Today's the first day of normal internal bodily temperature for me for four days so, despite the 1.5 inches of rain that has fallen since dawn, I decided to celebrate my return from non-bird flu with a drive.

The roads are pretty much looking like culverts what with sheets of water running across many of the turns right at the apex. I decided to nudge my speed up to my normal "spirited" cruising level in slow and thoughtful increments just to test, for myself, this notion that S2s sprint for the nearest rock or tree at the first drop of water on the road.

It appears that I had three "conditions" to evaluate:

1. Plain ole wet road.

2. Same said wet road with a thin stream of water, near the apex, running roughly perpendicular to my direction of travel

3. Standing water.

Here's the results for all three conditions:

1. Same speed as dry with no ill effects.

2. Same speed as dry with slight wiggle that easily corrected with a nudge of counter steer.

3. I'm not that stupid. I slowed way down.

So despite the fact that my S2 with 5K mile old original tires handled the wet about as well as my old Mercedes ML430 did, I concluded that it is not a good rain car because, try as I did, I could not get in or out of the car without having a torrent of water run off the top and on to either the seat or my leg.

Honda engineers have important work before them.

For the weather watchers, it is coming down at 0.61" per hour at this moment.

 

Bob,

My S doesn't come out in the rain and I've only been caught in downpours three or four times, but I found the same things you did.

With reasonably good (new) tires the car handles wet roads reasonably well. At least as well as any of the other sportscars I've owned. When I encountered standing water, I like you slowed down considerably. I'm conservative in the rain even in my other cars. In the S I'm even more conservative. I've heard too many horror stories.

I found the same problem you did with the top. When you open the door the water cascades off of the top at the corners, usually at the front where the top meets the windshield. This stream of water manages to fall right onto your legs.

 

You should see what happens when you are driving in the rain with the windows down -- a steady stream of water comes in on your left leg.

(Why would one do this? Well in many cases on the track you are required to have your windows down at all times. This is so you can give point-bys and also so in an accident that jams the doors there is no need to break the window for emergency access/egress.)

 

Personally, I love the slap of water hitting my face with the windows and top down in a rainstorm.

But hey, that's just me.

Bob, that pedal in the middle...? That's the brake. I know it gets confusing sometimes!

 

Rob...
My first experience with the torrent was at a drive-thru Starbucks. The water waited until I was handed the coffee and then drenched the cup.
Mike...
That seems counter-intuitive. Wouldn't a wet driving suit be hard for the trackside medics to grip?
Charlie...
That's been an issue of mine going back to my early flat track days when brakes were not allowed on the bike. You had to learn to scrub off speed using whatever friction you can find nearby; often other bikes.

 

Thats funny, but I'd expect no less.

At the Lake George meet we drove up to Ft. Ticonderoga in the rain. I didn't realize that the water had rolled off the top onto my seat when I got back in. The temperatures must have been in the 40s and I had a real cold tush the rest of the day.

At the next stop I wiped the seat off before getting in.

 

I've watched discussions of wet performance (and lack thereof) over on the S2000 Talk board with both amusement and awe -- the former at foibles described and the latter at the unbelievable levels of incompetence people admit to.

Now, it seems that the AP1 tires aren't particularly water friendly, especially after they're worn. I have to say, though, that the AP2 tires (Bridgestone RE050s, apparently made for this car) are, when new, just fine in all sorts of wet conditions, includng standing water. I simply haven't had problems of any sort, even in the frog-stranglers we have here (and it may be relevant to note that my previous car was AWD).

My biggest gripe is that, with the top down and side windows up in the rain, the wipers move water onto the driver's window, and the air stream moves the water up and over the window onto the driver. It's enough to make me think about taking the car back for something else, maybe one of those Scion boxes. HPH

 

Bob, your info shows you with a MY05. If so, you have the RE050 tires. They are actually significantly better in rain than the S02's that the MY00 through MY03 had. A lot of the reputation the car has for lousy traction in the wet is related to the S02 tire.

The RE050 is not great in the wet but seems reasonable. Still, watch out for cold though and of course, standing water. Take a good look at the tread. There is not a lot of channeling for water there.

 

I agree. I drove the '01 in Colorado in pouring rain and it scared me. The tires weren't worn, it just felt squiggy. But I've driven the '05 in the rain and it never felt funny.

About the red high-lighted sentence, Yeah sure you will!

 

[QUOTE=SheDrivesIt,Dec 1 2005, 05:23 PM]Bob, your info shows you with a MY05.