G

So, I bought my '04 TL about a month ago. When I bought it, I had them through in some eibach springs. It turns out that the springs are for an '03 accord-which has the same suspension, but is lighter in the rear than the TL.

Anyways, I had the springs installed and it drove fine. It pulled a little to the left, so I had an alignment done. The car was in speck except for the rear camber-no problem, a camber kit is on order. But, after I had it aligned, a problme arose.

When I am driving and am at "idle" (i.e. no aditional gas), the car tracks straight. As soon as I give it any gas, not flooring it all, the car pulls hard to the left. No lights illuminate. The dealer says that it is the springs (because the car is lower in the rear then the front). But, I drove a stock '03 CL-S that had the same problem.

What the heck is wrong????? I need it fixed quick because I am leaving tomorrow on a road trip!!


HELP!!!!

G

Alright, I knew that I should have posted this in this section first, but I was hoping that I could get more exposure by being out of this particular sub-forum.

Can anyone help???

cvajs

4044.140 eibach springs is for 04 TL, is that what you have?? 03' accord v6 eibach pro-kit does also use 4044.140 springs. how does the CL play into this picture you paint??

i also doubt that the 4044.140 springs would make the TL pull as you describe. also, TL has rear camber adjustments, is it that far out that you need a camber kit.

i ordered up the same springs, they are not in yet, so i'm curious too.

G

I mentioned the CL because it had the exact same problem-it would track straight under idle, but when you applied any gas, it would pull to the left. So, that makes me believe that the springs have nothing to do with this problem.

The dealer is saying that it is the springs and wants me to re-install the stock springs and see if it still happens, and if it doesn't, they want me to buy a set of comptech springs. I think that they just want to make more money off of me!!

This is really starting to piss me off-even my mechanic who installed the springs says that the springs would have nothing to do with it. Luckily for me, he is a great guy and is going to look at it for me and see if he can figure out what the heck is goin on.

Aghhhhhhhhh!!!

nearwater4me

Hmm... weird. That might be torque steer you're experiencing. But I see no reason the springs gonna cause it get worse.

cvajs

eibach makes the springs for comptech. each brand has a spring that advertises a 1"/1" drop, but that does not mean they are the same rate spring. i went with eibach because they have been doing suspension for a long time. i'm sure eibach would have heard about it if their spring made a car drive wacky.

G

No, it is not torque steer. I am just really frustrated and pissed off now. The only one who is steping up is the guy who put in the springs. He wants to look at it to see what is wrong. Even Acura admits that everything looks great as far as from the srping install.

This dealer was supposed to be the good guys. They have helped out numerous times before. I have no idea what the heck is going on now.

cvajs

if it's not a even drop, and the rear is more than front, then this will shift center of gravity back. it's possible that torque steer becomes more pronounced as weight is lifted off the front tires.

your description did not say at what speed you are going when nail the gas.

TL has some sort of torque steer dampening, maybe yours is not working ?? but i can see your concern if you just got the springs and this started happening...


did you verify the springs you have are the correct ones ??

G

That's the thing, it happens at all speeds. And, it is more prevalent when I DON'T "nail" the gas, it really only happens when I slightly give it gas.

I have not verified the springs cause the car is still at Acura and the box is at my house. But I will check as soon as I get back.

cvajs

i'm not sure how the steer damper works, but if's it's a active damper then maybe it's not working during the slower accelerations ??? 5AT or MT. if 5AT maybe the diff is not doing it's job correctly, and all is a coincidence with the spring installation.

heck, swap out the rear springs real quick to see what happens.

G

Um, yeah, I wish I could swap out the rears "real quick"!! Anyways, I go to pick it up tonight. It is a 6MT (the only way to go!!).

I am just tired of dealing with this!!! It has consumed just about all this afternoon. Tiring.

svtmike

This reminds me of an old but highly useful diagnostic flowchart:

Diagnostic Tool

Mike

cvajs

good one

G

I like it!!

cvajs

i just spoke to Eibach support folks. they say there are no issues with pro-kit 4044.140 springs on the TL. he assured me that if there was any issue they would have spotted it before adding it to the application list for 2004 TL. this kit is rated 1"/1" on TL, so he does not understand why any dealer would say that the TL is heavier than accord and that's why spring is lower on TL.

because of private label contracts he could not discuss specifics about the Comptech spring, but did say that most of the private labels rely on Eibach to engineer the spring.

so, i'm baffled about the issue you are having, and i'm baffled why they say get Comptech when Comptech is made by Eibach and has the same 1"/1" drop specifications.

G

That doesn't surpise me that they would say that. Comptech actually admited that there was a problem and fixed the rear. You can call them and they will acknowledge that there was two versions of their springs-the first which is what Eibach uses now, is the one from the accord. The second version has heavier duty springs in the rear. I can attest that the eibach's defin. did have a "droopy" rear.

Now, if this will actually fix my weird pulling problem, who knows?? I can only hope.

SLVR04TL6PD

I would check out obvious mistakes before switching to Comptechs.

- Did they install the springs correctly? ( Front springs in the front and rear springs in the rear)

- Are your tires all inflated to the manufacturers suggested pressure?

- Is the emergency brake seizing up on the left side?

- Is there a bad wheel bearing on the left side?

- Is the steering wheel off center so that it appears the car is out of alignment?

- Is your car suicidal and wants to turn head first into traffic? ( sorry, had to put that in)


Take your car to a different dealer and have them check it out. DON'T tell them you installed the springs and see if they catch it. If you tell them first, they will blame that when they don't locate the REAL problem.

Measure the distance from the center of the wheel to the edge of each fender and see if the height is equal on all four corners

Good luck

-Chad