I'm sorry this is so long. If you are considering installing the Aspec suspension, this write up may convince you to have a wheel alignment performed after the install.

Background info: Back when my '05 manual TL had 11500 miles on it, I installed the Aspec sport suspension myself. I also installed the Comptech rear sway bar at the same time. At the time I did not have an alignment performed more out of cheapness/laziness than anything else. I loved the way the car handled with the new suspension. The ride and handling was crisper without any apparent downside. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

At 19,000 miles, as I was preparing to rotate the tires, I noticed that the insides of the rear tires were wearing a bit. I kind of expected this because of the reports that I read on this site and I went on a few long trips (>1000 miles) with a loaded car ( 3 occupants and lots of luggage). At that point I figured I'd get an alignment and rotation done in the near future at an excellent tire shop down the road from me.

Well, two weeks ago with 20,000 miles on the car, I brought the car in for the wheel alignment and rotation. When I picked up the car, I was told that the alignment numbers had been significantly out but that they were adjusted to within spec (Aspec installation instruction numbers). The after "actual" numbers had the rear camber on both sides on the edge at -1.5 deg. Toe-in was also towards the high end on the rear wheels but within spec. The shop recommended not rotating the tires because of the wear on the inside of the rear tires.

Because of the wear on the rear tires, I took the plunge and ordered some new Toyo Proxes 4's in the 245-45/17 size to put on my stock TL rims. Since I had read on this site about abnormal tire wear with full loads and different Aspec alignment numbers from Acura, I decided to take my car to Acura to have them perform an alignment and get the numbers documented with them in case I run into have abnormal tire wear on these tires.

When I went to pick up the car, the service advisor said that the right rear camber was out of spec @ -1.6 deg and could not be adjusted. He recommended that I install the Ingalls rear camber/toe-in kit at a cost of $350 (it's not clear, but that is probably parts only cost) to bring the rear camber numbers back in line.

I asked why would I need a rear camber kit for the Aspec suspension since nowhere in the installation instructions for this Acura designed product mentioned this? The service advisor quickly brought over the service manager to handle the issue.

After filling the service manager in on the details, he responded that I probably have bent suspension parts from hitting a pot hole.

I responded that I didn't hit any significant pot holes and that the lack of bent rims pretty much backs this statement up. I asked him to show me which suspension parts were bent.

He said that we wouldn't actually be able to see any bent parts.

At this point we got in to a discussion about the Aspec alignment specs used in the alignment and whether they used the correct specifications. When he looked up the Aspec installation instruction values he agreed that the rear camber was still out of spec.

I then told him that it is unacceptable for me to have to add a rear camber kit to allow the Aspec suspension to be properly aligned and that I wanted to get an explanation from Acura on why this was the case. I have an appointment at 10 AM on Wednesday with an Acura representative who will be at the dealership.

On my way back to work, the Service Manager called and said that he had called the Acura technical hotline and thay wanted to know what type of wheels I had. After telling him that I have the stock 17" wheels, he told me that the Aspec suspension is designed for the Aspec 18" wheels and that because the offsets are different there is a different "included angle" that may be the source of the problem.

So, in summary I am not opposed to installing a rear camber kit to "center" the alignment readings. Hopefully, if I go forward with this I won't have any wear issues, even on long heavily-loaded trips.

I have some questions (If anyone is still reading this):

- The alignment values are a bit different between the "actual" values taken last week at my local shop and the "before" values taken this morning at Acura. Is this to be expected between different alignment racks?

- Is there a different rim OFFSET between the Aspec and Stock rim setups? I thought they were both +45mm?

- What is "included angle"? I see on the alignment printout an included angle for the front alignment, but none for the rear.

- Camber kits- Comptech offers a rear camber kit for $90 per side. Ingalls offers a camber/toe-in adjusting kit for ~$150 (I think) per side. I think, based on another active thread that the Ingalls kit is actually for the Accord, but is fine for the TL. Anyone have any other recommendations for a rear camber kit besides Comptech or Ingalls?

Thanks for sticking with this. Any suggestions on how to proceed are welcome.