Frio7

What up everyone...

I am looking for a simple, close to OEM (maybe slightly better ride quality) shock and spring replacement for my 05 TL. I have looked at some KYB Excel-G, Koni, and Tokiko Blue's but do not know if those are what I would want or need. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

I presume you have an Automatic version of the TL. Yes, no?

When you say you want "slightly better ride quality", are you saying you want a slightly softer/compliant ride? If so I suspect you'll be disappointed if you go with any of the aftermarket setups as they typically stiffen the ride.

Question; why are you wanting to replace your springs?

Frio7

Horseshoez...I have an Automatic version, and I was looking for softer ride I guess..lol. However as long as it performs well I wont have an issue with anything. I was told that I should replace the springs if I am going to replace the shocks....Both passagner side front and rear are slamming if you go over any little bump.

thoiboi

Go KYB if you want close to OEM.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Not sure where you got that information or where your source got it, but your springs will generally last the life of the car.

Regarding the "slamming" over bumps you report, it sounds like one or more of your struts/shocks has failed.

Given how long the OEM stuff lasts, I personally would recommend you buy replacement Acura parts (which means front shock absorbers or shock absorber assemblies) as I'm guessing your rear shocks are still okay. That said, even though I am not an advocate of replacing springs, the job gets a heck of a lot easier if you buy the full spring/shock assembly.

As I see it, here are your two OEM options (prices from BernardiParts.com):

• Replace just the two front shocks: ------ $224.50 (plus labor)
• Replace both front shock assemblies: --- $349.65 (plus labor)

Frio7

I have no clue either, that's just what I was told. Do you have a direct link for the bernardi parts?

thoiboi

www.oemacuraparts.com

go in and fill in your car's info yourself to ensure you're ordering the proper parts for your car

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

https://acura.bernardiparts.com

FWIW, I've found Bernardi Parts is typically a buck or two cheaper per part when compared to the same parts on the Delray Acura site.

BROlando

If you go OEM, buy shock assemblies. The saved labour costs will outweigh the added component cost. PLUS...depending on your car's miles and usage, your bumpstops may be worn out/degraded, and your springs may be rusted.

Koni STRT's typically offer a more compliant ride than OEM Honda shocks.

But you'd need to pay someone to transfer all your components. **End cost might end up being the same as buying OEM assemblies, however.

The only real downside to Koni is that their paint/coating is massively weak. Looking at it will cause it to fall off.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

One thing I forgot to mention, before you embark on a spring/shock replacement, make sure your stabilizer bar bushings and end links are intact; these can often be the cause of "slamming" when you go over small bumps and road irregularities.

truonghthe

I would buy the whole assembly and called it a day, matter fact my TL-S got a new front set back in 2015.

WDPanda

did you notice a major improvement in the ride quality after? How worn were your OEMs?

truonghthe

OEM one didn't worn that much (89k miles at the time) but pot hole did claim one of my tire and the driver side kinda sag a little, I am pretty anal so I went and bought new front set and I have to say the ride is better, however I now notice the rear like to play more (when push hard during cornering) since everything is new up front.

DMZ

Potholes have a nasty way of doing that. I've hit 3 this season, always at night when you can't see you're coming up on them, taking out 3 tires and a ball joint so far.

Know you know why I won't put lowering springs in the car. In fact, I'd like to raise it if I could !!
.
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truonghthe

that and the stiffness of our suspension doesn't help either, it great for hug corner but not so great for road imperfection. Many of my friend complain about the stiff suspension but I drove couple 08-2010 ISF model the suspension is the same as my Type S.

69z-28

I've always had good luck with KYB. As stated early on, no need to replace the springs unless you are looking to lower the car or create a different ride than the factory intended.

Chad05TL

i have kyb on eibachs, and they work great together. The spring doesn't over power the shocks, in the case of a shock being under-dampened.. Yet, the eibachs are much firmer than any OEM spring and lower. So to me, that really says these Kybs are providing much better damping than one of those real cheap shocks on ebay. I was surprised that I like them as much as I do. I remember once I bought a spring that lowered my camaro like 2" and I bought monroe gas-amatic shocks. And the car was extremely bouncey. The shocks could not keep up with that tight spring. So, none of that going on with these Kyb's even those, as I said, the Eibach (prokit) spring is even firmer than aspec springs. I had koni's before. And I found myself driving around on almost the softest setting. And even then, they made noise. haha.. so I dumped them. Overkill.

jazz6554

Hey Chad - are you still running this same suspension? How does it feel on road imperfections/potholes?
Thanks!

Chad05TL

Hey jazz. Yes I still have these eibachs and kybs. I am still happy with the setup. Suprisingly I like the KYBs better than the eibachs. The eibachs for the most part ride as close to oem as you can get with the exception of Tein High-tech or H-tech. The eibachs are 372lb linear rate on the front, and the rears are progressive at 131-217LB. And the vTein h-tech of 296 / 184.
I have been thinking about converting to H-tech because I want a bit more height in the front. The old eibachs used to have a saggy rear end. I remember people commenting about eibachs having a saggy rear end, but after that, a lot of pictures shows eibachs as having a lower front end and a slightly higher rear. As for me, I think my front end is slightly lower but it is close to equal with the rear. Still, over large bumps, my personal taste is the eibachs on this TL are too low and slightly too firm. So that is why i may switch to H-tech. Nevertheless, most of the time the eibachs are great. They kept your car relatively flat in a turn as long as you are not tracking your car. Even though the eibachs are pretty good, I may still switch, because I would rather have a bit more height on the front only.. and the tears seem too high. So eibach must have over corrected their saggy rear end, because i would prefer my TL to be the opposite way. That is, slightly higher in the front than the rear, by about 1/4" would do it. But still I may not achieve what I want without coilovers.. but coilovers are way too stiff. I will not do that again on this TL.

So the H-tech has more height and it's a bit softer. I may just get the hitech springs for the front and leave the eibachs on the rear if I am too lazy. All I want to do is raise the front slightly and soften it up on the front. I know that may sound odd because eibachs are already fairly soft compared to those really short high springrate springs that come on coilovers as well as many other springs. But I think these TLs are happier with some cushion. My old Camaro had eibachs too, but that car used a different eibach spring, and it was perfect for that camaro. But on this TL the character of the eibach is still slightly too aggressive for a sedan. But others will disagree with that. Eibachs were nearly like oem on my camaro but on this TL the eibachs definitely make it firmer and drops it more on a percentage than my camaro. But mainly the front is the issue. You however will likely not have any complaints about the springs. I definitely will be reusing my KYBs.

I suspect h-tech and prokit are very close to the same, but eibachs will be slightly more sporty in the corners because the front end will sit slightly lower and be slightly firmer.

if you look in the attachment, it doesn't look too low in the front. And I hope I dont make a mistake by switching out the front. But its mainly about the "perspective " or ratio between the front and the rear. And for me I like it slightly lower in the rear. So understand I am NiT PIcKING. Plus you said LARGE BUMPS AND POT HOLES.

the other thing I may do is just lower the rear with aftermarket spring compressors. To get the right aspect. I have not decided. But in general eibachs will handle pot holes better than other springs.unless you get aspec spring. I think all potholes are bad though for any spring..

Chad05TL

Here is something else to consider. And it sort if justifies my opinion about the front eibachs being too firm on a percentage basis. I used the average spring rate for the rears on the eibach since it is a progressive rate spring. But if you dont calculate a percentage between the front and rears using the average of 174, then the natural thing to do would be to use the softer side of the spring for normal riding conditions because you dont ride around on spring with the fully compressed all the time. That only happens if you hit a hard bump. So if you use the 131-ish number to do the calc and figure the percentage, then the eibachs are REALLY out of whack. Because it makes the spread between the front rate and the rear rate much more drastic. Which is not in line with the weight distribution of the TL
so ya, the front of these eibachs are much firmer as a percentage of the hitech springs and it doesn't even match the weight distribution of the car.. at least not as good as the h-tech springs. So I'm not saying eibach is bad, I'm just say I want to soften it up a little bit on the front and give it some more height. Still eibachs are softer than a lot of other springs on the market. Anyway, Newer cars are also a bit taller! Like the accord with those huge wheels and taller hood line.


Base Acura TL weight Distribution: 61/39 = 1.56

Tein H-Tech: 296/184 = 1.61

Eibach: 372 / 174avg (131-217) = 2.13

jazz6554

Thanks for the detailed reply Chad - much appreciated! I'm new to TL (06 model) about 6 months and installed Koni yellows and Eibach pro kit as well. (18" Wheelset) My height basically matches yours.
The ride on smooth pavement is killer - super smooth with great control and the handling/corners are great too - reasonably flat. I just find as you describe that all the road imperfections transmit right through...
feeling harsh - especially in the front end. I was debating on keeping the springs and moving to KYB or OEM dampers to smooth things out, but like you I feel that our cars need a bit more suspension travel to feel comfy.
I can run the eibach springs higher if I use the upper perch on the Konis, but I don't think that will do much for the harshness even with more travel. I'm on the fence with just going factory new suspension setup from the 07-08 gen
and calling it a day as I know that will be cushy......although without all the great handling I have now Still trying to decide.......just want to get this done as I have a lot more on the car I want to accomplish!

jazz6554

It's definitely our sedans as I used the Koni/Eibach kit on my Mustang and it was a great combo for that chassis!

Chad05TL

Ya, you sound a lot like me. But here isa little more info. The oem aspec is probably the best ride and bump absorption that I have used. But I sold the aspec suspension. However when i had my aspec suspension, i thought i was going to get a 1 inch drop.. but i did not get that much. I got about HALFan inch. So with that in mind, the H-tech spring reports a .6" and a .7" drop on the front and rear, in that order so it sounds like the most comparable to the oem Aspec.
I think the Konis are likely transferring the most road feel. But even if you raise the eibachs, it won't change the ride much,. It will change the chamber a bit though. It might soften a tiny bit, but not much at all. It has to do with the camber. The more negative the chamber is, the less travel the body will have because the wheel will not rotate as much as it would if the camber was normal. But still, you have the same springs and shocks and the camber change is only slight, so it won't effect ride a lot. Just slightly.

welcome to the acura suspension whoo's.
being done with it is best. There is not a good solution on these cars. They dknt like being changed much from oem setup, other than aspec kit. Which is not for sale any longer..😭

Steelhead 6.2

Based on this thread, I went ahead and ordered complete OEM shocks coils assembly replacement from OEM Acura parts.For all four corners. I have a 2007 Type-S with 140,000 km's. Really looking forward to it. I get nervous ordering online but this site gave me confidence.

Thanks fellas!

Chad05TL

If you already have a typeS, then why did you buy new coils? They dont sell the aspec assembly anymore. But there may be 1 site that has the front assembly. So if you already have the springs then it sounds like all you need is shocks.so what did you buy, specifically..You can call them and cancel the order. I've done it. I presently have had kyb shocks for a few years and I'm still very happy with them. I think they have more damping than oem, but they are not stiff like koni. The assemblies are slightly easier to install but if I was going to take them all out I would replace just only the shock if that's what I needed.. and get some spring compressors

Steelhead 6.2

Well, I really want to keep my car in pristine OEM condition and AcuraOEM Parts sells the whole assembly. According to my info , and my local Acura dealership, they still do make the whole assembly parts. I found that this site was quite a bit more cheaper . I sat on the fence about other options and possible lowering but decided not too. This car is not my Daily driver, my Audi S5 is. I'm sure if it doesn't work out I can return the parts but they have been more than helpful, answering my emails right away. Very professional!

Chad05TL

Sounds good. Less chance for having noise issues, or alignment or camber problems, and sacrificing ride quality. Granted, those are cases where the more drop, the more these problems exist.

Steelhead 6.2

Yeah man! The parts arrived today from Acura OEM parts and they look sweet! When I get them installed I will give you guys an update. Thanks again!

Steelhead 6.2

Well, after a month of having new shocks/coils put in, I am very happy with the results .Car rides tighter, feels tighter. Hits road imperfections with that new thud thats gives me confidence in new parts. No more rattling sound from rear anymore ,either.Thanks to you all for your input on this thread. OEM Acura parts.com is awesome and if anyone is ever thinking about it, I highly recommend it!