HDYROPLANING: My S2000 (April 2000) has 12,000 miles on it ...
during a moderate curve and during moderate rain a snap over steer occured at 15 miles below the speed limit of 70MPH .. the rear end spun clockwise 300 degrees and came to rest hanging over the concrete retaining wall of the outside of a bridge ...
"Handling Analyis" of the S2000 by Swawn Church details why this type of thing is easy to occur with this vehicle. Has anyone else run into this problem? It's interesting to note that the front Protenzas were in nearly new shape but the rears were severly worn at 12,000 miles with both carrying 32 to 34 psi measured with a professional guage. I purchased all new SO 3's for the car following the accident.

TRANSMISSION: My S2000 transmission was modified at the local dealer, but still occasionally crunches going from 1st to 2nd gear. Sometimes at low RPMs and sometimes at higher RPMs. Anyone else still having the problem following modification?

TOP SWITCH: Mine died with moderate use just before the accident.

PS: the car survived mechanically 100% -- but the cosmetics (rear tail lights, PVC rear cover, headlight etc and paining cost more than $8,000.00. Covered by insurance.

 

Does your backend shake and slide around when you are driving in a straight line during the rain? Last month I had the samething happen to me but I was going in a straight line and the backend came around on its own. I did a 360 and finally stopped after hitting a bus stop and a curb. I was doing 40mph which is 10mph under the posted speed limit. It was raining pretty hard. Well I still have not got my car back yet. They had to replace the front bumper, right front fender, whole suspension in the front, whole suspension in the rear and, 3 new rims. So far the total damage is $8000.

Justin

 

no matter what the car you shouldn't be in the rain with "severely worn" tires.

 

RE Justin's response

I have not noticed straight ligne problems w/ my car --
in the case of the wreck posted .. the loss of control was
in an instant .. most of the damage was when the rear of the car came 'round' and crashed into and over a concrete retaining wall
of the bridge on which the car was spinning ...
Honda has a problem here .. and apparently the squared rear tires are part of the problem.

 

WOW! 12,000 miles on the rear tires. Isn't that a record?

I'm just teasing, but, from what I've read here, at that point you've compromised the already borderline water channels and you're down to less sticky rubber.

I've got 3,000 miles on my car, but only 1,500 on the SO2 tires. This is one car where snow tires will save you money. In addition, snow tires let you drive if you get ANY snow. The SO2 tires are no good on 1/32 " of snow as far as I can tell.

Of course the snow tires are not as sticky on dry, warm roads as are the SO2 tires.

I think the SO3 tires was a good choice. I'm sorry about the accident and I'm glad you were okay.

 

Worn rear tires + heavy rain/standing water =

I have experienced oversteer similar to that described by speedyclip, but fortunately it was on an autocross course. This type of "snap" oversteer can occur when one of the driven wheels hydroplanes and the other retains traction forcing the rear end around. It makes sense that this ocurred in a curve because the outside rear will be more heavily loaded than the inside wheel, making the inside wheel "light" and more prone to hydroplaning. My guess is that you were in a right hand turn when your car spun clockwise.

I do not think that this is a problem, especially considering the status of your tires. The limits of the S 2000 are so high in the dry that it is surprising when they are "normal" in the wet.

I'm relieved that you were not injured.

 

Glad you were unharmed. With conservative driving (mostly highway miles) and no track or autocross use your S-02's are good for about 8000 miles on wet roads. After this point they become extremely hazardous at any speed in the wet. There may be good dry performance remaining but this rapidly diminishes. By 12,000 most rear S-02's should be replaced even though the wear bars may not be showing yet. Typically the rubber has heat cycled enough times by this point to lose most of its' dry grip as well. The front tires may be usable until 24,000 miles but like the rears the stickiness is long gone although much more tread is remaining.

If you desire ultimate grip in stock wheel sizes the S-02 is hard to beat. This comes with a price however (expensive + short life). The S-03 is a good compromise but nowhere close to a new set of S-02's as you near the edges of the S2000's performance envelope and the limits of your driving abilities.

You have to use your judgement and weigh the merits of these tires in light of your personal driving style and perhaps your budget as well.

 

Thanks to all of you who have responded ... the snap oversteer problem needs to be circulated among drivers ... especially those of us who are not "under the hood" types .... the fact that the front SO 2's apparently keep tread much longer than the rears can lead to a false sense of security for the average driver --

The new SO 3's do have a different feel ... possibly they will last longer.

thanks
again

 

thank you for your input ... but please be aware that those of us who are not "under the hood types"- and that would be a majority of Miata and S2000 owners that I know - are taken by surprise -- even after logging 12,000 on the vehicle under similar conditions, I was shocked by an immediate loss of control at 15 MPH under the speed limit .... one could say that one must "know the car' and I would agree to a point, but his model is so new than we all are learning about the nuances of the S2000.

 

The S2K has been out for 2 YEARS. I wouldn't exactly call that a new model. In fact, you've had your car for a year and a half AND 12,000 miles, if I read your post correctly. How long do you need to own it to learn how to drive it in the rain?