I am looking to upgrade the stock ones on my 02. I can't find the thickness on aftermarket ones vs stock.

Stock - ???
Comptech - ???
Cusco - 32mm front, 30mm rear (bulletproofautomotive.com)

I have been looking at mainly those 2 sets. I am open to suggestions. I will also be picking up front and rear tie bars and also some sort of X brace or U brace. I will prob stick to one brand for all the parts

 

I believe the stocks are 28.6 give or take a few tenths. The Cusco is probably similar to the Mugen, which is 1-1/8th or... 31.8MM tube. Comptech has a similar bar, and their pre-production bars varied. I had one for a while that was slightly larger. It worked well with 225's up front, but not so well with 205's. It was a bit of overkill.

The tie bars will do nothing at all, but give your car bling.

Best advice I can give you is to try and figure out what you are trying to correct instead of throwing parts at the car. With the same amount of dollars you will spend for all of the parts you listed, you could obtain some good entry level coilovers, get them corner balanced, remove the rear swaybar and be done with it. Removing the rear swaybar, yes, that's what I did say. It allows a bit more turn-in, but sometimes a bit much body roll in tight autocross courses. On the road course it works great, allowing the differential to do what it needs to do, instead of binding and providing a bit of wheel hop.

If you really want to get a swaybar, try one for the front at first. The rear might be a bit too much.

 

2002-2003
Stock Front: *26.5 mm x 4.5 (2000-2001 28.2 mm?)
Stock Rear: *27.2 mm x 4.5 (2004 uses 25.4 mm)

 

Thanks for the correction Ferrell.

 

comptech also has an adjustable swaybar.... if you want to stay with the same company thoughout the whole swaybar, strut bar, braces yada yada.. you should stick with either cusco or comptech.....

 

overal needs are for road racing. I feel more body roll than I would like to. I guess i just want more stiffness. I can deal with a bit more oversteer (prob not the best idea but i can handle it).

Mods I plan on: F + R Sway Bars and Buddy Club racing Spec Dampeners or Tein RA's

Car is also daily driven 8 out of 12 months

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Nishant &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">overal needs are for road racing. I feel more body roll than I would like to. I guess i just want more stiffness. I can deal with a bit more oversteer (prob not the best idea but i can handle it).

Mods I plan on: F + R Sway Bars and Buddy Club racing Spec Dampeners or Tein RA's

Car is also daily driven 8 out of 12 months</TD></TR></TABLE>
deal with a bit more oversteer? not sure what you mean by that. you want the car to be neutral. body roll is a dynamic of the car and not to be confused, at least in parallel, with understeer/oversteer.

as for hte buddy clubs, I just removed some from a friend's car on Sunday. they were used for maybe a thousand miles and one track event (two days at Motorsport Ranch). any interest?

 

If you prefer more oversteer, go with a smaller than stock bar in the front, and a larger than stock bar in the rear. Generally speaking, the stiffer the rear is, you will experience more of a tendancy to oversteer. Same thing with a softer front. The same principle works with shock settings. Softer in the front and stiffer in the rear for more oversteer. But don't go too far, the S 2000 is already a well balanced car. I find the 00 and 01 cars to be quite adequate with just a set of finely tuned, cornerbalanced coilovers.

I share the same opinions as the others as far as tie bars and shock tower bars. You already have a rear shock tower bar stock. It serves it's purpose well enough (unless you choose a lighter veersion). You don't need one in the front as there is already adequate bracing. Have a look under your airbox at that big square brace. Mugen doesn't make a shock tower bar for the front and there's a reason why. The same goes for a lower rear bar. You already have one stock. Unless you can find a lighter one, I see no need for a change there. As far as a front lower bar goes, there is not a brace there stock. I have heard many people claim to be able to tell a difference after installing an X brace, but I'm a little skeptical.

Buy the best coilovers you can afford and have them tuned and cornerweighted. You'll have much more satisfaction with your investment. Oh and be sure to have them cornerweighted with the driver in the car.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mr. Bagel &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
deal with a bit more oversteer? not sure what you mean by that. you want the car to be neutral. body roll is a dynamic of the car and not to be confused, at least in parallel, with understeer/oversteer.

as for hte buddy clubs, I just removed some from a friend's car on Sunday. they were used for maybe a thousand miles and one track event (two days at Motorsport Ranch). any interest?</TD></TR></TABLE>

yes i am interested. overall, i need more stiffness and neutral control. I am hoping for a no understeer/slight oversteer set up. i really like the stock set up but i as i said before, i feel too much body roll. hope that helps

 

Try coilovers first. Like I said before. Test and tune them at a track as far as the settings go (compression and rebound). Then cornerweight the car with you in the driver's seat. Then test and fine tune the settings some more. Just don't try to change too many things at once. It will cloud your judgement as to what is actually making an improvement and/or what's not.

 

The S2K is hailed for it's rigidity & honda engineers have done a incredibly great job at that. Your suspension is going to make more of a difference then changing the swaybars.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by beandip &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The S2K is hailed for it's rigidity & honda engineers have done a incredibly great job at that. Your suspension is going to make more of a difference then changing the swaybars. </TD></TR></TABLE>

that just confused me *scratches head and rereads*