Hello there S2ki. I am new to this site, but have been using this site for some time now to find miscellaneous information. I have been looking for a quality S2k for a while now, and I think I finally found one. I will be using the car for daily driving and MAYBE occasional track days. I haven't decided yet, but anyways. I would feel a lot more comfortable with some sort of protective system. I wanted to know what would be more effective if I were to roll over, a hardtop or a rollcage. Obviously, both is the most effective way to protect myself, but that will have to wait for some time.

If this is in the wrong section, please move to appropriate section.

 

This is the right place...

Watch this video... miata with a hardtop (and roll bar)

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMmjaaSQP08[/media]

Just so we're clear. A hardtop will do very little to protect you in the event of a roll over. The first thing that happened to this car was the hardtop immediately came OFF. What saved him was the roll bar he had installed.

If you want to get a rollbar, get a Rockstar roll bar. It'll pass NASA and SCCA for time trials (not full on wheel to wheel racing).

The one piece of added protection that you do get from a hardtop is that you don't have to worry about the frame of your softop coming apart and impaling you, but that is most certainly secondary to a good roll bar.

Additionally, don't bother with the JDM pieces of junk that are over priced and poorly designed (I.E. cusco, safety21, mugen, spoon, or anything else like that).

See link here for more info on a good rollbar.

https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/957...-3-starts-now/

 

Thank you for the information. Much appreciated. If/when I start to daily drive the s2k, is it worth getting a 4-point seatbelts and some aftermarket racing seats? I believe I read that it is actually more harmful to you as it restricts you from movement, or something like that.

 

For a car that is only daily driven a roll bar could pose a potential threat if involved in an accident. Bouncing your head off a steel pole with no helmet could be bad news. Just something else to think about. Good luck and welcome to the forums

 

There's just no winning in life

lol

 

What he said. Rollovers are a relatively rare occurrence in street-driven cars. Adding a roll bar will help protect you in the unlikely event of a rollover, but it could significantly hurt you in a regular fender bender, which is much more likely to happen. Given your intended use ("daily driving and MAYBE occasional track days"), I think you'd be better off without a roll bar.

As an aside, you wrote "roll cage", but I think you meant "roll bar". This is a roll bar:



This is a roll cage:



A car that's primarily used for street driving should never have a roll cage, for both safety and convenience reasons.

 

I did mean roll cage, but safety is my biggest concern. It just looks more safe to me. Could you explain to me how a roll bar is more likely to hurt me in a fender bender, or any other type of regular accident? I understand rolling over is not a common thing, but it's still there, and I would rather just be hurt from a roll bar than in a coma or dead because I didn't have it. I am short (5'6") so my head hitting a roll bar seems less likely.

 

I'm curious too if there any truth to that idea that a traffic accident could really cause your head to reach up and behind and hit the roll bar? Considering you have the seat belt on which would hold you in place in the seat? Has anyone ever actually seen that happening (or heard of it happening from reliable sources, not just something they read on the internetz)?

The reason I ask is because a well known welder here in So Cal who makes roll bars/cages told me that that cannot possibly happen considering the driver's or passenger's position in the car relative to the bar. Is it the side of the roll bar that's the concern? I don't know either way, just raising the question

 

I actually wonder about that too, since the rollbar (not cage - i can see the dangers there) is positioned quite far behind your seat and above.

I figure you can always wrap it with a bunch of that foam padding.

 

Tell him to watch this starting at the 0:18 mark (before that it's an unbelted test):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7iYZPp2zYY

(The preview for that video doesn't appear to be working, so if it doesn't work for you, try this: http://youtu.be/d7iYZPp2zYY.)

Even relatively low speed crashes are surprisingly violent.

Anyway, I won't argue with anyone who's still not convinced. It's your funeral, as the saying goes.