OMG XVIPER WAS WRONG!?!?! THE WORLD IS GOING TO END

j/p

 

OK ................. UPDATE .........................
Year 2000 S2000 Owner's manual .........
Excerpts from pages 236 - 239 .............................

IF YOUR CAR GETS STUCK .................
P. 236 ------------
For very short distances, such as freeing the car, you can use the detachable towing hook that mounts on the anchors in the front and rear bumpers.

EMERGENCY TOWING ...............
pp. 238 - 239 -------------
Flat-be Equipment - The operator loads your vehicle on the back of a truck. This is the only way your S2000 should be transported.
Wheel lift Equipment - The tow truck uses two pivoting arms that go under the tires (front or rear) and lift them off the ground. The other two tires remain on the ground. Because the S2000 sits so low,the body could come in contact with the ground and be damaged. This method of towing is unacceptable.
Sling-type equipment - The tow truck uses metal cables with hooks on the ends. These hooks go around parts of the frame or suspension and the cables lift the end of the car off the ground. Your car's suspension and body can be seriously damaged. This method of towing is unacceptable.

I have scoured my owner's manual and these are the only references made to the use of the tow hook and towing. Obviously, Honda has made modifications to these instructions since my car came out.
By the letter of what's in my owner's manual .........................
1. It is quite conceivable that your car could be stuck at the side of the road, on an incline, in the ditch. Pulling the car out of such a position should be far more rigorous and stressful than simply pulling it up a smooth incline like a flatbed trailer. They make no mention about HOW to get the car up onto the flatbed. I'll leave the conclusions up to you.
2. Honda seems to worry more about body damage. They make no mention about rear diff damage from towing. I'm not sure I see any difference between spinning the rear diff under power and spinning it via the rear tires when the tranny is in neutral (as in being towed). This would be no different than coasting down a long grade and driving through mountainous passes, we do this quite often. In the "old" days, RWD cars (even ones with "limited slip" type diffs) were towed with the front end up and off the ground. Comments?

(Therefore, I was only wrong because of updated information which I didn't have at my disposal.)

 

You mean, like, every morning tow your car to work?

 

I could be wrong.

If you look in the Helm manual, it does give several warnings about things that are bad for the diff. But maybe towing isn't one of them.

As for getting the car out of a ditch, the tow ring that is provided is pretty weak. It might hold up, or it might break. Best policy would be to not put your car into a ditch.

 

Mike, have you noted the astonishing number of spinouts and "ditch excursions" with this car lately?

 

[QUOTE=xviper,Oct 20 2005, 10:04 AM]They make no mention about HOW to get the car up onto the flatbed.

 

[QUOTE=aaronaps,Oct 20 2005, 05:57 PM] Push. Hard.

 

I disagree, Dave. The bumper is a very stiff piece of steel, which is quite solidly mounted. Sure, it's held on by only about five bolts. But five bolts can hold a LOT of force.

The insert into which the tow hook is screwed is basically a nut welded onto the bumper. I wouldn't want to lift the whole car by it, but it can take a lot of force.

The factory tow hook is cast iron, or at least it looks like it is. It's definitely the weak link. That might be a good thing, because it acts as a "fuse", being the part that breaks before you can damage anything else. But the fuse is a little too weak.

These tow hooks are much stronger. They are also bigger and easier to work with. For track use, they are great. It's not at all unreasonable to expect your car may have to be flat-towed (ie. pulled by a rope from a truck) for a mile or two in order to get it off the track and back to the paddock. In such an event, I'd much rather have these on the car than have to figure out some other place to try and hook up, or to try and dig out the wimpy factory tow hook and hope that it holds up.

People who don't use the car on the track a lot probably have no need for them.

 

I think we're probably talking about different things. You can't actually push on the "steel" bumper. It's hidden behind all the plastic work and outer sheet metal. If you had to push the car by "hand", you'd be applying pressure to the plastic bumper cap or the fender or the trunk lid or the tail lights. You wouldn't be pushing directly on the steel part. I don't think the car's "skin" can take the kind of pushing to get it up onto a flatbed, either by hand or by another vehicle.

 

Oh, the bumper COVER?

The rear of the car ends at the back wall of the trunk. Beyond that is a steel beam (the bumper) which is bolted onto the car at the ends of the frame rails. There are two styrofoam blocks that sit on the outside ot the bumper. And then the whole thing is covered up by a plastic cover.

I guess I missed the "pushing" part of all this. The tow hook is screwed into the steel bumper. As long as you are pulling on the tow hook, you can pull really hard before anything will start to bend.

Of course, if you pull hard enough the whole car will bend, but there are limits to everything.