I have had my 2005 for 6 weeks. I drive a lot of curvey mountain roads daily. Car handles great there. Put it on an interstate at 70 +/- and any entry into a curve, particularly downhill gives the feel of losing control (like fish tailing). Have an '05 MINI cooperS and it absoulty sticks the same curve. When the loose happens, we usually have some luggage but nothing extremely heavy. Is this just the way the s2k handles or am I doing something wrong ? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Yes and yes. Your advice is to IMMEDIATELY sign up for a performance driving class. It will be fun, and it will teach you something about why a rwd neutrally balanced car like the S2000 handles a lot differently than a fwd, heavily front-balanced car like a Mini Cooper S.

 

ps. Just to get you started.

When you are going downhill, you have less grip than when you are on the level. (When going uphill, you have more grip.) This is a matter of velocity vectors.

Also when you are going downhill, weight is shifted from the rear to the front.

That means you have less grip overall, and you especially have less grip in the rear. This is the cause of you feeling like the car is fishtailing.

 

Check your tire pressures, alignment, and most importantly do a high performance driving event (autox and/or trackday).

 

what kind of tires are you running? you should invest in stickier tires.

 

1/ Get some proper geometry done on the car.
2/ Get some driver training.

 

applying light throttle while cornering will keep the weight shifted to the rear so long as a load is being applied through the rear wheels.

and rwd law is NEVER lift the throttle on corners.

 

Honestly, if the S2000 feels unstable at 70 going around an Interstate curve, I'd make sure the rear wheels are actually on the rear of the car and you don't have any spring spacers in. What size tires do you have on your S anyway? Do you have any aero effects on the car?

 

To Saki GT fr NOLE67 --I bought my 05 SK2 used with 14,500 on it. Have no idea how it was used but it appeared in mint cond. It has General Exclaim UI-IP ? , 245-40-ZR 17's on the rear and BRIDGESTONE Protenza RE050, 215-45-R17's on the front. Don't know if it's relevant or not, but there's a window sticker that reads Falken DRIFT.

 

I'm gonna go with Mike. Sounds like it's the elevation change coupled with you switching from FF to FR.