hothij

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased a 2015 Acura ILX 2.0L and had a couple questions regarding doing modifications on it. I am not very knowledgeable in this field so anything helps.

I was wondering If anyone can suggest a good cold air intake system for my car. And also an exhaust system that I can get added for more power and to be louder.

I was looking for something affordable and nothing over the top. Nothing too cheap either but rather average. Any options are welcome.

Thank you,

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Your car came from the factory with a cold air intake, so I'd leave that one alone. As for more power from an exhaust, meh, unlikely except for up near redline at wide open throttle, but at least such an exhaust will be louder.

As for other things to look for which will give you more power, there is literally NOTHING you can do to your car which will qualify as "affordable".

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

a naturally aspirated 4 cylinder (non-turbo) is absolutely the hardest platform to make power.

losiglow

iTrader: (1)

I don't think there's a lot of aftermarket support for the ILX. I wasn't a huge seller for Acura and thus, not very profitable for aftermarket vendors to do the R&D needed to provide good aftermarket components.

You're probably best to leave it alone. Maybe drop some weight if it's feasible. Lightweight wheels make a big difference. Get rid of the spare tire and get a lightweight battery if you want Not cheap to do some of those things but it would help. Good quality lightweight wheels will run at least $250 a piece. And a lightweight AGM battery will be $100+ and won't last as long as a conventional flooded. And getting rid of the spare obviously comes with risks of being stuck on the side of the road.

hothij

REPLY:

Thank you for the input, so would it be possible to swap out the stock intake, because it is not loud at all? I have been looking for aftermarket ones everywhere and it all says no suitable for my car.

And the exhaust you mentioned, is it possible for you to send me a link to anything so I can get an idea of what I need to look for?

Thanks again,

hothij

REPLY:

Thank you for all the great tips, when you say lightweight wheels, roughly how much weight are you talking about? For example what will be the weight of the tire. I was looking to get new wheels and tires so this would be perfect.
Thank you

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

If performance is your goal, you're probably trying to get water from a dry well; Honda did a very good job designing your car to produce a balanced amount of power across the RPM range. If you tweak the intake and exhaust, you may well add a few ponies up near redline at wide open throttle, however, such changes will virtually always reduce mid-range torque by a commensurate amount.

Now, if noise is your goal, then yes, intakes and exhausts will produce more noise, however, such changes will probably slow your car down for all but when you're bouncing the engine off the rev-limiter.

losiglow

iTrader: (1)

The ILX has 17" wheels. I can't find the exact weight but usually stock alloys are around 25lbs. Both my 3G and 4G TL's with 17" rims were around 25lbs a piece so I'm assuming the ILX would be no different.

Tirerack has wheel weights listed on their site. If you go to tirerack, select "wheels" then put in your vehicle info, you can then sort by a bunch of categories including weight.

There are three different colors of the RPF1 which are 15.2lbs a piece. That's 10lbs less rotating mass per wheel which is HUGE. Rotating mass is a big parasitic loss. Freeing up 40lbs, let alone 40lbs of rotating mass will feel like you went from army boots to running shoes in a marathon.

https://www.tirerack.com/wheels/resu...toModClar=2.0L

If you don't like that design, you can opt for 16lb - 18lb wheels. There's a lot larger variety of those and they're usually cheaper. Unclick the 0-15lb box on the left and click the 16-18lb box.

Just keep a few things in mind - these are still 17" wheels. If you're looking for 18" or 19" they're going to be that much heavier. It's certainly still possible to increase your wheel size and also get lighter weight than stock but they'll still be heavier than the same wheel at a smaller size and likely more expensive. So it becomes an aesthetic vs. performance game at that point. Also, lighter weight wheels tend to bend or break more easily than stockies. Both are usually made from aluminum alloys but lightweight simply have less material. While a good aftermarket manufacturer will make every effort to strengthen their wheels, they often assume that their lightweight wheels will be used in a racing application where they won't be hitting curbs or potholes. So if you're in an area with really bad roads, you may want to consider that. However, if you go with 17's, you'll likely be safe since you'll have a good amount of tire to cushion the bumps. If you go with lightweight wheels in a large diameter, it will be very easy to curb and bend them when you hit a pothole.

Tires are another matter. I don't think they really make "lightweight" tires. You'd want to concentrate on quality with tires. Don't go cheap. However, if you find a few you like and still want to compare weight, Tirerack does list the weight of each tire which you can compare. The Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 is one of the lightest tires out there at 20lbs each for the 215/45-17 that the ILX takes. To compare to tires in the same category, the Bridgestone RE980AS, Michelin Pilot Sport S/S 3+ and Pirelli P Zero A/S are 24lbs, 23lbs and 21lbs. respectively. But I wouldn't pick a tire based on weight. Consider all the other aspects as well (though I do really like the DWS06 and currently have them on my '12 TL).