I picked up my S2K last month and I'm still debating what kind of system I should get. I've never owned a convertible and I don't know how good regular car alarms are (Viper, Prestige) at protecting the top and the vehicle. I was thinking of getting Lo-Jack cause it would lower my insurance but I kind of like the alarm better.

What kind of systems do you guys have and how do you like them? Also, how are the paging systems compared to a regular alarm, will it page me from a mile away if someone opens the door or rips the top?

Any info would be great!

 

My short answers are:

1. An alarm is only as good as the install.
2. If thieves really want your car, they will be able to steal your car regardless of what security system you have.


So, here are my looooonnnnnngggg answers:

Everyone will probably agree with the statement "An alarm is only as good as the install." The alarm unit itself isn't so important for security purposes. Remember that an alarm is made to go off when a sensor is triggered -- that's it, and nothing more. In the old days, one may argue that one alarm is better than the other due to its immobilizer. However, with the built-in immobilizer in the S2000, the choice of alarm isn't so important anymore. Also, alarms nowadays generally have pretty good code encryption -- so that people can't just use a generic remote to disarm your alarm; newer alarms can basically support every possible "accessory" out there, which I will discuss later.

It really just boils down to your preference of convenience features when choosing an alarm. The common brands among S2000s are Compustar and DEI (Directed Electronics). Clifford (Matrix Series, not G5), Viper, Python, etc. are made by DEI. Compustar has better range if you are looking for a pager alarm system -- a pager alarm means you'll be notified through your remote/pager if your car is being tampered with. DEI systems are just more common in the market and more dealers carry it. I feel that a pager is a nice thing to have, though not completely necessary. Most newer alarms have remote-start, which is less useful on the S2000 given that it is a stick shift.

As far as the accessories go, it's just a personal thing. Again, the most important thing is to get a good installation job. The shadier the dealer, the better it is. You want crooks to install your alarm, because they know that hiding the brain and the wires is essential. And they don't do what everyone else does. When I say hiding the brain, it doesn't mean just shoving it up the dash and exposing all the wires when you open the door (which is what most places do, including large chain stores like BestBuy and some main stream dealers). You need to find a place that will hide the alarm in the oddest place -- I have seen a brain hidden inside the roof of a Prelude! I have seen some people going as far as relocating some of the key electronics from the factory, like moving the ECU and changing the wiring for the starter/ignition. The key here is to keep everything as stealthy as possible, by running your wires inside the factory wire looms as much as possible. In addition, do not underestimate the importance of valet switch. You should hide the valet switch as well. The valet switch can be used as a temporary override for the alarm.

For the S2000, here are the suggestions for "hiding": really high up inside the dash on the passenger side, inside (literally inside) one of the seats, behind the panels behind the seats, inside the center console, above the headunit, under the soft top area, between spare tire area and cabin, inside the fender on the passenger side (front or back, but make sure to make a waterproof case for it), etc. Some people put the brain under the carpet, but that's dangerous in my opinion, as your car may suffer from minor flood if you forget to close the soft top ... and there goes your alarm.

Also, if you really want to have a good system? Always get a backup battery or a siren with built-in backup battery to go along. Most thieves go through the following steps when stealing Hondas (A little hard on the S2000, since the fender gap's a little tight):

1. Pull down the driver's side fender
2. Pull down the cable that connects the hood to the hood latch under the dash (that'll pop the hood open)
3. They immediately go and cut the battery cable


Since a lot of people don't have hood pins, and have no backup batteries, the alarms will not sound. Then the thieves will have all the time in the world to tamper with your car. Even if there is a hood pin, most of the times the hood switches are so poorly installed that you can spot the wire when the hood is closed. All one needs to do it snip the wire to prevent current from flowing, and then pop the hood.


Anyway, back to accessories/sensors, you can get (most of them are dual staged, which means less severe triggers will only cause the alarm to chrip instead of a full blown blast):

1. Glass sensor -- picks up high frequency noise. This is really useful when thievies use porcelain to break your window instead of using a brick to smash the windows.

2. Proxmity sensor -- warns people to stay away when they walk close ... nice to have if you have the softtop down a lot.

3. "Turbulence" sensor -- similar to Proximity sensor, this is used to detect if people are putting their hands into the car, etc but "listening" to movement of air.

4. Tilt sensor -- will set off the alarm if someone tries to tow your car or steal your wheels.

5. Shock sensor -- generally comes with most alarms anyways, but I feel that this is the most useless sensor out of all sensors.

6. A secondary siren -- thieves tend to pour water or bash the siren when they see it; then the siren will just die. Having another one will just create another layer of hassle for them, as they need to find where it is again!

7. Piezo siren (aka. pain generator or cabin siren) -- this is for inside the cockpit/cabin, and this will make the thieves to have a hard time staying inside the car trying to figure out the wiring under the dash, etc.


I personally don't think the sensors matter too much, since ultimately they need to open the door to do everything anyway (if they are not towing your car away). Ideally, you will have all the possible sensors out there, and will turn all of them down to low sensitivity to minimize chance of false alarm. Unfortunately, that'll cost you an arm and a leg, will also drain your battery in no time. So, it's more important to have a backup battery/siren with built-in battery, and then choose which sensor you would want the most based on personal preference (more isn't always better here). These gadgets don't do much other than sending warning signals to the thieves to go away. On a final note, avoid putting the sticker that says what alarm system you have, that just tells the guy to narrow down on ways to hack and disarm your system using jammers.

My real point is, the alarm brand itself is more of a "bling" than anything else, since most big name companies make relatively good alarms (in terms of encryption). It's just that some remotes are nicer than others. The install is the more important part of the equation. The alarm's job is to take the thieves more time to defeat your system. So your best bet is think about how they go through the process, and think about how you can slow them down. And of course, if the thieves really want your car? They will just tow it ...

You may also want to check out the Electronics Forum; it has quite a lot of information about alarms too (you'll need to use the search function)

As far as Lo-Jack goes, it's great for vehicle recovery. I've heard many successes in terms of recovering the car within minutes after it's stolen. But then, do you really want the car back when someone drove it off?

On a side note, I highly recommend that you put seat locks in your car. S2000 seats are known to have high theft rate. It's not really only about losing the seat and paying the deductible, but it's about convenience. When a thief cuts your top and steals your seat, you can't drive the car. You have to tow it to a body shop or home until new seats arrive. Had you have seat locks, then worst case is that you have a hole in the top and end up paying a deductible, while still having a car to drive. To find more info on seat locks, just do a search in the S2000 Talk forum.


Good luck! Hope this helps.

Oh yes, You may wonder what alarm I have -- now you see, that's the secret I can only tell you that I spent a lot of thoughts into the install, and less time on choice of the unit itself. The install took over 10 hours to do I would say mine's a bit of an overkill though.

By the way, I do not steal cars for a living, nor do I install alarms for a living -- just in case you wonder.

 

WOW!

thanks for all the info. it'll help when i go to the alarm install shop. one other question will this alarm system below protect the soft top if someone touches the top?

My Webpage

 

This info needs to be stickied somewhere

 

No problem.

Looks like that system only has a shock sensor. You would want a proximity sensor for warning people to stay away from the soft top -- the settings of the proximity sensor can be a little tricky, because its sensitivity will differ in a sunny day than in a rainy day.

Unfortunately, there is no "sensor" that truly detects whether the soft top is actually cut/touched by someone; a proximity sensor is as close as you can get for that purpose -- at least to my knowledge.

 

what do you guys think about the honda security system add on? is it good enough or should i not even bother with it?

i might be picking up my 06 lease this weekend so i just wanted to make sure.

 

Personally, I feel that I will be able to sleep better with an aftermarket alarm instead of an OEM alarm.

I would imagine the factory alarm is relatively easy to defeat. First of all, the factory alarm for the S2000 is meant to be mounted under the driver's seat; this means that there is no question as to where the brain's hiding. Also, I would imagine it shouldn't be too hard to snip hood switch's signal wire, since the hood switch actually sits behind the front bumper. If the wire really is easy to cut, then that just means a thief could cut the wire from the outside to disable the trigger, pop the hood, disconnect the battery, and VOILA! You $350 + install fee alarm is then useless within seconds. Another thing to consider is that the factory alarm uses the horn in the front of the car to make noise. The horn in the front can easily be defeated from the outside as well. I do not now how easy is it or if it's possible to wire a backup siren with built-in battery to the factory system. People in the Electronics forum may be able to give you more color on that. Here, you don't want a backup battery for the OEM alarm, because a thief can just smash the brain and the siren/horn will no longer work with no signal sent to them.

Although an aftermarket alarm cannot stop a thief from stealing your car, it certainly creates another layer of complication in th process -- provided that you do have a stealthy install and backup battery source. The goal is really to ask him/her to move on to another car and leave yours alone, especially when he realizes that it has a backup battery source and needs to spend more effort to defeat that. Of course, if he has enough time and patience, or if he's really targeting your particular car ... it doesn't really matter anyway. So, make friends, and not enemies! Also, if you have a nice sound system, I recommend that you keep it low profile, and turn the thing down before driving into a parking lot to go to a movie, etc.

Unfortunately, I do not know whether a lease will permit you to install an aftermarket alarm into the vehicle. That's because you technically do not own the vehicle -- you will need to ask your dealer about the details on that.

Also, your typical parking location/environment should also go into your consideration. If you have you own garage, tend to park your car in an indoor & secured parking lot at work, rarely park the car in deserted areas/quite streets, etc. then you shouldn't need to worry too much.

 

Wow, what great answers Ks320. Fwiw, don't bother with the factory unit - it only covers the doors and hood, and has no shock sensor, so is pretty worthless. I've seen cars broken into that had factory alarms never go off. Thieves cut the top, open it and bypass the doors, and strip the car by climbing onto the trunk and into the cabin to get the airbags, seats, etc..

 

thanks for the wonderful insight. now i just have to check if i can install an aftermarket alarm.

maybe i can install an aftermarket one and have it removed later on. given that shop still exists 3 years from now.

 

Ks320:thanks for all the input.

i'm going with a basic alarm system today then i'll team it up with lo-jack and the autolock hopefully that helps. also, i'll make sure to ask them to install in a good place.

question for S2K owners: how often are S2000 stolen compared to integra's and civic's? it was a major reason i was hesitant to get one two years ago because of all stories i hear about honda's and acura's being stolen for parts.