EXL OWNER

I had front and rear Eibach sway bars installed and am very pleased with the results for my 2008 civic exl. The new bars are much beefier than the stock and with the new poly bushings the steering is much more responsive. at low speeds it feels much the same as the stock set-up but at higher speeds the newer stiffness really shows as well as overall confidence to take any curve.

johng35

Did you install yourself ?
Did you need the eibach Si kit for the rear ?
I see they sell that seperate , and am not sure why.

I have an 2007 coupe EX with a factory rear bar already , so the hardware should be there already, no ?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

did you by chance have the weights and diameter of the bars?

EXL OWNER

I did have to order the rear bar kit from Eibach, their internet link will show all of the specs as needed for your Civic model.

RubyRed57

Are the swaybars the only suspension mod you've done to your EX-L? I have a 2010 EX-L and I'm desperately trying to find a way to eliminate the steering vagueness on mine. Making the move to 17" rims and tires is down the road (when I am able to move out of the major pothole zone of my city) but I am seriously considering a set of Eibach swaybars.

Has anyone fitted only the19 mm rear bar to their Gen 8?

Vince

MindBomber

Upgrading the rear sway bar and not the front sway bar will have the same basic effect in all fwd vehicles, it will give you slightly more oversteer. From the factory a front wheel drive car is severely prone to understeer, so that's a great upgrade and it will be a big help with cornering speeds if you like spirited driving. The ride will become stiffer and less smooth however, consider that.

To eliminate a blind spot in steering a front strut tower bar has actually been very effective for many of us, it's a passive suspension component designed to eliminate chassis flex however so don't expect much of a difference in actual performance with it.

RubyRed57

That was where I planned on going with suspension tweeks until I studied under my Gen8's hood -it looks like there is too much additional hardware mounted overtop the driver's side tower for a brace to squeeze under everything. No problem on the passenger side.

MindBomber

I might be missing your point, but both 2 and 3 point strut tower bars are available for 8th gens.

RubyRed57

I was mistaking other hardware under the hood for the tops of the strut mounts -they are far back, almost under the plastic shroud that covers the wiper hardware under the base of the windshield. Has anyone actually seen the 2 & 3 point bar applications for the 8th gen? A lot of accessory sites I have visited won't show the pic of the actual product. I would really like to see an installation on an 8th gen before laying down my cash.

Vince

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

well, that the thing.
The strut mounting point are buried very deep almost under the windshield, so plenty of sheet metal in between the mounts. I am very skeptical if a strut bar will make a difference. And the ones that extend to the front of the car... They scare me in the event of an frontal accident... I mean, they go from the front to the firewall straight...

johng35

I spent like 80 bucks on a brace and plan on installing it tomorrow (the 26th) .. along with my new Eibach F&R sway bars.

They have a 20$ rebate from Eibach factory on the kit, and many on line dealers have free shiping right now....win win for me !

I will take photos and post follow up when I can.

the brace looks a bit of a pain to install, but once done I do not see any need for maintenance, etc. I'll let you know.

I have a 2007 EX coupe. factory f&r rear bars already.

johng35

Sorry no photos-forgot the camera, and ran into a time issue and did not get ot he sway bars.

Did install the tower brace and it was relatively quick and easy the plastic cowl pops off in seconds- the biggest problem was the quality control on the bracket for the driver's side- the guy welding in the factory was a bit over zealous and the slag had to be ground off one over one of the holes.

You can feel a difference - really over bumpy turns mostly the car does feel tighter then- but I cannot really tell over anything smooth or fast turns/on ramps etc. I feel it was worth the time and $$$.

Now for the sway bars !

RubyRed57

I now have about 1000 miles on my EX-L with a new Eibach 19mm rear swaybar. Here is the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY:

GOOD: I can now dart my car through traffic. It took amost a full month before I quit the massive moves that were previously neccessary to make Rhonda (I name ALL my cars- get over it) change direction. The car feels right, as it should have been from the dealer's lot. I am happy with the body roll allowed by the front swaybar- I don't think it is excessive. With the reduction in understeer the rear bar provides, this mod should really shine once I get different tires.

BAD: The rear bar highlights the poor planning Honda did with the wheel and tire selection: The mediocre Bridgestone tires combined with the over-weight "Mecha-Lamperey" wheels that are standard equipment on the EX-L (right around 22.5 lbs each for a 6.5 X 16" alloy wheel) really inhibit the suspension's ability to react to any road irregularities. This car screams for a lighter tire & wheel combination, and Honda should have provided it on an upper-level Civic model like the EX-L.

UGLY: My opinion of Honda has changed. I really believed the hype about them being well-engineered cars, but the lame factory suspension on my 2010 Civic EX-L says otherwise. Honda should know better. Putting over-weight wheels on an under-powered car? That's lame too. Build quality is worse than some domestic cars I have owned in the past (squeaks and rattles that can never seem to appear for the service guys). With the Gen 8 Civic Honda is just living off their reputation.

Vince

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

yeah anything bigger than a 15 inch wheel on a honda isnt right, esp with only around 100hp. the bridgestone turanza EL400 tires are pure garbage, and i have a feeling thats what you have. i mean on a scale of 1-10 these tires get a 2. you should see the pissed reviews on tirerack.com about them. and as we know better tires make a world of difference. if i were you tires should be next on your list. if the sway bars amazed you, better tires will make you feel like you bought another car. but overall honda has been headed downhill since 2001. the new cars arent terrible, but they could be so much better like cars in the past.

johng35

Just installed the eibach front and rear bars..... awesome . You can really feel a tightness in the car now, and the rear feels like it is holding and biting- I have to get used to it now. Really worth the money and effort to install - took about 3 hours in the driveway.
I have to ge the alignment checked out anyway, but on the off ramp I did not realize I was doing almost 45.... smooth and flat which made me wonder why the guy in front was so slow... i was going too fast. :-)

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

thanks for coming back for the feed back -yeah, the tower bar does not provide much changes in performance, but the steering feels better.
I personally removed the front eibach bar to get more grip on the fronts, though FWD does not need more sway in the fronts - it's sloppier in the fronts, sure, but on the clock it's faster to have softer fronts - felt weird when i unhooked the fronts, but gave me 1 sec in a 70 sec course

johng35

I did not measure them... I think publidhed data is 32MM front and 24MM rear.
The old rear looks like a cable compared to the new, eibach but the front is just heavier.

It's been 4 days and I love it. The car feels like I put wheels and tires that are 4" wider -feels so stable , even under moderate speeds in a straight line.
Worth 250 and a few hours of wrench turning.

johng35

Actually 30 MM front and 19 MM rear.
the factory were 24 front and 11 rear- huge upgrade on the rear kills the tendency to understeer. Must be aware of this when driving.
I have some photos i took with the phone...have to figure out how to upload here.

johng35

pics..