I have the same thing going on in my 05. Its not really a "grind", Its like notchiness (is that a word?), or a crunch that is pretty bad when the car is cold from 1-2. It goes away and shifts like it should when it warms up, but I agree there should be a tsb for it (if there is a fix??)...

 

Seven thousand miles and never a grind unless I miss a shift. Then again the coldest it has been driven is mid 30s.

 

I hear what you're all saying - double clutching and taking it easy, and getting it into second without the crunch or notch is possible when it's cold - it just takes finesse. I just find it a little weird that there are people with 04's and 05's that say they've never had this. The only thing I may be taking for granted is those that report nothing strange with the 1-2 shift might live in a more temperate area. this is also my first stick car and I was probably wrong in assuming a 33K dollar car should shift smoothly all the time, especially when it's brand new. Such is life - it's warm now - we're golden.

 

I once shifted so gently it took 8 seconds to complete the shift - I counted. It still crunched going into second gear. This was with the car cold and the outside temperature at about 0F (-18C). My theory is that there is a differential thermal expansion issue that prevents the synchros from engaging properly at very low temperatures, but that's just a theory.

The notchiness extends up to 30-40F. There's also one circumstance when the transmission never warms up: if there is sufficiently heavy rain that the transmission is constantly cooled by cold road spray.

Unlike a later poster, I can well believe there are some people who have never encountered this with a MY04-05 S2000. Plenty of S2000s live in the south, or are garaged throughout the winter in the north.

My current plan is to try GM Synchromesh Friction Modified next winter. If it works, maybe I'll write to Honda and tell them about it, though I have a hard time envisioning them putting out a TSB that involves using GM products. (Plus, for all I know, GMSMFM generates enough heat to cause problems under race conditions - but Honda could test for that.)