6mtV6

Is it possible that when building a 6mt TL, the factory installed the 5at suspension setup instead of the 6mt setup?

Teh Jatt

anything is possible

why, something wrong?

A-TLvic882

Do you have a brambo???

6mtV6

I was just curious. I guess my 6mt isn't handling as well as I expect it to.

Anyone else here feels their 6mt TL doesn't handle as well as it should with the stock 6mt suspension setup?

Repecat

Other than the front brakes, what are the differences?

6mtV6

LSD, some suspension differences.

A-TLvic882

Mine handle as well as it should ,i gess. But it's a week allredy in a dealership with a battery problem.

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98854

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=101014

6mtV6

Do you get some body roll when you make fast turns?

IL_TL

6mtv6,

I am glad you mentioned this. My wife has an early production 04' 5AT TL (first week of delivery) and I have a late production 04' (VIN 707xx) 6MT TL.

The early production AT rides twice as stiff (at least) as my late production MT. I am almost ready to have the springs and shocks switched. The AT has 14k mi. and the MT has 1.6k mi on it. Although I would think that the suspension would "soften" with mileage rather than become more stiff.

The dealer said that Acura thought they may have over done it on the suspention, and that led to early complaints of rattles. Maybe all of the complaining led to a softer suspension on the later models.

I wish there was an easy way for me to tell if my MT actually had lower spring rates than my wife's AT.

6mtV6

I thought I was crazy.
For those that know what happen when I traded in my SSM 5at for a 6mt, I got a Anthracite one first but there was a paint defect by the driver side fender. I had the car saturday which I drove on the highway almost the whole day. Sunday I didn't drive it much. Monday I went back to the dealer and the dealer gave me a new TL and I chose a NBP. Well when I had the Anthracite one for the for the 3 days, I drove on this ramp and there is this little bump, the Anthracite handled better than the SSM. I only drove on this ramp once with the Anthracite. But when I got the NBP, I drove on the same ramp a week later and it didn't seem like it handled that well. Maybe I wasn't driving the same speed.
Mine NBP 6mt is in the 69xxx and so is the Anthracite one.
Maybe the 5at and 6mt actually has the same suspension? Or maybe only some 6mt actually has the 6mt suspension setup? Mistakes made at the factory?

A-TLvic882

Take a ride from dealer few TL 6MT 04 & 05, and compare.

Chingrin

At what number does an early build become a late build???

EmuMessenger

I do not have the answer, but that is a great question!

Road Rage

(The quickest way to determine if you have the 6MT underpinings, IMO, would be to measure the diameter of the anti-roll bars, and compare them to rated spec - since the suspension is installed as a system, it is unlikely they you would get a 5AT suspension if the ARB's are the right diameter for a 6MT.)

Of course - this is a fairly heavy car with a sedan center of gravity, plus the springs are soft, even with the 6MT. But consider also that the "European" model of suspension tuning still allows a car to hustle through the twisties. Euro rely on long suspension travel, tight shock dampers, beefy anti-roll bars, but fairly soft springs.

The American model ( F-cars, Mustangs are excellent examples) tends to rely on very thick anti-roll bars, very stiff springs, amd moderate dampers. This is partly because of the limitations of live rear axle cars, where limited spring travel makes Euro tuning impossible. This makes for great handling on very smooth roads with long sweeping turns, but rather less good handling on bumpy roads.

European cars tuning is for their roads and conditions, ours developed out of our roads - we have certainly moved more in the direction of the European model, thankfully.

However, we tend to equate great handling a quite a bit on body roll - I agree that it always "feels fast" when a car has limited roll. But is it really fast in practice? Well, anyone who has driven a Jag or a big BMW at speed is amazed that while the car will feel (and appear to onlookers) as if the car were about to heave over, the fact is that they can and do move through turns at amazing speeds, while still offering enough suspension comliance to avoid being jostled over a few feet if the car encounters a bump mid-turn, as the old American model of buckboard suspension design* produced.

So while you 6MT may not "feel" as planted as you had expected, one asks to ask what you have been driving, and point out that car posture and its actual roadholding (which is quite different than high skidpad numbers) can be at odds, but the car is damn good in handling. The 6MT I drove impressed me, the A-spec even more. It was not what i was looking for in a family hauler/commuter car, and I did not like the clutch action, so I bought the 5AT. But that car is no slouch in handling either.

*I think the apex of this was the 1984 Corvette, the first C4 - Chevy wanted numbers, and coming close or hitting the magic 1.0g in the skidpad was important to them. So the 1984 Z51 had extermely stiff springs, shocks (dampers), and beefy anti-roll bars. On a marble-smooth surface, it had almost zero body roll, and the taut turn-in also contributed to the feeling of invincibility and race-car handling. But of course, with no compliance, if an ant farted near the car in a turn, it could make the thing jump one traffic lane! Chevy got clobbered with complaints from owners and eventually the car mags, who had been playing ball with Chevy up tho that point, and were apparently caught up in the adrenaline rush that comes with any new Corvette - after all, it hand been 16 years since the C3!!! Of course, in 1985 the car was tuned for much better roadholding, the skidpad numbers fell, but the car was a better handler, even with reduced "race-car" feel. See where I am going with this line of thought? I had a 1984 Z51, traded to a 1985 - one of the few with a radio delete (they offered to give me the Bose system free, having had no previous orders for a radio delete car, and apparently, no provision for it on the line in Bowling Green!! The radio hole looked like they had gone down to Radio Shack and bough a project enclosure in black ABS plastic, then cut and hot glued it!! The speakers had the Bose grills on them, but none of the speakers!! It was a riot.

6mtV6

Thanks for the informative reply, Road Rage.

I do get some body roll when I make fast turns. What I don't like is when making the turns and the road is bumpy, it feels like your gonna loose control. I think it's because of the BS tires I have on the car. If the road is smooth, it handles the turns impressively.
The 6mt you test drove, did it have the HPT?

Road Rage

That does not sound like a tire problem - I did not notice which tires the 6MT had - pretty sure they were the performance tires, as the turn-in was quite sharp. The TL is Euro-tuned, but if this is your first FWD car, the combo of the fact that the steering tires are also the power delivery tires can give the impression that you might lose control. But you do not, do you?

I do not know what BS tires are - bull shiznit, Bridgestone, or what? I have the TL42's, and they are fine for my purposes, and I like Bridgestone tires. I have Dueler H/L's on my wife's Outback, RE050's on the S2000 (and RE050 Scuds are OE on the Ferrari Enzo).

6mtV6

I see what you mean by how the steering tires are also the power delivery tires can give the impression that you might lose control. The handling on the 6mt is great but I just feel like something is missing. Maybe the A-spec?

The BS tires are the OEM Bridgestone tires, EL 42.