Has anyone had a problem with the tail pipes getting sooted up or soot on the rear bumper? I washed my car today and noticed it. then after the car was clean and dried I drove about 4 miles on a nice back road to a friends house. When I got there the soot was back. It seems to be running ok but i've only had it for a few weeks now. Is this normal? Any help would be great

 

I have not noticed soot on the bumper or tail pipes, but I do notice that the pipes do get dirty quite easily. Maybe you could have somebody drive behind you and see if they see anything coming out of the tail pipes? I see a white Integra every so often on the freeways here... he shoots out this black stuff from the tailpipe every so often and the back of the hatch is just completely black. If you get someone to watch while you drive (most importantly when you downshift or gun the engine), they can tell you if anything is spewing out.

 

It's normal.

 

It's normal to have soot on the rear bumper...?

 

There have been numerous threads on that very subject... some members speculating that it is rubber dust, others postulating that it is just soot from a rather rich air/fuel mixture etc...

 

I've found that the S is better than either of my VTEC Preludes ('94 and '97) in this department but it still happens. It's combustion soot - wipe your finger in it and it smears - rubber won't do that. On the other hand, if you autocross, track or race with the tires spinning/sliding a lot, there will be rubber "dust" present, too...

 

Its actually the "Its time to wash the car" indicator. Honda designed it that way.

 

I frequently notice that condition on the rear bumper.

While I've never gotten serious enough to analyze what it is, I've always just assumed it was generic "road dirt" placed there by some aerodynamic quirk.

It wipes or hoses right off. No big deal.

 

I've noticed it on all my hondas (88 Prelude, 93 Integra) so I guess it's normal. Rich fuel to air mixture.

 

I had the same issue with my S4...I was noticing a lot of what looked like soot on my trunk and rear bumper. My service advisor explained to me that its a combination of dust, tire, and a small amount of soot being caught up in a vortex of wind behind the car. He said that the design of the body itself creates this and effectively "throws" this stuff back at the rear of the car...now I don't know if this is true of the S2000...but its a possible answer.