Acura RLX Tuning

"Thanks for reading my RLX tuning guide."

Originally shipped with the 310bhp  3.5 L Earth Dreams J35Y4 V6 engine the RLX was firmly aimed at the executive and family drivers who enjoy driving and don't want to compromise. The RLX sport hybrid was introduced in 2013.

We take a peek at RLX tuning and point out the optimum modifications. Acura RLXs offer good returns when tuned and with the right uprated parts you can greatly improve your driving opportunities.

The powercell hybrid capabilities boost power output to a heady 277hp and 341lb-ft of torque.

The double wishbone front suspension was well setup and thought out and the rear uses a multi link suspension setup with all wheel steer making the car feel and handle like a much smaller model.

The RLX is popular among our members for tuning projects Plan ahead and research RLX tuning to spare yourself making the usual disastrous errors we hear people complain about.

Tuning tips and articles

Engine tuning Transmission tuning Care care Intake & exhaust mods Improve handling Forums

Handling modifications are high on most peoples lists for the RLX. We suggest that you fit uprated suspension and lower the car by 30-35mm. Larger drops require arch work - especially on models already equipped with performance suspension.

Our aim in RLX engine tuning should be to increase peak power and Torque at the top end.

With the right choice of mods you can convert your RLX into a fun car, potentially beating larger cars on the track.

The best power gains come from larger engine sizes. The more you start with the bigger the return on investment so engine swaps are good value mods for small engined cars.

Engine Tuning.

These mods and tuning upgrades are usually installed by our members, decide how far you want to push your car before you begin.

Getting the right motorsport parts for your planned usage of the car is a time and money saver. Stage 3 competition upgrades just don't work well on the road making the car difficult to drive.

Please watch our video which covers the 5 principles of tuning your car. Be sure to keep up with our latest YouTube content and subscribe.

Best mods for your Acura RLX

  1. Forced induction upgrades - A New Turbo is the most efficient approach to increase your intakes air supply, ensuring you are able to combust more fuel and make power gains. Although one of the most complex upgrades you'll see massive gains.
  2. Braking Mods - Enhancing your stopping power ought to be high on your agenda.
  3. Tunes - A Remapped Acura RLX ECU gives the biggest gains for your investment, aftermarket ECU upgrades, and piggyback ECUs are all alternatives.
  4. Flowing and porting the Head - Head work will get air flowing into the engine while removing turbulence or restrictions.
  5. Acura RLX Suspension Upgrades - Replacing worn bushings and shocks greatly enhances your Acura RLX road holding and cornering. Adjustable coilovers and better bushings are what is needed here.
  6. Fast road cams are one of the most significant mechanical changes, but we strongly suggest they be setup by someone familiar with setting them up on your car and tracking one down may be hard but there might be a local firm to regrind a stock camshaft for you.
  7. Intake Upgrades and Exhaust - NB: on their own these mods will NOT ADD POWER in most cases, but they permit you to lift power after other mods by lessening the restriction.
  8. Low mass flywheel - a lower mass flywheel will significantly improve the engines rev changes. But not always suitable for all Acura RLX engines.

Acura RLX Tuning Stages

Typical stage 1 mods often include: Suspension upgrade (drop 30-40mm), Lighter flywheel, Alloy wheels, Engine Tunes/Remapping, Sports exhaust, Panel air filter.

Typical stage 2 mods often include: Ported and polished head, high flow fuel injector, fuel pump upgrades, Power/Sport clutch, Fast road cam.

Typical stage 3 mods often include: Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), Sports gearbox, Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Competition cam, Engine balancing.

When tuning the engine, your goal should be a broad torque range. Unless you're building a race engine, you don't want all of the power to be concentrated at the top of the rpm range.

We'll provide an overview and introduction to the best modifications for your motor in this post, but we urge you to spend some time on the site delving into the nuances of each sort of performance increase.

Fast road cams provide one of the most significant performance benefits per dollar spent on a single modification alteration on a NA (naturally aspirated) engine.

If done correctly, it maximises the intake and exhaust durations and boosts power. Ideally, you'd continue with further tweaks and conclude with a performance chip. Additionally, we would urge you against using a competitive cam, since this would alter the engine's idle and overall city driving characteristics. Don't forget to monitor the fuel consumption while boosting the power - it makes the automobile thirstier.

If you have flat spots and surges after installing your modified kits, you should check your fueling and experiment with a higher octane gasoline as well. Upgraded injectors will allow you to feed the engine with an adequate amount of gasoline. Because a fuel pump has a restricted capacity, you may need to increase it if your injectors are requiring more gasoline.

RLX Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust.

Induction kits will boost power only if the engine's air intake is limited!

Adding an induction kit to the majority of conventional engines will result in NO POWER GAIN. If you have severely changed your engine and the engine's air need INCREASES DRAMATICALLY, an induction kit will assist in removing this constraint.

While induction kits may be effective on turbocharged engines and bigger engines (when coupled with a proper cold air feed or air box), we'd normally suggest sticking with a performance panel air filter made of cotton for RLX engines.

Sports exhausts may assist in balancing the gas flow through the engine. However, if the exhaust is excessively big, with a bore more than 2.5 inches, you will lose a significant amount of exhaust flow rate, resulting in a loss of power and torque.

Getting a professionally polished and ported head with larger valves can fully release the engines power. A good triple plate fast road performance clutch will help to keep that power going where it should. Never cut corners or expect a standard clutch to cope. Turbo engines are just begging to be flashed. You will see massive power gains on most modern turbo engined cars including diesels making a tune/remap one of the most cost effective and massive modifications for your money.

We've also come across some owners toying with twincharged applications and making some seriously high power hikes.

The most impressive power gains for NA (naturally aspirated) engines usually involve the addition of forced induction. It is generally simpler to bolt on a supercharger than it is to install a turbo. Turbos provide boost in exponential proportion to the engine speed and this can make mapping difficult.

Superchargers will give a boost which is correlating to engine speed so is simpler. Alternatively you could add water injection to reduce the risk of knock.

RLX Alloy wheel upgrades.

The benefits of alloys include reducing your unsprung weight and better brake cooling. The drawback to large alloys on your RLX is that you're altering your effective final drive ratio so this will have a negative effect on performance.

For this reason we would advise sticking to a maximum wheel size of 17 inches, although we know some of our members have gone larger than this with no problems.

If you would like to know more, or just get some friendly advice on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss RLX options in more detail with our RLX owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Acura tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

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