I was very happy when I did the clutch that all of mine were in perfect shape. Although you are "supposed" to replace them when you loosen/tighten them .... most of us do not as far as I know.

But working on our 3rd gen 4runner, yeah, I have been tempted to torch the shit outta stuff on it before! I am getting ready to do full front end rebuild (control arms, bushings, ball joints, tie rod ends and camber/caster adjusters) so I am sure I will be ready to cut shit up on that one before I am done

 

My 180K mile DD is a 2006 TSX (ol' girl keeps rollin).

That car grew up in Southern IL and KY. Its amazing how huge of a difference a few hundred miles of geographic location will do. It was MASSIVELY fresh when I picked it up in 2013.

OP is in MO, IIRC. So...they don't really know bad weather.

It might snow but its not an 8 month long bath of salt and sand water that's being flung and packed into every crevice of the car via a blend of snow, vomit, ice, rain, and opossum intestines, combined with wild temperature swings.

Upper midwest looks like the great depression in winter.

I think a S2000 should be fine for year round use in MO.

 

Yeah, I grew up in NE OK about 20 min from the MO line. Moved to mn in 2004. You could drive a car like the s2k year round easy down there. Ice storms are the worst part but most cars sucked in that. From 16-20 all of my cars were RWD and got along fine in the winters. No rust issues since they rarely used salt

 

My S sees no winters (Michigan) and I don’t ever plan on driving it during the winters either. It’s my daily for the warmer half the year, though.

There was an older gentleman from the Detroit area who drove his S (even top-down sometimes) during the winter. He did so for quite a few years. Not sure if he still has the S or not though.