Hit 14,500 miles and considering scheduled 15k maintenance with local Honda dealer. Seems most of the work is inspection: brakes, frontend, hoses, fluids. leaks and oil change. for $250.00 - steep price for oil change. Anyone have experience and thoughts on this milestone maintenance interval?

Also looking to replace front and rear tires. Want to go a bit wider on the Potenzas than stock without changing stock rims. Advice/Suggestions?

 

I actually never take my car in for the noted services, saying, "do the 15,000 mile service, the 30,000 service, etc." Instead, I look at the book to see what is required, and I only have them do the required service, like the 15,000 mile oil change, like you said. So, I am taking my car in this weekend for its 15,000 mile oil change, and it will cost me $12 plus the cost of a case of Mobil 1. I think it's nuts to pay $250 for what is essentially an oil change. As for the other inspection stuff, my car gets that anyway when it is inspected for the state. When 30,000 rolls around, I will just take it in for another oil change and have them replace the differential fluid. Shouldn't cost me too much (I just put in a new JR filter this week, which I highly recommend, so I will be good on that at 30,000). Other than fluids and some cleaning of the JR filter, it shouldn't need much until 105,000 miles, when it needs new plugs (and maybe coolant, I think), which I will buy myself and take to the dealer to install. So, my maintenance should end up barely costing me anything unless something unforeseen happens. Just my $.02 worth.

As far as the tires...it is my understanding that the S02s have rather blocky sidewalls, which make them wider than comparable 205s or 225s. So, I believe when people switch to S03s, for example, they can run 245s in the rear and maybe 225s up front. But, don't quote me on that because I haven't really looked into it too much because I am just going to get another set of S02s on the rear while the fronts are still good for a while. So, check out the wheel and tire forum or call the Tirerack. But, on my old car, a Nissan Maxima SE, I did replace the stock 215s with 225s on the stock wheels and everything was swell.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by bjohnston
[B]When 30,000 rolls around, I will just take it in for another oil change and have them replace the differential fluid.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by STL
[B]My car with be 2 years old in 2 months but I only have 7k miles on the car.

 

I had my 15,000 mile service done in August, 2001 at the Honda service department that I have been going to for many years. (This is not where I bought either of my Hondas.) They warned me in advance that not much is required for an S2000 at 15,000 miles other than an oil change and 'visual inspections'. The whole process took about an hour and cost $101.18, including tax. Although it could be argued that I spent too much, certainly no one should be paying more than I did.

 

You should definately change your tranny oil if it hasn't been done. The tranny has a pressurized lubrication system, but no filter. Any metal flakes that were produced during break in, are just circulating through your gears and bearings. If you search around the forum, you'll find a ton of people who noticed a significant improvement in the operation of the shifter after their first change ... myself included.