first mods questions, need some basic info
based on your responses and some online reviews, youtube video reviews, hearing nothing but good things. Price is right so I have ordered the firestone firehawk indy 500's....will update once installed and road tested....psyched!! thanks for all your input S2k world...this site rocks!!
Nice. what sizing did you buy? Those tyres in particular run a bit narrower than others. I think most people are using a 225/45 and 255/40 combo.
I went with the OEM specs of P215/45R17 81W and Rears- P245/40R17 91W....guess we'll see how this all works out.....wont be the last set of tires I buy I am sure....
Max performance tires usually run slightly wide.
Stock sizes will look like the stock tires that are already on there. Except the new ones will have more tread...so they'll look more meaty to start.
If you want them to fill out more, use a 225/45/17 and 255/40/17 combo. The stock wheels will accomodate those sizes fairly well.
Stock sizes will look like the stock tires that are already on there. Except the new ones will have more tread...so they'll look more meaty to start.
If you want them to fill out more, use a 225/45/17 and 255/40/17 combo. The stock wheels will accomodate those sizes fairly well.
2005 and earlier cars are not economically "tuneable." You need an afermarket ECU and probably a dyno. And someone who can read the fuel and timing tables. "Lowering VTEC" sounds great but even with FlashPro and a 2006 or later you can't just type in the lowered VTEC rpm. Actually you can (!) but unless you change a couple dozen other setting the car will run like crap.
-- Chuck
-- Chuck
An aftermarket ECU, hundreds of dollars of other partrs, and several hours on a dyno puts "economical" out of my mind for tuning pre-2006 cars. Need a tuner familiar with the S2000, not the Camero/Mustang guy willing to try. Good result is possible with the right skills (which I lack!). Do NOT compute the dollars per horsepower gained!
If the car needs to pass emissions it's unlikely to do so without a readable ODBD2 port which is missing on several (some? most?) aftermarket ECUs which are labeled "for off use only." (Which we all ignore, of course.)
Hopefully you just got a complete set good tires of at least MAX performance category. Start driving the car. The Mighty Car Mods guys love Bridgestone RE003 tires. Branded as Firestone Firehawks in North America, an unfortunate branding that makes them seem like 1970's economy car tires. Which they ain't. I have Bridgestone S04 tires and compare them to my former RE-11A tires.
Before buggering the suspension take a performance driving course in the car and let experts tell ya what needs to be tweaked. "Coilovers" are not magic and the car already has them. Adjustable coilovers offer infinite bad handling settings. These are really track suspensions you can optimize for Lime Rock, or Road America, TMSP, Mid Ohio, etc -- different settings for all these specific corners. Adjusting them for general street/county road driving? Stock suspension is already doing this.
Take your time, you have all winter.
-- Chuck
If the car needs to pass emissions it's unlikely to do so without a readable ODBD2 port which is missing on several (some? most?) aftermarket ECUs which are labeled "for off use only." (Which we all ignore, of course.)Hopefully you just got a complete set good tires of at least MAX performance category. Start driving the car. The Mighty Car Mods guys love Bridgestone RE003 tires. Branded as Firestone Firehawks in North America, an unfortunate branding that makes them seem like 1970's economy car tires. Which they ain't. I have Bridgestone S04 tires and compare them to my former RE-11A tires.
Before buggering the suspension take a performance driving course in the car and let experts tell ya what needs to be tweaked. "Coilovers" are not magic and the car already has them. Adjustable coilovers offer infinite bad handling settings. These are really track suspensions you can optimize for Lime Rock, or Road America, TMSP, Mid Ohio, etc -- different settings for all these specific corners. Adjusting them for general street/county road driving? Stock suspension is already doing this.
Take your time, you have all winter.

-- Chuck
Last edited by Chuck S; Oct 18, 2017 at 04:30 PM.
Interesting perspective on the aftermarket suspension, I have adjustable coilovers on one of my cars and I prefer the ride/control/feel and look with the car lowered about an inch over the stock setup. Now shopping or coilovers for the MY06.
And I am not part of the Civic scene.
And I am not part of the Civic scene.
Interesting perspective on the aftermarket suspension, I have adjustable coilovers on one of my cars and I prefer the ride/control/feel and look with the car lowered about an inch over the stock setup. Now shopping or coilovers for the MY06.
And I am not part of the Civic scene.
And I am not part of the Civic scene.
On so many other cars, useful compromises for comfort, for practicality, for cost have been made, that don't really apply to S, or certainly not to the same degree.
An S will benefit from a quality set of coilovers, that have been adjusted and tweaked well. A lesser set, or a set not well adjusted, will actually be a performance detriment compared to stock.
You have to ask if that benefit is worth the cost for your situation. If you're not going to be doing a lot of track work, if $1500+ is tough to come by, if you don't have access to the sort of skills needed to tune suspension, you're probably better off staying stock.
Adjustable coilovers can set the suspension the way you want it. No argument there! But is that any good? They offer infinite possibilities for bad settings. Honda hired a couple of engineers to work out the S2000 suspensions (several generations) -- should have saved time and just fitted $800 coilovers. 
Guys mainly seem to fit them to lower the car. Just found out I'll scrape in my new driveway unless I back-in at a crawl. Suspension is OEM.
--Chuck

Guys mainly seem to fit them to lower the car. Just found out I'll scrape in my new driveway unless I back-in at a crawl. Suspension is OEM.
--Chuck










