So yesterday, i was bored, so i decided to treat my car like a rental for a bit.

Revved to 3500, dumped the clutch(with VSA off, of course) and low and behold, 2 Black Stipes.

Thats right 2 black stripes. the tsx has an lsd. there is no mention of this in the brochure, and i searched this forum and there doesn't appear to be anyone else reporting this. Maybe its only available on the 6 spds, like the former CL-S.

I later confirmed this in front of my buddy's CL-S, who witnissed tire smoke from both sides of the car.

We later drag raced, and round one went to the CL-S auto. It was over before it started. I had VSA off, and i dumped it too high, and sat at the light spinning my tires. i didn't bother trying to catch up. he was already 2 cars ahead by the time i hooked up.

I am really f'ing excited about having an LSD in this car. any ideas why acura doesn't mention it?

 

Hmmmm...that is very interesting...need to look into this some more.

 

You don't have an LSD in your car, don't bother getting all excietd about it.

Even a car without an LSD can spin on both wheels when your steering is straight. It can easily happen on cars whose differentials are exactly halfway between the two wheel hubs, meaning that both left and right axles are of the same length.

You can easily find out that you don't have an LSD by putting one wheel on the ice, and another on dry pavement. Or with both wheels on dry pavement, but with the steering turned towards right or left. If you still have both wheels spinning , then you have an LSD. If not, then you don't.

 

Oh thanks for crushing our hopes sauce

 

I read up on the Acura website and From the way they are making it sound is the VSA acts as a LSD. I was going out of a drive way ( a steep one at that) and one of my wheels came slightly off the ground and the other wheel gripped my wheels were slightly turned so if it doesn't have LSD then the VSA acts as one.

 

Back to hmmm...

..Sauceman?

 

VSA and a LSD are both traction control devices. Meaning they will try and channel power to the wheel that's not sliding. They do this in far different ways though. In the case of vsa it cuts power to your car until it regains grip. With a LSD it delivers more power to the wheel that's not slipping.

LSDs are all about performance, vsa is about safety.

 

There ya go. Thanks Tinky.

 

Thanks for clearing that up!

 

I know I've probably posted something about this before...If you'd like to get an LSD for your car for a good price, let me know. I can get you guys a contact with phantom grip. They're a lot cheaper thaan your usual diffs at less than half the price. Yes, they'll work with VSA. VSA is more of a stability control system that is more in use with ABS, not as much as a traction control system. Just hit that little VSA button anyway. It hardly ever inteferes in the first place.

 

i think it's harder to find a trustworthy mechanic to do the install than the LSD.

 

The TSX most definately does not have an LSD. I am reminded of this every time i power hard through a sharp turn and spin my inside tire. It sucks...I wish we had an LSD. I would take an LSD over traction control any day (by traction control I dont mean VSA ...because VSA is traction control + yaw control..which I dont mind having).

 

I don't think VSA would work with an LSD because they would counteract each other. Does anyone know if this has been done before?

 

I don't know of it having been done before but we have had several discussions on this topic. I think the final concensus is that it should not be a problem. Also keep in mind the TL has VSA and a limited slip (although I am not sure if its VSA has traction control, or if its different in any way).

http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/show...&threadid=4027

 

Thanks fdl! Sounds like a cool setup!

 

Why does the TSX have driveshafts to both front tires if it does not have an LSD?

VSA will not spin another tire if one slips. I am almost positive the car has an LSD, maybe only the 6 spds have it?

 

The car has equal length halfshafts, but that doesn't mean that it has an LSD. The car actually has an open center differential.

 

if you guys really don't believe the publications... take your car to a lift... place car in gear at idle.... slow the wheel down with something and you will see the power shift to the other side.

 

Why would Honda include an LSD and then not publish or make it known that it does? Would they rather just say it has VSA to bring in customers? Thats not what they did with the TL.

 

They would sure as hell advertise an LSD, as it would be a strong selling argument for performance enthusiasts.

 

I'm not sure if the car has a lsd or not but I remember reading in the motor trend article where they chose the tsx as the best sedan that they mentioned that the tsx had one. If someone has that article maybe you could confirm this, i'm just going by what I remember so don't quote me or anything, but i'm pretty sure they said it had one.

 

Who cares what a mag states? They're a magazine, not a manufacturer. I will assure you all, the TSX does NOT have a limited-slip differential. Honda/Acura would plug that feature if it had it. It's a strong selling point. It's why they have it listed on the window sticker on the TL 6-speed in the "Technical features" list toward the beginning of the features list, and also like it was listed on the CL-S 6-speed. It's a definate plus to have, but the TSX does not.

 

doesn't an open center differential function like a LSD? ie, when one tire slips, the differential transfers power to the other tire?

kurt_bradley - you don't know what you are talking about. if you own the car, dump the clutch at 3000 rpm and see what happens.
if you don't own the car, find one and look under the car. and tell me what you see.

 

:noob: x300




You can't go flaming someone about differentials when you don't have a clue how they work!

An LSD is way different than an open differential. An open differential delivers the same amount of torque to both wheels and is limited by the available traction at the wheels. When one wheel starts slipping, the amount of torque available to the wheel that is gripping is decreased to the level of the slipping wheel. Adding more power will only cause the slipping wheel to spin faster and the net amount of torque being applied to the road hasn't changed. An LSD allows only a limited amount of spin before it locks up and transfers power to the other wheel thereby transfering torque to the wheel that needs it.

Tire smoke from a burnout doesn't mean that a car has a LSD. I don't remember any of the Muscle cars in the 60's having an LSD but I do remember a lot of burnouts leaving two black streaks down the road!

 

So are you saying that the expert testimony in my cousin vinnie was incorrect?

 

Was'nt that a posi-traction dilemma? Or is that the same thing as an LSD?

 

Posi-traction is actually a no-slip differential you could lock it completely so that straight line performance would be great but you couldn't turn worth a shit. I probably should have picked a better analogy but my LSD vs. Open Differential comparison still holds.

 

Isn't that something like a Detroit Differential? They use it in Trans-Am series, aside from the behemoth size of those racecars, the differential is what makes them so hard to drive while trying to save the tires from excessive wear.

And the noob who started this thread, STFU, you are talking about things you have no clue about, it is blinding. BTW, kurt bradley is an Acura Dealer. If he doesn't know what he's saying when he talks about our cars, we had better be a good bunch to also STFU.

 

sauceman: Dan was talking to KJ (thanks for saying it for me, by the way), not you. No worries, man.

Side note: I am a damn good source for technical information when it comes to cars, especially ones built by Honda. I don't want to be rude, but I don't post something I don't know accurately. Just wanted to make it clear. I've been quite a reputable source on here (and to many, many others) when it comes to car-related assistance. Whether it be sales, tech info, or pretty much anything pertaining to cars, I am a good bit of help that has experience from a lot of different perspectives.

 

Oh, no no, don't worry, I was talking to Kj too, Dan always has very accurate posts, and I wasn't flaming him for sure!

 

Duh....engine drives the tranny, tranny drives the shafts, shafts drive the front wheels, therefore the car moves. Got it, noob? If no driveshafts to both front wheels, how can your car move? If only one driveshaft to one of the front wheels, you'll be going circles!


You obviously don't know anything about cars. If I were you, I would STFU!!!

 

lol kjlite what a nub

 

ha,ha,ha.

easy to make fun of aguy when he's not around to defend himself.

i never claimed to be a know-it-all mechanic. i'm just s guy who loves cars, and knows more than your average joe.

lets look at the facts, shall we.

The TSX has some sort of differential. I did not realize that there are open differentials in some cars. my mistake. i assumed that if both tires can spin, then there must exist some sort of differential to transfer power. this is all a moot point, because if an open differntial is locked at 50% split, then an lsd will not be too much more helpful, unless you are autocrossing or racing on variable surfaces. 99% of the time, the 2 front tires will be experiencing the same amount of traction, and thus 50/50 split would be ideal.

let me head you off before you go shooting your mouths off about weight transfer in cornering and shifting more power to outside wheel, etc. this instantce would benefit from an lsd. my car is driven daily to work. i don't plan on autocrossing until i have another daily driver, and then the tsx may become my fun toy, at which point an lsd will definitely help.

under nml driving conditions of stoplight racing, and mild cornering, an open diff should be more than enough. if you tame the suspension, and cut down weight transfer, it should be even more effective.

by the way, just cause i'm not some dork who spends his whole day making thousands of useless posts, doen't mean i'm a noob when it comes to autos

 

and for my critics out there:

accsueprstar: 20 yo college punk, do you even own your car, or does daddy let you take it to the store to buy some milk?

Dan MArtin: STFU an dgo drive your overpriced german car, get off an acura site

Sauceman: Canadian, need I say more? how the hell did you get 36 mpg, oh you must have been driving downhill in neutral.

 

Hey, Sauceman, I only intended to send the part about the "thanks" to you. The other tidbit was to all that ever doubt me (or plan to doub tme in the future).

Side note: I do find it funny how KJ failed to mention me in that last little post. I guess I'd made my point.

 

Side note: I do find it funny how KJ failed to mention me in that last little post. I guess I'd made my point. [/B][/QUOTE]

The only reason I didn't mention you, is that you don't have much info on your profile. Although a so called "Sales Professional" sounds like a sorry excuse to jazz up car salesman. I guess college didn't work out for you

how come you have no response to my technical rebuttal?

 

Alright, you're opening up the wrong can of worms. I think you should know better. I haven't the time to sit here and correct you or to play your game. As for my education, I have a BA in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin, and happen to like the profession in which I choose to excell (for now 4 years). The IT business sucks the last few years, and might I add, I do quite well financially, especially when compared against others that have the same degree that I possess. Back off.

 

ok, so no more personal jabs, i guess i got a little over the edge. i've had a tough day at work, and have to work overnight through new years.

any response to my technical input. i was unaware of the existence of open differentials on FWD cars. I assumed they either have 1 drive wheel, or some sort of LSD with 2 drive wheel. i guess technically an open diff on a tsx is a poor mans LSD.

 

Just to keep the record straight I drive a SSM 6MT. My avatar is a picture of me in an SMG M3 at the level 2 BMW performance driving school. But flame on troll!

 

so now that we're done flaming each other, (Gay term, imo) lets get back to the issue at hand.

i initially started thi spost to talk about an lsd. i was falsely under the impression that any differential that limits wheel spin can be referred to as a lsd. sorry to offend the techies out there.

the point i made in a previous post should still hold true. if the tsx has an "open diff" as someone suggested, this should limit wheelspin by delivering engine power to both front tires rather than just one. i now realize this is not a true lsd, but i think for most of us, this type of diff will help with 95% of daily driving conditions. am i right in this assessment?

by the way, don't consider me a noob, cause i don't have a million post. i've had my car since april when it first came out.