I'm planning on changing my OEM Suspension on my 06AT TSX, but I had a few questions that crossed my mind.


The OEM Suspension is set at a certain height and settings, and it cannot be adjusted. Now the A-Spec, that is also set at a certain height and certain dampening etc, it's just slightly lower than OEM, from what I've heard between 1/2 to 1 inch.

I'm looking to go more than an Inch, as I want to get rid of some of the wheel gap, like most people, and I know I'm going to need to go with aftermarket coilovers, not A-Spec, as that won't be low enough for me.


Here is my question though, OEM and A-Spec both come pre-set at a certain height, and that can't be changed. Honda/Acura spends millions of dollars on R&D, so I'm sure they have selected the OEM suspension to be the height it is for many reasons, as well as selected the A-Spec suspension to be at the height it is, for many reasons.


What I'm trying to understand, when I install a set of coilovers, ie Tein Flex or SS or Tanabe etc, they allow you to adjust the height to your liking


I guess to sum up, is setting the height on Coilovers just a matter of settting it to where you want it and where it looks good, and it will be fine? I'm not sure if I'm wording this right, but I'm guessing Acura spent 100's of hours fine tuning the OEM Suspension before they settled on what they did, and decided the final height/settings of it. I'm sure many factors went into that decison.... so then to come along and put a pair of coilovers on, do I have to have it at a specific ratio from front to back? Do I have to have the front a few cm lower than the back?


I know I want it lower, but if I go with a coilovers and drop it around 2+ inchs, am I giving up alot of things that I'm not aware of, and there is a reason Acura Sells this car with the wheel gap where it is? Again, I know it looks 10 times better with less wheel gap, and I do plan on getting coilovers, I just want to know if it is as simple as installing the coilovers, adjusting the height and dampening to where i want, and it will be just as good as OEM???

 

The car is designed with average driver comfort in mind this the suspension sitting a little high, makes it cushier in overall feel. When you lower the car you'll stiffen it up making it a lil harsher over bumps. Plus if you go below 1" you'll need a camber kit or you'll burn up your tires quickly. Yes coilovers allow you to adjust the height but are always lower than stock and some allow you to adjust the dampening force too.

Do a simple search to provide more in depth answers on just about every suspension availiable for the TSX, if it's out there someone on here has it and made a write up

 

Its always a tradeoff between performance, comfort, and cost. Acura selected the OEM setup, as clee109 stated, with the average driver in mind. If you want it lower, then the benefit to you is the look (subjective) and a lower center of gravity which helps performance (objective). The tradeoff is that you now must make the suspension a little stiffer which also enhances performance but reduces comfort. Now, if you don't want to trade comfort for better performance and lower look then you have to increase the price and buy a better, more advance design, like the Tein CS (Approx. +$1400 + installation). If Acura had selected to use this setup then they would have somewhat sacrificed the low pricepoint of the TSX thus risking some customers not thinking the overall TSX was a better value than the competition.

 

Before people go off and sing the praises of the CS as the catch-all comfort suspension, I just want to qualify that it is STILL a performance suspension, and does not match the ride 'cushyness' of the oem setup. It is noisier and stiffer than oem, but it does provide an exceptional sport/luxury ride for the car. It goes smoothly over large speedbumps and potholes, while still allowing a lot of road-feedback, whether that is a good or bad thing. For instance, in a bumpy / imperfect road, you will still feel a lot of the imperfections come all the way up into the cabin, but while gaining stability and control, and ditching that 'floating' sensation the oem suspension can give over some surfaces.

 

^^ thanks for that. I don't have the CS, only going by what I've read.

 

I understand the trade when ditching the OEM for something else ie Coilovers.

What I'm really trying to understand is setting the height.... The OEM TSX Suspension is Exactly at a certain height from the factory... When doing an Aftermarket setup like Flex or CS or another similar, How do you know the height is exactly the same on the left and right? I understand visually you can look, but does the suspension have like a number on it where you can adjust and you can tell that you are EXACTLY where you want to be, not just visually think it looks like the height you want?

 

No, there are no pre-set measurements on any of the Tein coilovers, outside of the fact that they come at a Tein factory pre-set height.

After installing adjustable coilovers, I measure a few distances for each wheel, including distance from ground to fender and wheel center to fender, and thread left on the coilover itself, and record them for each wheel. Then I will go and make fine-tune adjustments to each wheel as necessary to balance the handling and look of the car.

 

If you want your car to have the same height, once you get the height adjustment set roughly to where you want it, you should get the car corner balanced. This equipment measures the weight at each corner. When the cross weights are equal, the car is considered to be balanced.

After the corner balancing is done, you should have an alignment done.

 

Where can you get a corner balancing? I know dealerships can do it, but most of them won't touch a car with aftermarket suspension...

 

Most places that can do your alignment can also do a corner balance.

 

Bah, I'm an ex-modder so I may as well chime in. Keep in mind that a major factor for developing an OEM suspension with a fixed height is to make sure that it's usable in all conditions. So of course Honda isn't going to sell a suspension with a 3+ inch drop, because then people will be using there warranty to pay for damage done to the underside of the car. Acura developed the A-spec to eliminate brake-dive, acceleration-squat and improve cornering stiffness while still keeping the car safe while going over speed-bumps and other stuff.


Most cars come with a stock suspension where the underside of the car is right in line with, to slightly above the centerline of the wheel. Dropping your car approx. 1/2" below the centerline yields the best handling gains while still keeping your car safe for daily driving. The whole purpose of an adjustable suspension is so that you can do a serious drop below the centerline of wheel for when you are at the track. All that negative camber and low center of gravity is perfect for hard cornering at a track. But then you can bring it back up when you are driving to work the next day.

I agree that the wheel-well gap on our TSX is disgusting, but it can be corrected with a 1 to 1-1/2 inch drop. If you want to drop your car 3 inches so it looks cool driving to work, be prepared to change your driving habits in certain situations where your car could get scraped.

 

i still can't understand why 1.7 will need a camber kit this days..........back in 90's all the car lower 2 inches and no one ever mention we need camber kit.

is it because the design or ppl being picky now?

 

What height is pre-set on Tein Flex or SS or Basic? Are they all set the same?