Due to the special needs (extreme heat and sun) of AZ, I'm putting this question out to all S2k drivers in hot areas of AZ that have installed bras on their cars.

I'm originally from Ohio. I used bras on my Porsches back there, but only for road trips, tours and autocrossing. One thing I always noted was that any elastic would loose it's elasticity in about a year.

I have a Covercraft (NOAH) cover for my S2K and it has not held up well under the AZ sun over the past year. In fact, it's going back for the second time to have the elastic replaced.

Now to the question:

Has anyone in Phoenix (or other hot area of AZ) purchased a bra that they have been using for awhile that seems to be holding up well? I don't care about cost- I think you get what you pay for on things like this.

Same question goes for mirror bras as well as front-end.

Thanks for your opinions.

 

I have the Colgan bra that I bought about 8-10 months ago. No problems. I only use it intermittently (rarely) though. Don't put Ston Gard on your lights!

 

I've been using a Colgan bra on my S2K for over a year with no problems. I only use it for road trips. I used a Colgan for five years on my Lexus coupe--for freeway trips only--also without any problems. For those five years, the SC 300 was continuously in hot Tucson. The S2K spends its summers up near Flagstaff where heat isn't such an issue.

Dave

 

Does the Colgan bra have any elastic on it? I've never had a Colgan, so I'm not sure of the construction. Can't seem to find detailed pictures or descriptions anywhere on the web. Found some sites that sell them for about $90 (w/o mirrors).

Will anyone on the drive tomorrow (9:30am meeting at McD's @ I-17 and Deer Valley) have a bra on?

I can't go on the drive, but I'd like to come see, if possible.

Thanks!

 

I'll have a colgan bra on my NSX.

 

I'm a new (May 14, 2001)AZ 2001 S2000 owner and having had good luck with a Colgan bra (used for over 7 years on a Taurus SHO), I decided to try one to protect the front of my new little hot rod.
I received my bra which cost $125 just before my first road trip up to Flagstaff and immediately installed it. Colgan provided excellent instructions and a little tool to help fit the bra hold downs between the upper front fenders and the fender plastic liners, although the pictures provided could have been more clear (the pictures were xerox copies of color pictures). Also provided in the instructions were cautions that if balloning or flapping occurred, to immediately investigate and fix. If fix not possible the bra should be removed.
While traveling to Flagstaff at the speed limit and maybe a little above, I peeked up over the hood and noticed the passenger side of the bra, just above the headlight exhibiting a high frequency flap. The driver's side was not flapping at all. I stopped at a rest area, to try and tighten up the bra installation, but I got very little if any change in bra postion. And once I started back on down the road the bra flapping re-occured. Well since this was my first overnight road trip and the car was full, I did not have room for the bra, anywhere but installed on the front. So I left the bra installed for the entire run and tried unsuccessfully to stay under the speed limit.
When I got home I discussed my flapping issue with Gary at Colgan. He said "oh yeah it indicates here that we've got a design problem with that model." He then asked me where I lived to see if it was possible to use my car as the model for fixing the design problem. Well Colgan is located in Southern Cal and although I love to drive my new STOOK, I couldn't quite see a 6 hour trip to help them out. Especially knowing that there are probably more S2000's in Southern Cal then anywhere in the galaxy.
So we settled on my returning the bra to the distributor (Mid Continental Enterprises in Denver, CO) and waiting for a design change to fix the flapping. I think I will wait for Colgan to come up with something before I try a different company's bra, as I said before I had very good luck with their stuff on another car and found their materials and installation method top notch. I'm a little disappointed I had to go through this though.
I'm hoping that a benevolent So Cal STOOK owner will help us all out by being the guinea pig for Colgan.
Sorry this was so long, but I write (technical stuff and badly) for a living and thought ya'll might want to know the details.

PS: this is my first post, although I'm thinking I might want to post a Rant about my buying experience at Earnhardt Honda.

2001 Silver w/Red and Chromed Stock Wheels.

c/ya, Mike

 

I suggest you check out http://www.stongard.com. It is thje only way to go to avoid flapping, and it is almost invisible.

 

Mike-

Thanks for the post. Great information in there. It always pays to do some research before jumping in to anything.

I wonder if this is the same bra I see advertised for $89. It is also a Colgan. The difference in price makes me thing something is different between the two.

As far as Stongard goes, I'm waiting to see the results one of the other posters gets. He's supposed to be getting his done this week.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mselland
[B]
PS: this is my first post, although I'm thinking I might want to post a Rant about my buying experience at Earnhardt Honda.

2001 Silver w/Red and Chromed Stock Wheels.

c/ya, Mike

 

Well now you've got me started. On Mother's Day my very understanding wife and I decided to go take a look at some S2000's. We started at Arrowhead Honda, they had a yellow one, that had been dinged up while being demo'd. The salesman said it was probably the only one I'd be able to get under list in the Valley, duh. Well deciding I wasn't quite up to yellow and not wanting to start my S2000 experience dinged, we traveled on down to Biddulph, now Earnhardt Honda in Glendale.
Lo and behold they had a silver and red one with <20 miles on the odometer. The salesman (Guy 1)indicated that they had just got it and it had only been on one test drive. The car stickered at $32740.00, but had an appearance package addition of $1999.00. No options were listed, but the car had alloy wheels, a wind screen, and a spoiler.
So, I took the car for a test drive, but to do so they needed to run a credit check on me. They said they don't normally do this, but since the S2000 is well, the S2000 their management required the credit check. This wasn't that big deal to me, so I gave them THE number. Of course the salesman had to back the car out of the drive and off the lot, for insurance purposes, and get this, after stalling the motor a coupla times he realizes, he has to push the shifter down to get the car in reverse. So now we're out of the drive and have traded places and were down to the their little test track, I ask the salesman what should I limit the engine revs to, and he says, "oh, I think with a redline that high you're good to go to 7500, most cars these days, especially Hondas don't need a break in any more." Well this was my first experience with the S2000 and VTEC, and I notice after the first start that I'm getting a significant kick in the butt when I go much above 6000 rpm. So after one run into VTEC land, I keep my runs down to where I feel I'm not causing to much engine stress (topping out at 5500 rpm or so). I take a coupla corners and I'm feeling, yeah this is the car for me, as I'm sure all of have after the first drive in our little rods.
Now I'm back to the dealership and since it is Mother's day and the wife is well you know THE wife, I agree to come in the next day to negoiate a deal which includes trading in my 77 Corvette.
So I show up about 4:00 PM on Monday with the Vette, now the Vette is nice but it's no show car. The main thing about the Vette is it had less than 44,000 miles. I paid $7200.00 for it ~3 years ago, but decided I can't live with a car I can't drive in the summer in Phoenix. And while the air conditioning worked, it wasn't really up to an Arizona summer.
So of course Guy1 I that had dealt with the day before isn't there, but his boss (Guy2) whom I'd met the day before is, and so we get started on the appraisal for the Vette.
Guy2 whose interrupted several times during the appraisal, then turns me over to another Guy 3, since my original guy 1 isn't there. Then after about 15 minutes ANOTHER salesman (Guy4) comes over and starts blowing smoke about my Vette and how they've gotta make some phone calls to special Vette people about its value. Meantime they've pulled the Vette around to a place of honor right outside the showroom and several salespeople start eyeballing the car I'm about to trade in. And I'm thinking to myself, boy the Vette sure looks good under those lights, maybe I should reconsider the S2000, but the memory of that test drive brings me back to, I really want that car. Of course this is absolutly the worst way to feel at a dealership. So after another 15 minutes yet another saleman (Guy5)asks me if he could drive the Vette, I said, "yeah sure as long as I go along." We take our little test drive and the Vette just purrs. And the salesman determines that there are no showstoppers with the Vette's performance.
Now one of the more important guys (I think Guy4) pops up with, "oh we did something to the S2000 since you tested it. Not a bad thing a good thing." We go out to the car which is in the prep for delivery area and the guy points out the new chrome wheels. I gotta admit they look nice, but no mention of the price for this is 'option' is made, so I'm assuming this is a freebie because they like their S2000 as much as I do and they're not gonna let her go out the door with 'just' the alloy wheels.
So now were finally down to the negotiating. I had figured if they want list plus for their car I wanted list plus for my trade. I'm figuring list plus for the Vette is 8000.00. Well they had figured list plus for their car is MSRP 32740 + Markup 1999 + Chrome Wheels 1495 + Spoiler 700 or almost 37000.00. I don't even think they knew the spoiler was an option until I mentioned it, stupid me. So they offer me 6500 for the Vette I laugh and say were 3000 apart on this deal and start walking out the door, by this time it's almost 8:00 pm and I am ready to go. I get about 3 steps from the goes out, and Guy3 says come on give me a chance let me talk to Guy4 about this. Of course I relent and after letting me stew for another 10 minutes or so Guy3 and yet another guy, Guy5 show up. So were 3000 apart Guy5 says, I say yeah and 1495 of it is those wheels. I suggest getting back to the alloys and they agree, now were 1500 apart. More & more talking, and not quite so suddenly the Vette is worth 7900 and we've got a deal. But if I want to take the car home, I've got to agree to come back on Tuesday to trade out the wheels. Well of course I want to take the car home. Now I've got a sight draft from my bank, but I've still got to go talk to the finance guy.
So now I'm done with the finance guy (Guy6) I've added the 7 year Honda Care maintenance plan for another 1300.00. Now it's 9:00 or so and they have to get the car final prepped. This takes another 45 minutes or so and by the time I get done going over the Service manual stuff with Guy7 it's past 10:00 pm before I'm on my way home.
Tuesday afternoon I show up to get the wheels traded out. Guy2 with Guy1 kinda usher me towards the back of the dealership and says quietly, "Hey we've had kinda of a screwup here, we can't trade the wheels because we sent your wheels off to California to get 'em chromed for the next S2000 we get. But here's what we can do, our cost on those wheels is 895.00, we'll sell them to you for 400.00. Or you can wait 2 weeks for the next S2000 and we'll trade the wheels out then." I had half a mind to wait, but the chrome wheels do really look good against the silver and I'm thinking I don't want to come back here again. So I agree to the extra 400.00, and am out the door.
So now it's a week later and I've got the car broke in and I notice I've got a vibration that feels like a wheel balance problem between 70 and 80 mph. So I set up an appointment with Earnhardt Service. And much to their credit they got me in the afternoon I called. So I show up and get the tires balanced, and the service manager assured me he had his best guy on it and yes the tires were significantly out of balance. Hmm, I wonder to myself does this have anything to do with their rush to get an extra few bucks out of the deal by adding the chrome wheels. But now I've got my tires balanced and I'm temporarily happy.
So now it's more than a week later and eureka I've found the S2000 forum. I take note of the FAQs, in particular the delivery FAQs. I look for spring spacers, I found what I think are spring spacers, I contact Earnhardt, it's Friday just before my first road trip, and they can't tell me exactly what a spring spacer is, and that BOTH of their Honda technicians are unavailable. I contact Arrowhead Honda and they tell me what a spring spacer is, but I'm still not sure that what I have are spring spacers, and that they're booked and can't service my car that afternoon.
I call Bell Honda and the service manager says yeah sure bring her in and we'll remove 'em if they're there. I pull into Bell Honda, the service manager looks at my coils and says "yeah they're still in there." He starts pulling them out right there on the drive. And then gets the car pulled around to the service area to get the rest of the spacers removed. I notice an immediate ride improvement.
That is until I start my first road trip up to Flagstaff and damnit, I've got the same vibration problem I had before. When I return from Flag, I call Bell Honda (I'm now officially done with Earnhardt sales and service, duh) I explain my vibration problem, they said, "yeah bring her on in." They re-balance the tires the same day I called, and told me they were all off by 3/4 oz.
I guess the moral of the story is, read everthing you can about the S2000 on the internet BEFORE you go to a dealer and go to at least 3 dealerships before you buy. In Arizona so far, I recommend ending up at Bell Honda.
Once again, I'm sorry this was so long, but I feel better now. Thanks.

c/ya
Mike
2001 S2000 silver w/red AND Chrome Wheels