Hi guys and gals,
I had my TSX for a couple of months now, and finally brought it to autocross this past weekend. Finally, I can push the car to its limit without having blue reds shining on me.

Anyways, I am still not that good in autocrossing. I am still trying to adapt FWD driving style. I came out to be the 11th in class. Not as good as I want to be. A couple of reason I think why I didn't do well:
1. Not familiar with the car's limit.
2. Bad driving position (had my helmet all the way against the roof, thus bumping my head everytime I hit uneven surfaces)(I'm quite tall...)
3. BRAKES!!!

The car did handle pretty well for an FWD, and the engine rev so smooth, up to the redline. But, enough go, not enough stop. The brakes just does not match the car. I had problem slowing the car down to the correct speed, especially at those corners after a long straight. In most cases, I had too high a cornering speed, and resulted in understeer. The correction makes me lost pace, and put me off my line. That probably cost me total of 1-2 seconds on the course.

As for the good points, the quick steering really helps in slalom. The suspension damping rate is also well set. The car will hop off a bump and immediately took a set, without being upset. It didn't roll too much as well through the course, and the chassis tuning always give confidence. It really handles transition well.

I just wish it could stop better. Have any others tracked or autocrossed their TSX yet?

BTW, any suggestions on the brakes?

 

I thought about it. I know of a group (www.jolietsportscarclub.com) in Illinois that organizes one every month. I didn't think my car is ready after seeing an autocross event for the 1st time.
Did you do any preparations to your car for it like tires and/or suspension upgrades?

 

Try some AEM brake pads if they are available. They made my '98 Accord EX V6's brakes much more responsive with reduced pedal effort and ultimately much more confident braking. Combined with aftermarket 215/50/17 tires, the AEM brake pads helped my '98 Accord shorten stopping distances significantly. The ABS threashold has been moved out a lot.

 

I don't think the stock rubber will do well in autoX.
Try some stickier summer rubber like the Falken Azenis.
But I don't think Azenis is avail on 215/50/17... Bummer!

 

I was thinking about running my TSX last Sunday at the SD auto-x. But since they don't have a street tire stock class like we do here in LA region, I didn't wanna run with the fast guys with the race tires. And the car isn't fully broken in yet (but it would by the time I arrived in SD). So I decided to run my STX-prepped Prelude instead.

One of these days, I'll run the TSX just to see what its limits are.

 

Thanks for the input. I didn't do anything else to the car except for changing the tires to Pirelli PZero Nero sized at 225/45/17. As for the brake bads, where can I find AEM pad?
We don't have a stock class with street tires, so I am actually thinking of getting some Kumho VictoRacers on stock rims. Any tip of getting cheap stock rims?

 

I am not sure if AEM has an application out for the TSX already, but you can contact them through the information provided on their site: www.aempower.com.

AEM pads can be purchased from numerous places on the net. I particularly like www.optauto.com. I've ordered quite a few things from them.

 

Go to other Honda/Acura boards and search for the classified forums. You don't have to get the stock TSX wheels to stay in G-Stock (that's where the TSX belongs if stock). I'm sure the TL-S wheels will be fine too. As long as the rims are 17x7 +55mm offset (the rules said that the offset can be +/- .25" from stock offset, that's about +/- 6mm), you'll be ok. If I were to run in G-Stock, I would get a used set of TL-S wheels and put R-compound tires on.