New Acura - Transmission break in

[BCH]

Apologies if this has ben rehashed in the forum multiple times. I have a new 2025 ITS with about 150 miles on it.

The gear shift isn't as smooth as I recall from another ITS I test drive with a few higher miles. Hard to describe, but it feels a bit more notchy, requires a bit more effort to move gears into gate.

Is this something that becomes smoother with more miles? I also saw that potentially changing the transmission fluid would help with that?

Thanks

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[GotSeoul?]

I've noticed it's become easier to shift after putting 1500 miles on mine.

Unless it's cold then it's kind of stiff again til it warms up. Should get easier over time TLDR.

 

[myhdnromance]

I bought mine around 1500 and it just rolled 4500 it’s much smoother

 

[porkster]

Same here, when it was brand new, moving the stick out in and out of gates felt like I wasn't pushing the clutch in. At 2200 miles, it feels way better and smoother.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

After 2500mi I feel no appreciable difference to the actual shifter. A heavier knob can smooth out notchiness. It's a linkage system not a rod, so changing trans fluid would be imperceptible to the shift action, unless the new fluid was way off spec.

I did swap the factory fill for higher temp fluid for the clutch and brakes. That did make a difference to how the clutch feels, and you can actually feel the friction disc engage now. It's not night and day, but there was a small positive difference.

 

[Brittania]

After 2500mi I feel no appreciable difference to the actual shifter. A heavier knob can smooth out notchiness. It's a linkage system not a rod, so changing trans fluid would be imperceptible to the shift action, unless the new fluid was way off spec.

I did swap the factory fill for higher temp fluid for the clutch and brakes. That did make a difference to how the clutch feels, and you can actually feel the friction disc engage now. It's not night and day, but there was a small positive difference.

I swapped the shift knob in my fl5 for one that "looked better" and immediately swapped back. The new shift knob was slightly lighter but the shifting feel was terrible. I'll keep it stock or go heavier if I do change.

 

[koatic]

Can’t say how it felt when I first got it as broke my wrist 2days before delivery and was driving crippled for long time. I can say that I didn’t like not be able to feel the engagement point with clutch. But over time I thought shifting was pretty good. However I recently installed the full stage 2 acuity shift kit and sirimoto CMC delete and also deleted the slave cylinder delay valve. Wish I had done it sooner cause now the experience is amazing. Smaller gate and throws and it is notchier which I like. And I can actually feel the engagement point in the clutch. Surprised that I only really needed to push clutch pedal in about 3 inches for quick shifts. A few tweaks and I am more in love with my ITS.

 

[boosted_canoe]

after about 25k miles on mine, it feels so much smoother than brand new. give it time. gets smoother every time you drive it.

 

[Tw1stedlog1k]

Can’t say how it felt when I first got it as broke my wrist 2days before delivery and was driving crippled for long time. I can say that I didn’t like not be able to feel the engagement point with clutch. But over time I thought shifting was pretty good. However I recently installed the full stage 2 acuity shift kit and sirimoto CMC delete and also deleted the slave cylinder delay valve. Wish I had done it sooner cause now the experience is amazing. Smaller gate and throws and it is notchier which I like. And I can actually feel the engagement point in the clutch. Surprised that I only really needed to push clutch pedal in about 3 inches for quick shifts. A few tweaks and I am more in love with my ITS.

Do you have the rev match turned off also? I find that, after the clutch mods, turning off the rev match feature makes the car markedly more natural and easier to drive consistently. Rev hang is practically eliminated and (it might be placebo) throttle assist from takeoff is drastically reduced.

Still waiting on the full Acuity shifter assembly but the stage 2 kit sounds like it might be just what I'm looking for. I hear good things about the Hybrid Racing kit but I'm also not keen on the slight side to side play that *some* owners are reporting.

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