Macpherson - Y U No Turn Good?!?!?

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BrutalB83

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So, after two months of owning an RSX, I've decided that the point at which Honda ditched the front double wishbones in favor of Macpherson struts is the point at which they really shit the bed.

Make no mistake - I don't regret the purchase. A Type-S RSX is by far a much more refined ride than my rusty old 97 LS. I'm a huge fan of the K motors, and I love the car's looks, both inside and out. It just does NOT handle the same though, especially at low speeds. It still handles pretty well compared to most larger cars, but nothing like a pre-2001 Civic or Integra.

Thoughts?

I mostly just wanted to post something in the RSX forum because it's dead as FAWK in here...
 
I swaped rides with my friend who has a Stock RSX-S when we were Auto-X's from my EM1.

Now my SI has Springs and Tokico Illuminas. But I put down better times then my friend and when I was in his ride I couldnt beat my time in the Si, which should say something that he has 40 to 30 more hp, the RSX really rolled (prolly from stock hight and not the Macpherson Strut). But in the end I think the Type-S overall better car manly do to the K over a my guttless B16.

Their are still good handling Macpherson cars out there.
 
hmm, i really feel like the RSX handles pretty well on stock suspension. i would even go so far as to say it feels like less body roll than stock integra suspension. part of the feel might be the 225/45/17 tires, better grip than the little 195/55s on stock teg.
 
macpherson strut design doesn't allow for camber gain upon compression.

dual wishbone takes up more space, but is far superior in every way.
 
i think most of the slop encountered with macphereson struts is due to the design itself. in a dual wishbone suspension, you have a solid mounting point, being the upper and lower balljoints, via bushings that attatch it to the body, versus a big bearing that incorporates a big rubber bushing to dampen road noise.... that, and the fact that the strut mounts ALWAYS wear out and rattle.... as opposed to the upper ball joint that seems to last forever... (somestimes).... its a completely different driving style.... thats just my take on it...
 
i love mine, best car ive ever had. but im kinda over the performance part of the honda world for a while, so im going back stock with mine. need to find a stock cat converter and im done lol. got a injen intake i need to get rid of to.
 
I swaped rides with my friend who has a Stock RSX-S when we were Auto-X's from my EM1.

Now my SI has Springs and Tokico Illuminas. But I put down better times then my friend and when I was in his ride I couldnt beat my time in the Si, which should say something that he has 40 to 30 more hp, the RSX really rolled (prolly from stock hight and not the Macpherson Strut). But in the end I think the Type-S overall better car manly do to the K over a my guttless B16.

Their are still good handling Macpherson cars out there.

Yeah, like I said, zero complaints about the engine. And yeah, I agree, there are Macpherson strut cars out there that handle decently. In fact, the 06+ Si felt better to me handling wise when I test drove one about three months back, so it seems like Honda did learn and improve a bit...
 
hmm, i really feel like the RSX handles pretty well on stock suspension. i would even go so far as to say it feels like less body roll than stock integra suspension. part of the feel might be the 225/45/17 tires, better grip than the little 195/55s on stock teg.

Yeah, it's not a bad handling car. I've driven plenty of bigger cars that handle much worse. It's just not quite the same as a DC/EG though...
 
i love mine, best car ive ever had. but im kinda over the performance part of the honda world for a while, so im going back stock with mine. need to find a stock cat converter and im done lol. got a injen intake i need to get rid of to.

Yeah, I really enjoy the car too. I think it's a great DD type of car. Quick enough to have fun with, but still gets good mileage and is reliable.

Do you have a race header on yours?
 
Best Motoring did a comparison when the DC5-R was released, against a DC2-R. IIRC, on the track they were on the cars pretty much ran similar times(I'm not 100% on this but I believe the DC2-R won), but the consensus was the DC5 was faster in a straight-line, while the DC2 handled much better. And yes, the DC2 was constantly running down the DC5 in just about every turn and the difference in handling was able to overcome the DC5's power advantage.

Where the difference probably doesn't matter as much: race cars. They run pretty high spring rates and high initial camber.
 
yeah its the dc race header, wish i could just unbolt it and sell it but i had to weld it straight to the b pipe =(
 
yeah its the dc race header, wish i could just unbolt it and sell it but i had to weld it straight to the b pipe =(

That's weird. Is that just how the DC header works?

Anyway, I'm thinking about getting a race header, but I dunno. I mean, the K20Z1 has plenty of oomph for DD duties. I'll probably just do a nice intake and exhaust and the Hondata reflash. That should be good for 200 wheel horses according to most of the dyno results I've seen...
 
nah its suppose to bolt up but the flange was broke so i just welded it lol, and the race header is the biggest bang for buck with these cars, with my race header and injen short ram, and stock exhaust i made 195whp. and mine is a 02 rsxs 200hp from the factory the 05-06 has 210
 
macpherson strut design doesn't allow for camber gain upon compression.

dual wishbone takes up more space, but is far superior in every way.

Yup. Macpherson strut is also much cheaper to produce. The sad thing is 95% of people would rather see heated rear seats in their car than double wishbones. This is why most cars in the future will employ struts in the front and rear beam in the rear (aka no IRS)
 
Yup. Macpherson strut is also much cheaper to produce. The sad thing is 95% of people would rather see heated rear seats in their car than double wishbones. This is why most cars in the future will employ struts in the front and rear beam in the rear (aka no IRS)
Truly. Cost of production is an enormous consideration, especially at the compact/economy level, even in cars that are "tuned" from the factory or directed towards a more performance-conscious segment.
 
yeah, plus there's space issues in terms of the motor bay vs what the suspension can take up.

my car has mac's up front as well.

To counter it, you just need to run aggressive front camber ALL the time. My car has an optional 'rspec camber bolt kit' to counter it (have, haven't installed). They don't come installed as they void the factory tire warranty and I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Maybe in the spring.

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