TractorSupport

Simply put, I purchased a "Cusco Front Sway Bar 32mm" for my 2002 S2000. I did this before doing the research. After reading the following forum threads a few times, I have come to the conclusion that I do not need this.

• AP1 Oversteer...fixed with just front sway bar?
• Cusco Swaybar good?
• Cusco 32mm front sway bar
• It seems 02/03 S2000 has tamer sway bar specs.
  • 02/03 Front - 26.5mm X T4.5, 300 lb/in
  • 02/03 Rear - 27.2mm X T4.5, 396 lb/in

After we watched some videos, My Grandson suggested I get a sway bar, sort of like training wheels. This was based on the reputation of the "AP1" cars and a general worry about staying safe.

After reading up more, we decided I should not worry and focus on becoming comfortable driving this car. Perhaps considering CR sway bars. Does this make sense?
Here is some information about my car.

• Megan Racing EZ II Series Coilovers
  • Installed by first owner, unsure of settings.
  • I'm not sure about the implications of this compared to suspension. Could not find reviews.
• Spoon Front Strut Bar - Installed by first owner.
• Backyard Special Seat Rail.
• Factory Staggered wheels.
• Continental Extreme Contact DWS 06 Plus
  • Set to Factory Tire pressure, checked often.

I have owned this car for a year, I am comfortable driving it around town and on the highway. And have become mindful of my throttle inputs before/during turns.

I suppose I need to sell this Cusco bar now, I believe the website I purchased from has a restocking fee. (We have not opened it yet.)

B serious

This means you're already good. What you just stated is a thousand times more effective than a swaybar or other mods.

Don't overthink it or assume you *need* to mod the car.

Its not a scary, dangerous, widowmaker type car at all.

Mr.Matchbox

My motorcycle also had a good suspension from the factory, but after adding shocks and fork springs matched to my wheigt and ridding habbit and adjusting thee Dmaping and Preload correctly and to my taste, it feels so much better.
It gives me more confidence, making me faster.

Why not doing the same to a car (finetuning the Suspension) to you and your driving habbit and skills if there are different swaybars allready available? The S2000 is a sport car, not a average 4 door sedan.

Chuck S

The oversteer reputation of the early cars was well earned when drivers weened on front wheel drive Civic SIs shockingly discovered that rear wheel cars didn't handle the same in tight, fast corners. As noted the car is not a widow-maker but might require gaining a feel for the car.

I'm convinced that Honda left much of this oversteer in the S2000 to add to the excitement of driving the car on the edge. Regardless Honda immediately started dialing oversteer out of the car with suspension changes with the "V1.1" in 2002 and continuing every two years eventually adding Stability Assist in 2006. The early cars are still more likely to bite you when you exceed your skill limits but that's where experience comes in. Diesel spills in all those UK roundabouts are still infamous for biting drivers looking for some excitement.

-- Chuck

Mr.Matchbox

The general consens is that a front 00-01 Swaybar together with a rear 04-09 Swaybar will result in the easiest, most forgiving handling. But there are no actuall reports about this.
I have orderd a Bilstein B16 coilover, and additional bought used 00-01 front and 04-09 rear swaybars. Togehter with my stock 02 swaybars, i have some options to play with. I will try and see what fit my personal taste and driving habbit and skills the best. I think everybody only have this option, doing his own testing.

Some people here at the Forum reported that stiffer aftermarket front sway bars may rupture the bolt threads in the frame.

Chuck S

This all makes for good discussion but there's no magic solution that will work for everyone.
There are five (5) different OEM front sway bar spring rates and four (4) rear for 20 different combinations.
Add in the 30 different OEM coil spring combinations from five (5) different front coil spring rates and the six (6) rear spring rates and just using OEM parts there are 600 combinations.

As Herr Matchbox notes any change from what ya got now will be highly subjective and subject to guess and placebo effect. Throw in aftermarket springs and sway bars -- all from shops that obviously know more about our cars than the idiot Honda engineers and those 600 combinations increase exponentially.

Then there's tires and tire pressure...

Characterization of the Honda S2000 Original Equipment Suspension Springs

-- Chuck

sam_spider

Yep, the same Honda engineers that changed the suspension to make it better over the years. If they got it right the first time they would've never changed it, but please continue.

I changed my front sway bar to the Whiteline one 15 years ago to make the rear settle down a bit, works like a charm. Front sway bar change is easy and on a spirited drive will be noticeable straight away. If you don't like it, swap it back. Easy peasy.

Car Analogy

I created a suspension calculator so you can see what effect a suspension change or a contemplated change actually makes to your front rear balance, so you don't have to guess or assume. The results aren't always intuitive.

Anyone that wants it, just pm me your email address.

It doesn't make recommendations or analyze your results, it just tells you if your change makes it more front or more rear biased, and by how much by percentage.

TractorSupport

Thank you for the responses. I will work on my driving confidence and experiment with my damper settings so that I can understand what type of changes I want to make to the car in the future.

My main question now: Is the bar I purchased 'too much' for my car?
I don't know how this Cusco one compares to the ones most people buy. Don't want to open it if it is obviously wrong for my use case.

Otherwise, I should have time to get it installed this weekend.

twohoos

There's almost no such thing as "too stiff" for the front swaybar. The car will corner noticeably flatter, without too much penalty in ride quality (driver sits towards rear, so rear coil springs are biggest factor in perceived ride stiffness).

For the rear, the AP2 bar is the best OE option, but the '02-'03 bar is also good for street tires.

Yes, stiffer front bar + softer rear bar = more understeer, but I've driven all the model years, plus wildly different race-prepped ones, and I've never met an S2000 that didn't want to rotate. Consider: based only on spring and swaybar rates, you'd expect the CR to plow like a tractor; in fact, it rotates as eagerly as any other S2000.

So don't worry about stiffening the front - you won't lose that "S2000 handling feel", and if it makes the car a little more predictable, that just means you can have more fun.