If you can afford and S2000, you most certainly can afford to take the time to learn how to drive it properly. One weekend at the track, at one of the myriad driving schools out there, will go a long way in allowing you to safely operate your car, even in "wet" conditions, so that you are not threatening your own life, your car, or someone else by driving beyond your known limits.

 

Good Night, I have 24,000 miles within the last year, including Ice,snow,water,gravel,dirt. . . This car is still a different thing.

 

I'm with you Sunchild. It does get frustrating reading all of these stories about people blaming the car or the tires for their inability to drive properly or their choice to drive in manners inconsistent with the conditions they are in such as flying around corners in the rain. I've had no problems with my car's rear end taking off on me, although I try to temper my driving on the street and save the balls out stuff for the track. So either some of us have a special S2K with the non-slide rear end or there are some people who are getting a little crazy out there.

 

Maybe the people that think their cars are tail happy should have the alignment checked? I remember reading (Motor Trend's first S2k test, they had three different pre-production cars. Honda told them each car was aligned differently, and the testers reported that one of the cars would oversteer quite a bit.

 

That's an interesting point. Maybe the factory alignment is not the most stable. That would mean that Strike and I and the others who don't have problems are "mis"-aligned in a good way.

 

I think it may be the latter and I think I know why. Inexperience driving a RWD car,especially this car, and the inability to understand what Vtec suddenly does to control in the wet. I agree that a driving course is essential in understanding the handling of this car. I have the PP tires in the rear and have noticed better handling in the wet, however, knowing how this car handles when it's wet immediatly sends out a warning to me to take it "easy". This applies to wet as well as dry conditions. The public road is not a race course and there are lots of variables to contend with such as other drivers, your own ability and an understanding of the car's limits. This car will reward the controlled, smooth driver and will punish the uncontrolled , inexperienced one. I have had my car for 14 months with over 20K and haven't had a problem in the wet or dry as I dont intend to kill myself or anyone else until I learn more about the handling characteristics of this car through more experience and instruction at a driving school (if necessary). I autocrossed my 280Z and my 300ZX and that gave me a lot of experience but this is a different handling car so I hope to learn more about it before I start pushing it. It's an addictive piece of machinery and the temptation to push it is overwhelming at times, especially at first, but take a lesson from some of the people on this forum that have and back off until you learn more about it's handling. Just my $.02 [QUOTE]Originally posted by Strike:
[B]I'm with you Sunchild.

 

Has happened to me too. I believe it is the tires. Are the PPs the best alternative? Does Goodyear make a good wet and dry tire for this car?

 

I can tell you for sure the S2000 handles better in the rain than the NSX. The only problem the S2000 has is that it's perfectly balanced. It's a lot easier to spin than than a car that will understeer. So, AUTOCAR didn't like it? Just another British car rag that believes, "If it ain't Scotish, it's crap!" Or something like that.

 

The thing you are giving up if you go to PP's or other "better in the wet" tires is handling. The S02's that come with the S2K have more surface area of the tire in contact with the ground, not to mention the rumours that Honda designed this car to work best with the stock S02's. If you're going to switch tires to something that handles better in the wet you're going to be compromising on the handling of your car. That's not something I'm willing to trade off on. I'd rather just drive a little more mellow when it's wet outside and know that when it's dry I have maximum handling capability, which is why I bought this car anyways.

 

any car that has true neutral handeling is going to be very easy to spin under adverse conditions. hell, go sit in a race preped itr with neutral handeling (keep in mind its an FF) and you will still spin the car if you do anything but brake in a straight line. the s2k's behavior is totally acceptable under these condtions. keep in mind you have a stiffer less forgiving suspension than many other rwd cars. take time to learn to drive it. go out to an autox, or next time it rains toy with it in an empty parking lot (watch out for curbs though). learning to drive your car is the most rewarding experiance of all....