Another New 2025 ITS Owner - Any Highly Reccomended Mods for Spirited Driving?

[Spart]

This is the first I’ve heard of the helper spring! I’ve done the other 2 clutch mods but will be doing this 3rd one next, thanks for sharing this

Here is a tutorial helper spring delete+ deep dive into the spring

Thanks, that's my video.

Working on editing the one about the CDV + CMC damper delete as time allows, complete with data captured with 1000fps high speed video before and after. The CDV and CMC damper have a significant effect.

The car feels so much more analog and natural now. Feels like it should.

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[Elusive23]

Welcome! I just picked up my ITS last week and just got through my immediate break in of 600 miles. 604 miles on it now. It is astonishing how well this car performs. Corners... What corners... Lol. This thing eats curvy roads and I am loving it. Is it slower than my M850i, yes... But I never had this much fun in any of my last cars. Waiting a few months until AWE has their annual Black Friday sale and will be picking up my Track Exhaust then most likely. I lived the lowered life with my last car. I won't be doing that this time.

Congrats my man! I just hit 500 miles this morning. Almost there!

 

[Elusive23]

No problems with camber per se. I'm just under -2 degrees all around. Sure, some increase in tire wear, but I also track my car. If you keep the tires rotated, keep it aligned as far as toe, I really don't think it's a big deal.

In fact, some folks prefer a little more negative camber up front, but my car handle pretty damn good on track.

Honestly, to extract the last 5% of handling at the track it would make sense to dial things in a bit more, but on the street, I really don't think it massively detracted from the feel.

I don't know for absolute certain but I think oem set up is negative camber all around. If I remember correctly, my rear camber is within 1/2 degree of normal.

Really appreciate this input

 

[Snapt76]

I appreciate your insight, Ed! I mashed on my WRX for 13 years on my local backroads, and immediately getting into the ITS, I felt instantly at home. It's kind of wild how easy the car is to drive/shift and how responsive it is. It truly lives up to all the reviews I've read. I'm just waiting to get through this break-in period so I can get a full feel for this car!



Thanks, Alex! This is super helpful. I'm glad you mentioned the first and second shifts. I'm not sure what it is, but the first and second gears just feel a bit rough, and I wasn't quite sure if it was supposed to feel that way or not. But this is exactly what im looking for, anything that improves the driving experience or feel without going down the road of touching the engine or ECU.

Happy to help. Just a heads up with the motor mount. You’ll notice a lot more vibration after install, that’ll mostly go away around 500 miles and by 1000 be barely noticeable. That was my experience at least. You are breaking in the rubber bushing which is why it takes a little bit to settle.

 

[StingertimeNC]

Thanks, that's my video.

Working on editing the one about the CDV + CMC damper delete as time allows, complete with data captured with 1000fps high speed video before and after. The CDV and CMC damper have a significant effect.

The car feels so much more analog and natural now. Feels like it should.

Great Video Spart. I really want to do this but I'm a little concerned about the point of no return. LOL. What if I don't like it? What if I do this, but not the other mods you suggest? Any negatives?

 

[optronix]

I don't do any track events since retirement, but I was active in it for over 10 years. From that experience, I will share some general observations. Assuming a competent car (such as the ITS), most drivers will be well-advised to do nothing to the car for at least the first season of driving it. As you learn to apply your driving skills to the car, you will learn to exploit its strengths and to manage its weaker areas. Many folks who immediately begin to mod the car, will spend all their time tinkering with side effects and imbalances that can result. Modding becomes the focus rather than driving. But, if that's your hobby, then it's your time and money to spend as you desire. If I was still active on track, then I would not own a front driver, just my preference. That said, I've driven quite a few, and the ITS is the best I've encountered, and certainly capable of rewarding good driving skill.

^^^^^^ This.

Go get some time on track, and do it entirely stock if it's your first track experience. This car needs absolutely nothing to be a joy to drive, and anything you do to it in an attempt to enhance that experience will likely come with some tradeoffs.

Another caveat is you’ll want to correct the rear camber back to factory spec (you’ll gain negative camber in the rear after lowering) and that requires adjustable control arms. It’s not a requirement, but the car handles better with a front camber bias.

^A great example of tradeoffs and extra considerations. The suspension geometry of this car had a ton of attention from very skilled engineers. It is in that sense "perfect" as it is from the factory from the perspective of striking the balance between performance and things like longevity and safety. Despite what some people may claim, just changing the offset with different wheels or adding spacers is enough to introduce things like added torque steer. I like seeing that the camber is being referenced when talking about springs, because this is something that I didn't notice until actually pushing the car to its limits in autocross. Dropping the car with shorter springs will have more of an effect with rear camber than front. On the street this may be difficult to notice and may actually feel like a net enhancement driving at 5/10ths or so, but this post is absolutely correct: if the car has more camber in the rear than the front it will push (i.e., understeer) substantially more than it did from the factory. And conversely, more camber in the front makes turn-in far sharper and the car is easier to rotate- but at the cost of more "tramlining" (even subtle grooves in the pavement will noticeably pull the steering wheel), and I've noticed it more of a handful to drive in the rain (also could be due to tire wear but the science adds up).

Have you experienced any issues with camber? I've seen some videos about lowering springs, which leads to installing those sexy RV6 Control Arms to fix all the issues and get the proper wheel contact again.

This is all great and also expensive, and further down the rabbit hole you go. Curious if once you get this far, this also voids warranty? Or becomes a ton of extra work to replace all the OEM parts just to file a claim LOL

What this nets out to is use case. You can either elect to get it back close to factory spec with rear control arms, or you can get more aggressive in the front with adjustable lower ball joints. Most people don't do either and IMHO the car remains compromised without any true benefit.

But it looks cool!

I will add that obviously going more aggressive in the front like I've done will still be compromised (my front tires are corded on the inside at just under 15k pretty hard miles), but in a way that yields significant benefit that for my use case (i.e., autocross) offsets the negatives.

I don't know about this clutch damper delete/spring thing. I personally don't have a problem with it as it comes from the factory; in fact I feel like the clutch is great. Maybe it's a situation where I don't know what I'm missing, but I've driven a ton of manual cars across all sorts of makes and models, and honestly feel that the Integra Type S is one of the better ones as far as daily livability, and I don't have any complaints from a "feel" perspective either. I'd suggest doing far more research than one forum recommendation/YouTube video before exploring anything with the clutch, seems to me that's a personal preference thing that if it doesn't apply to you is probably better left alone.

edit- and one more thing about warranty. If you haven't already, familiarize yourself with the Magnuson-Moss Act. TL;DR- nothing you do to your car "voids" the warranty per se, but if a fault occurs and it can be traced back to an aftermarket modification, they're not obliged to honor it. So for example, if you recalibrate your ECU with Hondata or the like and your engine shits the bed in pretty much any conceivable way, you're on the hook for the repair. It could also be argued that transmission damage could be tied to more power output as well but that's probably worth its own conversation... But conversely, if you get an ABS light and all you've done is the ECU tweaks, there's not really any way a dealer could argue it's due to the modifications so they'd cover the repair under warranty.

 

[Spart]

Great Video Spart. I really want to do this but I'm a little concerned about the point of no return. LOL. What if I don't like it? What if I do this, but not the other mods you suggest? Any negatives?

This mod is great on it's own. Have you driven older cars or is this your first manual? If you've driven older cars, I just about guarantee you will love it.

The "point of no return" isn't really. You will have to remove a couple of sensor connections, take the clevis pin out of the pedal, then unbolt the pedal bracket from the firewall. Once that's done you can reinstall the spring on the bench.

But you almost certainly won't want to.

 

[StingertimeNC]

This mod is great on it's own. Have you driven older cars or is this your first manual? If you've driven older cars, I just about guarantee you will love it.

The "point of no return" isn't really. You will have to remove a couple of sensor connections, take the clevis pin out of the pedal, then unbolt the pedal bracket from the firewall. Once that's done you can reinstall the spring on the bench.

But you almost certainly won't want to.

Thanks. I'm tempted to give it a shot. I've had 4 manual cars over the years. 3 honda products and one VW.

The only issues I have with ours is the 1-2 shift feels balky, and is prone to grind if you are just a bit slow or less deliberate with the clutch. Every now and then it happens and I say, man pay attention, then a couple months go by and I do it again. Probably done it 6 times over the last 2 years. I'm always like, "man that's gonna leave a mark!"

 

[Spart]

Thanks. I'm tempted to give it a shot. I've had 4 manual cars over the years. 3 honda products and one VW.

The only issues I have with ours is the 1-2 shift feels balky, and is prone to grind if you are just a bit slow or less deliberate with the clutch. Every now and then it happens and I say, man pay attention, then a couple months go by and I do it again. Probably done it 6 times over the last 2 years. I'm always like, "man that's gonna leave a mark!"

Deleting the CMC damper and the CDV valve will help with that, and you might also try switching your trans fluid to AC Delco Synchromesh 10-4014, which has been widely reported to help with 2nd gear grind specifically.

 

[Elusive23]

^^^^^^ This.

Go get some time on track, and do it entirely stock if it's your first track experience. This car needs absolutely nothing to be a joy to drive, and anything you do to it in an attempt to enhance that experience will likely come with some tradeoffs.



^A great example of tradeoffs and extra considerations. The suspension geometry of this car had a ton of attention from very skilled engineers. It is in that sense "perfect" as it is from the factory from the perspective of striking the balance between performance and things like longevity and safety. Despite what some people may claim, just changing the offset with different wheels or adding spacers is enough to introduce things like added torque steer. I like seeing that the camber is being referenced when talking about springs, because this is something that I didn't notice until actually pushing the car to its limits in autocross. Dropping the car with shorter springs will have more of an effect with rear camber than front. On the street this may be difficult to notice and may actually feel like a net enhancement driving at 5/10ths or so, but this post is absolutely correct: if the car has more camber in the rear than the front it will push (i.e., understeer) substantially more than it did from the factory. And conversely, more camber in the front makes turn-in far sharper and the car is easier to rotate- but at the cost of more "tramlining" (even subtle grooves in the pavement will noticeably pull the steering wheel), and I've noticed it more of a handful to drive in the rain (also could be due to tire wear but the science adds up).



What this nets out to is use case. You can either elect to get it back close to factory spec with rear control arms, or you can get more aggressive in the front with adjustable lower ball joints. Most people don't do either and IMHO the car remains compromised without any true benefit.

But it looks cool!

I will add that obviously going more aggressive in the front like I've done will still be compromised (my front tires are corded on the inside at just under 15k pretty hard miles), but in a way that yields significant benefit that for my use case (i.e., autocross) offsets the negatives.

I don't know about this clutch damper delete/spring thing. I personally don't have a problem with it as it comes from the factory; in fact I feel like the clutch is great. Maybe it's a situation where I don't know what I'm missing, but I've driven a ton of manual cars across all sorts of makes and models, and honestly feel that the Integra Type S is one of the better ones as far as daily livability, and I don't have any complaints from a "feel" perspective either. I'd suggest doing far more research than one forum recommendation/YouTube video before exploring anything with the clutch, seems to me that's a personal preference thing that if it doesn't apply to you is probably better left alone.

edit- and one more thing about warranty. If you haven't already, familiarize yourself with the Magnuson-Moss Act. TL;DR- nothing you do to your car "voids" the warranty per se, but if a fault occurs and it can be traced back to an aftermarket modification, they're not obliged to honor it. So for example, if you recalibrate your ECU with Hondata or the like and your engine shits the bed in pretty much any conceivable way, you're on the hook for the repair. It could also be argued that transmission damage could be tied to more power output as well but that's probably worth its own conversation... But conversely, if you get an ABS light and all you've done is the ECU tweaks, there's not really any way a dealer could argue it's due to the modifications so they'd cover the repair under warranty.

Love all this extra feedback my man! Thank you! All of this is really helping me determine my use case moving forward and how I will mod my ride. Super appreciated!

 

[Elusive23]

Thanks. I'm tempted to give it a shot. I've had 4 manual cars over the years. 3 honda products and one VW.

The only issue I have with ours is that the 1-2 shift feels balky and is prone to grinding if you are just a bit slow or less deliberate with the clutch. Every now and then, it happens, and I say, "Man, pay attention." Then a couple of months go by, and I do it again. I've probably done it six times over the last two years. I'm always like, "Man, that's gonna leave a mark!"

I'm glad you mentioned this because I can already feel that as well in the first two shifts. However, coming from a Subaru WRX, that clutch was super heavy, and at times when I was tired or fatigued, it would be a bit more work to finesse solid shifts in 1st gear when cruising around town and hitting stoplights, lol. I actually kind of appreciate how much lighter the clutch is to engage in the ITS.

That said, that mod does have me curious and nothing I can't handle with a bit more clutch tension if it helps smooth out 1-2.

 

[Spart]

I'm glad you mentioned this because I can already feel that as well in the first two shifts. However, coming from a Subaru WRX, that clutch was super heavy, and at times when I was tired or fatigued, it would be a bit more work to finesse solid shifts in 1st gear when cruising around town and hitting stoplights, lol. I actually kind of appreciate how much lighter the clutch is to engage in the ITS.

That said, that mod does have me curious and nothing I can't handle with a bit more clutch tension if it helps smooth out 1-2.

The clutch pedal spring helped me on basically all shifting because the clutch pedal felt a bit more predictable, but the real silver bullet with clutch pedal predictability is to do all three.

Each one has it's own effect on the clutch pedal.

The so-called "delay valve" actually just slows down the clutch pedal in one direction of travel. Unintuitive.

The so-called "damper" actually can delay timing between the clutch pedal moving and the clutch fork arm moving. Unintuitive.

The so-called "assist" or "helper" spring makes the last half of travel feel bizarrely different from the first half of travel. Unintuitive.

Get rid of all three, and you'll have an intuitive clutch.

 

[StingertimeNC]

The clutch pedal spring helped me on basically all shifting because the clutch pedal felt a bit more predictable, but the real silver bullet with clutch pedal predictability is to do all three.

Each one has it's own effect on the clutch pedal.

The so-called "delay valve" actually just slows down the clutch pedal in one direction of travel. Unintuitive.

The so-called "damper" actually can delay timing between the clutch pedal moving and the clutch fork arm moving. Unintuitive.

The so-called "assist" or "helper" spring makes the last half of travel feel bizarrely different from the first half of travel. Unintuitive.

Get rid of all three, and you'll have an intuitive clutch.

If you could just swing out to NC and handle the first two for me that would be great!

 

[Spart]

If you could just swing out to NC and handle the first two for me that would be great!

It's easier than you'd think, and hopefully the video I'm putting together has all the right details to give folks a bit more confidence to do this.

Our cars use the same clutch slave as the FL5, and I'm not sure if anyone out there is selling pre-modified slave cylinders yet. There was somebody selling modified FK8 slave cylinders, but it's a different part and even uses a different style of hose connection.

 

[StingertimeNC]

It's easier than you'd think, and hopefully the video I'm putting together has all the right details to give folks a bit more confidence to do this.

Our cars use the same clutch slave as the FL5, and I'm not sure if anyone out there is selling pre-modified slave cylinders yet. There was somebody selling modified FK8 slave cylinders, but it's a different part and even uses a different style of hose connection.

Looking forward to your vids...

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