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Daily Driver
Right so, let’s throw this right out there, this is so far from a build it doesn’t actually deserve it’s own thread. But I’m bored, and I want to keep the StanceWorks forums alive, so here is my contribution to our small community. This is my 2011 TSX SportWagon. I purchased it March of last year, about exactly one week before everything went to shit here in the US. At the time, I had a decent length commute and after a number of problems with my Fiesta ST, I had convinced myself I wanted something comfortable, practical, and the opposite of my M3. The two compliment each other pretty well.
A few things on the TSX itself, since this gets asked all the time. Yes, Acura did make a wagon version of the second generation (CU2) TSX. They only brought about 10,000 of them across the entire production run, so they’re pretty rare. Actually, very rare. However, they aren’t that hard to find if you keep an eye out, they seem to change hands quite a bit for whatever reason. All TSX wagons were sold in the same spec, K24, FWD, automatic only. The US did not get a V6 wagon, or a manual wagon, or an AWD wagon. It sucks, but if you want the big booty, you’ll have to make do with the basics. The only real option you could select was the tech package, which included GPS and some other goodies. All of which are useless in 2021. Mine has this package, so yay for me... fully loaded.
I bought it at Carvana of all places. For those international, Carvana is a new type of dealership here, that basically buys/sells cars with no haggle. They also have vending machines, which is just a fancy delivery gimmick. One I was very excited to participate in. I found the TSX online, liked what I saw, and had it shipped to the delivery center to pick up. The day I picked it up it predictably poured rain, but it made for some cool photos that evening.
Early on, I decided to get the car tinted. Living in Arizona means harsh summers, and I didn’t want to bake alive. So I got that taken care of. I also took care of some basic maintenance that seemed to have been neglected. But again, for the most part the car sat. With the pandemic, my commute was gone, I work from home full time. I managed to take both my cars on a mini-road trip up to Northern AZ over the summer. Uninteresting other than it was cool to have both cars there for the photo.
I told myself I didn’t want to do anything to it, because it’s my daily and because it wasn’t that interesting to drive. It’s just “a car”. And I made it nearly a year. But thanks to the pandemic, I’m bored as hell, and also frankly I figure if I’m keeping the car for a while, I may as well make it mine. So my goal was wheels, suspension, and some small exterior mods.
Anyone who knows me knows I’m a real wheel snob, so this wasn’t an easy process at all.
I flirted with the idea of buying my friends OZs, and even test fit them on the car. They looked fine, but they were a weak spec and I didn’t really feel the style initially. Obviously at stock ride height, it isn’t much to look at, but in trying to picture it I just didn’t love the look. So those were out.
Likewise, after putting my M3 on Regas I thought I’d just reuse my 52s on the TSX. They are both 5x120 and 5x114.3 so why not? “Free” wheels! But I knew I’d have to change the tires to fit the car better, and again I couldn’t picture it looking how I wanted after a healthy drop. The flat face kind of kills it for me, even with a spacer and all I think it wouldn’t suit the wagon.
I then got it in my head I had to have 370z Sport Rays. I saw a photo of an RSR car on them, and I thought that was the perfect look. I maintain this is great actually, I found a few wagons to rock them. I sourced a set, but broke my only rule and bought them at night. In doing so, I missed a dent on the lip of one of the rears and had to replace it.
I actually somehow found one at a local junkyard, which is a miracle. A crashed convertible had a rear, and despite having serious rash, it was otherwise straight. I planned to refinish them all, so no skin off my back.
I even ordered tires, I was all set and ready to go. But then I realized I had made a horrible mistake. The initial white wagon I had seen on the 370z wheels had a little secret I had missed, it was not running the staggered set of 370z Rays (19x9 et47 front, 19x10 et30 rear), it was running four front wheels. I found another wagon in New Zealand that ran the staggered setup, and actually was able to speak to the owner. In order to get the rears to fit with a beefy tire, he had to run a fair bit of camber in the rear. No biggie, right? This is Stanceworks, not bitch-fitment works. Yeah except when I found an angled shot of his car, the mismatched camber front to rear wasn’t quite doing it for me. You're at nearly -4/5 in the rear, but stock camber in the front. And as aggressively fit as my M3 is, I didn’t want my daily to go through the same fate. I need to be able to load it up and drive long distance without worrying about debeading a tire or rubbing through my fenders.
No problem, I’ll just get two more fronts, and exchange my tires.
If you have a 370z, I apologize I’m sure this doesn’t apply to you, but Z owners are some of the most difficult people to communicate with. I tried every avenue I could to find two fronts. I even found a guy willing to trade my two rears for his two fronts, but he kept ghosting me repeatedly. Eventually I gave up, I returned the rear to the junkyard, I returned the tires, and I started looking for other wheels. Turns out, that worked out in my favor.
I drove myself nuts looking for the right wheels. I wanted the VIP look, but I couldn’t commit to the fitment. I didn’t want cookie cutter Honda wheels (a lot of TSX guys go for Accord or TL wheels), I didn’t want 17s, and the list was narrowing. Then I just stumbled on these wheels listed somewhat locally. Rays GramLights 57drs. I nearly passed on them because they were gold, but I couldn't shake the voice in my head that said, “Oh yes, I need these”. I struck a deal with the seller to buy them without the massive tires he had on them, and made a two hour drive to pick them up. They’re 18x9.5 et38, and about perfect fitment for the TSX. I’m not the first to run them, and I suppose they’re a little track-lite starter-packy, but the style fits the car very well. I slapped some 255/45r18 Achillies tires on them. TBD if I'm happy with the sidewall profile (probably should have gone for a 40) and the tire itself (they're cheap, but others seemed to have good experiences with them).
So what am I doing for suspension? Normally I’d go the Fortune Auto route, but they don’t explicitly make coilovers for the TSX chassis. That said, allegedly TL/8th Gen Accord coilovers also fit the TSX chassis, you just need to adjust spring rates and valving to accommodate. Though some insist that’s not necessary, the TSX wagon is a fat pig (3700 lbs) with most of it being in the rear. Long roof problems. I spoke to a few people about what specs to run, but they were all dumped, static and they weren’t daily drivers by any stretch of the imagination. I’ll put up with a lot, but I draw the line at 16k springs for a dad-wagon I use to run errands.
By chance there was a guy parting out his TSX, and had a great deal on some Teins. These are the supposed higher-spec versions (Street Flex has dampening settings), but more importantly they didn’t actually have all that many miles on them. Normally I don’t buy used suspension, but may as well save some money and try these out. If they don’t work, I’ll bin them. Plus, they say they’re specifically for the CW2 chassis, so maybe Tein put some thought into making these.
Remember when I said I got something else while I was getting the wheels? Well this was it.
It seems to be a fairly popular mod to put AP2 S2000 exhaust tips on things that aren’t S2000s. The problem is the dealers caught on, and seem to be charging an absurd amount for them new now. I searched high and low and found selling an entire S2000 stock exhaust, which has the tips I need on them, for a whopping $60. No brainer, pick that up, pull the exhaust tips off, scrap the rest. He happened to be in the same area as the guy selling the wheels, so I swung over and grabbed that. I just gave them a good polish since they had been sitting for years outside.
It’s a subtle change, and maybe not worth the effort. But I suppose anything that takes us a little closer to the whole “Sport” part of the the “SportWagon” is a plus. For $60, not my worst decision.
This is really scraping the bottom of the barrel for changes, but I also put a smaller antenna on the car. I don’t know why, but the stock one bothered me for some reason. Makes zero difference ultimately, but document everything.
Then came suspension install time. I had to actually start with replacing a destroyed lug. A constant theme of this car is whatever shop serviced it last completely over tightened and stripped anything they touched. The whole suspension install took an obscenely long time, I had to fight ridiculous issues like suspension strut tops having red loctite on them. End to end I was in the garage for nearly 10 hours fighting this car, which for suspension is beyond ridiculous. Fortunately I fixed everything along the way.
At the end of the evening the car was too low in the rear to clear the tires without a fender roll. So I had to wheel it outside on the stock wheels, which made for a pretty ridiculous look. I don't know about anyone else, but it's always immensely satisfying to see your car low for the first time. You get used to it so fast, but that first time seeing it on the ground and sitting better than stock is one of my favorite things.
Finally, yesterday I took the car over to my friend's house and we rolled the fenders. I also raise the car in the rear a hair, and likely need to go even higher. It still has some rear rake that I'm not a fan of. I also placed an order for K Tuned front and rear camber arms. The rear has way too much camber for such a conservative fitment, and the front needs just a hair more to comfortably clear the fenders. So that'll be installed soon with an alignment following.
I cannot say enough good about the Teins, they ride fantastically. Genuinely shocked what a nice suspension setup that is. I'll continue fine tuning it over the upcoming weeks, but that's not a half bad start for a car I wasn't going to do anything to. I don't expect to really update this thread much past this, but this gives me something to look back at and share. I think I may change wheel setups every now and again, but beyond that: job done. Plus if there are other TSX owners out there looking for some of this information, maybe this thread can help them someday.
"Effy" E60 BMW 530xi 6MT [N52]
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