23109VC

I've now driven an RL with no mods - a regular one with the 17" wheels.

and I've driven one with 18" aspec wheels with new/good Pilot Sports.

there was a pretty big difference. the aspec car felt more solid, more composed, and more planted. it gripped better, held the road better through turns..overall it was better. when I zig zagged the car a bit, though, I could stil feel noticeable body roll.

assuming you then went one step further and add the aspec suspension - how much more of a diference does that make over JUST the wheel/tire upgrade?

if some of you had 17" wheels - and then added it ALL - add the aspec suspension AND wheels/tires then you can't really say how much of the "gains" are from the suspension, vs how much was from wheels/tires.

vs some of you may have done it in stages. and can give a more accurate assessment as to how much improvement you got from each step.

anyone?

or if you did it in a different order...or even some of you who may have done H&R springs, not aspec... but you can attest to gains felt from suspension mods, vs gains from wheels/tires..

or maybe you did coilovers..whatever.

basically - i liked how the car iwth 18" / pilot sports handled... but I wasn't blown away. it could stand to handle better and have much flatter cornering. if aspec will add only a marginal gain - then it wouldnt' be worth it.

if you say - wheels and tires made it better and THEN aspec made NIGHT/DAY even better... then I know to go for it.

thanks.

JPSMAN

The suspension change made a bigger difference for me. In fact, the change in handling was substantial.

The wheel/tire change combo is icing on the cake.

Since the car is heavy, there is only so much that can be done; but I would start with the suspension first then move on to the wheels.

plastikman

I changed the suspension and rims/ tires all in the same week and it made a world of a difference. It makes the car feel much more sporty and it is just great in the curves, it is a totally different car, no doubt.

neuronbob

With my RL, I changed the suspension and wheels at 996 miles (e.g. essentially when brand new), so I can't comment on which aspect confers more difference.

I can, however, share with you my experience with my old 3G TL. *snif* I hope the new owner is driving her like he/she stole her. *snif*

Anyway, I bought the A-Spec suspension first. It immediately tightened up body roll, reduced rear squat on acceleration, and reduced the dip on braking. This helps the car to handle more stably in the turns. I later upgraded the wheels to 18's and chose better all-season rubber. This improved the grip in turns and firmed up the steering, giving more response from the road. The body roll virtually disappeared after I installed a thicker rear sway bar.

Back to the RL....I notice the same thing in the RL, with the additional effect that SH-AWD has in turns; the car is close to neutral when accelerating in the turns because of SH-AWD. This is a heavy, FWD-based car and you will always note some understeer even with SH-AWD.

In the RL, I just changed to Goodyear Eagle F1 A/S tires from the Toyo Proxes 4 and even though there's more tread squirm as expected from a new tire, these tires run noticeably softer than the Toyos. So much for the so called benefit of carbon fiber in the sidewalls. I've got only about 1k miles on them in the last two weeks, though, so the tires are still being broken in.

A little longwinded, but hope this helps.

fstshrk

Which sway bar did you install?

As far understeering, try left foot braking while balancing the car with the throttle. It cures understeer beautifully.

I am on the fence about the A-spec kit (08, 3700 miles). I need to drive a car with the A-spec before I do the change.

Even the base suspension car has a wonderful amount of grip despite the body roll. And if you live in a place with rough roads, it may be worth just changing the sway bars to reduce roll and leave the rest of the suspension alone.

neuronbob

This was on my 3G TL....I installed a Comptech sway bar. There's no sway bar I'm aware of for the 2G RL. There's not enough of a market for it right now, or likely ever, for anyone to invest in this effort.

kirbyflorida

The 09 bars are thicker and should fit perfectly.

JPSMAN

I'm very interesed to see if the 09 bar will fit.

Anyone interested in trying? I wonder how much they will be selling the parts for? How many mm thicker are they?

fstshrk

Part #s?

Chas2

09 Rear Stabilizer is supposed to be thicker, a 19 mm solid bar, the front is a 30 mm hollow bar.

05-08 Rear Stabilizer is supposed to be thicker, a 17 mm solid bar, the front is a 29 mm solid bar.

See acuranews.com and search specifications for various years

Cannot find parts catalog for 09 yet.

fredren

i know if the 09 was atleast 22mm like the comptech bars are, it would of made a big difference compared to the 05-08 17mm but if i was to upgrade to the 19mm 09 rear bar would it really make that much of a noticable difference?

fstshrk

The stiffness goes with the square of the change. So if it is 11% thicker, then it will be about 1.11^2, roughly 20% stiffer.

fredren

i called my dealer and i got a quote of $59. for the 09 rear sway bar (only) and about $20 for the attachment kit i.e bushings etc..he also said as far as the sway bar end links the one on my car now should work on the 09 if not the end links go for about $50 a piece oouch.. so i will be in an Acura dealer this weekend under an 09 Rl to do some research hopefully it's successful

i'll keep you guys posted or if someone gets to this before me please let us know

fstshrk

Yes, please keep us posted.

neuronbob

Do keep us posted. If it reduces body roll in the turns, it may be worth the upgrade and $79 (bar + mounting kit) is cheaper than the Comptech sway bar was for the 3G TL.

fredren

sorry guys i didnt get a chance to go to the dealer this past weekend because worked called so i had to delay my trip to the dealer, but it's definitely in my top 3 things to do.

Ballinger

If you get the sway bar and install it, give us a pictorial DIY, will ya? That should be an effective upgrade.