Soof

Is it normal, after a drive, to have the front wheels hot to the touch?
Mine starteanged doing this recently after I went through a patch a pebbles on the road.
I heard clinking/clanking up front and brakes felt "strange" for a short time.
When I got home I checked the front wheels and they were too hot to touch.
Subsequent drives resulted in same front hot wheels.
Any thoughts before I take car to Honda dealer????
Much appreciated!

gerry100

Check your calipers, they might be stuck and dragging which will generate heat.

Intense track session will heat up your wheels rotors a lot, but a normal slightly rowdy street session shouldnt.

If you can, pull a wheel and take a look, you might see the cause

Chuck S

First time I've seen this question but I haven't been a member for 19 years.

Brakes or wheel bearings although I'm inclined to brakes since this shows up on both sides after driving thru gravel and hearing noises. Brakes are easy enough to check. Start thinking about new pads and rotors.

-- Chuck

Soof

Pads and rotors. How long do they normally last? I have just 35k on my '08
Thank you.

Car Analogy

I always caution people strongly to avoid dealership with this car.

Dealers rarely see these cars, and most techs are clueless. There aren't a ton of quirks to working on these cars, but there are enough to get you in trouble. And all of them are the sort of thing that almost any mechanic would assume they know, yet they're wrong. This, sadly, goes especially for most dealer techs.

An easy to understand example. This car is easily capable pf spinning oil filter loose. Oil sprays onto hot exhaust, engine fire, car lost.

Honda realized this, and created a special oil filter unique to this engine. If installed correctly, it's virtually impossible for it to spin loose.

But there are a couple problems. The non special Honda filter that fits every other Honda still fits ours. So dealers especially don't know to use anything different. Every other Honda they ever worked on uses same filter, and don't even know there is special one.

The special one on casual observance doesn't look special. So most people don't realize there is special wayto install it. Not following the procedure means filter can spin off just as easily as non special. All its benefits are lost.

The special instructions are written right on the filter. But since eveey mechanic already knows how to install an oil filter they're not gonna read it. Assume its for idiots that don't know basics.

What is special is how tight filter must be torqued down, which is impossible for even strongest humans to do by hand. Tools required. Which is gonna seem reckless to those unaware. That would be really bad idea with normal filters.

Worst part about dealers is arrogance. They can't ever be wrong, and you, or especially stuff you read on internet, can never, ever be right. They will go down with the ship that they didn't make a mistake. In fact, whatever they do is correct by definition.

So they'll destroy your car, and it'll always somehow be your fault.

Find a local S2000 specialist. Take care there.

Manga_Spawn

Hm possible something got caught in the brakes that is cause drag or something abnormal to be happening. I would expect the get warm after a lot of hard braking and driving but how long of a drive are we talking? Like a drive a mile down the road with no hard braking? Or an hour through twisty backroads?

engifineer

First, have you felt the wheels before and are saying they are hotter? After heavy brake use and hard driving they will be warm to a degree, maybe hot to some. Hard to judge what someone else says is hot. Fronts do a large portion of the braking so will feel hotter than the rears after driving. If both are the same, low odds both calipers just started sticking or bearings started going bad. You could stop, jack up the front and see how easy it is to spin them.

There is literally nothing special about this cars brakes so it does not really matter if the shop has worked on S2000's before. But I would not go to a dealership either way. If not working on your own, find a good private mechanic you can trust. There are some things special about this car but a lot of it is just like any other car mechanically to be honest. Engine internals are one big thing that tends to be different enough that some dont get it. But a good private mechanic (aka not a parts cannon tech ... a good mechanic that knows how to troubleshoot) is going to be able to figure things out. When it comes to tearing down the motor however, you are better off with someone familiar with S2000's.

windhund116

If the car has mileage on it, the Service people at most dealerships are told to find other problems. They will do those "50,000-mile checklists" --- whether you want them to or not.

The brakes are a lot like other 2000-2020 Honda car that I've worked on. A good private Honda mechanic should be able to find and fix the issue.

engifineer

yeah those checklists are always a joke. Had a small warranty item on my Scion once and the Toyota service mgr tried to pressure me into do the checklists ... for $300. He was so pushy that I started grilling him on what was included and proceeded to explain why half of that crap did not even apply to my car.. with other customers standing their waiting. Checking battery electrolyte on a sealed maintenance free battery for example where it literally has a color changing site glass. Checking drive shaft u joints on a FWD (in addition to axles)... etc. After about 10 items that had no application to my car he just said nevermind and handed me my keys Worst part is the list he had was about twice as long as the list in the actual manual for the car.

windhund116

Honda Service's trick is they inspect for "free." So you get it, even it you request not to have it.