Grannyrod

^ Once again, thanks TC, I'll have my brother check and I'll call them to see exactly what they did. You'd think they'd know since this WAS a Honda dealership. Scary stuff. Thank God for this site and all the info posted here. (Trying to stay calm)

MsPerky

^ Yikes, Granny! Let us know what you find out. BTW- I didn't know about the arrow. Need to look for that.

tomcatt

Glad to help, Granny, let us know what you find out. I guess I should have asked if you have the OEM S02 tires or another brand/model of tire. That may determine whether or not they can be rotated.

Not all brands/models of tires have a direction of rotation arrow, only those that are designed that way like our OEM S02s. Usually lesser performance tires like high-mileage or all season tires aren't rotation specific, whereas high performance tires usually are. The Bridgestone Blizzak LM22 snow tires I have for winter use are rotation specific also.

If the tires on your car have the arrow, then my earlier comments about the direction of the rotation arrow apply. In any case the front tires should be have smaller numbers (and hence be smaller in size) than the rears.

Hope I haven't cornfused ya much.

Grannyrod

Okay, I can stand down now. I just called and asked about what was printed on the invoice and they said that "tire rotation" was automatically printed but that you can't rotate the tires on an S2000. A part of me wanted to say "you're darn tootin' you can't", but I just smiled and said I was glad they knew that. I was so relieved that I forgot to suggest that they take those words off the invoice.

Again, I can't reiterate how much I've learned from the members here and how much I appreciate they way the guys look after the ladies who may not know. Wouldn't trade you guys for the world.

And TC, since I'm already buying you and Hilly drinks, I guess I'll have to throw in a dinner too after this. Signed: The Grateful Granny (Whew!) Granny's ready to rock and roll now.

rjosey8385

I knew that about the tires - I change mine at least twice a month for Autocross, but many people (single women mostly, I suspect) don't know a lot about these "small" things that could turn into much larger issues. The main reason the tread direction is so important is that the tires are meant to siphon water out rather than underneath the car, which helps keep the tire on the ground rather than on the water (risk of hydroplaning), and with the directional tires, if they are put on wrong, the main issue is going to be in wet driving (which is a HUGE issue, though some directional tires also have internal belt design differences that can also damage the tire). You may assume that the guy putting your tires/wheels on your car knows about the arrows and size difference between the front and rear; however, you never know when you've had the "newbie" working on your car and nobody has bothered to pass this information on to him!

You know, it might not be a bad thing to start including in monthly club meetings, or better yet on a larger scale (for instance Fall Colors), mini tech sessions on "things they might not tell you about caring for your car".

tomcatt

^I agree. I wonder how S2000 owners that do not participate in local clubs or online resources like S2Ki are able to deal with all of the hidden or not loudly published issues that can be of great concern with this car. S2Ki has kept me out of a lot of trouble and been an incredible help to me, seeing as I do all of my own maintenance.

Grannyrod

^ You go Ms Josey. Doesn't the manual tell you these things also? And I know I've seen this info posted here before somewhere (just too lazy to do the backsearching). It's just easier to ask these gents (and ladies) here on line and get an instant answer. Okay, I'll admit I've been spoiled by our members. They're always so willing to give advice and answers and suggestions. Plus, if I don't use the info right away, I forget it until it comes up again. I think I'll start my own notebook on these things. Thanks again for your input.

Now does this mean you have special tires for autocross that you change out or are you going through a set every two months. Forgive my ignorance, I haven't had to change mine yet (for any reason).

rjosey8385

Well, I hit something mid-reply and just totally lost my reply - no telling where it'll turn up, but here goes (again):

I don't use my daily driver tires (Potenza RE050's) for autocross or I would be running through them pretty quickly. The tires I run are called competition tires (I run Kumho Victoracers; but Hoosier makes a stickier, more expensive one and there are other competition tires by other makers, as well) and they are of a softer compound than your daily drivers. In this car I'll go through about a set a season (that's about 80 minutes of actual track time per year, hopefully - a lot of that depends on the type of course - concrete chews up tires faster than asphalt because the tires stick to the concrete surface more, thereby leaving more rubber on the surface). In my front-wheel drive car, I could rotate the tires, since tires and wheels were all the same dimension, so I could put the barely worn rears onto the fronts (since the drive wheels chew up tires more quickly than the wheels that just roll - so that's why your front tires in your S don't wear nearly as fast as the rears) and only buy another 2 tires every 6 months. Also, some of the competition tires have a symmetrical pattern - that being the same tread design on the left side of the tire, as well as the right. In that case, one can also extend tread wear by having the tire store take the tire off the wheel and turn it around and re-mount it, since in Autocross, most of the tread wear is on the outer edges of the tire from hard cornering.

Clear as mud???

Grannyrod

^ Nope, since I have a lot of down time here at work, I'm able to read all the threads on this board and the Tire Rack thread is very educational in this area. Every now and then I amaze the guys at the dealership by reciting things I've read here. So yours and TC's explanations are quite clear once I get the old brain in gear. I think at Spring Fling at the balcony afterparty, I was telling my buddy Matt's wife (Plantpixie) that I loved it when Matt talked "tech" to me. And when the engineers talk among themselves, I'm so fascinated and can sometimes follow along quite nicely.

You sound like you know what you're doing too. I do wish I had stopped by your place while I was down there. One last question, do you actually change the tires yourself or do you have someone do it for you?

rjosey8385

I change them myself, though when I do it at home, my husband will help (not do it for me, but help). I carry my own racing jack, torque wrench, air tank, load the car on the trailer (again, if husband is here, he helps, but doesn't usually go with me to the events, so there I load and unload myself), and drive myself to the events. He used to go with me to all of the events and be my pit crew, but he's been trying to build a car for the last 5 years and is finally getting somewhere with it, as well as organizing the "new garage" (moved into the new house in April of this year), so I let him off the hook for those 10-hour days - he's not so much into autocross any more. I also deal with my tire and wheel guy and my alignment guy on my own (yes, we also get special alignments for autocross cars). When I had a car that I could carry my tires and gear in, I'd just change tires out at the event (unless it was over 100 degrees, then I'd trailer because you can change the tires at home after it cools off and use an air compressor, which is a little quicker).