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Hi Folks, been a while! I'm looking at an '07 TL for sale locally. It only has 78K miles and the owner has taken really good care of it (e.g., always garaged, pressure switches, 3x3's, regular synthetic oil changes, motor mount replacement, etc.). It's his wife's daily driver and I think most of the miles have been city because the front bumper is super clean and she only lives about 5 miles from the office. Tires were properly pressurized and are nearly new (BFGoodrich G-Force COMP-2 A/S 245/45/17 done at 72K miles). Took it for a test drive last night and noticed a couple of things I need your guidance on:
1. When driving over less than perfect asphalt, I can feel every bump and imperfection in the road. My obvious thought is the struts are shot.
2. The driver's seat is much less comfortable than the one in my '05. It's his wife's car and she's, shall we say, a little on the "big boned" side.
By comparison, I own an '05 TL with 151K miles that rides like a dream. I've never replaced the struts and see no need to given the excellent ride. My seats are much more comfortable and feel like they have more cushioning and support.
I know they revised the suspension in '07 to give it a firmer feel, so that might explain a little of the ride difference, but the fact that it hardly seems to cushion bumps has me concerned. Doing new front or rear struts will be approximately $800 or $1600 all the way around and don't know what parts the shop might use.
My questions:
1. Is there anything else (hopefully cheaper) that could explain the ride I describe? Did they use crappier struts in '07? As mentioned, my '05 has twice the mileage and never felt I needed struts.
2. Did they change the seats in '07?
3. Is there a way to tell that the struts or springs are no good other than the ride?
4. If the consensus is it needs new struts, would you do front & rear or just one end to start and which brand would you recommend?
Great to be back and thanks in advance for your help!!
Last edited by spamcop01; Sep 25, 2019 at 01:50 PM.
Reason: Adding tire info
Hey man, I would just replace all and get coilovers if down the line you would considering lowering the car for any reason. TEIN Street Advance ~$600ish will do justice.
If you will be leaving the car bone stock then maybe buy new shocks and replace that
You could either do some coilovers or koni/springs for suspension. Are you mechanical enough to tackle it yourself? It isn't very hard and will save you a lot of money.
For what it's worth, my '06 5AT has torn bushings left and right, and I have the exact same tires you mentioned above.....and my ride isn't too bad, all things considered. Soft enough for long roadtrips....So I'm thinking it may indeed be your suspension as well. If you're going to change shocks and struts, do all of them at once.
I'm not a mechanic, but I've done a rack replacement on an '05 before and can't think of too much that's more of a PITA! If I buy the whole strut assembly, I could probably tackle the job, at least on the fronts. Thought I remember you had to pull the rear seat out to do the rears or am I mistaken?
I'm not a mechanic, but I've done a rack replacement on an '05 before and can't think of too much that's more of a PITA! If I buy the whole strut assembly, I could probably tackle the job, at least on the fronts. Thought I remember you had to pull the rear seat out to do the rears or am I mistaken?
You do. It's not difficult. I did it on my RL with my Teins.
My '05 has off-brand cheapo's I got from Firestone Complete Auto Care and they actually ride amazingly well. The '07 I'm looking at has much nicer BF Goodrich's he bought from Costco (I think). The seller is kind of screwed: for starters he thinks his car is worth way more than it is and that's before you factor in this suspension issue and that it also needs a TB/WP service. His only hope is he finds a buyer who doesn't know about the TB/WP and also doesn't know that the TL should ride way better than it currently does...
My '05 has off-brand cheapo's I got from Firestone Complete Auto Care and they actually ride amazingly well. The '07 I'm looking at has much nicer BF Goodrich's he bought from Costco (I think). The seller is kind of screwed: for starters he thinks his car is worth way more than it is and that's before you factor in this suspension issue and that it also needs a TB/WP service. His only hope is he finds a buyer who doesn't know about the TB/WP and also doesn't know that the TL should ride way better than it currently does...
What does he want for it? TB/WP is ballpark $1000 job. Suspension is personal preference. It could be ok.
What does he want for it? TB/WP is ballpark $1000 job. Suspension is personal preference. It could be ok.
He's listed it close to $9K. The only interest I have is because the engine only has 78K miles on it. If I could get his at a decent price and do the work myself to get it back into shape, I might then sell mine and cut my overall mileage in half for just a few grand...
Hey man, I would just replace all and get coilovers if down the line you would considering lowering the car for any reason. TEIN Street Advance ~$600ish will do justice.
If you will be leaving the car bone stock then maybe buy new shocks and replace that
I'm bone stock all the way, but thanks for the suggestion!
He's listed it close to $9K. The only interest I have is because the engine only has 78K miles on it. If I could get his at a decent price and do the work myself to get it back into shape, I might then sell mine and cut my overall mileage in half for just a few grand...
I could see him around $7.5-$8 with no TB/WP done. It is a low mileage Arizona car. Assuming its rust free.
Found it on craigslist. Sounds like it has some exterior damage with dents/scratches. HFL doesn't work, cup holder broken, tears in seat, tear in driver side carpet.
I could see him around $7.5-$8 with no TB/WP done. It is a low mileage Arizona car. Assuming its rust free.
It's rust free, but it's got some scrapes and something kinda screwy on the right rear passenger door: there's a small 3-4 inch dent on the edge as though someone backed up with the door open and hit something rough because the paint has been chipped/scraped way down to the body. Neither husband nor wife say they know how it happened and said that while they noticed the chipping, didn't realize it was also dented/folded. If I bought it, I'd sand it, touch it up, and put a door guard on it. The front passenger seat bottom is also torn and as I said, the driver's seat isn't nearly as comfortable as mine.
Found it on craigslist. Sounds like it has some exterior damage with dents/scratches. HFL doesn't work, cup holder broken, tears in seat, tear in driver side carpet.
Guy needs to rethink his price. $7,000-$7,500.
Yup and assuming someone realizes it needs TB/WP and new struts and couldn't do the work themselves, that's at least $2,500 in repairs to get it right again. As I said, I think he's kinda screwed. Adding to his impending misery: his wife nearly burst out crying when I pulled it out for a test drive because it's her baby. Oof...
Bad struts won't really make it have a "rough" ride. It will make it handle like crap. Ride quality, how it behaves on small bumps and road imperfections, will be much more about the bushings and the tires. Your crappy tires may have softer sidewalls than the nicer BFGs on the newer car. Those BFGs are technically UHP and if you go look the tire rack scores, they aren't rated highly for their ride quality.
On my '05 I have had GT, UHP, and Winter tires on it over the years. There were for sure slight differences in ride quality when comparing the UHP tires to anything else. Small little cracks in the asphalt are more pronounced, you can feel repaired spots more, and textured concrete made more noise. But...the sharpness of the handling was for sure better with the UHP vs GT tires.
As for your city vs highway miles....that just means the transmission has been worked a lot harder over a shorter amount of miles. I doubt it matters much to the engine or the rest of the drive train really. Highway miles generally means less shifts and less heat being generated.
Bad struts won't really make it have a "rough" ride. It will make it handle like crap. Ride quality, how it behaves on small bumps and road imperfections, will be much more about the bushings and the tires. Your crappy tires may have softer sidewalls than the nicer BFGs on the newer car. Those BFGs are technically UHP and if you go look the tire rack scores, they aren't rated highly for their ride quality.
On my '05 I have had GT, UHP, and Winter tires on it over the years. There were for sure slight differences in ride quality when comparing the UHP tires to anything else. Small little cracks in the asphalt are more pronounced, you can feel repaired spots more, and textured concrete made more noise. But...the sharpness of the handling was for sure better with the UHP vs GT tires.
As for your city vs highway miles....that just means the transmission has been worked a lot harder over a shorter amount of miles. I doubt it matters much to the engine or the rest of the drive train really. Highway miles generally means less shifts and less heat being generated.
Makes sense. I can have him inspect the bushings, but is there any good way to tell if the struts are shot? My limited understanding is that if they're no good, the car would actually be "bouncing" and not what I felt where there seemed like there was no "cushioning/dampening."
One other pricing comparison: there was another red '07 TL listed locally that looked really sharp from the outside (not sure about the interior), had 98K miles, and just had the TB/WP done. He listed it for $7,500 and took $6,500. Kicking myself for not pursuing that one further, but kind of got mesmerized by the even lower mileage on the one I'm now looking at...
1963 Buick Riviera (RIP, the one I REALLY miss)
1976 Buick Century (Indy 500 Pace Car, 1976)
1989 Honda Accord SE-i (The Accord based on the Export Edition made in Ohio and shipped to Japan)
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What OP experience is a LCA bushing completely shot, that why the ride quality is crap. I had to replace LCA on every single TL that I bought (well except for the low mile one since PO did the job 6 months prior).
What OP experience is a LCA bushing completely shot, that why the ride quality is crap. I had to replace LCA on every single TL that I bought (well except for the low mile one since PO did the job 6 months prior).
Super helpful, thx! Did you (or anyone reading this) ever bother trying to get new bushings pressed in or just replaced the whole LCA instead? If the latter, did you get Acura brand or other OEM? Acura LCA's are $380 each (ouch!) but OEM's look like $125'ish...
Last edited by spamcop01; Sep 27, 2019 at 12:41 PM.
Reason: Add comment
Super helpful, thx! Did you (or anyone reading this) ever bother trying to get new bushings pressed in or just replaced the whole LCA instead? If the latter, did you get Acura brand or other OEM? Acura LCA's are $380 each (ouch!) but OEM's look like $125'ish...
Press new bushings in. There is a link for building your own tool for the compliance bushings.
Edit: I think the 3-1/4 socket is actually cheaper right now. I have it in my watch list on Amazon, down to $21 last I checked.
For anyone still playing along at home, I just had the seller send me pics of his LCA bushings. I don't know much about these, but he said there are obvious cracks in each side. If possible, please review these pics and provide any feedback. In order, they are 1 of the Driver's side bushing and 2 of the Passenger's side. Thx!!
Driver's side bushing Passenger side bushing 1 of 2 Passenger side bushing 2 of 2
You can buy a new bushing and press it out, bewarn OEM one will last around 20k miles before it starting to rip again. Don't forget to do the little bushing for the strut mount as well, after that you will find the car ride much better.
2 OEM bushing cost like $72 (gone up since last time I bought them at $56)
In the picture the 2 LCA bushing def saw better days.
Last edited by truonghthe; Sep 27, 2019 at 10:37 PM.
Hi
I own an 2005 Acura TL MT A-Spec brembo brakes from the dealer in this configuration. I've replaced CV Axels both sides with quality Axels. I've replaced my struts, inner and outer control arms, compliance bushings have been
pressed out and new ones pressed in. I have 189,000 miles and counting still the original clutch which is still strong and shifts smoothly especially since using the GM synchromesh transmisión fluid.
I'm waiting for my front end motor mount to arrive along with my passenger side motor mount. I believe these maybe the overlooked component to the constant shaking I keep experiencing. New continentals balanced and rebalance. upper and lower ball joints I've done everything. However after inspecting my motor mounts and given the age of the vehicle in miles I believe these motor mounts have seen better days.
Good luck with your search given the miles on your vehicle motor mounts may be the culprit.
Hi
I own an 2005 Acura TL MT A-Spec brembo brakes from the dealer in this configuration. I've replaced CV Axels both sides with quality Axels. I've replaced my struts, inner and outer control arms, compliance bushings have been
pressed out and new ones pressed in. I have 189,000 miles and counting still the original clutch which is still strong and shifts smoothly especially since using the GM synchromesh transmisión fluid.
I'm waiting for my front end motor mount to arrive along with my passenger side motor mount. I believe these maybe the overlooked component to the constant shaking I keep experiencing. New continentals balanced and rebalance. upper and lower ball joints I've done everything. However after inspecting my motor mounts and given the age of the vehicle in miles I believe these motor mounts have seen better days.
Good luck with your search given the miles on your vehicle motor mounts may be the culprit.
Thx, I think he said he'd done one or more mounts at some point, but I'll check. I replaced the passenger side mount on my '05 about 20K miles ago. It was so shot that I heard a "clunk" every time I went over a bump.
Hi
...compliance bushings have been pressed out and new ones pressed in...
Just curious if you did this or took it to a shop. I'm debating whether to buy the tool, do it myself, then sell it used when I'm done or see if I can find a shop who take care of it for me.
Came to terms with the seller and picked up the car. Woohoo! One thing I discovered is what Millimus mentioned: there appears to be a bad engine side mount. That will be pretty easy to address when I do the TB/WP service. Also posted pics of the paint damage I mentioned in case anyone has suggestions. There's also a paint chip on one the passenger side mirror.
On the suspension topic, my understanding was that in 07-08 the base model got a softer suspension compared to prior years, where as the TL-S got a stiffer suspension. However, the A-spec offered the stiffest option.
To note...that tear on the side mount is just a cover. There is still a good chance the mount itself is shot, but it may not be quite as bad as it appears on the outside.
