With new information comes a new response

Check alignment-

Are you being pulled back and forth on the road at all?

 

OK Fuzy, there are basically three possibilities. 1) something is wrong with the car, 2) something is wrong with the road, 3) something is wrong with you.

1) tires could be bad, alignment could be bad, lug nuts could be loose, etc.

2) many roads have groves in them. Some tires are very susceptible to "tramlining", which can have symtoms just like you are describing. The S02 is generally quite resistant to tramlining, but maybe not at 38psi.

3) you got scared in the rain, and now you are overreacting to something that was there all along but you had ignored.

From our standpoint on the other side of the internet, any of these are possible. It is up to you to figure out which one it is.

 

how are the 04 tires in the rain?

 

Can someone recommend a good rain tire for the S2k? I live in seattle and run Falken Azenis sports. Needless to say, I have to pay full attention when I drive in the rain as I've spun twice on the freeway in my 325is (normal driving too, nothing crazy!).

Two of my friends run S03's and swear by them.

 

kumho estca 712's are a good rain tire, but don't grip that great when dry. I had SO-3's and they are a little worse in the rain but grip a little better in the dry.

 

I also live in Seattle, and S03s work great in the rain. But keep in mind they are not a magic bullet.

 

Come on don't be insulting. The car is unstable, end of story. The road may be uneven, it may have been wet at times, but i know when the car is not functioning properly. It is dangerous to drive over 50mph. If anyone has experience with this type of problem, by all means, lemme know what u think. But come on, telling me i'm imagining something or that the road is uneven is rediculous.

and no i dont commute 260 miles each day , i was coming back from my hometown

 

What were the outside temperatures when it last ran OK? Is the weather cooler now? I understand SO2's are not good at all in cool weather.

With normal alignment (rear toed in) the tires will work when warm to make the car stable. In cold weather you may lose that control.

 

temp could be a factor like said, summer tires dont work in the cold. but they do warm up after a few miles.

 

Do as little driving as possible and get it checked by a pro. If something is coming loose, the next step may be that it will fall off.

Unless he has a totally rediculous alignment, tire temp will not make that much difference.

The rear sway bar isn't it. You can probably remove the rear swaybar and not feel a difference when you're trying to drive in a straight line. This would actually make the car more stable during easy turns, but will soon rear it's ugly head of understeer (which is a much different feeling of being unstable). Check the front sway bar though, that will cause the car to be loose.

The grooves in the road is a possibility. If the problem occurs on a smooth asphault road, then it is not the problem. I've never felt it with my S2000 with SO-2s, but my wifes CRX did it really bad (don't remember what kind of tires were on it). Watch the grooves in the pavement and see if those match which way the car is swaying. It was very un-nerving until we figured out what was going on. We sold the CRX, bought an S2000, problem solved.

Make sure your wheel nuts are torqued to 220 ft-lbs, and lug nuts are torqued to 85 ft-lbs.

Push in with your foot on the tires at the top, front and back of each tire to see if there's any play in the bearing or suspension.


Keep us posted on what it is (and isn't).