I owe a 2005 RL with A-SPEC package.

Two weeks ago, when the car was at the dealer for service, they let me use their 2007 MDX loaner. I noticed that, when I put the SH AWD torque display in the MDX I could see torque being distributed to rear wheels asymmetrically even when doing slow cornering and when light launching while turning. That is something I never really paid attention to in my RL.

For two weeks, I ran the RL with the SH AWD in MID. While it shows torque being distributed front and rear according to the engine power, I NEVER see asymmetrical lighting for the rear wheels... even when I launch the car hard while cornering, there are two bars on each rear wheel... The only time (once) I saw they were not symmetrical is while slowing down and turning, the engine brake torque seems to be applied to one side.

This is odd as the car runs fine. I am no racer and winter time here in Canada is not meant for speeding.

Spoke to the dealer about the issue. At first they said that for 2005 the display would only show front to rear but not side torque distribution. I said I tought it shouln't be the case. They then said thay would get back to me next week after doing some research...

Here are me questions (especially for 2005 owners and Canadians (?) but everyone is welcome to help) :

How hard/easy is it to get the MID to show asymmetrical torque in rear wheels ?

For those who have tried the MDX : should the SH AWD in the RL behave as the one in the MDX ?

Do you think I should worry about my car ?


Thanks for your help

 

That sounds normal - I've found you need to push it in a turn to see the torque applied more to the outside wheel vs. the inside wheel (at least in the display). I drove a 2007 MDX as a loaner a month or two ago and I seem to remember that the SH-AWD display was more active in the 2007 MDX than in my 2005 RL.

 

I agree, this is normal behavior for the RL. I have to push it in the corners, or, more realistically, in the on/off ramps, to get that to show up. Otherwise, I get symmetrical torque application in all four wheels on launch.

No worries!

 

I also agree. You only see the SH-AWD vary rear wheel torque when you really push it.

You have to wonder if there is a software update for the MDX which makes the SH-AWD more active, or the display more sensitive to what is actually happening.

I understand that the torque is varied continuously, and making the display more sensitive to the constant torque changes might be of some marketing value. I can see many RL owners saying this SH-AWD does nothing for me. I never see it activated left to right, only front to rear. A little more sensitive display might make you think in every day, "not pushing it" type driving, that "you got what you paid for"

I should not think that the far more active left to right torque activation in the MDX has to do with the lack of the RL's rear diff acceleration device on the MDX (and the RDX), nor the fact that MDX is that much more inherently unstable than the RL in turns (but then again it has a much higher center of gravity).

 

Thank you all for your fast replies !

I'll stop looking at the MID and enjoy the ride !

 

Another point is that the MDX does not have a variable overdrive of the rear outside wheel. The RL has a second gear on the rear differential that variably accelerates the outside wheel up to 5%. The MDX system is not variable it always overdrives the outside wheel 1.7%, the same is true of the RDX, thus its really SHAWD lite. My guess the differential on the MDX has been modified to split tourque under more mundane maneuvers, on the RL you have to drive it a little harder (makes sense for a tippier vehicle). One of important factor on how much the torque splits is steering angle, the greater the angle the higher the split, the other factor is accelerator position. If you want to see a nice split condition, accelerate smoothly on a curvy highway ramp, if your take it to the limit it will actually produce oversteer, which is caught before you get into too much trouble by the VSA. If you push way over its limits the VSA is actually pretty scary since it activates abruptly and can cause you to wiggle very abruptly the other way. For extremely spirited driving its best to leave the VSA off, but you have to be aware that you can have as much oversteer as can be induced in a RWD! Yes folks, the RL can drift sideways with the best of them!

 

Its my understanding that the MDX biases the torque to the rear more easily than the RL. This is done for several reasons including towing and hills.

http://www.hondanews.com/categories/712/releases/3758

 

Notices this tonight. I took a cloverleaf rather aggressively.Actually very aggressively. The car was perfectly planted, hear a little tire squeal, but right at the very end of the ramp as I was starting to straigthen out and the tires must have started to break. I got the wiggle you mentioned.

Like I said I took it very hard and the "wiggle" was minor, but a little disconcerting.

 

Hear, hear.... I've been waiting for someone to post saying that they racked up their RL going around a curve because they wanted to see the MID SH-AWD display move.... because you *know* it's bound to happen.

When you are putting in that much steering lock and gas at the same time, your eyes need to be on the road, not the dashboard.

 

Didn't know that. Probably not too many acura salesman knows this either.

I wonder how much money thay save by putting the "downgraded" system in their MDX/RDX ?


I never really looked at it until I drove the MDX. The MDX display is very active even when doing (very) light manuever. Was wondering if mine was wrong...


You're right. When the display shows right and left bars, you know it works. In the RL you know its there but there are no way to tell its actually working unless you push the car really hard. But the RL is not a race car and is almost never driven that way. I think they should have made the display more active, because its cool to see it really works... even in every day driving...

 

It could also be that the MDX's higher center of gravity is requiring the SH-AWD to do more work to compensate as you toss the vehicle around.

 

I believe the MDX is more lively due to it's use of Cooperative VSA, which is not available on any other model.

The RL has the "planetary gear set" which allows it to adjust between 0-5% accelleration of the outside wheel. The RL also uses the Carbon Fiber reinforced propeller shaft so in the end, it is probably substantially more expensive to produce than it's SH AWD relatives.

 

Kinda cool that we have the more "exotic" setup, and it proves to me that the RL was intended to be more of a rolling testbed for some of this new technology. Similar to how the NSX. Wasn't the NSX the first car to introduce aluminum body panels (for Honda), VTEC, Titanium connecting rods, etc.?

 

The technology is great but expensive to replace/service. At least anecdotally there seem to be a few issues with the carbon fiber drive shaft. My dealer has replaced 2 of them in RL's in the last month and is deciding whether to replace mine. The design of the shaft seems curious - two 3 foot sections with a bearing in the center. When the bearing goes bad the whole thing needs to be replaced, at a cost of around $1900 for the part alone. I guess this is the downside of being a test mule for all of this great technology.

 

One point to ponder is that SHAWD was developed to improve handling on dry conditions. One of the points enthusiasts have made in the past is that it AWD really had nothing to offfer in dry conditions. SHawd is the answer to that. It improves traction and handling in ALL conditions.

 

Absolutely which is why purchasing a 100K mile warranty for $1K is a bargain IMHO.

 

My 2012 Rdx is the same as this person's RL. I borrowed a mdx and it really shows off the shawd. My Rdx doesn't, unless I push it hard in snow. It always lights up equally on each side. Also, it rarely goes beyond halfway for the bars on the rear. But the front nearly maxes out.

 

I have been testing this power distribution thing when i was testing that "Snow" mode and what is the difference between "Snow" mode and normal mode.
With normal mode power is "guided" to each wheel individually, well, you can see it specially at winter time and vsa off.
How ever with "Snow" mode power is changing between rear and front.
So, when you dont have that "Snow" mode maybe your system is something between these two things. In this case power distribution is not so sensitive as in those cars what are equipped this Snow mode.
There has to be some difference in softwares, i think.

 

We know the system can send 70% of total power to one wheel, but it will only do that in HARD cornering situations. I find that when my tires are squealing and the body roll is maxed out, it's a little difficult to look down at the MID to determine if the display is showing a shift in power. However, I can tell you that when the understeer shifts to oversteer and my back end slips out a little, that the shift sure feels like it happened.

 

this thread =

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...IfdUJn6s#t=12s

 

We don't have snow mode in the US

I notice the torque difference the most on the circular freeway onramps. When you accelerate, it definetly changes from understeer to oversteer as 007 stated

 

Somewhat off topic but am I the only one that wishes Acura had allowed the SH-AWD display to be shown on the center display like you can with the trip display?

 

same here - like the hybrids display
put your forte in big display

 

nope...

 

if it was in the big display, it could show percent to each wheel

 

then where would I watch movies?

 

 

 

How do you make the sh-awd display come up on the display? I just got my rl yesterday. Thanks

 

Welcome, you should read the manual and/or look at the stickied threads to reduce the amount of flaming you will recieve for these newb questions.

The answer to your question is use these ^V buttons:

 

 

At least he didn't create a whole new thread I guess?

 

very true, which is why we are taking it easy

 

Does a stickied thread contain pornographic images?

 

Sorry, mine did not come with a manual....I searched earlier but had no luck... I figured it out eventually...I never had a car with so many buttons!!!BUT I LIKE IT!!

 

You sure you don't have the manual? Make sure it's not in the hidden spot in the glove box. I looked all sorts of wizardly when I bought my car. Used car dealer apologized for not having the manual, just the demo CD and wheel lock. We went out to the car, and I opened the hidden compartment. Boom, lots of manuals.
Now to my reason for posting in this thread... Does anyone else read SHAWD and then verbalize it as Shawdy... sorta like Shorty but less enunciation?

 

 

Less enuciation is the difference between english and american so most people in the USA think that the RL is a bedder car than the one they had previously.

 

 

Don't get your shorts in a bunch.