What is the consensus of replacing the front struts and rear struts with other than OEM? One can go really cheap at <$30 or up to $75+.There are Gabriel, KYB etc.
I have noticed that the ride is getting very harsh on some streets, leading me to believe that the life of the front struts and rear shocks are past their lifetime.
This has me on a search, so I thought I would ask here first before just going off on a tangent and throwing my money at something stupid.

 

I wish this forum was more active. I too have been unhappy with the ride recently. I also noticed an uneven bounce when driving over speed bumps. I’d like to replace all four corners. There are some YouTube videos but not great ones. I’m thinking I’ll buy the best after market struts and shocks available. Still far cheaper than OEM. What did you do?

 

KYB seems to be popular as an aftermarket replacement.

 

Thank you for your reply. I was just thinking of that today. The ride in the RL is really rough when going over bad pavement.

 

I just finished replacing my original struts and shocks with KYB excel-G. I also replaced the mounts and dust boots. I knew I needed them because going over a speed bump resulted in a wobbly left and right rolling moment.

It was not that technical but there were some gotchas. It is important to put a jack under the respective front wheel and raising it off the jack stands before tightening the wishbone bolts. Also, I learned to have at least four coils of the spring between the compressor ends or I couldn’t get the spring compressed enough.

My ride is defiantly better. Now my front end moves up and down in unison.

 

It has been a while since I posted in here which says a lot about the Acura RL as a product. I finally got tired of the crappy ride the car was giving me as feedback going down the road. I told the wife if she wants to drive it to have the shocks replaced. She ponied up the money and I bought the parts from Rock Auto. KYB Excel all around. With 240,000 plus miles on the 2006 car it was more than enough time.

I am having a real hard time with the front struts. I have the sway bar disconnected, and the lower wishbone is loose from the strut. The axle seems to be holding the wishbone from giving me enough space to release it from the strut. So what is the secret to getting the front strut out?

Do I have to release the upper A-arm or the lower A-arm to give me some more leverage room? I put a lever between the spring on the strut to push down on the suspension but I need what seems to be another inch to release the wishbone.

 

I did some digging in the archives and came across this very good post about replacing the shocks and springs with A-spec parts. This is what was said about the front lower wishbone that attaches to the shock on how to get it out.
Now comes the interesting part and here is where your own creativity will come in handy. I used a go-kart axle to force the front spindle away from the shock enough that I could get the fork out from under the shock. I will tell you, this wasn’t easy, it was part brute force, part finesse. No pictures to show the process, we were both busy getting it sorted. Good luck to you.

I used a pickle fork in the spring on the strut, to push the upper A arm down to give the lower A-arm some more room but the wishbone would not release from the shock absorber. Perhaps I need more force?

 

The front struts are a bit of a challenge. I replaced all of mine this past spring.

I used the same method that's shown in this video. I stuck a pry bar into the lower control arm and had my neighbor stand on it while I maneuvered the strut out of the car.

 

Perfect! I see now where to apply the bar to move the suspension down enough to release the wishbone from the strut. Thank you for posting this.

 

UPDATE: It takes two people to make this go a lot smoother when removing and installing the struts/shocks. We got a long bar and pried down the front suspension so the lower wishbone would clear the bottom of the strut. Then remove the wishbone...here is why...we found out the hard way...when you turn the steering to provide more room, you can bend the wishbone. Took us a half hour to straighten it so it could take the bolt without cross threading it.

I got the KYB Excel G shocks, with new books, bump stops, and upper spring support with the spring gasket. Easier to do all new stuff going back in.

When installing the new strut have someone on top to put a couple of nuts to hold the strut in place. I installed the wishbone as I was putting the strut in place so to make it easier to install.

Follow the instructions in the shop manual on installing the upper spring mount. We had to remove the strut as we got the alignment off. the alignment bracket at the bottom wouldn't line up with the wishbone. So we had to remove the strut, compress the spring and realign the upper spring seat.

The rears shocks are easy, but the hole where the nuts are can tear up your hands from the sharp metal. Best access is to remove the rear seat. I made 26 cents on the deal.

The struts and shocks were not leaking and still have some rebound to them when compressed at 243,000 miles. Says a lot about the quality of the Honda products. I felt it was time to replace them.

The car ride is more firm, which is an improvement. We shall see how they work out over the next few weeks as they work themselves in.

 

How did they turn out?

 

Yeah I was wondering the same thing. Was looking online for shocks and struts but not sure what to buy. There appear to be so many options. Any help would be much appreciated.