VTEC_Thunder

I want to replace the front and rear sway bars on my 00' SiR coupe.

Who makes good sways and how hard are they to replace?
Do I have to drop the sub frame to do the front?


Thanks.

imported_alwaysoverkill

I don't know much about the front, but for the rear I can tell you that the 22mm North American ITR/JDM CTR is a great bar for handling.

Rear subframe reinforcement is required and ASR makes a great piece which i've used and was impressed with. A-Spec-Racing.com I believe is the site.

If you order direct from Charleston at ASR you can get a package that comes with RSX-S (OEM Parts) endlinks and they work great with the sway bar. They are beefy and slightly shorter then stock SIR endlinks.

Its simple bolt on and with the ASR peice, no drilling is required.

Another cheaper option which I personally don't recommend is Beaks kit. It required drilling the subframe and is just no where near the quality of the ASR peice, the Beaks kit also does not ****** the load over as much area as the ASR brace does.

Search rear sway bar and you'll see opinions, etc. The 22mm is fun for handling, but will give lift throttle oversteer or if you hit the brakes hard while turning, obviously a no no, it will also give oversteer. Just be cautious of the new limits of the car.

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

Suspension Techniques makes sway bar sets, as does Eibach, and prolly neuspeed. However, I don't really recommend upgrading the front sway bar... it kinda negates the gains you make in changing the rear sway bar. Oh yeah.... progress also makes sway bars.

I run SiR front, and ITR rear bars on my sedan. I recommend the ITR rear with ASR, or... the Comptech assembly. I'm prolly gonna eventally move to the Comptech peice myself.

VTEC_Thunder

I'm currently dropped 2" on eibach springs...

The car is pretty tight as is, but it feels like it has more body roll than it should...

Is the majority of body roll fron the stock rear sway bar?

I would have thought changing the front would also help big time with body roll.

How would a stiffer front sway bar negate the changes made to the rear sway bar?



And thanks for the info so far guys

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

no, it's those super gay springs that are causing your car to roll over like a pig. get some linear rate springs.

sway bars are for fine tuning.... they have their limits in how much body roll they can control.

and before you upgrade the rear sway bar .... I totally recommend swapping those springs out. a 22 mm sway bar will simply wreck **** with springs that soft.

VTEC_Thunder

Ahh

I see what your saying, these springs are like slush and the rear sway will just break stuff causse the springs are too soft.

Makes sense to me.

Whats a good stiffer spring that won't beat the snot outta my wallet....?(just springs, no coil-overs or anything fancy)

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

what shocks do you run?

imported_alwaysoverkill

Stiff rear sway bar won't break **** with soft springs so long as the rear subframe is reinforced with a piece like ASR Brace. Stiffer springs just make the rear sway bar work less then soft springs, but so long as the area is reinforced, its not a problem at all.


I ran the ASR brace with stock springs/shocks for awhile and winter tires, until I had time to get under the car and remove the ASR brace, no problems at all. Even with stock suspension and winter tires, the large rear sway bar made a huge difference in handling.

With a large rear sway bar you obviously want to avoid going over curbs and such anyways, plus springs like H&R Sport are not to bad for rates, not like Ground-Control, but its not bad.

Ideally, a large rear sway bar will help the rear of the car rotate, thus helping the cars handling. A nice balance is ideal and thats where springs can really come into play. Too much understeer, stiffer the rear springs up, to much oversteer, soften the rear springs. Ground-Control is great for this, swap in new spring ratse to get your ideal set-up.

VTEC_Thunder

At the moment, factory shocks....Yeah I know, it'll bounce like hell with the stock shocks and stiff springs, right?

Guess ya gotta be all or nothing to have a decent suspension setup....

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

well the ASR prevents it from breaking ****, but the point is still the same, the components are placed under greater stress than what was designed for.

as for your vast experience with sway bars and winter tires. how the hell do you expect to break **** when you ride **** tires?? there is no REAL load unless you really lay down rubber on the pavement... something really sticky... thats when you see what's really good. those winter tires are going to lose traction well before you reach the limits of the sway bar.

agree that you'd see a difference, but like I said, you won't reach the limits of design... you should have snapped an endlink to really know what you're talking about.


and yeah VTEC_Thunder, leave it alone for now till you can afford coilovers. like you said, susp is a all or nothing game, starting at the tires.

VTEC_Thunder

Yeah, I'm gonna leave it for now. But it's good to know what i'm up against when I do decide to upgrade.

Thanks for all the helpfull info guys!

imported_alwaysoverkill

Hankook Z212's also saw duty with the JDM ITR 23mm rear sway and ASR, your right....with sticky rubber its great fun.

No way i'd snap an end-link though, RSX-S endlinks are beefy and handle 19mm rear sway bar for years. Even with Buddy Club Racing-Spec coilovers set at stiff vs Tokico Illumina's with H&R Sports, and even stock suspension, didn't have enough movement on rear sway to snap anything when right set of components are used together.

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

I use a 22 mm bar, SiR endlinks and a Beaks kit, H&R coilovers, Yokohama Parada Spec 2.

anytime I go into a driveway the car gets on three wheels...

just imagine what it does cornering.

VTEC_Thunder

Is that the brace you guys are talking about?

I'm not paying for that...lol....I'll make my own...

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

no, that's the beaks kit that everyone says MAY damage the subframe. what you want is more of what Nova_Dust has. and NO, don't attempt to make your own.

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

oh, and the brace... if you are referring to the blue part, that's a Tanabe Sustec lower tie bar.... has nothing to do with the sway bar.

VTEC_Thunder

Yeah the tie bar...That i can make easy.


But the brace...I don't know what that looks like or where it goes?

have any pics of that?

k_r_a_c_k_e_r

iTrader: (3)

I don't wanna high-jack your thead, but what do you guys suggest to run on the front and rear of my del sol? I have an Si so I believe it has a front sway.

I'm running on Sportlines/Stock shocks, and a Password JDM 3 point strut bar.

I'm gonna be putting PIC coilovers on in the spring.

Nova_Dust

Body roll will happen regardless, at the limit of basic coilover, sway bars, strut bars and other bolt on stuff.

You can reduce it, but you will still have it.

You want the car to corner well, you gotta up the spring rates and find a set of shocks that match them. Of course, 22mm rear sway is great. As for front, 26 is enough IMO. I think Mugen makes 28 or slightly larger if I am not mistaken. But if you go that route, try 26mm rear or 32mm hollow straight rear sway.

I wouldn't go too far off between the front and back. For me, I don't like under or over. Through a corner, I want my 4 wheels to have as much full contact as possible, without sliding. You gain no contact when your tire(s) are sliding.

For leisure driving and less serious activities, coilover, sway bars and some bolt on stuff will be enough. Then you get into 1/2 or full cage, then you go seam weld your chassis and whatnot. But also remember this, a chassis that is too stiff will turn less than a chassis with a certain amount of flexibility.

Civics are literally spot welded and glued together, without tackle the chassis, bolt-ons will always be, bolt-ons.

imported_SilverSleeper

I have the SIR front, ITR Rear with the ASR subframe brace. Works like a dream but would work better if I had better spring rates.