How's it going, S2kI?

Long time listener, first time caller.

It took me a while to finally acquire my s2000, but it finally happened, and I am absolutely in love with my car. I love how it looks, how it handles, and the power that it has. I bought it bone stock, with minor repairs done to it.

Just wanted to ask the general audience a few questions of what I see on this forum(please don't get offended, I just want people's opinions):

Why do you lower your car? I know how CoG works, but do you honestly feel a different after you slam your car? Does the positives out-weight the negatives? Is it pure aesthetics?

Are stock rims/wheels a no-go? I actually like how the AP1 wheels are (their look and size), and I can't imagine myself actually paying to change something that I like. What are you opinions if you see someone with stock rims? Car nub?

Why do you get such fat tires? I believe that this will actually hurt your cars performance more than improving it. And you're paying to do that? You will also have to do body work to get your fenders big enough to fit those massive tires.

I've been lusting for the s2k for many years because of how the car was engineered. I understand that modding cars is a big market, but I just found it kind of excessive on this forum, as if it's a requirement. IE "Why is your s2k stock...". I come from a place where I'd rather spend my time/money on the valve train, tire replacements, detailing, track time, etc. To me, spending money on these things have a good cost-to-benefit ratio. However, that can't be said about the mods I mentioned above.

Please, S2kI, can someone enlighten this nub (me)

PS. S2k owners who race (i'm talking real racing) their cars, please disregard. This thread is geared mostly towards street s2ks.

 

For me personally....




Why do you lower your car? I know how CoG works, but do you honestly feel a different after you slam your car? Does the positives out-weight the negatives? Is it pure aesthetics?

Swift springs felt less twitchy on a small go kart track than my OEM 02 springs. The ride on the street isn't as stiff but still firm. For asthetics it just shortened the wheel gap by almost an inch.

Are stock rims/wheels a no-go? I actually like how the AP1 wheels are (their look and size), and I can't imagine myself actually paying to change something that I like. What are you opinions if you see someone with stock rims? Car nub?

I got rid of my OEM wheels purely because they were hard to wash. I bought the car with AP2 V2 in gloss black by previous owner. My current RPF1s are lighter and most importantly, easy to wash. And they didn't cost me over $1k to buy brand new.

Why do you get such fat tires? I believe that this will actually hurt your cars performance more than improving it. And you're paying to do that? You will also have to do body work to get your fenders big enough to fit those massive tires.

I feel 215/255 is safer than 205/225 in wet(mostly) and dry conditions. I think stretched tires is more of an issue than fat tires with the ongoing trend right now...

I "modified" my car to where it's basically stock with aesthetics but the point is to personalize the car to make it have the feel where it is to my preference. I think that's what most owners are going for because people like to be different from the guy/girl next to him/her. The modifying creates more diversity in the S2000 community and not having only AP1/AP2/CR and colors being the only thing that separates each car from the next.

That's how I see it

 

Welcome. To sum it up it's preference. I bought mine stock and I've done a few things LED lighting lots of maintenance, and I daily mine, but occasionally track and AutoX it. Just because you don't see a point in changing things doesn't mean other feel the same. That's the beauty of being human, we can all think for ourselves, no 2 people are the same.

 

It's all preference. I dislike stretched tires.

Instead of spending money on aesthetics, go auto crossing.

 

OP here; I understand what you guys are saying. I must have subconsciously got an impression that stock was frowned upon due to constantly hearing "you have to lower it and slap on bbs, get a lip, and did i mention lowering it"? But like you guys said, not everyone has the same vision for the car as others. I always knew that answer, I guess I wanted to hear of other owners who like to keep it the way it is.

::t-up::

Ps I love my car Hope to start seeing yall out at meets some time down the line.

 

I had my car stock for 11 years. Got bored and started modding. It is nice when you go to a S2K meet with a car that is different than the rest.
I'm probably going to keep my stock rims. Every rim I really liked cost a few $1000 and a year later I didn't like them as much. Good luck with your S.

 

I like my car. That's what matters to me.

If I had the money, there are things that I might want to do to my car, but there are so many other things which are higher priorities for me.

 

Congrats and welcome. I planned to keep mine stock when I bought it almost 5 years ago. Hat only lasted for a couple months before I got the urge to start modding it. I now couldn't imagine going back to stock but that's just me. For a track only car Im sure I would have done things different but for the street I have made it pretty much the perfect sports car for me.