I got an S2000 two months ago and last Saturday managed to spin it across the road and into oncoming traffic. The road was a bit wet, and I was accelerating hard, but in an absolutely straight line. Back end kicked out at about 5000rpm and I couldn't control the spin.

Is this a common problem? Is scared the bejeezus out of me.

L

 

Just happen to my friend too. He got his s2 around 2 weeks ago. Couple days ago, It was raining and he vtec 3rd out of a turn into the freeway . He spined 360 and then 180 facing oncoming traffic. lucky everyone break in time and nutting happen to him. Be very careful wen you drive your S in the rain, rwd aren't always a plus.

 

This isn't a "common problem" with the car.

Think about it. "The road was a bit wet, and I was accelerating a bit hard". "It was raining and he vtec 3rd out of a turn."

Drivers should completely learn how the car drives in the wet / dry and everything else in between and slowly inch up to the car's limits (and the driver's skill limits).

And yes, VTEC'ing in the rain while turning is asking for the car to oversteer.

 

You all need to learn how to drive a performance oriented, rear wheel drive vehicle. Simple as that. Any actions that happened were a direct result of input from the driver, not the car. The car simply does what the driver tells it to.

 

I have driven many RWD cars in the rain including Miatas, Mustangs, RX-7's, trucks, ect. I would also like to add that the S2000 in particular has a tendency to fishtail in bad conditions moreso than most other RWD sports cars . IMO the factors that contribute to this are the 50/50 weight ratio, snap oversteer at the limits, aggressive rear camber , non rain friendly tires and surging with VTEC crossover. I since have another car but I had an alignment done on my S2000 and had the camber set to zero with all other specs set to stock. The cornering speed and handling was not noticably lessened. This significantly made the car more stable in the rear ( more flat rubber to the ground) and tire wear will be more even with your tires lasting longer. If you are a weekend autocrosser this probably won't work for you as the car will have just a bit less oversteer with zero camber. If you are just an average S2000 owner that doesn't take their car to the limits every time you drive this zero camber may be for you. You can't blame the car completely for fishtailing but the dynamics of the car as a whole definately is a factor.

 

About every two weeks I see another S at the Honda dealer that has spun. Believe it or not the X-Brace helped the fishtailing of my car. The car is a great car but not forgiving at the limits. The wet road lessen the limits considerably.

I don't know what kind of tires you have or how much wear but keep good tires on it and take it to a local autocross event and check out the limits in a safe enviroment.

 

All RWD cars (and trucks) with considerable power will do this. It is more of a problem on cars where the power comes on aggressively at higher rpms. My 300ZX TT was just as scary as my S in the wet.

What alignment are you running?

 

This happens to alot of new S drivers. Many of which have come from a FWD car and transitioned straight into the S.

This is what happens when you push the car beyond the drivers ability. Don't look to the car for the answer, take a driving school and invest in some track or AutoX time. You will notice that after 6 months or so of track time your ability to handle the car will shoot through the roof.

As for the aggressive driving in the rain... Well nothing is going to help with that other than a nice hot cup of common sense.

 

I love how people are quick to blame the car and not their own lack of judgement and driving ability.

This is a very common thread every year around this time as temperatures drop and the rain starts up. Think about it.

 

actually i don't love it ...it scares the crap out of me when i see this post
these type of drivers not only put themselves in danger, but others as well