Pilot handling/suspension

[jon316]

2007 EX-L 4WD. Porpoises too much. I used a receiver-mounted cargo tray once, and the bounce of the vehicle created handling problems until I adjusted my driving. I had about 90 pounds on the cargo tray.

Yesterday, passing over speed bumps in a parking lot, I noticed the rear end bounces more than it should. The bumps were the first speed bumps I've encountered in one year of driving the Pilot. I was impressed by the amount of bounce the bumps created in an unloaded vehicle.

Do any of you know of aftermarket coilovers or dampening devices for the Pilot? If you do, please share. I'm not looking to race Paris to Dakar, but I would like to dampen the motion of the Pilot.

I'm taking on the beaches of the Outer Banks next week. I'll report on how it does in the sand. (The reason I bought the thing.)

[krygny]

Make sure you don't have a bad/leaky shock in the rear. You're still in warranty, right? Most of us are very satisfied with the Pilot's ride and handling.

[jcantanixon]

Can you drive another Pilot to compare it to? It's not the stiffest rear in the world, but it's certainly not supposed to give you minivan type bounce.

[jon316]

I didn't want to start a thread about the ride quality of the Pilot. I'm looking for parts, not opinions. Others' satisfaction with the ride of their Pilot is irrelevant, beyond creating low demand for aftermarket products supressing the supply of aftermarket products.

Gas shocks and a tweak of the torsion bars did wonders for my Trooper, and I'm hoping someone out there found some aftermarket products which will flatten the ride of the Pilot out, some.

I've searched the web and couldn't find aftermarket products to modify the ride characteristics. I may be tilting at windmills. That's okay; it's a forum and it's cheap.

If you know of a supplier of handling/suspension components which will work on a 2007 Pilot, please share.

[youbetcha]

When I read krygny's and jcantanixon's posts, I didn't read any attempt to turn the thread into a discussion about ride quality. They were saying: what you describe sounds "broken". You might just need to fix it. I agree.

[tunergirl]

Originally posted by jon316
I didn't want to start a thread about the ride quality of the Pilot. I'm looking for parts, not opinions. Others' satisfaction with the ride of their Pilot is irrelevant, beyond creating low demand for aftermarket products supressing the supply of aftermarket products.

Gas shocks and a tweak of the torsion bars did wonders for my Trooper, and I'm hoping someone out there found some aftermarket products which will flatten the ride of the Pilot out, some.

I've searched the web and couldn't find aftermarket products to modify the ride characteristics. I may be tilting at windmills. That's okay; it's a forum and it's cheap.

If you know of a supplier of handling/suspension components which will work on a 2007 Pilot, please share.

I have looked as well for after market parts for the pilot and have not found any that I was looking for. This included shocks, springs, CAI, dual exhaust and all the others that I did to my Accord including Prjector headlights.

Once the money tree starts producing some money again we will be fabricating our own dual exhaust and have a friend making us projectors for it. We fabricated our own CAI, etc.

hope this helps some in regard to aftermarket parts for the pilot.

[Medic721]

I installed the Air Lift 1000 air bag kit in my 06. there are only listings for 04-05 but it is the same for 06 and 07. If it bounces as much as you say you may need shocks as well.

-Mike.

[rocky]

Originally posted by jon316
2007 EX-L 4WD. Porpoises too much. I used a receiver-mounted cargo tray once, and the bounce of the vehicle created handling problems until I adjusted my driving. I had about 90 pounds on the cargo tray.

Yesterday, passing over speed bumps in a parking lot, I noticed the rear end bounces more than it should. The bumps were the first speed bumps I've encountered in one year of driving the Pilot. I was impressed by the amount of bounce the bumps created in an unloaded vehicle.

Do any of you know of aftermarket coilovers or dampening devices for the Pilot? If you do, please share. I'm not looking to race Paris to Dakar, but I would like to dampen the motion of the Pilot.

I'm taking on the beaches of the Outer Banks next week. I'll report on how it does in the sand. (The reason I bought the thing.)

Alot of the bounce in the Pilot is actually due to the GY tires that you probably have fitting. They are way too soft sidewalls for such a heavy vehicle.

On mine I added the rear suspension braces (taken from the MDX) and available here http://www.hondacuraworld.com/Mercha...tegory_Code=HP

which took out alot of the looseness in the rear when driving country roads at "fun" speeds. Added them to my FIL's Pilot and even he liked the effect and he drives slowly

Additionally ditching the GY's for Bridgestone Alenza which is an HR rated tire with a stiffer sidewall took out all the tire bounce.

Net effect is a far more European controlled ride, smoother and more uniform handling without changing the shocks or springs. I have sometimes wondered about the differences in spring rates and shock settings between the Pilot and MDX but nobody knows the answers and Honda isn't telling.

[netman88]

Originally posted by rocky


Alot of the bounce in the Pilot is actually due to the GY tires that you probably have fitting. They are way too soft sidewalls for such a heavy vehicle.

On mine I added the rear suspension braces (taken from the MDX) and available here http://www.hondacuraworld.com/Mercha...tegory_Code=HP

which took out alot of the looseness in the rear when driving country roads at "fun" speeds. Added them to my FIL's Pilot and even he liked the effect and he drives slowly

Additionally ditching the GY's for Bridgestone Alenza which is an HR rated tire with a stiffer sidewall took out all the tire bounce.

Net effect is a far more European controlled ride, smoother and more uniform handling without changing the shocks or springs. I have sometimes wondered about the differences in spring rates and shock settings between the Pilot and MDX but nobody knows the answers and Honda isn't telling.

I used to have a Acura MDX Touring and now a Honda Pilot LX.

What a difference in ride or it's the tires also.

Yes, the Honda has lots of bounce and handling isn't as good as the MDX.

Not sure if any others have seen improvements with KYB or Monroe parts???

[Waterhound7]

I too would like to stiffen the suspension on our 2007 pilot.

Has anyone tried installing the MDX springs? I am assuming they are stiffer..

Thanks!

[jon316]

I took the Pilot out on the beaches of the Outer Banks. I recognize it's more car than truck, so don't chastise about that. The "VTM-4 Lock" setting is a hoss. I lowered the air pressure to 18 psig and I never felt like I was about to bog down in in the sand, but the ride is simply softer than I would like for softroading, and the clearance is small. (Yes, I know the tires were low; I'm the one who did it.) I did bounce the front off ruts a few times, but I was driving very slow, so none of the plastic stayed behind. I think it could be a different story in deep snow with cold plastic. But all things considered, the vehicle performed adequately in the sand. (Just gotta go sooo slow.)

The shocks aren't broken or leaking. The springs aren't broken or crushed. The first modification I made, last summer, was adding the MDX rear braces.

I think Rocky hit the control problem right with the GY's sidewalls. I fixed the control problem with 36 psig in the tires on the highway. And, of course, there's no control problem at 10 mph in the sand with low tires.

One thing I am going to rig is a spider assembly with which I can inflate four tires simultaneously to equal pressures. The Pilot is very sensitive to unequal pressures on the GY tires and dancing around in the hot sand inflating and deflating tires is less fun than it used to be.

Another positive was I got nearly 20 mpg on a 600-mile trip that included softroading, cruising at 70 mph and the arduous Hampton Roads Sunday traffic in the air-conditioned comfort of a very heavily loaded vehicle. But, the receiver rack is permanently stowed until I modify the spring rates and shocks, as well as rid myself of the GY tires.

And, the Weathertech floor mats performed swimmingly. I had two teenage boys and four adults with all manner of surf fishing gear and beach paraphernalia and all it took to remove most of the sand was carefully removing the mats (not spilling the sand) and hosing them off. There is some sand in the carpet, but it's from big-footed teenage boys.

Tim, if you're out there; do you have any fixes for the marshmallow ride of the Pilot?

[marcucci]

WRT the struts/springs, there is nothing I am aware of that's off the shelf. That said there are options- there are plenty of companies making lowering parts for the RSX and Civic which have strut front suspensions:



This is for a complete coilover setup (replacement strut and threaded body & spring) but there are companies such as http://www.ground-control.com that make just the threaded bodies and springs. You could get their threaded body, put it on the stock strut or an aftermarket strut, and stiffen the ride. Damping would suffer without getting a stiffer strut, though, inducing some bounce (maybe making the problem worse). AFAIK there is nothing significantly stiffer than stock out there, though Koni does make "inserts" you can modify any stock strut to use.

For the rears, I see Monroe and KYB options but again, nothing significantly stiffer or adjustable. I would bet that given it uses a standard-looking shock that you could find something along the lines of a Pro Comp or Rancho that would bolt up.

No matter what, you would probably end up doing your own "development" work on this.

As mentioned, the MDX or Ridgeline parts may cross but probably won't help much.

[Schmidtty_boy]

I got an '05 Pilot that I put the Airlift 1000 Springs in the Rear. This seemed to help quite a bit. Almost all hondas, and I assume this is the same, actually use KYB shocks as OE. Although my regional KYB rep tells me that they run different valving on the aftermarket GR2s then what factory was even though they are essentially the same shock. I am not sure if they used different spring rates or shock valving on the MDX.

[marcucci]

I'll disagree with the KYB comment, at least on all the Japan-built Hondas I've worked on over the last 20 years. Most use Japanese suppliers, Showa being the most popular. For the non-Japan built ones I have no idea, though I know they typically stick with the same suppliers that build a factory in the same area. It wouldn't surprise me, though, if KYB supplied some of the US- and other-made ones.

[Paul.V]

For those who have installed the airlift 1000, you had tu cut off the rubber stopper in the middle of the coil...Is this not a danger if you hit something hard? Couldnt you potentially over compress & hit/rub something inside the wheel well? is there some way to relocate the stopper to another position?
Anyone looked into stiffer springs? I love my Pilot but the rear is way to soft under load....looks like its buckling
Paul