Eibach lowering springs

Joined
25 April 2021
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5
Hi all, I am a proud owner of a 17 130r NSX. I am planning to drive down to Eibach main office in Corona, CA to purchase and to have them install the springs. If your Eibach springs were installed by tech at Eibach, please share your experience.
I would take my car to Tustin Acura but they wanted 1500 for installation and alignment. Whereas Eibach only charges 500.
 
My 2017 was taken to Eibach by the original owner where it was outfitted with proprietary lowering springs and heavy duty front and rear sway bars. They decided not to commercially sell the sway bars perhaps following the upgraded factory bars that came out on the 2019 NSX. I ended up having the lowering springs removed because the car was too low for where I live in Santa Barbara (bad roads). I later sold them to another NC1 owner. I contacted Eibach to see if they would remove the springs and put the OEMs back on. They were a little hesitant. I ended up going to Tustin Acura after a number of failed attempts at other dealers. There is a special tool that allows the springs to be released. SOS sells them for $100. Tustin Acura charged me $800 to remove the old springs. That is about what other dealers wanted. SOS also has a lowering kit for the car. While the car looks good lowered about an 1 inch it also makes it difficult to get on a lift and drive off or on curbs. I recommend you don't. Buy some spacers from SOS and that will improve the looks without the issues.

You also need to pay particular care in removing and replacing the struts. They were never meant to be repaired and sell for $500 each. You have to be careful to insure that you do not cross thread the forged aluminum threads. Do that and you have a really big issue to deal with. When my struts were removed the factory recommended that all new bolts be used. The torque settings are also critical. So go to Tustin Acura if you want to make sure everything is done to spec. Sarah will give you a decent price. Also make sure the oil has been changed per maintenance in the last year.

Sarah Posell
Service Manager
714-881-4643
[email protected]
 
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My 2017 was taken to Eibach by the original owner where it was outfitted with proprietary lowering springs and heavy duty front and rear sway bars. They decided not to commercially sell the sway bars perhaps following the upgraded factory bars that came out on the 2019 NSX. I ended up having the lowering springs removed because the car was too low for where I live in Santa Barbara (bad roads). I later sold them to another NC1 owner. I contacted Eibach to see if they would remove the springs and put the OEMs back on. They were a little hesitant. I ended up going to Tustin Acura after a number of failed attempts at other dealers. There is a special tool that allows the springs to be released. SOS sells them for $100. Tustin Acura charged me $800 to remove the old springs. That is about what other dealers wanted. SOS also has a lowering kit for the car. While the car looks good lowered about an 1 inch it also makes it difficult to get on a lift and drive off or on curbs. I recommend you don't. Buy some spacers from SOS and that will improve the looks without the issues.

Thank you for taking the time to respond. My previous cars had been lowered car (last car was C7 Z07 lowered) , and given the fact that my nsx will only be driven less than 4k a year, I think i will be fine. I am guessing the $800 that Acura charged for eibach springs removal you did not include wheel alignment. Another dealership Acura Valencia quoted me 1220 for installation and alignment. I have decided to take my car to Eibach to save some money. I am excited. Current mods include: fabspeed downpipes, SOS spacers, sprint booster, KNN filters, JB4.
 
Thank you drmanny for this valuable information. I already spoke with Sarah. She's the one that quoted me $1500 for everything including wheel alignment. I am sure the eibach techs are aware of this as they have worked on several NSXs before.
 
Eibach did not align the car after installing the lowering springs. I know this from having the NSX Tech at Tustin Acura during my PPI (Pre Purchase Inspection). He noted that the factory settings had not been changed. The lowering kit did not seem to alter the alignment that much. A full on alignment per NSX Factory instructions is a laborious process. I would still recommend Tustin on changing the springs rather than Eibach. Ask Sarah for a discount. NSXPrime gets you 10% right off the bat. She is flexible.
 
I did ask Sarah to match at least the 1220 quote by Acura Valencia. She was firm on 1500. Oh well. My appointment is a week away. I will report back after the install
 
Well I can tell you the difference between going with a NSX trained Tech at an Acura Dealership is hands over better quality and care than going elsewhere. The Dealerships take the NSX work seriously and will not take shortcuts as the liability is too great in their minds. My Santa Barbara Acura Dealership had the one NSX trained Tech retire. They will not do an oil change for me as they will not accept the liability for allowing a non certified NSX Tech do the car. It is not that they cannot do an oil change, they will not risk something happening as a result of not following the specific guidelines. Eibach is a good company but you can bet they do not do too many NSXs. They will take what shortcuts they can figure out. For instance using a impact wrench when the Factory calls out to do things by hand.

When I had the OEM springs put back on, I was told that there was concern that some of the treads had been damaged. They showed me the aluminum fillings. I was not sure what could be done if the threads were damaged, so I was getting prepared for having to have inserts installed if necessary. I am not sure that Acura would approve inserts, but from my Aerospace days I knew they work. But Tustin Acura contacted the Factory and they decided that replacing the bolts would be the way to go. At Tustin they torqued everything per the factory. They would not do the car unless they were confident. After all this is Honda/Acura's Pride.

I have uploaded pictures of one of the bolts as well as shots of the fillings on the threads. These pics were taken by one of the NSX Techs (Norm who has been there for 35 years) at Gold Coast Acura in Ventura. He removed the struts but was unable to remove the springs. Acura does not make a tool to allow repair of the struts. You are supposed to replace at $500 each. They put my car back together and did not charge me for all the work. At the time I did not know that SOS sold a tool for this specific strut. I contacted Sarah and she thought they had all the tools. Turns out she did not have the specific tool. By then I was able to inform her about the tool from SOS. They tried to see if someone local had one but ended up overnighting the tool from SOS to insure they could work on my car and do it right. I had informed her about the threads so she did her best to work with the Factory to insure the car was done correctly. The pic of my car on the lift is from Tustin Acura and it shows how my car is protected with the appropriate NSX covers. They are worth it.

Again, I have no skin in the game and could care less where you take your car, after all its your money. I am just telling you what I believe.
 

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I watched the video in its entirety and noted that they tightened the studs on the struts without using a torque wrench. They also tightened the wheel nuts with an air gun. I understand the wheel nuts require 125 lbft of torque. I am not saying they did a bad job as it appears they were pretty careful with the car. I am saying that specific torque values are important especially in a car such as ours. The fenders were not covered with the thick blankets that Acura uses to protect from scratches. Sometimes you get what you pay for.
 

Wow I would be really concerned too if I saw this. I suppose Acura thought the new bolts would correct the aluminum threads sufficiently. I can't believe anyone would use impact wrenches or "good N tight" on a car like this. It's not like these shops don't have a torque wrench on the shelf- they just don't want to spend the time.

To the OP, I agree with drmanny- take it Acura.
 
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