hope this isn't a stupid question and i was hoping to get some advice from some experts...

recently sold my 91 MR2 and just picked up this 05 TL (67K miles) about a month ago, i understand these 2 are complete different cars and that MR2 gave me a bunch of pleasure in terms of its handling/cornering...and of course i had the Tein Basic Coilover on it too

so here is my concern, i dont plan to spend any big buck to change the coilver/spring, but is there anything minor I can change or replace (strut/sway bar???) just to make it smoother especially during cornering??? feels like i lose most of the power before entering a turn and need to gas it a bit hard just to pick it up again upon exiting....maybe its due to the fact that its a 5AT, any advice is greatly appreciated...

 

Rear sway bar

 

I picked the Progress 24mm RSB for my first real modification, compliments the stock suspension nicely I think. You can find them for ~$140 and IMO it's a nice place to start wrenching.

Installation is very straight forward. You have PITA rusty sway bar endlink bolts but aside from that there's not much advice to give. I would replace your RSB endlinks at the same time, if they're anything like mine you will be biting on them good with vise grips. They run about $29 shipped for the pair from a Vendor on here.

 

Rear sway bar
Front sway bar
Better Tires

 

is this something difficult if the person has never done it before?? how come no one mention front strut bar>>

 

^^^ the front sturt bar on the TL is pretty good....people have switched it out for GREDDY/RV6/etc but its for more bling than performance....

get the sway bars and you should be good

 

aha...i see...

what brand do you recommend besides Progress? is it necessarily to change the endlinks too....its 05 and just hit 69K recently...

 

IMO The stock strut tower brace is already pretty beefy, works perfect with the engine covers too I think.

As far as changing the endlinks you'd be surprised at how easily the ball joints will move around after you get them out vs. new OEM where you have to really use force to move them. Combine that with possibly having to butcher them with vise grips when there's rust that makes the allen counterhold strip out. As cheap as they are IMO it's a smart idea to have a new set.

 

^^^ I agree word for word lol

About brands:
Rear: Progress, HRR
Front: HRR, OEM Type-S

 

Doesn't changing the front sway bar require dropping the engine cradle? If so, a person (newbie) should be warned that the front sway bar mod is not a DIY and will probably cost some big money to have the front sway bar installed. I do believe this is why we see no one changing front sway bars on the TL.

 

yes FSB requires dropping the sub frame. therefore...not as easy as RSB which is plug in play.

OP-have a set of back up end links around. mileage does not matter. the end links have spent 6 + yrs under your car with road crap, rain and possibly salt. they will be rusty and they will not want to come off as easy as you would like. air tools will be quite helpful, though not completely necessary for RSB swap. RSB will give you less body roll. tires will also help (quite a bit) but...requires more money. if you are lucky you can find a used comptech RSB (they have been discontinued). new ones can be found...you have to find them. i know someone recently posted alink to a brand new one for like $90 to an acura dealer in WA state. aretardedorange recently posted a thread regarding this exact same thing...do some homework and you'll find your answers. we've given you the cliffs notes version. good luck.

 

cool, i will just leave the front alone, sounds like it requires too much hassle and $$$...

i will start looking into those brands and price on the rear RSB and endlinks and see if i can find any DIY thread on how to install them, doesn't sound that difficult at all

can someone tell me where i can get RSB and endlinks for good price??

 

OEM endlinks are about $20 a piece. you can get aftermarket moogs, but it might be overkill for a TL. your choice. amazon has good prices on them.

RSB-see heeltoe auto or excelerate performance...you missed out on the recent group buy for the progress bar. should run about $140 or so with/without shipping.

happy cornering!

BTW install is fairly easy...PB blast your endlinks NOW. should take about 45-60 min. there are DIYs in the 3G garage.

 

yeah i think for the endlinks i will stick with OEMs...

thank you

is this the discontinued Comptech rear sway bar u were talking about?
http://www.heeltoeauto.com/comptech-...l-140-135.html


i also found the Progress sway bar
http://www.heeltoeauto.com/progress-...e-62.0110.html


but why is the comptech one 22mm and the other is 24mm???

 

yes.

that's just how they were made. comptech was the first to put out a RSB for the TL back when it was first out.

the progress bar is the latest and greatest as well as adjustable. bigger bar is stiffer (duh).

run a search on both. many older posts will be for the comptech...later posts will be for the progress bar. your choice.

 

^^^ you go girl !!!

she has answered all your questions spaceboy....not buy it and install it

 

wonder if that $16 difference makes any major impact, if not i think most likely i will go for Progress cuz it's newer and cheaper.....btw they also sell OEM Type-S rear sway bar for $50????

 

ok i think you need to understand the funda behind a sway bar....that will answer all your questions....

why would we all spend the extra $$ ? we all have not been bitten by a mad dog yet LOL

The progress bar is 24mm, comptech is 22mm and the MT (OEM MT sway bar) is 20mm (if am not mistaken)....

people upgrade the rear to progress....search the BM there might be someone selling it for $100 shipped (the usual price).....

for the front, HRR and Type S have almost the same width (dont remember the exact numbers) but Type S bar being tuned for our cars does wonders and hence some have upgraded the skinny front for a Type S front....

 

Progress sway bar is what your looking for.

 

You said you wanted better cornering than a bigger (24 mm) sway bar is what you want.

Stock TL sway bar is 18mm I believe. You'll notice the huge difference once you get under your car and look at your stock sway bar and compare it to the progress way bar.

The Progress Rear Sway Bar has 3 different possible settings. "STIFF" "MEDIUM" and "SOFT"

Soft is still a huge noticeable upgrade over the oem sway bar. I have yet to put my sway bar on Medium or Stiff so I can't speak about that.

 

base AT TL's have a 17mm RSB. the type s and the 6MT base TLs have a 20 mm.

see thread: https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...=786593&page=2 post #45

the progress RSB vs stock...the stock bar looks so friggin' skinny compared to the progress bar (b/c it is!).

 

and as for your concern about it being doable.... It is... but it can also be a pain in the ass.

Me and a friend were working on it and were having a really tough time wiggling the new progress way bar into place. We fought, twisted, turned, did every damn thing for a good 3 hours until we finally got it in place. We had the car lifted from the rear and sitting on 2 jack stands. I don't know if we were just making it harder than it is, or it's because my car is dropped, but man I know for damn sure changing a rear sway bar is not a 3 hour job...

Many people here have said it took them an hour or less. Needless to say, we managed to get the bar in place but it did have alot of scratch marks all over it from trying to wiggle it in place. I had me and a friend put it in and it was still somewhat difficult, I couldn't imagine trying to do it alone!

It's possible as others have done it, but damn it was hard for me.

Oh and the reason I didn't put it on stiff was because I had a hard time lining up the holes just for the "SOFT" setting as it was... Trying to line up both sides for "STIFF" setting seemed damn near impossible! The bushings were getting on my nerves too. I had to constantly go back and forth between the left and right bushing to tighten and loosen it because one side would be out of line compared to the other side.... and man it was just hell. I'm glad i'm never having to do that again, but like I said it might be a 45 minute job for you. It definitely wasn't for me!!

 

when we installed mine we did it with one wheel removed. made life a little easier. back end up on jack stands. about 45 min or so. most of the work was to jack the car up and put on the stands.

 

 

^^^does this mean you didn't do the install this way or are you still peeved that it took so freakin' long to do yours or both?

i checked the garage for the DIYs. we tried without removing wheel. then i said let's try it with removing one wheel. worked out.

 

would the life be a lot easier if i take it to a shop and work on it while standing up underneath the car??

 

Yeah the saying goes that life's easier when you have the money.

Or do you mean you want to take your car to a shop and work on it yourself there?

 

i got a friend who owns a shop and he never charge me for using any tools if i bring in my own parts...

BTW, i was in another thread and ppl were saying the Type-S FSB is the best combination to the Progress RSB??? and installing the Type-S FSB requires relocating your fuse box?? oh my~~~

 

both. I did the install with both rear wheels off the car and both sides on jack stands and still took forever to do it. ahhhhhhhhhhhhh

and spaceboy, i would highly suggest you use your friends shop since it's easy access (you don't have to pay to use the lift, or pay to use his tools).

it's a hell of alot better than laying on your back sliding around with barely any space to move and work

 

exactly, that was the problem when i was trying to change the engine/tranny oil for the first time, the nuts were so tight i couldn't use all my strength and force...so i took it to the shop and have them kinda loose the thing for me, everything is easy as hell when you are standing up being able to use full force...i wish i got one of those lifts in my garage...

 

^^^ the engine oil drain bolt was that tight ??? WOW

its not supposed to be that tight....

yes the ATF fill bolt gets tight but thats due to the pressure....you need a breaker bar for that....

recently i helped a member here in KS switch out the jpipe for the rv6 jpipe....there was no room underneath the car but a breaker bar made the job hella easy....

i have a low profile hydraulic jack and use the jacking rod as my breaker bar

 

Progress RSB has 2 different settings.

 

I was skeptical about that and wanted someone to post this....

2 settings: Stiff and Soft....correct ?

 

heh, I'm a stubborn mofo. I remember my drain bolt was stuck like that once. I just bought my car and there was some hard yellow crap slathered over the drain bolt area. I didn't have a cheater bar but my car was close enough to the pillar at my brother's house so I braced myself against it and used my leg/foot to crack open the drain bolt... sure enough it worked



and just as an FYI, Moog parts are usually OEM equivalent or even better.

 

True...kinda...there are two holes on each side...the ones further to the rear are the soft setting, the ones further to the front are stiff...

Inaccurate or IHC or someone mentioned to do a "medium" setting, connect one of the rear holes and one of the front holes and VIOLA...medium setting...

But forget all that and do full stiff...done and done!

BTW, I installed mine completely on the ground without jacking the car up at all...easy peasy...

 

Bingo. If you have 2 adjustment holes on each side, then you have three setting possibilities. If you have 3 adjustment holes on each side, then you have five setting possibilities. It's only ideal though use a staggered setting if you have adjustable length end-links (usually called a Heim joint). This allows you to remove any preload from uneven end-link angles. Still it's nice to know you could...



Question: Do you guys know how sway-bars work? They reduce grip while cornering. The reason people typically install a larger bar in the rear of a FWD, is to help counteract the car's factory tuned tendency to under-steer. Larger rear bar = less rear grip = more over-steer. Same goes for the front. Bigger front bar = less front traction = more under-steer. That's not ideal for a performance FWD. I wouldn't spend a dime on a larger front bar unless I was doing competitive track tuning. While it would reduce body-roll, and you would be able to say "I have a XXmm front bar YO!", it is actually going to hurt your cars overall cornering performance. Especially if you have stiffer lowering springs (stiff springs means you don't need such a stiff sway bar).

 

Agreed but I stopped explaining it a long time ago because no one listened or searched.

It's always better to get your roll stiffness from stiffer springs, not swaybars. They should be used as a fine tuning tool, not as the sole means of reducing roll. Swaybars are a compromise in the way they're used in most street cars. They reduce roll without killing ride quality as much as stiffer springs.

I've written about handling balance and using the swaybars to tune the balance..... How they can reduce motive traction..... How they can induce inside front tire lockup when trailbraking...... How they can make it tail happy..... How they take the independence out of the independent suspension.... It just gets lost and a new thread will be created a few days later asking the same questions.


In regards to the front swaybar, I did it on my back on the side of the street in the dark with one jack. Not fun but I started it not realizing I had to drop the subframe and I had work the next day so I had to finish it. Took it for a test drive around midnight and went to work 4 hours later. It's probably a 1 hour job on a lift but it took me about 4 hours. An alignment is necessary after your're done.

The FSB was a great addition and helped high speed stability and turn-in. However, it was balanced out by a larger RSB and rear springs with a similar rate to the fronts (very stiff for a rear spring).

 

Tein ss coilovers, rear stabilizer bar, 245/35/19 max summer tires.

 

Is an alignment also necessary after an aftermarket RSB???

 

lol no