Its all about self control, driving experiance and ability. Know that when outdoor temps are below maybe 50 degrees F, your tires will not stick as well as when its warmer. In heavy rain at high speeds the S can feel a little floaty. Its all about where the rubber meets the road and at what temp it all happens at. Im currently at 15000 mi on oem tires and I've adjusted my driving style accordingly. Yes I'm shopping for new rears. Yes its my daily driver. And yes I LOVE to DRIVE this car.

 

I was thinking about getting another sportbike until someone reminded me that I can't ride as hard in the rain as I do under sunny conditions. Since it is literally impossible to ride a sportbike at less than 10/10s, it would make no sense to get another one unless I lived in the Gobi desert.

Being the limit tester that I am, I drove my wife to work today in the rain. My S2 is an '05 with 4K miles on it. We didn't slip and slide nor did we hydroplane until we happened to hit an oil slick that was left behind by a Porsche Carrera GT. As it turned out, the impeccable handling of the S2 allowed us to do 6 360s and even grab a dab of the oil as we slid by. Since I had an "in" with the local HazMat lab, we were able to trace the deposit to Jay Leno.

I guess I don't understand the dynamics behind a car that handles great in the dry turning to mush in the rain. Granted, if the tires are worn, grip will suffer, wet or dry. Try to drive anything agressively with worn tires and bad things will likely happen.

I used to ride a Yamaha TD1-C. It was a two stroke that got pretty much all it's power at the top of a very narrow powerband (much more violent a transition than VTEC). Getting "on the pipe" while at the limit of adhesion approaching the apex of a turn was often exhilerating and sometimes disasterous. Riders simply learned how to ride the bike or they didn't. If someone learned how to ride it, they could even ride it in the rain (with rain tires), however, if they didn't learn throttle control, they probably ended up telling folks that the bike didn't handle in the rain.

In my book, the S2 gets a bad rap for reasons that are directly related to throttle control.

 

 

Lately, it seems like the "only" time it rains is right "after" I wash the car. It hasn't been washed in about 3 weeks now and the weather's been perfect. Only problem with that is the car "really" needs a good wash job

Oh well, it's to the point were we can really use the rain. Guess I'm going to have t break down and pull out the ol wash bucket.

Drive Safe,
Steve R.

 

[QUOTE=Intrepid175,Oct 28 2005, 02:42 PM] I love driving it in the rain too, although I don't generally play with it in the way you mention.

 

this is my first RWD, and i didn't have a single problem with rain...so i was doubting. and tried donuts in parking lot to see how much gas does it need to slide cuz it was just too damn stable for me in rain.

and yea, that first donut, damn fun. i was spinning all night long.
imma go spin again.

 

Uh yeah! My 03 (worn BFG gForce) handles like garbage in the rain!! And it's not my imagination! I am coming from an 05 RSX-S (Kumho ECSTA AST) that had superior wet handling characteristics in comparison.

I won't be much longer on this set of tires and will definitely consider the Hankook V12 next. Otherwise I love the S2000! I am just having to make some adjustments in wet driving. Although I love stepping out the rear in the rain (it's great fun) the first time it happened to me I was a bit surprised as I was not 'pushing'!

 

You realize you just responded to a 7 year old thread, right?

Wet weather handling is almost completely a function of the TIRE, not the year car you have. Drive intelligently with the correct tires and you'll never need VSA in the rain.

 

2363 days...

 

True on the necro. Not quite true about the tires. The S2000 has a tendency to snap oversteer. This doesn't go well with inclement weather unless you own your own body shop. If you refrain from aggressive throttle while cornering, etc. you should be fine. However, no matter what tire you put on an S2000 you will still have to use caution. My E90 is far more forgiving, and it rides on the same tires as my S2k.