Lowered a wagon with KW ST's and Enkei's. Did a DIY while I was at it.
 

I recently bought some KW ST's and Enkei Raijins for my GF's TSX. I got a steal on all this stuff...so I couldn't resist.

I got the Raijins powder coated in the perfect colour (IMO). It’s a medium metallic charcoal called “heavy charcoal”. The coater did an amazing job on them. I can’t take a picture to show how nice they turned out.

I wrapped them in 225/45/18 Dunlop Direzza Z2’s. Not my first choice. I’d rather have Conti DW’s or Michelin SS’s. But my friend at Discount Tire was able to get me a price on these so low that I wept tears of joy.

Attachment 70952

The caps that came with the wheels were hideous.

I made some carbon fiber wrapped caps.. I liked them. But…I’m going to use the stock Acura caps for now so the car looks more “OEM”.

Attachment 70953

Attachment 70954

The ST coilover line is KW’s zinc plated line. This is a KW V1 that’s Zinc plated steel instead of being stainless steel.

I have a certain amount of criteria for this wagon:

- This is my GF’s DD…so it can’t be super low.

-It also needs to be versatile and comfortable. We bought the wagon so we could take multiple bicycles to rides. Now I don’t have to choose between my MTB and my road bike when we go on road trips!!

-It has to have good enough suspension compliance and ground clearance to do some mild offroading to get to mountain bike trail heads or gravel paths. Plus…we do take a lot of road trips, so you never know what you’re going to encounter.

I went with the ST’s because they were a fairly affordable (retail is around $850-900. I didn’t pay near that much because I have very good friends in the performance parts business) and VERY high quality coilover. Even the box was a piece of art.

Attachment 70955


Attachment 70956

They don’t have any damping adjustments. They are also not full body adjustable. While I wish they had like 5 – 10 clicks of settings….I’m glad I didn’t buy a $900 coilover with 32 way damper adjustment.

Even without adjustable damping and full body adjustments, they meet all the criteria I had in mind.

The other difference between these and fully fledged KW’s is that ST’s have a 5 year warranty (KW’s have a lifetime warranty).

ON TO THE INSTALL!!


I have never done a proper DIY on a car forum...so I thought I'd give it a shot. Any feedback is welcomed!

Step 1:
-I pressure wash the chassis and the garage. I do this because don't like getting dirty when I work on cars. Jack up the car and put it on a set of jack stands.


Attachment 70948


Step 2:
-I started on the rear suspension as it was vastly more complex looking than the front. Remove the shock top hat nuts from above. On a wagon, you can remove the access panels and use a 14mm socket to remove the bolts. Be careful not to swing the wrench and hit the window!!


I'm demonstrating on the left side. The right is the same.




Attachment 70949


Attachment 70950



Step 3:
-Undo the sway bar bracket bolts. They're a 12mm. This helps you get the droop you need on the rear suspension to remove the stock shock/spring.


Attachment 70951

Step 4:
-Remove the shock mounting bolt.
Attachment 70945

Step 5:
-Pry down on the UCA to remove the shock. You'll need to really pry down. I'm 155lbs of pure pain. So I used a lot of my weight and my immense strength lol. I couldn't operate the camera and do that...so here's a pic of where I put the pry bar.


Attachment 70946


Step 6:
-Put the stock shock in a spring compressor. Always point springs away from your face/genitals.

Attachment 70947

Step 10:
-Clocking the bushings is easiest at this point because the shock/spring are not installed and the suspension will move easily.


Put the wheel on with a couple lug nuts.


Put a jack under the LCA. Jack up on the LCA.


Keep jacking up until the wheel sits in the fender at the simulated ride height you're after.


I figured I wanted the car to ride about like this:


Again remember…the shock/coilover is NOT installed.


Attachment 70936



Step 11:



-Remove the wheel. DO NOT remove the jack. This is where all your suspension components will sit at your new ride height.




Attachment 70937




Step 12:
-Tighten all the bolts that you loosened in step 9. Torque them to their specs, which can be found in the service manual.


I understand that some of the bolts are impossible to get a torque wrench on (UCA to chassis). Be sensible. Don't tighten them to the point where they'll never come off again. They're just bolts.


Attachment 70938


Step 13:
-Reinstall the coilover to the car. This step required a lot of positioning and prying lol.


I could tell you my process...but it would be confusing. You just gotta position the coilover correctly, and pry down. It helps to have a helper...but I was working alone.


I'm so lonely :'(

ST was nice enough to supply me with new lower shock bolts. I antisiezed them and put them back in… DO NOT TIGHTEN IT.

Attachment 70939


https://acurazine.com/forums/data:im...tpYrg+ell//9k=


Then I rolled the perch back up. I adjusted it about .75" above the "minimum" height that KW recommends.

Step 14:
-Now you’ll need to clock the shock bushing.

Jack up on the lower knuckle in the spot shown. Keep jacking until that corner of the car BARELY comes off the jack stand.
Attachment 70934


Attachment 70935


Now tighten the shock bolt. Don’t get under the car to do this.


Tighten the sway bar links on that side back up.



Repeat all of the above steps for the right rear. After that, the worst is over!!!







Moving on to the fronts:

Step 15:
-Remove the lower shock fork bolt (17mm head) and pinch bolt (14mm head). Wiggle the shock fork off…or tap it with a hammer. Pry down on the suspension and move it off to the side as shown.

I also took 2 of the bolts off the ABS wires and tucked and routed them under the shock so that I could pull the shock out.

Attachment 70923



Step 16:
-Remove the bolts circled in YELLOW on both sides. That will allow you to remove the strut tower bar. They are a 12mm head.


Attachment 70924


Attachment 70925

Then remove the bolts circled in RED. The front shock will fall. Then wrestle it out of there.

Attachment 70923


Step 17:
-Put the front shock/spring in the spring compressor and removerize then springinatrix.

You’ll need that black washer again if you’re doing this to ST’s. Also…if your coilovers came assembled with top hats…skip this step.

The stupid bushing sleeves on Honda front shocks are always rusted. I removed it by clamping it with vice grips, holding the shock shaft with a 5mm allen key, and wrenching the vice grips back and forth while pulling up on them.
Remember to anti sieze this bushing when you re-assemble the front coilovers.

Attachment 70927

Reassemble the front coilover and turn the threads all the way down.

Step 18:
-Clock the front bushings. Remember…not clocking the bushings will cause a lot of damage that nobody looks forward to fixing.

You’ll need to do the:
-UCA to chassis (two 14mm head bolts)
-The LCA bolt pictured below.

Do this WITHOUT the coilover installed.

Loosen the UCA bolts and the bolt pictured below.

Attachment 70928

Attachment 70929

Simulate your new ride height using a jack (this sounds more perverted than it actually is).

Attachment 70930

Then remove the wheel and tighten the UCA bolts/LCA bolt.

Note that the UCA bolts weren’t all that tight when you took them off. IIRC, the torque for them is like 30lbs. Don’t go crazy on these there, Wrenching Man Randy Savage.

Step 19:
- Put the front coilover back in. Bolt in the top mount first. Loop your ABS line back under the coilover when you do this so that it ends up on the right side. I antisiezed the base.
You will need to rotate the coilover to its correct position to lock into the lower shock fork. This is easy. You can just turn it with your hands.

Attachment 70931

Then bolt the ABS line back to the shock and knuckle.

Reintall…but DO NOT tighten the lower shock fork bolt.

I set the front coilover to .5’’ above KW’s “minimum” height.
Attachment 70932

Repeat these steps for the other side front.

Put the strut tower bar back on

Put the wheels back on and put the car back on the ground.

Step 20:
-Clean yourself off.
Get in the car. Turn the steering wheel all the way to one side. Pick a side.

Now reach under the front bumper/into the wheel well and tighten the lower shock fork bolt.
Attachment 70933
YOU’RE DONE!!!!! Check out your work.
Player.

Dammit. I can't edit my posts to add the missing pictures from Step 1 and Step 2.

I have tons of photos of the finished product. I will post them up in the appearance forum tomorrow. I will also post a short-term review here on how the coilovers ride.


Thanks for reading!

Great writeup, and sweet looking wagon and Raijins! How does the wagon feel now?

and omg that s2000... my favourite car of all time.

Thanks man! The Wagon feels great now. I'll post up a more in depth review tonight. The S2000 should be driveable by this weekend. So....very excite!!!

Here's a wagon preview.
Attachment 70918

And just for the heck of it....since I'm excited to drive it again....

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:drool::drool::drool:

Both cars are clean. I need to get myself one... but I also need to buy a place first :tomato: I always figured having my TSX as a DD and an S2000 as my weekend/track warrior would be such an awesome setup.

Glad to hear the wagon feels great! Instant transformation in feel for me as well when I put on the Street Basis. If I had known at the time that KW had these for the TSX, I definitely would've considered them as well.

Thanks for the write up! What offsets are the Raijins?

Thanks. Yeah, my (modded) 1G 6MT Tech is an awesome DD. My GF just got this wagon and she loves it. She used to have a S2000 and a 8G Civic Si. She recently wanted to consolidate to 1 car. It's such a shame these wagons didn't come in manual. Then again...if they did, she wouldn't be the one driving the wagon :P



No prob! They are 18x8.5 +38.


Like I said...it was my first write up. So I kinda learned what I could do better while I was doing it. I'm going to be lowering a 4G TL SH AWD OMG BBQ WTF in a week or two. I also want to use ITR/S2000 top hat bushings on my 1G....as well as maybe dropping a Si LSD gear set into it. Maybe I'll do some more write ups. It takes so much longer than you'd expect to take the photos and do the writeup, though lol.

As far as the initial impressions of the suspension:

I've driven the car about 150 miles in the course of 2 days. I did this install last weekend...so about 4 or 5 days ago. My GF has been driving it since then...and no complaints so far lol.


I did have some lengthy criteria for the suspension:

1. Ride comfort and, more importantly, refinement! Just having a soft ride doesn't work for me. If it did...I'd drive a Crown Vic.

2. Component quality and longevity. A setup with any weird noises or issues that I'd have to learn to know as "normal" is totally unacceptable. The build quality on these ST's is superb.

3. Ability to absolutely drive the car cross country. I don't plan on taking this thing up a cliff face or across the raw Mojave desert. But it has to go anywhere within reason. We both love road trips because we're not married yet and we still get along :tongue:.

4. Corrosion protection. Rust is my enemy. I'm not convinced that the zinc plating is better than an organic coating. So I shot the damper bodies with a clear coat. No biggie.

5. They have to BE FUN TO DRIVE and not ruin the dynamic of the car.

I feel like the ST's were a perfect fit for these criteria. Another perfect fit would have been the Tein Street Advance. I have the SA's on my 1G and I'm very impressed with how much Tein has improved their street biased lineup. Remember the old "Flexes"? :ugh:



Ride quality:

The ride quality on the ST's is decidedly German lol. The car is flat, but well damped. I really like the way German low speed damping is set up. I initially fell in love with it when I installed KW V3's on my S2000 like...8 years ago. The car doesn't roll or pitch. The braking and acceleration are crisply communicated. The steering is sharp. Rolling bumps are handled firmly, but with compliance. Think of how a stock BMW drives.


The damping should have been set up like this from the factory. These ride better than stock!!! And now the car's "Sport Wagon" moniker matches its dynamic.


The one thing that I noted is that the ST's have a *bit* more harshness than I had expected on sharp/high speed bumps. This is in relative terms, ofcourse. Most German stuff is more compliant over small cracks. Again...this is relative. The ride on these is very nice overall. And to be honest, the slight harshness might have something to do with the fact that the car is riding on Dunlop Z2's and it hasn't been aligned yet.

My favorite affordable (up to ~$1200-1500) STREET suspension is the Bilstein PSS9, which, sadly, they don't make for the 1G or 2G TSX . I use it to benchmark any street setup where refinement is a consideration. If refinement is not a big consideration, I usually recommend Koni/GC.


Trackability:


Obviously, I haven't had the chance to actually test this...but based on the spring rates and a little bit of back road driving...I think that these would be fairly talented coilovers on a race track. Now...consider that I'm talking about street coilovers that also have a compliant ride.


Cons:


I'm really reaching here....but these don't have any damper adjustments. You can buy KW V2's that do have damper adjustments....but they're quite a bit more expensive, and I'm not sure the damper adjustment is worth it.


What I didn't want to get fooled into buying was a $900 (retail) coilover that had 1million damper settings and full body adjustment. This situation would have required me to give up a lot of things I'd actually want (quality, longevity, etc etc) for some useless knobs that don't actually work and the ability to ride the car on its testicles like I'm 10 years old.


Infact...I think Tein's 16 way adjustment is a little bit of a gimmick that may be there for marketing reasons more than practical ones. But...Tein does make good stuff.


I would have like a little bit more compliance in high speed damping. Then again....I honestly think that a lot of that has to do with the tires that I chose and the fact that the car hasn't had an alignment yet. So I'll update back on this point once I've gotten the car aligned.


ANYWAY...to get off my soap box and sum it up:

These are amazing. I think that these will do what I wanted and more. It's incredible how flat the car is and how much additional control there is from these.


These are a sub $1000 coilover that can go from riding BETTER than stock on the street.... and If I'm correct (I always am).....can transfer to the race track with relatively good results. That's ASTOUNDING....and I can't think of many other setups that can do this (if we're talking about aftermarket setups). These are on a different plane than Koni/GC. It would be lengthy to explain...but no...Koni/GC cannot do what I just described.


I never mentioned trackability as one of my criteria for this car. I'm just providing that as additional info.




Comparisons to other common setups that I see on this forum:


-The TSX's stock suspension...kinda blows. So these are pretty much better in any conceivable way lol.


-The Tein SA's that I have on my 1G are a *little* bit more street friendly on the lower damper settings....but would fall flat on their faces on a race track in many ways. The Tein SA's have a less solid feel than the ST's on the street on the lower settings. But on the higher settings, they get a little wacky and crashy. It's a little difficult to find a happy medium (remember when I said 16 damping adjustments was a bit of a gimmick?)


-Tein SB's are about as compliant as the ST's over most bumps. But again...if you get them out on a track, you're going to have a bad day lol. They also have a less "solid" feeling.


*Both, the SB and SA from Tein would be a comparable setup to these ST's in terms of a few things. The build quality of the ST's is better, however. The ST's also feel more solid.


-Function Form. There is no possible fair comparison here. Sorry. I'm not saying that from a "hater" perspective. I'm saying that in the most subjective way possible. I've ridden on both Function Form versions on several chassis'...and they've always made me go :whyme: over every bump. Infact....:what: is the best possible review I could give them. I've never ridden on the "HT SPEC" version. But, after reading HT's review on them...I realize that they're probably only slightly better than the off the shelf versions.




Thanks for reading my lengthy review! Hope you found it helpful.

A link to the photos thread:


https://acurazine.com/forums/photogr.../#post15397512

Have you ever rode on conti SSR's to compare to dw's?? That's my current rubber and I have been impressed so far with the durability and grip for a harder compound tire but was eyeballing some super sports or dw's cuz I just feathered the crap out of my SSR's recently doing hill runs. Just scared I'm gonna burn through a softer compound super fast (I put on about 2200 miles a month)

I'm on super sports and they are miraculous. It was raining pretty hard the other day and I was able to drive with confidence almost as close to dry conditions!

Conti SSR's are run flat tires. Usually, those don't last too long...but I would guess it depends on what model of SSR you have.

I'm sure the DW or Michelin SS will ride better and perform better. None of them are meant to be long lasting tires.

Are you looking for a long lasting summer tire? There are a lot of great all-season options. But if you're looking for performance tires, the SS or DW are great daily driver choices.

Dunlop Z2's are track oriented tires. They're total overkill for this wagon lol. They're LOUD and harsh. The 2G TSX does have good sound deadening...so they're not much louder inside the car than the Michelin SS on my 1G.

I have Z2's on my S2000 and they last a LONG time. I think I can usually pull 5-7k miles out of a set, if not more. They are an "extreme performance" category tire. I'm sure they'll last 20k+ on the wagon.

They blow the Michelin SS and the Conti DW out of the water in terms of dry grip. The wet grip is better with the Michelin. Really the only reason I bought them for the wagon was the price I could get them for.....and I was interested to see what would happen lol. The wagon hustles around corners like you wouldn't effing believe haha.

But...I'm never going to track it because...after all...it has a Honda auto trans. It'll break. I should have gone with the Conti DW.

For now..the dunlops' street manners aren't too bad on the 2G chassis. If I end up really hating them in a couple months, I'll buy the Conti's. No biggie.

Did you reuse stock bolts for rear coilovers?

No. KW supplies the coilovers with new zinc plated class 10.9 bolts.

The stock bolts were in crummy shape. Stupid winter.

What does "clocking bushings" mean exactly. maybe i refer to this action in some other way

i need to install my tein ss soon but I thought it would be easier,
didn't know about this clocking business

service manual doesnt talk about it. i cant seem to find any other posts on this forum that talk about it.


OP what about this clocking?

purpose?

Glad yall axed about the clocking. I'm finna explain:


Clocking bushings is important for the life of your rubber bushings. If you tighten any of the suspension bolts circled in red while the car is still in the air...you're going to tear bushings. That includes the shock bushing...which EVERYONE just tightens up in the air...and EVERYONE ends up tearing, whether they know it or not.


Attachment 70645


The rubber bushing is fixed on its outer diameter by the control arm/suspension link. The inner diameter is fixed by the bolt.


As the suspension moves up/down with bumps on the road, the bushing has to twist. There is an acceptable amount of twist during normal movement...but it's only momentary. The car returns to static ride height for most of it's life.


Your bushings are clocked to factory ride height from the factory.


Meaning that the bolts were all tightened at stock ride height by the assembly personnel at Honda.




Clocking is covered in the FSM. Look under "replacing shocks". There should be a note to jack the suspension to ride height before tightening the bolts.




Below is a primitive illustration that I drew on the wall of a cave. It shows a car...looking DIRECTLY from the back bumper (or front bumper).


It is an example of what happens when you DO NOT clock the bushings.


Attachment 70646


As you can see...you will have to twist the bushing very very much as the car lowers it self down to its new static height.


Here are more pictures, showing where all of the wagon's suspension components will sit at its new static height:


Attachment 70647


Attachment 70648




This is also why a lot of people see their cars sitting up higher than they expected when they lower the car without clocking bushings. The bushings will eventually take a set (tear) in a couple of weeks/months. Then the car will start to "settle" into its new ride height. The bushings can only resist the constant twisting for so long till they fatigue.


Sick torn bushings, bro.


Lucky for Honda/Acura people, I can't think of too many bushings that are oil filled. An oil filled bushing that is not clocked will turn into a grease puddle on the driveway within a day or so.


Either way....Non floating (rubber) Bushings should always be clocked for CURRENT STATIC height.


Polyurethane bushings float and don't need clocking. But polyurethane bushings are the worst idea since fat free cheese.


A lot of people don't know about this step. But it's extremely important and should never be left out.

Unfortunately, lowering a car is nowhere near as straight forward as the internet will have you think :'(


But...following my writeup should make it a lot easier! :yum:


Different cars have different bushings that need to be clocked. The ones I have detailed are 2G TSX specific. The CONCEPT transfers over universally, though. Once you know why the bushings need to be clocked...you'll find the ones that need it on any chassis.


I was winging my entire install. First wrench I had ever turned on a 2G. They're all just nuts and bolts.

Great info! And you're right, I bet 99% of us did NOT know about clocking the bushings when DIYing our coilover installs (myself included). I bet some shops don't even know about this.

Well, I installed my coilovers a little less than a year ago. Do you think I should just leave the bolts the way they are now, or should I loosen them, bring the car to static height, and retighten (i.e., clock them)? I have a feeling it's not worth the effort anymore, especially since the bushings are likely fudged now like you're implying.

Great info! And you're right, I bet 99% of us did NOT know about clocking the bushings when DIYing our coilover installs (myself included). I bet some shops don't even know about this.

Well, I installed my coilovers a little less than a year ago. Do you think I should just leave the bolts the way they are now, or should I loosen them, bring the car to static height, and retighten (i.e., clock them)? I have a feeling it's not worth the effort anymore, especially since the bushings are likely fudged now like you're implying.

After a year, I would pretty much think they've taken a set. They're a fairly hard rubber compound. You won't see tangible negatives for a while. The bushings take a set and weaken up a bit via a series of small cracks/stretch marks. That just takes some of the response out of the suspension.

After a few years, they seperate and tear through....and that's when you have issues.

But remember, they were clocked from the factory...so everything except the shock bushing has changed its "clocking" by a smaller amount. So it may be some time before anything bad actually happens.

I wouldn't sweat it too hard. Not too many people know about this...and some people have tried telling me that I'm wrong, and that the stock bushings float/pivot somehow :|

Lol @ my double post.

Thanks for the info again though, definitely something I never would have thought about. I guess in a few years I'll install new bushings :)

Thanks for the explanation bro. Lots of useful information that i didnt know about

No problem. Glad I could contribute.

A tip: DEFINITELY get the car aligned ASAP after lowering it. I kind of wish that I would have rolled around on the stock wheels/tires for the first 500-1000 miles that the suspension was settling.

I lost 2 or 3/32" off the super soft back tires after like 700 miles!!!!


So I eyeball spec'd the alignment to get me through the week. I also raised up the back to make up for the springs settling.

I got a lifetime alignment at Firestone today and DAMN...the ride is so much better now that the tires aren't crashing into stuff sideways. Even after the eyeball spec alignment with my eyecrometers and eye-levelers.

I still can't believe the way this thing changes direction. It turns corners with the fury of 1000 suns.

The suspension curves on TSX's are so funny. Tons of rear camber and toe change. Barely any front change. I know why Acura does it (understeer is safe, and excess rear camber doesn't really wear tires...and the toe-in keeps the tires wearing evenly....even with camber). But it still makes me laugh.

0.5deg front camber and 2.7 degrees rear camber lol. Toe is stock. 0 up front and +.07 rear. I like the 3.6 degrees of caster. Nice touch by Acura on that one.

Great write up!!! I see you are from Illinois as well. Good to see other wagon modders!

**Trillinois

West Burbs, brotha.

First off, awesome write up!

Second, how has it been living with the coils/wheels so far?

I'm in a similar situation. Just picked up a 2012 wagon (white even) which I share with my girlfriend. I also had a hookup on STs, so I went with those, but I'm doing 18x9.5 +40mm Niche Targas for a little bit more of an aggressive stance. Hopefully they fit ok, but I'm planning on rolling and a minor pull, so it should be fine. Fingers crossed.

Anyhow, up here in northern California, I have the same aforementioned concerns: being able to get over big bumps, getting to off-road trails, etc. We did, after all, buy a wagon to take on cool trips.

So I just wanted to make sure that it's still livable, and that your girl has been cool with driving it. My other half is concerned that we'll be sacrificing too much ground clearance, but I continue to insist that I'm only going to lower it a little bit :D

The ride quality is definitely better than stock. I didn't really lower ours much. Maybe like 1.5".

A tip would be to definetly buy tires with a soft sidewall. Michelin Pilot SS or Conti DW are my go-to daily driver summer tires.

I did improve my writeup and post more reviews. But I can't edit posts on this forum! So...link:

http://honda-tech.com/suspension-brakes-54/coilover-diy-review-pics-kw-sts-tsx-wagon-3250600/

fantastic write up!
helps that you're witty and hilarious too...

:cheers: to my S2000 AND Advan soul bro...

I've also heard of it called relaxing the bushings. I actually do the same, but normally I'll ballpark where the coil height will end up since miniscule adjusting will do no harm...then I place a stack of wood under the rotor hat and lower the car all the way down to compress while still having access to all the bolts.

Thanks man! And yeah, there are different ways to achieve the same thing. :thumbup:

Which ADVAN model do you have on your S2000?

My favorite! RS...same as I have on the TL. :love:
RG's have grown on me a lot though!