Back from the dead
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Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 55
Likes: 16
From: San Diego
Crazy how quickly the supply for OEM AP2 lips dried up...Price is basically on par with AP1 OEM lips now.
You can't put a price on OEM fitment. All of these naysayers don't get it. The amount of bodywork needed to get a poly lip to fit somewhat close to OEM is staggering. By the time you've gotten a rep lip fully finished you might as well have just spent a little extra money and gone OEM. I bought myself a BNIB OEM AP1 lip from Europe in silver for around $800...Don't regret it one bit; these cars look naked up front, and the OEM lips really set them off. Just picked up a used OEM lip in NFR with a small crack in it for $400 that I'm going to have repaired. Any time an OEM lip pops up I'll be grabbing one. I'll feel comfortable if I have one on my car and atleast 2 in reserve.
Also, I haven't seen a rep lip yet that was supplied with PROPER mounting hardware. Instead you get a bunch of rivets, screws, and random brackets, and don't expect the "pre-drilled" holes to even come close to lining up either. Man, I should spend the money and have a company make an exact copy of my new oem lip (proper ABS, brackets, etc) , sell them for $400 a pop or so unpainted; they'd sell like hotcakes I'm sure.
You can't put a price on OEM fitment. All of these naysayers don't get it. The amount of bodywork needed to get a poly lip to fit somewhat close to OEM is staggering. By the time you've gotten a rep lip fully finished you might as well have just spent a little extra money and gone OEM. I bought myself a BNIB OEM AP1 lip from Europe in silver for around $800...Don't regret it one bit; these cars look naked up front, and the OEM lips really set them off. Just picked up a used OEM lip in NFR with a small crack in it for $400 that I'm going to have repaired. Any time an OEM lip pops up I'll be grabbing one. I'll feel comfortable if I have one on my car and atleast 2 in reserve.
Also, I haven't seen a rep lip yet that was supplied with PROPER mounting hardware. Instead you get a bunch of rivets, screws, and random brackets, and don't expect the "pre-drilled" holes to even come close to lining up either. Man, I should spend the money and have a company make an exact copy of my new oem lip (proper ABS, brackets, etc) , sell them for $400 a pop or so unpainted; they'd sell like hotcakes I'm sure.
I have been real fortunate to have good positions in life to buy and enjoy the things I like through hard work and perseverance. When it comes to cars, I have owned an insane amount of performance cars, and the S2000 stands as the only one I regretted selling. When it comes to parts for these, I have no problem spending coin to make this THE car I have been missing for so long. You wanna talk about wild prices, you'd have to get me started on performance parts for my Vipers! Buying OEM Carbon Fiber parts for my 2015 Viper I bought new was no pleasant task. Makes buying these few OEM parts for the S seem like a downright steal. Some shade tree mechanic having an opinion about how I spend my own money on something I've dearly missed for so long will have no effect on me sharing these S2000 scores in my effort to keep a preserved example of this car with OEM bits on it. As far as I'm concerned, these front lip spoilers were a deal. I am glad you can see these for their value today with their nonexistent supply.
Joined: Jun 2018
Posts: 2,116
Likes: 671
From: Connecticut :(
100%
I have been real fortunate to have good positions in life to buy and enjoy the things I like through hard work and perseverance. When it comes to cars, I have owned an insane amount of performance cars, and the S2000 stands as the only one I regretted selling. When it comes to parts for these, I have no problem spending coin to make this THE car I have been missing for so long. You wanna talk about wild prices, you'd have to get me started on performance parts for my Vipers! Buying OEM Carbon Fiber parts for my 2015 Viper I bought new was no pleasant task. Makes buying these few OEM parts for the S seem like a downright steal. Some shade tree mechanic having an opinion about how I spend my own money on something I've dearly missed for so long will have no effect on me sharing these S2000 scores in my effort to keep a preserved example of this car with OEM bits on it. As far as I'm concerned, these front lip spoilers were a deal. I am glad you can see these for their value today with their nonexistent supply.
I have been real fortunate to have good positions in life to buy and enjoy the things I like through hard work and perseverance. When it comes to cars, I have owned an insane amount of performance cars, and the S2000 stands as the only one I regretted selling. When it comes to parts for these, I have no problem spending coin to make this THE car I have been missing for so long. You wanna talk about wild prices, you'd have to get me started on performance parts for my Vipers! Buying OEM Carbon Fiber parts for my 2015 Viper I bought new was no pleasant task. Makes buying these few OEM parts for the S seem like a downright steal. Some shade tree mechanic having an opinion about how I spend my own money on something I've dearly missed for so long will have no effect on me sharing these S2000 scores in my effort to keep a preserved example of this car with OEM bits on it. As far as I'm concerned, these front lip spoilers were a deal. I am glad you can see these for their value today with their nonexistent supply.
S2000s are becoming pretty expensive now, too. Buy-in price for a good condition, unmolested car with lower miles continues to rise steadily year after year. I had my heart set on the GPW / all red interior color combo for a long time. It was a hard car to find and I paid a decent premium for it. Luckily it only had 53k miles, essentially one owner for most of its life, was a Texas car, and all 10 vins intact with a clean Carfax. I wouldn't have it any other way. I'd like to own a nice AP2 as well some day. You're by far not the first person who's mentioned regretting selling their S2000. I want to get it right the first time; so this car is a keeper. I figured if all of these people sell their S2000 to move on to "bigger and better" things and always end up coming back, I might as well take a lesson at their expense and just enjoy the S2000; no other car comes close in purpose and enjoyment save for perhaps a Porsche GT3...and even then the roof doesn't go down. As far as a toy car goes, my S2000 will hopefully be my first and last investment that scratches my itch for a seasonal weekend fun car.
At this point I've probably got close to 60k wrapped up in my car between performance and cosmetic modifications, new OEM parts refreshment etc. Don't regret spending a single dime on it, because every time I drive it I truly enjoy it. Bottom line though, these cars NEED OEM lips in my own humble opinion. As someone who appreciates the stock body AP1 and AP2 in their purest forms (not a fan of interchanging bumpers and tail lights or aftermarket body panels) I will say again that the OEM lip fully completes the car, and Honda did an excellent job with the AP1 and AP2 lips. In my opinion the OEM lips look the best on these cars. I've toyed with the idea of strakes, but I'm simply unwilling to drill holes into the body for them. Kinda wish I hadn't drilled to mount the OEM trunk lip; 3M tape is more than sufficient.
Anyways I'm rambling. Love the car; not a fan of silver, but Chicane does something right, and if I were to buy an AP2, an 08 Chicane would be what I would be after, next to that would be a LBP 08-09, and lastly NFR 08-09. Don't sell this one!
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