Moderators, please don't move this post, I want to hear everyone's opinion...even yours , thanks.

I have 2 threads in "Under the hood" about blowing my diff Monday and the whole thing's got me thinkin'. Supposedly I stressed the ring and pinion or bearing cap by driving the hell out of the car, chipped a tooth, and then when the fragment sloshed up into the gear set (when I was rounding a corner) the whole ball of wax went South (see the thread HERE). Anyway, it's made me think a little about how I drive the car.

Now, I'm no stranger to clutch dumps @ high RPM to get a good launch, nor am I a stranger of just running the thing to 9K from a stand-still at every single stoplight , but still I wonder sometimes, am I too hard on it? For the life of me I can't figure out how a car with only 153lbs of torque blows a diff when there are plenty of Mustangs with much more torque with diffs that last longer than the engine, did Honda just skimp on the diff? Also, if they didn't want us to do high-RPM clutch-drops then why do they tout that the car has a sub 6 second 0-60 and 14 second quarter mile , anyone that owns the car can tell you that without a clutch-drop those #'s are unattainable. I got about 5 thousand miles out of my last set of rear tires, am I driving this thing too hard?

I already have my answer, but I want to hear what you have to say...

No flames please, let's keep it clean.

Andrew

 

Why buy this car if your not going to drive it hard????

 

This car was designed IMO to take the abuse... However, for people like most of us here who drive their car very hard, they must follow a rigorous maintenance schedule. Definitely not the schedule that is suggested in the owner's manual.
Regarding the clutch though, regardless of the low torque number, high rpm dumps will shorten its life considerably... and that's valid for all cars.

 

Yeah, I would say you are driving it too rough. I would even go so far as to call it abuse. Running your car to 9k should be ok, but clutch dumps and driving so hard to wear tires in 5k miles is obscene. You didn't mention track time, so I asume you have done your damage on the street.

On the other hand, it is pretty much common knowledge that the diff on the S2K is fairly weak. But hey, this isn't a drag car, it is a track car. The car was not designed to handle the kind of abuse you have been dishing out.

 

I love reading accounts about how others drive their S2Ks. I'm obviously somewhere near the other end of the driving style spectrum from you, but it's nice to know that the car apparently can handle what you describe.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy fast tight cornering, rapid acceleration, and blowing right past others on the road as much as the next S2Ker, but if the S2K can handle what you and others dish out, mine should last me a very long time! And that makes me smile even more.

 

I take mine to 9000 every day, I get around 170-180 miles to the tank. I never and I repeat drop the clutch, the car was not designed to be a drag car nor will it ever get great numbers at the lights. If I wanted it to be I would go the speedcraft route ( I will be at some time ) but I could save my self some time and just get a viper if that is what I wanted to do. I love to run through the mountians at a very high rate of speed. I like the track, though I have yet to get my S2000 out there yet.

Get a mustang if you want quarter mile times, get a S2000 if you want to destroy mountians.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by jalbrah
[B]Regarding the clutch though, regardless of the low torque number, high rpm dumps will shorten its life considerably...

 

Think of it as a fomula 1 car. You don't take it to the drag strip--you take it to a track. You don't launch it day in and day out buy revving the shit out of it then letting the clutch fly. That is most certainly abuse in any car. Running it to 9 grand between gears is a different thing all together... Thats what the car is about!

So go easy on the new diff and have fun. If you want a car to win the burnout contest get a mustang...

 

Thanks for your input guys.

2 things:

1. I bought this car to flog, so I flog it, and I'm no drag racer...I much prefer the twisties and frequent them, but to get it to move in the first place you must dump the clutch.

2. There is more wear and tear on the drivetrain with a 3K RPM clutch drop than with a 7K.

If the tires are spinning they are absorbing the energy, if they're not...the drivetrain is. I really don't believe that high-RPM clutch-dumps are hard on the diff, the tires...yes , but not the diff. Obviously they can be very hard on the clutch, but if done right they are less hard on it than "riding the clutch" like a lot of people do. The interesting thing is that when you upgrade the clutch it slips less and puts even more pressure on the drivetrain. Oh well, maybe I should just upgrade the diff.

I just think it's odd that Honda designed this car so that it's imperative that you flog it to get it to do it's numbers, I truly wish the car could be driven at 5/10ths and get it to haul a$$, but that's just not so.

Keep em' comin'

 

If Honda is going to tout the car as sub 6 seconds 0-60, then they should make sure the car holds up to that. I don't flog it like some, but I do drive spirited.