment but to be quite honest there were so many different ways they report units for alignment I am hoping that it all works out. I didn't want to confuse things much more with asking him to align using the UK specs. We are just daily drivers and the car has never seen any tracks. It should all work out.

thoiboi

are they corner balancing it too ?