turtlepower

So I just bought a new s2000 It had been in a side accident so they replaced on of the coilover to a random one that is red... cant see the brand. The rest of Tein Circuit master type RA's. I notice that the red coilover is very stiff, and the other side (RA) is much softer. Apart from that, when looking at the car head on, the Right sides tire (type Ra side) sticks out more.
Attached is the alignment report. It shows the Caster is way off on one side... even after having done the alignment. Not sure what the culprit is.

Im asking you guys what you think may be causing the tire to stick out, and why the caster is off. And what I should do about my suspension?

Im thinking maybe its okay that I have the random coilover on, and maybe ill try to change the dampening to match the other side...

OR perhaps go all the way back to STOCK. I kinda want to know how the car handles stock, then move from there.

What do you guys think?

Cheers!

AngryTurtle

Give the car back.

turtlepower

I dont want to give the car back, I traded with an equally messed up YARIS . So I got a good deal. I want to move forward by trying to figure out the issues with this one now. And fix em. I have a bit of money to spend, but dont want to spend it blindly...

Please share you knowledge. Give the car back doesn't help much friend.

Cheers.

turtlepower

Nice Picture BTW Turtlepower baby!

Reckon

Have you had the car checked for other damage, perhaps even frame damage? You should probably get it checked over including the frame to make sure there are no issues there. If that checks out ok, then work on putting the suspension back to stock to see if that fixes the problem (after another alignment).

turtlepower

Thanks Reckon!! To get the frame checked out.. where can I go? If there are issues with the frame is it hard to fix... I guess depending on the extent and are i suppose.

sheel

Yeah, might want to get the frame checked, find a reputable body shop with a chassis/frame alignment machine... if you're lucky it's straight. What you should also consider is the knuckle/spindle. They're one of the weakest points and prone to bending on impact - if you're lucky, that might be the extent of the damage, and fairly easy to fix/replace. Also, the caster bolt is known to freeze/lock up due to rust - did the alignment shop say anything about that?

Frame damage on the other hand is not an easy fix... most shops probably won't even touch it. And even if they do, the expense of fixing one is generally not worth it, hence why bent up cars are "totaled" by insurance companies.

Also, your rear camber is way off.

turtlepower

Okay so I talked to the guy who did the alignment. He said its really hard to say exactly what is it. It could be a little of everything, since the car was in an accident, claim was 12,000. The frame checked out okay. But he said the control arms, the knuckles, and basically the suspension could all be slightly bent here and there, and hard to say where. The accumulation is throwing off the numbers.

He did say you can either start replacing things, or you can get a "camber kit" and" toe arm kit" <--- are they both the same thing? What will give the full adjustment to bring it back to spec? And is that a good idea? Instead of blindly replacing parts?

realblag

A camber kit is a bandaid in your case. You should replace the damaged parts. Find someone doing a partout and make one lump offer for all the suspect parts. You could/should probably get the OEM shocks and springs at the same time so you don't have a missmatched set.