amthar

I have a 2014 RLX, one of the rear struts is leaking, not completely blown out yet. I'm eyeballing replacing all the struts with BC Coilovers. I'd like to do the work myself as it seems pretty straight forward from all the videos I'm seen - although none of them are specific to the RLX.

Anyone replaced the front and/or rear struts on your RLX? Was it hard? I'm not a gear head, but I can turn bolts and follow directions Do any of you have a link to a repair manual or video that explains how to replace the struts? My internet searches are coming up empty.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

I dont have an RLX, but if it's like most Acura's with upper and lower control arms and multi link rear, then you could just follow a different car's DIY.

pretty straight forward.

- jack up car
- remove wheels
- loosen from strut tower
- loosen from control arms/multi-link
- jiggle it around until the strut comes out.

to install, reverse the order.

there are small nuances or tricks, like jumping on the rear hub to gain enough clearance to remove said strut, or by using a long pole to act as lever with the pole on the mult-link as the fulcrum.
or by using a second jack to raise the control arm.

in all likely, you will need a 2nd person if this is your first time

amthar

So my shop told me one of my struts was on its way out. On top of that I was tired of the rather hard/harsh ride from the car ever since I bought it (used with 60k miles on it).

I found @Rez posts about BC Coilovers and finally took the plunge and ordered a set from Redline.

I also bought a year of access to ChiltonDIY for my car, and that was INVALUABLE. The front struts were easy. The rear struts required me to disassemble a ton of the back seat and trunk areas in order to remote the rear shelf to get to the top of the rear strut towers.

My father-in-law and I worked our way through it, took us about 8 hours total.

Needless to say the struts feel awesome, but I need an alignment bad. I have the damping dialed to 19 (out of 30) and it feels a tad smoother than factory. I'm going to wait to get an alignment and then I might play with the damping and ride height some more.

My shop wanted almost $1000 in labor to install all 4, so I'm quiet happy with the results.

amthar

I have a local Honda/Acura speciality shop I usually take my car to for all the work I need. They don't do tires or alignments. I decided to call the dealership (who I never use) and they had a same-day availability for an alignment, $107.50 and said it should take about 30 minutes. The dealership was dead when I got there and the entire time I waited.

Right at 55 minutes the service rep calls me to her desk and says, "so... you said you replaced the struts. Did you replace the struts with adjustable ones?" Me: "Yeah" "Wow, so we've never seen that on an RLX before, it's really slick. You essentially have an NSX when it comes to your suspension now." Me: "That's good because the factory struts on this 2014 are atrocious. Tiny potholes and bumps would practically break my back." "Well, it took the tech longer than they expected. We didn't charge you any more but it should have been a 2 hour job - he just happened to have experience aligning an NSX and followed that procedure. Next time we are going to charge you a bit more." She showed me the alignment report, and boy was the car out-of-whack. I kinda knew that though, from how it was behaving. Anxiously I jumped it and headed out, ready to see what the finished project felt like.

So I thought I liked the BC coilovers... but now after the alignment I don't really like them, I FREAKING LOVE THEM. The car feels like a premium luxury sedan, floating along the road. You know, what it should have felt like from the factory. Bumps that used to hit so hard I was worried about losing fillings in my teeth are now hardly noticeable. Before swapping these out there were potholes that would routinely hit so hard (regardless of how slow I took them) the sunglass holder would pop open. Those days are a thing of the past.

I know most people aren't driving 2014 RLX PAWS anymore, but I love this car and plan to drive it into the ground. The BC Coilovers just made it a car I can drive into the ground, while not driving my spinal cord into the ground with it. 5 stars, highly recommend.