ngcreese

First off THANKS WAYNE and PETER at Park Ave Acura in NJ!!! Your service quality is probably the stuff of legend!!! If not it sould be!!!

Well folks at long last, the springs and anti sway bars from comptech are in! All I have to say is, "Man what a DIFFERENCE!!" This set is just what the car should have come with from the factory. Wayne you know how Toyota has TRD (Toyota Racing Division) well if comptech isn't that for Honda/Acura, it should be!

For those who don't know I live up in poughkeepsie, NY. That's about 70 all-highway-miles from wayne's shop at Park Ave Acura. Picking up and driving my car home was THE BEST 70 miles I've ever driven!! Cruising at some where between 110 -- 120 MPH, with the radar detector on, weaving through traffic (no flames please), the TLS goes from feeling like its riding on a sponge to feeling like it's riding on a sheet of glass!!! SMMOOOTH..... FIIRRRMMMM.... yet forgiving.

Cornering... sigh... the car corners FLAT!! You're more likely to go into a gracful power slide going around a tight corner, with guts, then making the body roll.

Lateral motions (hard-sudden lane changes) are crisp, moving me from side to side, allowing for the seats' side supports to do their job! Now, that reminds me of the IS300 except, oh yeah, we have a tad more horse power don't we... (I'm sorry, I couldn't resist...:p).

Tires... hmmm I mentioned that power slide thing earlier, well although the TLS now has AWESOME body roll control, I think some more sticky rubber would be nice to take advantage of it. I have to admit however, the car is much more predictable at the limits.

I thought for a minute that the car's structural rigidity was poor. But it turns out the stock suspension is just soft giving the car a "jiggling" feeling which is now absolutely GONE!!!

Looks... that damn thing is now sleek as hell... (sigh) WOW!!!
What a difference...


I apologize for my rambling....
The bottom line is, if you're on the fence...

This car w/ comptech springs and sways beats it's direct competition, hands down! In fact when you're planning to buy this car just factor in the suspension upgrade (about $1000), upfront!! You WILL NOT be disappointed.

Thanks again wayne and peter, job execellently done, I dig the free tee and cap too!!!

Crzy Acura

Congrats.. im gettin my sways installed this week!! woo-hoo!!

city001

doesn't the TL type S come with anti sway bars already???

CarFreak

The car comes w/sway bars, but it isn't solid as Comptech sways.

I've driven Mr Hyde's car (w/springs & sways) and compared it to mine (springs) and it really does make a difference.

I also agree that Park Ave Acura is the best! Wayne, Jens, and Peter are the best!

ngcreese

city001, yes the TLS comes with anti sway bars already. However, they are not stiff enough (thick enougth) to REALLY allow you to play with the car.

Or, for the safety minded, they will not give you a true sense of security, should you and another person decide to shift into the same lane at the same time. (And you need to make a quick shift back to your original lane).

I find that the old sway bars did not allow you to point the car where you wanted to, during hard corning. Also, if you're planning to put the lowering springs in, remember that the body of the car is closer to the wheels, should you decide to make a hard corner, the body WILL roll and the wheels and wheel well might rub.

Finally, if you want that 330i/IS300 (remember that is where these cars beat our TLS in its stock form) corning feel, although stickier rubber would be nice ( like Bridgestone RE730 Potenzas ), the sways are your ace.

Springs -- lower body to look more sleek, more road feel (as spring rate increases).

Sways -- that's where the bulk of your improved cornering will come from.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

How is the ride compared to stock as far as roughness. I know all of the advantages to be had with putting in springs and sways, but I also like the "floaty" smooth ride that the stock supsension offers. For this reason I have been toying with putting in sways only and not lowering the car. How much more of the road to you feel (both on smooth and bumpy roads) compared to stock??

ngcreese

JuniorBean, I believe the spring rate is about 25% greater than stock. This is essentially to avoid having the car bottom out
considering that she is now lower by about 1.75" front and 1.5" rear.

OMG, its much more aggressive looking now...

The ride quality is slightly firmer yet forgiving. I have driven, purposely, on bad roads to see what it's like. I find that when I hit a reasonable bump, I have traded a jiggly feeling (kinda like the car is not very ridged), for a nice muted thump. It's a plush feeling. It just feels really good. It truthfully reminds you that you're driving a refined, spacious, 260HP SPORTS SEDAN. I'm not going to change the shocks either.

I'll maintain, that this IS the way the car should have come from the factory.

You're really going to love the springs, combined with the sways.

Robbdogg

Thats what I am hoping for. I am getting my comptechs put on this weekend. I can't wait to get rid of the 4X4 look, and some of this damn body roll!

rockinTLS

With stock tires & wheels, is there any rub when you really load the car? I occasionaly put a full load of 4 adults + kid and luggage in the car and run down the road and I don't want tire rub over bumps.

ngcreese

Hmm... I have had four full size people in the car ( about 650 lbs) while taking corners hard enough to make the car power slide through a curve... no roll, no rub.

vperkins2

Well, I guess that next batch of micro chips is gonna be late 'cause ngcreese will be drivin' his baby!

Congrats on the sways and springs. Damn! Now you've got me convinced I need to do this mod when I spring for the car!

By the way, that was an excellent description you gave... almost felt like I was in the car with ya! He he.

Later,

V.

bricot

hehehe....springs will be coming in a few weeks.....

LarryLynx

ngcreese- Thanks a bunch for the excellent description of the performance improvement you've gotten with your springs and sways. Your mention of the increased spring rate is the clincher to me. I was afraid that the type of improvement that I'd hoped for would not be possible. It sounds closer to my memory of the BMW, when it was new. I'm definitely going to make the same mods to mine!

dj5

I was thinking about getting the Comptech sway bars but do not want to lower my TL-S. Is there a noticeable improvement in body roll by adding just the sway bars?

Bitium

Of course, the springs have almost nothing to do with body roll.

That's all the sway bars do.....eliminate BODY ROLL .

RAdams

Thanks for the glowing comments... my springs and sways are on the UPS truck for delivery right now... gonna install them tonight when they come! I can't wait!

ALFAV6

As we speak now my springs are getting install right now by Park AVE.

SlyTLS

You'll all love the spring/sway bar combination. The look and feel of the car is amazing. I've had mine on for approximately 2 months...it was the best upgrade I have done to the car so far.

jbn

How does the car look with springs if it doesn't have the body kit? I would think it looks alot better with the body kit and the springs, and not so much with just the springs.

ngcreese

Most of the advertisement photos show the TLS in a lowered form.

Hey, on a different portion of this topic...
I'm re considering the question of shocks. Hmmm, body roll is gone. Car has more road feel. Yet, the rebound after hitting a dip in the road... at high speed , could use some more dampening.

So, what are peoples' thought on that? Stay stock, go koni, or go bilstien.

Let me here, what you think...

Bitium

Damn Ron why didn't you call me I would be more than glad to help you. I did both my springs and sway bars by myself and the help of a friend. Well, if you are doing it tonight don't call me, because is the dolphins game but another day let me know.

Kaz

I think when I purchase my Type S, I'll stick with just sways. If I go with the coupe, it seems lower than the sedan anyways.

Still not sure about those springs though. The minute you get springs, the dealership will never fix ANY SORT OF squeak or rattle that you get because they'll just respond that your car is lowered. I'd like to keep my suspension warranty hehe

LoveSick

SCC stated that lowering your car with springs without perfromance shocks will make the car very floaty. Did you feel anything like it?

Who makes shocks for the TL-S? I rarely see people putting shocks on their Type-S.



BTW, I have Koni and Eibach on my Legend and it handles great. I can feel that the TL-S should be even better because of the aftermarket sway.

ngcreese

LoveSick, I would have to agree with SCC, that although the handling characteristics of the car are extremely improved, it could use more rebound dampening then stock.

I guess that would be reasonable, considering that the spring rate has increased with no comparable increase in (shock) dampening rate. Hence, the floatiness. I suppose....


So, I'll bet that as the stock shocks wear out from greater wear and tear from the stiffer spring, people (including myself) will go for koni or bilstien shocks.

Anybody have a preference / recommendation for a good shock?

Also, do springs lose their stiffness if not properly matched with a good shock (ie.: will the stock TLS shock screw up the comptech springs, not sure but I'm thinking probably not)?

BTW, those sway bars REALLY make a difference in the corners...

Bitium

This is not entirely true. The factory shocks are good enough to handle a considerable drop like 1-2 inches. In the other hand your shocks will work harder and the will not last as long as the factory shocks are expected to last. So if you get lower springs you car might start to get floaty at 40k-50k miles instead of 70k-80k miles.

Look at my signature all the shocks made for the TL are there. .

Another thing sway bar has nothing to do with shocks or springs individually and sway bars do not do anything when going straight. When you corner the sway bars reduced body roll by connection one side of the suspension to the other making the individual suspension less individual.

Hope this helps

LoveSick

I have Eibach with Koni.

Here is a problem. My Koni is on the SOFTEST setting. The Koni Red softest has the same, if not more, rebound rate than the stock.

Am I basically performing like stock shocks with Eibach?


Do you know what I mean?

ngcreese

Hmmm... It would be nice if somebody out there knew the dampening rates of KNOI reds, yellows and TLS stock shocks so we could really get this discussion going. Anyone, Anyone....?