clumzy

After much procrastination I have installed the ST rear anti-sway on my Civic Si and I have to say that the install plain sucked.

Who here has installed this beast on a Civic without an OEM rear sway? I'd like to know what you did about "turning" the strut 180deg's on either side.

I had to unbolt the strut on the top and bottom AND unbolt the lower control arm. After turning the strut it was BRUTAL getting the lower control arm to bolt back in. Lots of levers and hits with the impact gun. Absolutely BRUTAL.

The rest of the install was ok. I don't like how I had to drill 1 mounting hole for the bushing brackets. I had to tighten the brackets down like crazy cuz they were shifting around.

Results are good even with the stock suspension. WAY reduced body roll, much cleaner cornering, and the back end is more behaved. Wish I could have taken some pics but I was a little too busy actually getting the thing installed.

PULOVR

That why I'm going to buy the stock one from Honda.
Even a factory one is better than nothing.

clumzy

I'm not sure but where is the OEM SiR one going to mount to? There's no place for endlinks ... well maybe there is but I still don't see the install being *that* much easier.

Good thing about the ST is that it's beefy and quite straight compared to the one for the Prelude.

imported_v33k

Installation of OEM SiR is EASY.

As for the ST sway bar
Check this out.

PULOVR

I can't wait.....

clumzy

I read these ... exactly what we did but it's not easy.

This is a pic of the tough part:
http://www.home.mpinet.net/t-hero/Sw...os!/Step04.jpg

See how he had to unbolt the lower control arm? Bolting that back together SUCKS BIG TIME because the holes don't line up properly.

imported_v33k

Ya, I know ST is not easy

That's why I went with OEM SiR instead.
I got mine installed in just about 30 minutes. No sweat!

illmatic_si

ok I'm freakin confused

I want to get a rear anti-sway bar to improve handling on my car.. so I asked a few shops and got some ridiculous prices.. one guy was saying I have to get a 'blanket' or something like that in order for it to mount... total cost = $500+

another guy was trying to sell me a $65 rear lower strut bar saying it was the same thing as a rear sway bar. I didnt know if it was HIM or ME who didnt know what the hell they were talking about.

in the pics, what is the neuspeed thingy.. is that ALSO a rear sway bar????

probably a newbie question, but can someone explain what the frig is the diff between a sway bar, a tie bar and a strut bar??? and if there are any OTHER types of suspension-upgrade bars?

imported_v33k

Just the rear sway bar (Silver bar in the pic) itself is not expensive.
but you also need the mounting hardware like brackets, endlinks, bushings, bolts and nuts. The mounting hardware cost more than the bar itself.


As for the $65 bar thing, I assume that's a rear lower TIE bar.
Which is the neuspeed thing you saw on that pic. I believe the neuspeed tie bar is something like $100+ CDN with 2 bolts included. Useless IMO.

Rear Strut bar should go across your trunk, tie up your 2 strut towers.

illmatic_si

ok that makes sense.. but what role does each one play? my thoughts..

- strut bars connect the strut towers/shocks.. so the body is more rigid but they doesn't improve body-roll.

- rear sway bar will keep the back of the car planted on turns

- tie bar does.... ????


I've heard SRR makes a rear anti-sway with integrated tie bar. is there any benefit in going with this combo? I'm driving an SOHC.. obviously aint no rocket, I just want it to handle a bit better

clumzy

For the money I say the ST Rear Sway Bar is still the best. It's THICK and straight. I've never seen the SiR one but from what I understand you've also gotta pay for the OEM Honda endlinks and I assume those are NOT CHEAP. Personally I don't wanna pay for something that Honda should have put on my car in the first place.

Lower Tie bar does nothing but look cool. The most popular seem to be those shiny silver DC ones with the holes. Pure rice mod by most standards

Rear Anti-Sway Bar will keep your inside rear tire down (ie. on the ground) where otherwise it would it would raise off the ground in a turn. It does that by tying/connecting both the left and right suspension (in my case the lower strut assembly) so their less independent. Effectively that gives you more grip in the rear and rockets your backend around a turn in a good way. Or could cause it to get "loose" in the back if you misjudge.

Strut tower bars tie/connect the upper struts on the tower brace (hence the name). In theory it provides lateral structural rigidity. In practice, I find the front strut tower bar provides a more behaved "turn in" or initial part of the turn. The rear is harder to describe and I would say it just makes the car feel stiffer.

BellaRSport

i've heard good things about lower front tie bars. but only quality ones like neuspeed. and my 'V now sports a gsr rear swaybar and links. so much better but now the front feels looser

imported_Slvr-Bullet

I put on a ST rear sway bar on my hatch and it corners VERY well now. Body roll is to a minimum. Rick @ RTMotorsport actually installed it and also had to turn the rear shocks/struts 180 but he had no porbs hooking everything up. Max time for the whole install was about 1hr. Yet again he's an expert

One thing I found out after the install was that the sway bar was hitting/rubbing against my exhaust right befor the mufler/canister part. So a piece of rubber hose was used to pad the sway bar at that location.

autoxer

I've had the front and rear bars in my car now for a few years. Be aware that they area on the sub frame on which you had to drill holes is very likely to crack, and you'll have to get it welded. Also the bolts for the end-links tend to break after a while. I've had to replace mine twice already. I did notice that all this happened when I was running a much softer suspension, since I've gotten the stiffer springs and the Koni yellows, I haven't had any probs since then. Did anyone happen to get the front bar also? I have the really old set up which keeps the oem front bar and adds the ST bar underneth the exhaust centre pipe. If nayone else has this set up, let me know if youn can remove the OEM front bar and only run the ST bar. I haven't tried this yet and I am very curious if it can be done.