[drowned12]

Just going to be using this thread to dump install pics and whatnot of these things as I go, but picked up these two for $130 total shipped. Retail is about $170 each. Dunno if they're old stock, but they seem alright.

Not sure about the "with head light adjuster" part. Maybe a lost in translation thing. They're a magenta color (pinkish purple). Current Megan stuff is blue.

I bought them for the "Harden Rubber" part. According to Throwdown, Megan uses a stiffer rubber than SPC (I'll verify this with a screwdriver and seeing how much movement I can get prying). I don't actually need them for their adjustability since my car isn't lowered at all. Still need to get the toe arm from Throwdown. Probably paint everything black or maybe dark purple.





(they only come for hardware for the one end because on this revision they don't weld captive nuts like they do OEM and (apparently) on newer blue revision they weld captive nuts). I had to order all the replacement bolts for the other ends of them because Honda calls for new hardware in the service manual (bolt threads appear to be waxed).

No idea why one of the camber arms has an extra bolt hole on it (circled in red). The parking brake lines bolt up to the traction rods...looking under the car nothing bolts to the OEM camber arms. Very odd.



It's even there in the pic on Megan's site:

Is it a TSX thing?

 

[drowned12]

Got the arms painted with flat black enamel. Pics to follow.

Also learned that Megan is rebranding HardRace stuff (or HardRace is using the Megan brand for US distribution of these arms). Accord CU2 in Europe is the Acura TSX in the US, but the rear suspension is the same. I'm wondering if the front control arm is also the same between the two...because if we can steal the front arm bushings from the Acura world then that's cool @Throwdown.




Side by side the only difference between the TSX and Accord is 1 bushing having 1 bit of the part number different:

 

[cournot]

Hardrace is good stuff--they use higher durometer rubber versus polyurethane for bushings.

 

[staro0989]

Got the arms painted with flat black enamel. Pics to follow.

Also learned that Megan is rebranding HardRace stuff (or HardRace is using the Megan brand for US distribution of these arms). Accord CU2 in Europe is the Acura TSX in the US, but the rear suspension is the same. I'm wondering if the front control arm is also the same between the two...because if we can steal the front arm bushings from the Acura world then that's cool @Throwdown.



Side by side the only difference between the TSX and Accord is 1 bushing having 1 bit of the part number different:

The front lower control arm bushings are identical to ours. I was planning on getting them from hard race in the future.

 

[Throwdown]

Interesting - honestly I haven't heard anything about this but wouldn't be surprised if distribution is shared so can't really confirm or deny anything there (and likely neither would say even if it was true). They could also just be the same color but made differently, but hard to really speculate especially when most camber arms are naturally going to look very similar.

Regarding TSX vs Accord, I never noticed that on the one Megan arm for the TSX (but we sell more for the Accord and typically sell SPC camber kits more than Megan). The arms should be exactly the same though based on all I've ever seen all these years between both suspensions.

 

[staro0989]

I also considered these: Fastline Performance Compliance Bearings by PCI, 2009-14 Acura TSX - HeelToe Automotive I just replaced all my bushings (about 20k miles ago) with OEM bushings except for the ones in the upper control arm, so I won't need them for quite a while.

 

[drowned12]

I also considered these: Fastline Performance Compliance Bearings by PCI, 2009-14 Acura TSX - HeelToe Automotive I just replaced all my bushings (about 20k miles ago) with OEM bushings except for the ones in the upper control arm, so I won't need them for quite a while.

Those aren't control arm bushings from what I gather...they're subframe bushings (the bushings between the front subframe and the body). That's why there's 4 of them and not 6 (since the lower control arms have 3 bushings apiece x2 sides).

Hardrace seems to be the only company that makes bushings for the front lower control arm that work on a 09 TSX. Price quote I got to get them shipped from the UK (since Hardrace doesn't seem to have dealers in the US...still working on that) was about $220 equivalent US dollars.

The total install cost would probably be another $200 since it's one of those jobs where it just requires way too much work and equipment for me to be able to do myself. I don't have a press, I don't have a balljoint separator (sure as hell not going to use the "big hammer" method), and I don't have any of the press-tools for bushings. I'd be tempted to buy all the tools to do it myself because I don't trust anyone to not be an idiot with my car, but that's not in the budget right now.

 

[drowned12]

Magenta mostly gone. Flat black enamel with gloss clear on top. Not the most amazing paint job, but it's good enough for something going under a car:



The point of this exercise is so when I get pulled over a cop doesn't see neon pink stuff under my car (from behind) and figure out my car is anything but a grocery getter.

I still need to order the toe control arm from Throwdown and see about getting everything installed early next week. Going to see how fast I can get from here to LA and hopefully can shake these things down on that trip. And when I say "getting everything installed" I mean me sweating my ass off on my 115 degree garage floor installing these things and then having a shop screw up the alignment job and have no clue what they're doing. Depend on anyone to do anything and the eff it up.

 

[staro0989]

Those aren't control arm bushings from what I gather...they're subframe bushings (the bushings between the front subframe and the body). That's why there's 4 of them and not 6 (since the lower control arms have 3 bushings apiece x2 sides).

Hardrace seems to be the only company that makes bushings for the front lower control arm that work on a 09 TSX. Price quote I got to get them shipped from the UK (since Hardrace doesn't seem to have dealers in the US...still working on that) was about $220 equivalent US dollars.

The total install cost would probably be another $200 since it's one of those jobs where it just requires way too much work and equipment for me to be able to do myself. I don't have a press, I don't have a balljoint separator (sure as hell not going to use the "big hammer" method), and I don't have any of the press-tools for bushings. I'd be tempted to buy all the tools to do it myself because I don't trust anyone to not be an idiot with my car, but that's not in the budget right now.

From what I understand, the Fastline Bearings don't replace the bushing where the shock bolts too. They do replace the other two bushings however from my interpretation and my research on other forums. I had my neighbor (who owns the shop) install all new OEM bushings and ball joints into my car at 130k miles. Only ones that haven't been replaced were the upper control arm bushings because Honda doesn't offer those just for replacement. But I've been considering the ones from Hardrace. I believe I paid roughly $300 for labor.

 

[drowned12]

Project still going. Got the toe arms (had to source from Amazon instead of Throwdown) and painted them. Will probably install this weekend but need to coordinate it with getting an alignment shortly afterwards. Everyone on Google indicates that Race Technik is the place to go in Phoenix for an alignment. Hopefully they're willing to work on something as pedestrian as an Accord. Might just call Tempe Honda and see if they want to deal with a 3 arm kit...they've always been very helpful in the past.

 

[pickup1]

Why is those arms needed if your not lowering your car?

 

[drowned12]

Why is those arms needed if your not lowering your car?

Harder rubber bushings. I want the suspension to do all the work instead of having mini-springs throughout in the form of compliance bushings allowing the back wheels to be unpredictable.

Megan Racing / Hard Race is the only company that makes arms that use harder rubber. I asked Throwdown and SPC uses oem-like bushings.

 

[drowned12]

Project is still alive. I just keep needing my car on the weekend (last weekend for ex. I had to pick up and dropoff someone at the airport) and the install process pretty much completely takes it offline (can't drive anywhere after doing the install except to get an alignment). That combined with the fact Tempe Honda has a constant 1 week wait time to get service and it ends up being over a month.

 

[drowned12]

Update: woke up early to get this done with the intention being I leave at 11:30 for an alignment. Got the lowest control arm installed on one side and hit an issue. Paint overspray (not my paint...Megan's purple stuff) gacked the threads of the bracket that the parking brake cable mounts to. I was going to try just impacting the bolt back on even if it cross threads, but it was so bad I couldn't even get the threads to grab.

It's an easy enough repair with either a thread chaser or removing the welded on nut and using a regular one (I ended up thread chasing it in 5 minutes), but it required taking the arm back off to get access to do it.

Schedule derailed, no way I could get done in time, have to put OEM back on. Good thing it happened on the first bar and not the last one. Will try again next weekend. I'm thinking I need to allocate about 4 hours for start-to-finish.

 

[infinite012]

For anyone curious, the "with headlight adjuster" part of it is probably for other markets where HID headlights were a factory option. In that case, Honda probably had an automatic headlight leveling system added in to the rear suspension - when the car squats down, the headlights aim down so they don't shoot up into the sky/other people's eyes. It's a legal thing.

 

[drowned12]

Finally got this done during my vacation time..6 months later. Wasn't particularly difficult job to do, just a lot of jacking the hub up and down to change geometries enough to get bolt holes to line up. Bit of prying with a Philips helps too when the holes need a bit of adjustment to pry the hub in / out.

One snag I hit is that you have to remove the toe control arm (with the cam bolt) with the arm just beneath it also removed, otherwise there's not enough clearance to get the toe control arm out.

Also, to get the cam bolt and plate to mount, after marking the bolt and the frame to know what the adjustment is supposed to be, had to insert the bolt rotated 180 degrees out of whack, get the bolt and plate in their slots, use the nut to lightly sandwich it all together, then adjust it to position. Trying to insert the bolt in the originally marked position is impossible. The cam plate was way off from where it should be until I figured out the 180 degree trick.

Jacked the hub up with vehicle weight before torquing everything down to 43 ft-lbs which is the spec. The control arm adjustment nuts I just torqued down as tight as I could with a 15/16" + adjustable wrench. Probably 60+ ft-lbs.

I pushed bolts through the adjustable arms and their OEM counterparts, made sure both arms were parallel to each other, and got the lengths practically exact. The different bushing materials might change the total length when the new arm is loaded (bushing squished vs less squished if it's harder), so I'll have the alignment checked anyways to make sure it's all good.

Total install time was about 4 hours, with the second side going a lot faster than the first side once I knew how stuff was supposed to go. Also bled the brakes and rotated the tires while I had everything off.

(EDIT: Tempe Honda does free alignment checks so I can know if it's out of whack without paying $80 or so for an alignment).

 

[drowned12]

Tempe Honda ahd me in and out with free alignment check in 10 minutes with no appointment.

Everything all good front and rear no adjustments required. Looks like shoving a bolt through both bars and getting the lenght exact is OK strategy if you know going into it your alignment is good.

EDIT: Here's the alignment sheet for fun: