OK.. I got the final verdict on my car.. its permantly ed up for now..

The car had a vibration and noise from the rear and pulled to the right ONLY under throttle and ONLY over 40mph..

Don Davis Honda had the nerve to tell me it was the front tires.. after I explained that the noise was 100% coming from the rear of the car (the front tires were worn pretty bad).. I hate when dealers take any excuse they can find as reason for why ANYTHING is broken.. I guess I'm lucky he wasnt telling me it was my aftermarket cd player.. or hardwired v1 .. I also told him I had a hunch that it had something to do with the rear differential.. he basically told me I have no idea what I'm talking about and to get new front tires and go from there..

Within 24 hours I had new front tires on the car..

Less than a week later the rear end shattered.. My rear differential was 98% useless.. I pulled over.. I tried to move a little bit and all I got was metal on metal grinding and it moved about an inch.. I called AAA and had the car towed to Lia Honda after hearing some praises from a S2000 buddy..

At Lia the entire rear diff was replaced as well as a few surrounding brackets that were bent, also the rear end of the driveshaft where it meets the input on the differential was f*d up and they had to order new bolts and whatnot for it.. (last year I had warranty transmission work done at Ray Laks Honda, the tranny was pulled from the car and had some internals replaced) Lia told me previous work to the car was the cause of that and continued to replace all parts under warranty.. While it was there I also had them check the alignment which I was told was 100%..

I picked the car up and it still had the same problems minus the sound from the rear.. I brought it back.. and told them I'd leave it until it was fixed.. ie. wahtever time they needed.. They replaced some u-joints, and maybe the axles (i cant remember).. the grinding/vibration stopped at that point.. the car still pulled under throttle and over 40mph.. After getting off the phone with Honda tech support, they told the dealership that it was because the car has Kuhmo Ecsta MXs on the car instead of OEM Bridgestone S02s.. and I'm ready to pick up my car at any time... I'm VERY thankful to Lia for what has been fixed and replaced.. everything was replaced for free under my extended warranty..

Cmon.. it doesnt have OEM tires on it?! thats the best excuse you could think up?..

I guess next season I'll have to spend $600 in new OEM tires to bring it back and still say theres a problem..

*sigh*

The S2000 is a great car when working 100%.. sadly.. my ownership experience has been a nightmare.. I would never in a million years think of buying one with out a complete warranty for years to come.. Within the past 3 years of my ownership my warranty has saved me from $12-15,000 worth of parts and labor.. I couldn't imagine what one would go through having to pay to fix this car 5x a season..

Lastly.. my car has been in the shop for the better part of the last 2 months.. it is now time to put it away and it still doesnt drive straight...



PS. the car has never ever been in a accident that would cause this.. the worst it got was a shopping cart to the front fender..

I guess S2000s are supposed to pull to the right on anything other than S02s..

 

So Don Davis is still there in Tonawanda eh! I bought a new Firebird Formula from there in 1990 and subsequently shipped it back to Australia in 1993. I kept it for 9 years before replacing it with my S2k in 1999.

Didn't Don Davis also sell Nissans?

 

Yeah.. hes got a bunch of dealers.. not really sure about the extent of the brands though..

 

the average s2000 guy has not had very many problems.... depends on many things.... how you drive is the main one I think. I drove 2 different S2000's for 35,000 street miles with no real problems. I had a TSB done on the tranny since it made some noise but that was it.

If you do lots of burnouts or high clutch drops something is bound to break eventually.... i drag raced both of my street S2000's, took both to road courses and took 1 to auto-x and only had that one tsb done.?

not sure why yours has so many problems.

 

I've attended a few autocrosses.. I've never been to a drag strip with it.. its completely stock....

I could go on.. theres no reason for the amount of repairs this car needs..

I did however buy the car used from a Honda dealership.. so what happened before I owned it.. I couldn't say..

 

sounds like the experience that i had with the acura integra i use to own that i bought used from a honda dealership, the thing fell apart around 50,000 miles and was completely stock.


Hence why i own a NEW car now

 

i bet it is your rear tires, something is amiss

good luck

 

dealer rater