Bought our/my now 08 sc430 PB 8 years ago. 19k miles. Stock.

not surprised at the low miles. Drove poorly to say the least. Noisy P1’s that rut grooved and wandered on the freeway here in so cal.

bottomed on driveways and deflected off every square edged bump in the road.

leaned like a barge on turns. Scary on twisty roads. Had to slow down constantly as to keep it under control.

high speed big rolling highways at 100 on the road to Las Vegas were scary. Wallowed like a drunken pig.

If your sc430 is stock underneath I assume yours drives the same.

Hmmm. Looked around and noticed multiple front shock tower cross braces, coilover struts, aftermarket sway bars and oem rear bars and better tires.

Was never able to aggressively test the car after completion as Dear Wife would object to the Mr Toad Wild Ride at aggressive speeds on really tight twisty hairpin roads at speed..

Today was the test day. Fairly steep hairpin road up to Palamore mountain in San Diego county today.

I went normal speed up the seven mile uphill grade. Turned around at the top and went down. Turns labeled from 20-30 mph. Never went below 40. Barely touched the Akebono brakes.

railed all the turns. Seemingly unlimited capacity for turn ins. Decreasing radius turns were effortless. Never got close to any limit. Not one tire squeal.

car would barely roll then stay exactly the same set regardless of steering input. Zero additional roll.

judging by my ride today versus stock I can see why so many of these have low miles. Like I said drove poorly. Fixable with the info I got here.

not a ride for the non aggressive owners.

just wanted to test what a medium setup sc430 was capable of without low profile rougher riding tires/wheels.

thats what can be done and still have a nice riding quiet tire car.

next time i will take my old go pro camera setup and take you all for a ride.

the Michelin power pro sports never let out a tire squeal.

you can have a nice riding quiet sc430 that will rail turns at speed.

This is what the car was capable of IMO.

I have lots of normal miles on this setup but was never able to push it hard. Wow. E ticket safe ride today.

 

WOW I never had any of the issues you describe and I have had my 06 since 09. I guess your butt dyno is just more sensitive than mine.

 

I have a pretty new to me 2004, low miles at 58k with a brand spanking new set of Michelin pilot run flats and it handles like a dream! Maybe not like the Honda S2000 it replaced but mine does seem like it runs on a rail! Have yet to have it bottom out or deflect off a road defect. Maybe yours had a problem or something??

 

seems so. Or you drive on nice smooth asphalt roads. The existence of the various braces and coilovers and sway bars would seem to show a need. Drive yours agressively on a tight twisty road at speed and you should see the drawbacks in the cars stock suspension

 

So ca freeways are concrete block. worn by 500k cars daily passing a point. Noted to affect poorly suspended cars. Hit a steep driveway at medium speed. I am an agressive driver at times for fun. Maybe someone changed your car long ago?

I sold s2000’s new. Mine drives very close to a s2000 now. Not stock. Far from it.

 

Great, another reason not to go to california! no offence intended.
We bought this car in Nashville about 500 miles away and had the pleasure of driving it back home with some nice curvy mountain roads on the way, just a pleasure to drive.

 

I was gobsmacked by the amount of push when I was driving in the mountains around Chattanooga.

Had to really back off on fear of not needing able to negotiate the really twists and turns.

Was quite the eye opener coming from my '08 S2000.

Upgrades are on the horizon, I just have to get moved into the new house...

​​​​​How is the nose lift/rear squat under "brisk" acceleration? In my little mind this behavior really limits how much you can put the pedal to the medal.

Cheers

 

Someone who wants a car that drives like a Porsche should just buy one. Lot of negative hyperbole here in the self-congratulatory postings.

 

We drove ours back from Nashville a couple weeks ago so we went through some of those same mountains or ones just like them and I thought the car handled them just great! No not like my 2005 S2000 we had but I still think it did an outstanding job, and much quieter and more comfortably than the S2000 ever dreamed of doing. But we were looking for a cushier long-distance top-down car and this is for sure a HUGE improvement over the 2000 and so glad we found a car that fit our needs. But that's us, your mileage may vary.
Oh, and it handles the twistys way better than my full-sized pickup!

 

did or does Porsche offer a convertible,hardtop? As that is a no and starting out with heavily modifing my 58 Corvette in 1967 by stiffening the suspension and upgrading the powertrain to finally a 435hp 427 i really liked the convertible hardtop over the ragtop. Had both in the 58.

pain to remove the hardtop.

The SC430 is my 50 model year later 58 Corvette. Albeit at 3800 pounds versus my heater delete 2675 pound small blocked 58. 2775 with the big block.

the SC’s engines sound sounded vaguely like my old 327. Turns out both engines have the same firing order. 1,8,4,3,6,5,7 and 2.

so being as the SC430 has the basic requirement satisfied as to be a convertible power hardtop.

i learned long ago to maximize the chassis and suspension before adding more power. The push was excessive as the s2000 poster noticed.

Easy search to find long threads here about suspension mods to make the car not scary in tight turns at aggressive speeds or at 100 plus on the road from la to Vegas which has giant rollers.

car wallowed. Too long of springs. Rate was correct as noted by Jerrick at MeisterR in their CRD line of coilovers. Just a shorter spring.

stock kyb struts on sc430’s have too much high speed compression dampening and too little low speed compression dampening so the car deflects off of sharp edge bumps and bottoms on driveways hit at speed.

My ls460 has similar suspension settings from kyb. I added slightly oversize michelin power sport pros to correct the low speedo and for better ride quality giving up some ultimate razor sharp handling in the process at 33 psi normally.

Dear Wife objected to being subjected to a partial Mr Toads wild ride so i never really tested the car properly until the other day. Intentionally drove down highway 76 inland from Oceanside ca. into Pauma valley then took the turn up the grade to mount Palomar where the telescope is. 7 miles of low traffic tight turns.

More tire pressure and/or a more low profile set of tires would have sharpened up the handling even more but I wanted to test as-is.

if most here had been in the car with me theyn would have been mildly upset. I used to build stingray race cars and still build ktm dirt bike racing engines.

like i posted starting from the non replaceable hardtop convertible inexpensive car the fixes were fairly straight forward. What I posted were the result's.

the sc is capable of a large improvement in many areas. I feel the car is much safer now if in a emergency situation especially.

i enjoy my upgraded ML stereo and the Luxlink remote top and quarter window control and it’s remote starting capability and my whiter low beam headlights.

The idea that this now sports car is dead reliable is just the icing on the cake.

the patented body shape with my Cabriolet rear wind screen up and the rear windows up at over freeway speeds results in a totally still cabin at face level. You can light a cigar with a match if desired.

not a macho looking car. But results pay the bills.

my 50 model later 58 corvette.




k

 

You could have boasted about how wonderful you are (I couldn't care less, by the way) without trashing the stock car with unnecessary hyperbole. My stock SC doesn't bottom on driveways and doesn't wallow. It drives fine the way most people drive it. Most likely wouldn't want to drive it modified like yours. And, if you drive 100mph on American roads you are a menace...selfish and inconsiderate of others. Not impressed in the slightest by your self-aggrandizing postings.

 

‘are you positive your sc has oem struts? Stock sway bars? Tell me you looked? Replacement kyb’s have 15% increased dampening on both sc430’s and my ls460.

I like being a testing menace on empty roads so I can KNOW what any of my 5 vehicles can be capable of.

So the s2000’s guys post talking about HIS sc430 pushing on turns was incorrect?

all those posts here are incorrect about better driving cars AFTER mods?

thousands of posts. Everyone of them were incorrect?

built race cars and motorcycles for almost 60 years with zero incidents.

only reason I post this info here is for some here who have noticed what I posted to be able to alter their car for improved performance and safety.

i have driven quite a few other 06-2010 sc430’s and all drove similar to mine stock.

if yours is different it may well have upgraded components.

Actually I am unconcerned about your lack of appreciation for the free info I post.

I do not sell parts or servicing. I do not need petting. Built custom race/street cars and motorcycles since the mid 60’s for myself and engines for hundreds of riders.

if this upsets you quit rieading this thread.

As your sc is perfect and drives perfectly for your uses congratulations. You have a unicorn sc.

part of the post is IF yours does not exhibit the same driving issues as most others have had it would seem prior to your ownership someone already addressed the common issues would it not?

 

I loved this from the OP, "Wallowed like a drunken pig." I found this out early on in my SC life probably around 2010, two years after buying the SC. Driving country roads in VA and was trying to hustle the car through the curves and the old girl just could not do it. I had to back off the throttle or risk running off the road while cornering. I never changed my suspension and that part of the car is bone stock. There are definitely handling limitations how it came from the factory but it never really mattered enough to me to try to change its handling characteristics. I just drive within the known limits of the car. Swapping out of RFTs definitely helped and getting lighter after market wheels also helped. But our SCs are sprung for cruising and gentle curves when they rolled off the factory floor. I am content with what she is and she is not loved any less for it. At this point I am one of the longer tenured SC owners and I am past my 15th year with the SC. I am grateful to the OP for the detailed info on how to get the SC to handle better. I might get around to it sometime. But I might actually do a full cosmetic restoration first cos making the SC a bahnstormer is not necessarily what I need the old girl to be. She's the grand old lady of the garage and respected for her status. She's not put out to pasture but she's not asked to match any of her stable mates either cos that would be unfair. And I do plan to have another 15 years with her ....