First s2000! Spa Yellow AP1
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Joined: Jul 2014
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From: Chesterfield VA
Hey, Luke, car looks great, but don't they all? 
I'd personally leave the car alone this year especially until you learn to drive it. This isn't a base model civic that needs better suspension. It's not a little BMW sedan either. "Flushness" is show, not go.
It already has the Honda 17" wheels which gives you a wider choice of tires. With a set of aggressive Extreme Performance Summer tires (e.g. Bridgestone RE-71R) you may find diddling with the suspension is completely unnecessary for whatever driving you do.
The "gen1" 2000-2001 cars will snap oversteer on you if you think it drives like a pedestrian BMW. Don't throw suspension mods at the car before you know what you want to accomplish. Honda made suspension changes every two years starting in 2002 to dial out some of the oversteer. By the time you wear out the RE-71R tires you'll know what changes you want. A buddy of mine with a very similar 2002 model removed the lowered suspension that was on the car when he bought it and found the car handled much better. (He also has AP2V1 17" wheels/)
-- Chuck
I'd personally leave the car alone this year especially until you learn to drive it. This isn't a base model civic that needs better suspension. It's not a little BMW sedan either. "Flushness" is show, not go.
It already has the Honda 17" wheels which gives you a wider choice of tires. With a set of aggressive Extreme Performance Summer tires (e.g. Bridgestone RE-71R) you may find diddling with the suspension is completely unnecessary for whatever driving you do.
The "gen1" 2000-2001 cars will snap oversteer on you if you think it drives like a pedestrian BMW. Don't throw suspension mods at the car before you know what you want to accomplish. Honda made suspension changes every two years starting in 2002 to dial out some of the oversteer. By the time you wear out the RE-71R tires you'll know what changes you want. A buddy of mine with a very similar 2002 model removed the lowered suspension that was on the car when he bought it and found the car handled much better. (He also has AP2V1 17" wheels/)
-- Chuck
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I agree that the BMW and the s2k are two completely different cars. The bmw is like a boat compared to the s2k, and the car had extremely stiff coilovers. The spacers for the s2k will 100% be for show but I can’t put bigger front brakes on the car without them and I like the look of them so oh well. The BMW has RE-71r’s on it currently and they’re grippy as hell, but that car has traction control and can help me out in sketchy “driving on the highway when it’s down pouring in Florida” situations, which is why I’m hesitant about putting them on this car. Although I’ll probably end up slapping them on the s2000 anyways because I really do love them. Do you have any input on how they do in the rain on the s2000? In my BMW I drive under the speed limit in the rain and I’m fine, but the s2k is lighter and has no traction control 
Joined: Jul 2014
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From: Chesterfield VA
The early year apologists (no offense intended) praise the uncontrollably of these cars as making the car more engaging to drive. I'm perfectly happy with the stability assist and traction control on my '06 car. I've driven and never spun several early cars but a buddy put his '02 "in the cattails" in the Metro Parks soon after getting it. Under 50 mph as I recall. On-ramps, ice on bridges, and diesel spills on roundabouts (chiefly in the UK) are infamous locations. There's a learning curve on all these cars but especially the first generation. Honda was concerned enough to made handling fixes every two years to protect the uninitiated. I had the tail unexpectedly swing out on my '06 exiting of a car wash and making a "cars and coffee" exit to the right. Soapy road. Good ole traction control and stability control were valuable. I think a car without these nannies would have put me on the curb like those YouTube Mustang videos. Caught me totally by surprise. I was running RE11A tires at the time.
You're already familiar with the loud road noise of the RE-71R tires, Louder in an open car. CR-spec tire sizes with a 215mm front and 255mm rear will mitigate some of the oversteer with no diddling of the suspension. They fit in the wheel wells without modification. And look really nice from the rear of the car.
-- Chuck
I've driven and never spun several early cars but a buddy put his '02 "in the cattails" in the Metro Parks soon after getting it. Under 50 mph as I recall. On-ramps, ice on bridges, and diesel spills on roundabouts (chiefly in the UK) are infamous locations. There's a learning curve on all these cars but especially the first generation. Honda was concerned enough to made handling fixes every two years to protect the uninitiated. I had the tail unexpectedly swing out on my '06 exiting of a car wash and making a "cars and coffee" exit to the right. Soapy road. Good ole traction control and stability control were valuable. I think a car without these nannies would have put me on the curb like those YouTube Mustang videos. Caught me totally by surprise. I was running RE11A tires at the time.You're already familiar with the loud road noise of the RE-71R tires, Louder in an open car. CR-spec tire sizes with a 215mm front and 255mm rear will mitigate some of the oversteer with no diddling of the suspension. They fit in the wheel wells without modification. And look really nice from the rear of the car.
-- Chuck
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Yup on the way home the rear end kicked out a little bit onto an on ramp, took me by surprise because I didn’t even push it that hard. Definitely have to get used to it like you said. Sounds like the best bang for your buck mod is tires so I’ll go with your suggestion of 215s and 255s, and I’m happy how cheap they are compared to 275s on a 19 inch wheel for the bmw. Only $150 a piece for these tires! Thanks for your help
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