I just recently got mine with 50k miles on original clutch. This is my first car with a manual and i learned it quite quickly. But i'm not sure what to look for if my clutch starts to wear out and needs replacement.

Can somebody also tell me if its okay to pop it out of gear and into neutral when i'm coming to a stop? Or should i step on the clutch and downshift once i start slowing down?

 

Coasting in neutral while coming to a stop is never good driving technique. You have just relinquished one way of controlling the car. Driving any car is all about "control". I'm not about to teach you how to drive a manual over the internet. However, here's a site that will:
http://standardshift.com/

A couple of tests you can do to test if your clutch is slipping.
1. Drive at a reasonable speed in a gear (2nd or 3rd is good) that will have the engine at about 4000 rpm. When it's safe to do so, just floor the gas. As the revs climb, so should the car's road speed proportionally. If the engine revs and the car doesn't seem to speed up as it should, then the clutch is slipping. Doing this on an uphill run is better but not absolutely required. Be mindful of getting caught speeding.
2. Drive down the road at a safe speed, in an appropriate gear that will have you going about 4000 rpm. Keep your throttle constant and begin to brake moderately. The slowing down of the car will also bring the rpm down. If the engine continues to stay up as the car slows down, your clutch is slipping. Stop the test once the rpm drops to about 2000.

In both of these tests, have your foot completely off the clutch pedal.

 

so i should be braking while in gear as i come to a stop. once i get to about 10mph or so, step on the clutch and put it on neutral and release the clutch?

 

Unless it's an emergency stop, you should be downshifting as you slow down, engaging the clutch with each gear. Use your brakes as needed. Just before you come to a complete stop and as your rpms get near idle speed, you push the clutch in and stop. You can either put it into neutral and let the clutch out if you are going to sit at the light for a while. If not, put it into first when you're stopped or almost stopped and get ready to take off again. Go read the info in that site I put up.

 

is there any other way to do the test from a standstill like try to start in 4th or 6th?

 

For an S2000, this is not a good way to test for clutch condition. We have a very small clutch for what it does and the PP doesn't provide that much clamping force to begin with. Using a higher gear to start off with can cause even a perfectly good clutch to slip. You can cause more damage than what you're testing for in this sort of test. You would either burn your clutch even more or kill the engine the hard way. I would call this a "pseudo" test or a fool's test.

 

thnx vip