TsukubaCody

I’m saying most people have no clue what balance direction is or what they should be tuning the car for to maximize their own driving.

I don’t need any tool to tell me that the suspension I’ve used on my car for six tears works for my application.

kos

PM me the link. I'll look at it. But I will say this ,you need to remember, even though the tool works great for you, what Cody is saying isn't wrong. For someone that is new to the chassis, new to trackdays, may have bad driving habits, has a lot to learn in terms of car control, etc, it may do more harm than good. I see a lot of "advice" spewed out across various FB groups that makes you want to throw up, but to the uneducated person needing help, who are they to question what is right or wrong?

Car Analogy

The calculator is a spreadsheet. I'll email it to anyone, just pm me your email address.

The tool is not intended for people who like how their car currently handles and rides, and who aren't curious how their setup compares to how it was before or how it compares to other year S. Not sure why there'd be confusion about that.

A scenario: You like your cars handling as is, but you need to buy new suspension, and original stuff isn't available. So how do you combine available aftermarket coilovers and, say different iterations of stock swaybars, to end up with same balance you had stock, or at least something very close to it?

Its impossible, even if you do know a lot about suspension. Yet with this calculator its easy, even if you know nothing about suspension.

That is just one scenario. Its a tool like any other. Its uses limited only by your imagination.

B serious

I *think* our bwoy's spreadsheet has an objective outcome...not subjective.

Meaning, the user puts in what they plan to use...and the sheet somehow calculates out over/understeer bias.

Which could help clueless people find which direction to go.

The other way to find out is to put that bigassed swaybar on...wrap the car into a hedge...and then get out and go "ok...that added more oversteer bias".

So maybe a spreadsheet is an easier learning curve.

If it were subjective (giving advice on setup), it would be more of a hindrance.

Anyway, I think he means it to be more objective.

Chuck S

Back to the original question I'm convinced tires are the key here. Honda engineered and tweaked the suspension to handle a wide range of road conditions unlike a race track of 2 or 3 miles with mainly left turns and where the conditions are known and repeat every few minutes. And where you practice each corner again and again and can make changes to cut a microsecond off your time. Adjustable suspension has potential benefits for those few miles and minutes if you know what you're doing. These same settings probably won't work well for a long drive home on back roads.

If you're already running Extreme Performance Summer tires then, maybe, an adjustable suspension has some benefit off-track Assuming you're smarter than the Honda engineers... I'm not. I'm buying new tires.

-- Chuck

B serious

I can't agree with this...

If you like the stock suspension, then....no need to adjust it.

But adjustable suspensions are not JUST for race tracks. I'm not sure where you got that info.

kos

It's just the typical Chuck S "posting just to post".

TsukubaCody

This.

Your favorite meal is likely not the most broadly agreeable meal. Your favorite song is probably not the one with the most radio play ever. Your favorite movie is probably not something extremely audience tested like a Marvel movie.

Honda and all other manufacturers build cars as chocolate ice cream, something people like but not earth shattering. The stock suspension is Ed Sheeran, not Fugazi (which even still hs too broad an appeal for this anecdote). It’s the Avengers, not a Romanian horror flick with a score by japanese noise music artists.

Chuck, we get you think OEM is best, but you don’t need to post it that often. OP has specifically said they want coilovers.

Bullwings

Honda engineered the suspension to work with tire grip levels of approximately 0.90 lateral g. If you're upgrading to grippier tires, you're messing with the formula outside of what Honda spec'ed the suspension to work with. It's a whole package and you should stick with tire technology from 20 years ago to maximize the engineering intent that Honda designed into the s2000....

Chuck S

You're making my point. Improved tire technology makes amateur random suspension adjustment even less useful for general street use. Perhaps a few of those posting notes here have a clue on suspension adjustment but few others do. How does one measure the improvement -- under the rash assumption there is any? Lap times can do this on a track but where else can this be measured? Lap times measured within a second or two are PII * anyway and even then only valid on a specific track or corner -- that's where adjustability comes in.

I'm willing to bet the vast majority who fit adjustable coilovers just eyeball how much to lower the car and set it. Conspicuous consumption demands something visible and unless the car has been lowered no one will know how much money was spent.

If adjustable coilovers make you happy ("She's got coilovers, Bro,") go for it but no one has convinced me they have more than cosmetic or placebo benefit for the street nor that more than a tiny fraction of people have the least clue what adjustments to make other than lowering the car.

* PII. Preoccupation with Inconsequential Increments

-- Chuck