Active Dampers too stiff on FL5. Disabled with Damping Cancellation Kit

[keller]

There is 1 in the entire country left, and all on backorder. I placed an order and they refunded it because they don't know when they'll get another. Called another parts place and same thing.

That was expected. Same thing happened when fk8 owners learned last year from @s2kdriver80 that we could swap in the LE ADS unit. There are only 600 LE in the US and the ADS unit is not really a part that needs maintenance so stock was very thin. Suddenly a hundred fk8 owners started placing orders for it and it was heavily back ordered. For most of us, it meant doing many purchases and waiting for months. Just join the back order queue, if they allow it, and you'll get it =). It's important to have open orders so Acura can realize there's demand for this part.

Lol we wondered what the parts guy in Honda Corp was thinking last year when suddenly 1/6th of all LE ADS units ever produced for the US suddenly needed to be replaced. He probably asked himself if something was wrong with the LE.

I hope you get yours soon ??

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[CTR]

I can confirm my order from AcuraPartsWarehouse was just canceled. Does anyone know of an online store that will at least let you backorder it?

 

[Noize]

There is 1 in the entire country left, and all on backorder. I placed an order and they refunded it because they don't know when they'll get another. Called another parts place and same thing.

blarg.
That’s why mine hasn’t shipped yet, I bet. Darn it.

 

[s2kdriver80]

That was expected. Same thing happened when fk8 owners learned last year from @s2kdriver80 that we could swap in the LE ADS unit. There are only 600 LE in the US and the ADS unit is not really a part that needs maintenance so stock was very thin. Suddenly a hundred fk8 owners started placing orders for it and it was heavily back ordered. For most of us, it meant doing many purchases and waiting for months. Just join the back order queue, if they allow it, and you'll get it =). It's important to have open orders so Acura can realize there's demand for this part.

Lol we wondered what the parts guy in Honda Corp was thinking last year when suddenly 1/6th of all LE ADS units ever produced for the US suddenly needed to be replaced. He probably asked himself if something was wrong with the LE.

I hope you get yours soon ??

Had they initially known about the high demand for owners wanting to use different ADS components across models (particularly the peasant base FK8 owners upgrading to an "exclusive" LE part lol), they might have designed them to be incompatible. ?

 

[Noize]

blarg.
That’s why mine hasn’t shipped yet, I bet. Darn it.

Scratch that.
Shipping confirmation, and package has been picked up from origin!

 

[Noize]

Well...
Acura ITS ADS installed.
I can definitely attest that everything works properly, including push to hold for full stability/traction control off.

I differ from the video reviewer in post #72 a bit. He said: "Way smoother and softer, less aggressive"- I found that not to be accurate. My take lines up much more with how Savagegeese reported it. If you are expecting this to be a transformation in how the car handles fast corners, it is not.

There is a backroad I take with extremely sharp corners, and an on-ramp at the end where you might find yourself entering at extralegal speeds. How the shocks behave on track and in high speed corners is unchanged- the car will still bounce in +R. But I would say it bounces less. I would postulate that the best way to describe it is like this; There are 4 settings that have been setup with this system-

Setting 1 most aggressive= +R in CTR, not used in ITS
Setting 2 second most aggressive= Sport in CTR, Sport+ in ITS
Setting 3 third most aggressive= Comfort in CTR, Sport in ITS
Setting 4 least aggressive = not used in CTR, comfort in ITS

To summarize, it feels like everything is just moved down a setting, with a new comfort setting added.

All that said, I had an FK8 for a couple years, and still have access to driving one often. Even with the ITS ADS computer, the FL5 is still much more aggressively dampened than the FK8. I cannot report on the Limited Edition car, as I have never driven one of those.

I don't regret this mod, but to answer if it's right for you, read the bit a few paragraphs up about the settings, or test drive an ITS.

I think I prefer it right now, because having stability control fully disable with damper settings more like FL5 Sport is more desirable. Also, comfort is even more comfortable, but not too soft and unusable like the FK8's comfort was.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Noize]

 

[Kfo_cpa]

@Noize Thank you for posting that review. Much appreciated.

I’m picking my unit up tonight from a local dealer. Looking forward to trying comfort mode.

 

[urbo73]

To summarize, it feels like everything is just moved down a setting, with a new comfort setting added.

All that said, I had an FK8 for a couple years, and still have access to driving one often. Even with the ITS ADS computer, the FL5 is still much more aggressively damped than the FK8. I cannot report on the Limited Edition car, as I have never driven one of those.

I don't regret this mod, but to answer if it's right for you, read the bit a few paragraphs up about the settings, or test drive an ITS.

I think I prefer it right now, because having stability control fully disable with damper settings more like FL5 Sport is more desirable. Also, comfort is even more comfortable, but not too soft and unusable like the FK8's comfort was.

Thanks for reading!

Thanks for the report. So the FK8 in COMFORT mode is even softer than the ITS in COMFORT (or FL5 with ITS ADS in COMFORT) is what you're saying? I found the ITS in COMFORT to be pretty soft, and if the ITS ADS in the FL5 set to COMFORT is the same, then it would be equally soft too, assuming the spring rates and dampers are the same on the ITS as the FL5.

 

[Kfo_cpa]

Installed as well - had to try it. Below are my initial thoughts. I like it so far.

The first 15 mins of driving I wasn’t that impressed and didn’t seem to notice a big difference and was thinking it’s a cheap mod what was I really expecting. After driving some more I started to like it. Comfort is softer than stock, but not as soft as ADS cancelled. Looking back at ADS canceled that was probably a little to soft so I’m fine with this. Sport was similar to stock comfort, but I’m not sure it’s as good. I really liked the stock comfort mode so I’ll need more time with ITS sport to see if it matches up. Sometimes sport mode felt a little bouncy. +R is awesome. Did I just say that? Seriously, I drove more in +R mode than I did in the past 5 months of owning the car. On some roads +R felt less bouncy than the sport mode, I’m not sure how that’s possible - maybe it was just the road. +R is still firm and a little bouncy, but it didn’t shake the back of my head like stock version.

Overall, I look at it as giving up the stock comfort mode, which I drove 100% of the time and really really liked it, but now getting a little more comfortable comfort mode and a sport and +R mode that I can actually use for daily driving. I’m actually looking forward to driving the car more and testing sport and +R mode. Lastly, I felt like you don’t need individual mode anymore because you can actually flip between modes and they are appropriately dampened, which I really like. It was nice flipping modes and seeing the dashboard change and the road firmness mirrored it. I’m going to keep ITS unit plugged in for now and keep testing.

note for the install you need a socket extension and a deep 10mm. Shallow 10mm didn’t work lol.

@CTR thanks for posting the part info!

 

[urbo73]

Yeah, it will be different. Even if the dampers and springs are the exact same on the CTR as on the ITS, the chassis is different, and so the ADS tuning will work well sometimes and not-so-well the other times. I got my part on backorder, and will be curious to try, but ultimately, I'll go back to the stock ADS and later on to OHLINS.

 

[Noize]

Yeah, it will be different. Even if the dampers and springs are the exact same on the CTR as on the ITS, the chassis is different, and so the ADS tuning will work well sometimes and not-so-well the other times. I got my part on backorder, and will be curious to try, but ultimately, I'll go back to the stock ADS and later on to OHLINS.

Ohlins for sure my plan when FL5 specific. Have 18”s waiting.

 

[Clark_Kent]

Ohlins for sure my plan when FL5 specific. Have 18”s waiting.

Ask, and it shall be given to you. I believe they were released yesterday.

https://www.ohlins.com/product/road-track/honda-civic-type-r-fl5/

 

[CTR]

That's great news about the Ohlins!

I ordered a Type S ADS module and it's on backorder. In the meantime I've been trying to imagine what it might be like based on others feedback. I've been forcing myself to drive a bit more in +R than I normally do and since going to 18" wheels it's definitely not as harsh as I remember it being. This will be the mode that I will be losing when swapping the ADS so I'm trying to decide if it's that bad on the softer sidewalls. I normally drive in Sport mode all of the time.

I'm a little concerned that moving to the ITS ADS module on 18" wheels could be softer than expected and not ideal.

I do plan on installing Spoon springs which could stiffen things up a little bit and hit a sweet spot. Who knows but I plan on reporting back regardless!

 

[Noize]

Ask, and it shall be given to you. I believe they were released yesterday.

https://www.ohlins.com/product/road-track/honda-civic-type-r-fl5/

Well, shit. ?
Hold up, this is the exact same part number for the kit for the FK8. I thought that it didn’t quite fit right with height adjustments?

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