I know the suspension is tight, but i feel like i'm on a roller coaster even on normally smooth roads. Is there anything I can have the shop do to lesson this ?

 

the ride for a lot of people, seem to be smooth enough. I came from a coupe. so the ride quality has improved by a lot for me.

 

The ride smooths out quit a bit after 5k or so IMO.

 

Check your tire pressure. From the dealer, the tires are often over-inflated and that can cause the bouncy effect.

 

to lessen it, correcting over-inflated tires could help, as mentioned.

I read about the bumpiness but I don't experience it. Coming from the IS300, this is smooth as silk. Any smoother and I would be like our MDX (too cushy)

 

Do check the pressure when the tires are cold, though. Tire pressure increases quickly once the car starts moving.

 

A couple of shots of Stoli always smooths my ride out.

 

There is absolutely no way anyone could describe the ride I am getting as "smooth" I can't even drink a coffee as everything is bouncing up and down so much ! I will check the tires !

 

After some experimentation I found that the rear tire pressure has the greatest effect on ride quality. Reducing rear by as little as one pound smooths the ride considerably.

For a week I varied pressures from 30 to 34 and found the best ride and handling at 32.5 front and 31 rear. With the cargo area full I bring the rear up to 32.

These are cold, morning pressures of course and so far they are resulting in even wear as well.

Bear in mind the car originally was listed with a 50/50 weight distribution and the 32/32 tire pressures may have been based on that. The actual distribution is 53/47.

 

For all those safety police on the board, I think he's just kidding.

 

Yikes ! My car came from the dealer at 36/36/36/36 and thats cold tires .. i see them at 41 on the in dash gauge when driving, maybe thats why its so bumpy will fix that tonight !

 

Yea, you have to watch that, especially as the seasons change. My winter pressure of 32 was up to 39 we were experiencing a 96 degree day...

 

My car was delivered wit 41 lbs in all four tires.
Thats cold in the AM.

 

That is probably part of it for sure. From my experience on a smooth road/highway it is a firm but smooth ride. On a crappy road or a road with imperfections you will most certainly know it. What it tells me is how crappy some of our most travelled roads really are.

They need to fix our streets as the gravel trucks and transport traffic just pounds the crap out of them up here. I am sure it is noticeable in any vehicle but most assuredly noticeable in the RDX.

 

I am a freak about tire pressure. I have a compressor in my garage. I sued to check it once a week or so. As I expected, I now check it pretty much everyday via the TPMS.

 

I had similar concerns with my TSX when I first bought it. I had been used to Accord Coupes that had a decent (if not exceptional ride). The TSX has a stiff nervous ride. You feel every bump and the ride is very busy on the highway.

I eventually got new tires and that helped. But, the reality is that the suspension is stiff and there isn't much wheel travel. Unless I do something like getting new shocks or going to a more narrow, high profile tire, I'm still going to have the ride issues.

Over time, I did get used to the ride though. Now, with 60,000 miles on it, I love my car and I couldn't care less about the stiff ride.

So, the bottom line for is that you may need to get used to it. Presuming that your tire inflation is correct, there is nothing you can do short of major modifications to improve the ride.

 

If the 2008 rumors turn out to be true, the latest info (see the "2008" thread) says that there will be some softening of the suspension.

I would imagine this would be a "retrofittable" modification that could be done by the Acura dealer... in fact, it should be something that they would do under warranty, since it seems like there are a large number of RDX owners who think the suspension is too tight.

As far as the TPMS, my RDX came with the tires at 36psi all around. I dropped them to 33 via a digital guage, but the TPMS STILL reads 36! Great system.

 

Activator ^^^

+1 I get 06-07 TSX loaners and they have a soft ride compaired to my first year 04...they changed it some where along the line...

 

Activator, I'd have that checked.
I played with the pressue quite a bit when I read this thread, and the TPMS and my gauge always are in sync. I do not have a digital gague, rather a high quality dial gague.

It is interesting to observe how much more quickly the pressue goes up as the tires warm when the initial pressue is lower. When I observed this I checked the pressure with the gague, and it confirmed the TPMS readout.