Upper Front/Rear Strut Bars?
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Upper Front/Rear Strut Bars?
Hey everyone, I currently have a Front Upper Nuespeed Tie bar and im fixing to install an OBX rear upper strut bar that I have had for a while. Will box of these make a difference in the stiffness of my suspension? Thanks.
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Rep Power: 0 i noticed a lot when i put on my spoon front strut bar and neuspeed x brace. i'll be soon buying the spoon rear strut bar. but yea ..... i noticed that when i take turns real hard my car doesn't jerk or slide around like it used to. it responds a lot better too
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Rep Power: 0 The rear will not domuch on our cars. The rear is very stiff to begin with do to the location of the strut mounts. Now, if you had a hatch like my 1990 Civic hatch you would notice a TON of help out of a rear upper strut bar.
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Rep Power: 0 that's It?!?! newbie?!.. at least say something like "newbie! but the url is..." or sometin like that! sheesh.. Anyways.. back on the topic of the thread.. What is the consensus on the best available rear upper strut bar for the 7th gens? tnx
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Rep Power: 338 There arent much. There is Spoon, Cusco (RSX, but probably the best), APC RE works, and some generic ones. I read somewhere that Neuspeed did make a protoype rear bar for our cars but it didnt make much of a difference so they never made it for production.
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Originally Posted by sffree
ah ok.. so there is a cusco one that'll fit.. which RSX model is it? Thanks!
But if you look at where the strut towers are, you can see it's right by the chassis....
a good example is a 350Z. They have a rear bar that sits right on the middle of the trunk. That will help more compared to our cars where the bar would sit where the chassis is. The older Civics have the bar in the middle of the trunk as well. Hope I'm making sense.
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From: Bromont,Québec,Canada
Rep Power: 0 don't forget strut bars go after good tires,perf.shocks and springs and finally sway bars...that combination will put stress on your chassis and you will need struts bars.If you upgrade your tires it will put stress on your suspension (braking,cornering) so the next step is springs and shocks to get good balance (it will help in braking too cause reduce weight transfer in front (nose diving)) after that you will be able to take some corners very fast and maybe it will cause sway...go for the sway bars(choose the right one for your driving style) then go for strut bars to reduce chassis flex...tuning is a question of balance and we must follow some rules, question of having a good and fun car to drive and save $$$ for parts that don't give extras in performance...
Sorry for my english guys, like my name said, french is my first language(Québec)
I had to try in english cause your so cool and this site is awsome
Sorry for my english guys, like my name said, french is my first language(Québec)
I had to try in english cause your so cool and this site is awsome
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Originally Posted by civicfrenchie
don't forget strut bars go after good tires,perf.shocks and springs and finally sway bars...that combination will put stress on your chassis and you will need struts bars.If you upgrade your tires it will put stress on your suspension (braking,cornering) so the next step is springs and shocks to get good balance (it will help in braking too cause reduce weight transfer in front (nose diving)) after that you will be able to take some corners very fast and maybe it will cause sway...go for the sway bars(choose the right one for your driving style) then go for strut bars to reduce chassis flex...tuning is a question of balance and we must follow some rules, question of having a good and fun car to drive and save $$$ for parts that don't give extras in performance...
Sorry for my english guys, like my name said, french is my first language(Québec)
I had to try in english cause your so cool and this site is awsome
Sorry for my english guys, like my name said, french is my first language(Québec)
I had to try in english cause your so cool and this site is awsome
rear upper wont do much, looks nice though. You would do better to spend the money on an RSX rear sway bar. That will make a world of differance and its a totaly stealth mod, no one will know its there till you tell them
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From: fontana, ca, (909)
Rep Power: 0 im lookin for that neuspeed strut bar too. dont know whether to get that first or that X-brace. what u guys think?? i got the rsx sway bar in already. what should i do next..
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Originally Posted by TMRakip
Nuespeed makes a Sway Bar/Tie combo, but it's rather pricey...I'm looking into one, but I'm not sure if it's worth the scratch...
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Originally Posted by civicfrenchie
don't forget strut bars go after good tires,perf.shocks and springs and finally sway bars...that combination will put stress on your chassis and you will need struts bars.If you upgrade your tires it will put stress on your suspension (braking,cornering) so the next step is springs and shocks to get good balance (it will help in braking too cause reduce weight transfer in front (nose diving)) after that you will be able to take some corners very fast and maybe it will cause sway...go for the sway bars(choose the right one for your driving style) then go for strut bars to reduce chassis flex...tuning is a question of balance and we must follow some rules, question of having a good and fun car to drive and save $$$ for parts that don't give extras in performance...
Sorry for my english guys, like my name said, french is my first language(Québec)
I had to try in english cause your so cool and this site is awsome
Sorry for my english guys, like my name said, french is my first language(Québec)
I had to try in english cause your so cool and this site is awsome
to be the devils advocate, i would like to challenge you on your way of thinking. for example, your suggestion is similar to this...
if you want power, you first buy the turbo, then buy the exhaust and remove the cat. then you buy bigger cams, then you raise boost to 20 psi for max power, then your tear the engine down and install high performance sleves, connecting rods, high strength bolts, etc...
what im saying is, wouldnt it be better to strenghten/re-enforce the chassis, before it gets "abused" by the additional forces the new suspension setup would produce?
just some food for thought
purely oppinion here so dissregard as you see fot.
Most of us arent good enough to get all the performance out of our cars as they sit on the showroom floor. I'm fairly certain that a totaly competent driver in a stock civic could destroy most of us in our modded cars just by driving it better. With that in mind, most mods are not going to make the car that much faster. What they are going to do is affect the driver. For example, I have a neuspeed front bar in my car because I didnt like the way the front end felt in hard corners. So on stock tires and wheels I could go faster because I was more confident in the front end feel. Did the mod make the car faster or just allow me to get more out of it? I have a RSX rear sway bar as well. This affected the ballence of the car to make it suit my preferance better. If you were to examine the actual performance numbers, I'm sure it didnt do much but I am much happier with its behavior durring corners. what I'm getting at is that these simple mods are good ones because they have dramatic effects on the way the car drives, and those changes are ones that most people like.
Most of us arent good enough to get all the performance out of our cars as they sit on the showroom floor. I'm fairly certain that a totaly competent driver in a stock civic could destroy most of us in our modded cars just by driving it better. With that in mind, most mods are not going to make the car that much faster. What they are going to do is affect the driver. For example, I have a neuspeed front bar in my car because I didnt like the way the front end felt in hard corners. So on stock tires and wheels I could go faster because I was more confident in the front end feel. Did the mod make the car faster or just allow me to get more out of it? I have a RSX rear sway bar as well. This affected the ballence of the car to make it suit my preferance better. If you were to examine the actual performance numbers, I'm sure it didnt do much but I am much happier with its behavior durring corners. what I'm getting at is that these simple mods are good ones because they have dramatic effects on the way the car drives, and those changes are ones that most people like.
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^^ he brings up an interesting point..
let me throw another at you guys.... would you rather add a part that makes the car Feel better , or one that actually makes the car handle better??
let me throw another at you guys.... would you rather add a part that makes the car Feel better , or one that actually makes the car handle better??
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Originally Posted by Zzyzx
^^ he brings up an interesting point..
let me throw another at you guys.... would you rather add a part that makes the car Feel better , or one that actually makes the car handle better??
let me throw another at you guys.... would you rather add a part that makes the car Feel better , or one that actually makes the car handle better??
Handling is all relative. I think if a driver can feel out his/her car and be able to drive it safely through rain, snow, sleet, quick responses, then the car "feels" right to them whether or not it handles like an autox/road racing car.
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Rep Power: 380 exactly, how you want your car to Feel or handle like is your choice... and if a part makes the car feel better to you, no matter if it actually effects the handling of the car much, then its a good part for you.
The one concern I have with people modifying their suspension is this... Basically there are 2 paths you can take when modding the suspeinson for performance... the street driven path and the ***** out autocross/race track path.
the street driven path is by far the safest of the two, and I'd suspect would be more then adiquite for the majority of people who want better handling on the street, even posibly with limited track use. Esentially you go out and buy a set of sport springs and some shocks (Often forgotten) or maybe one of the cheeper "Coilover kits" then you get what ever wheel and tire combo you want, a few chassis reinforcements, and finally you upgrade the anti-roll bars, probably with bigger bars both front and rear. what this does is crate a car that will handle MUCH better then stock and sure as hell Feels much better then stock. Will it make the car handle as well as it could?? Most likely not, but it will probably handle well enough to satisfiy the average joe driver, and still keep them Fairly safe. As in, the car will mostlikely understeer in most "at the limit" situations, wich is good. It keeps you from getting in to too much trouble.
Then there's the autocross/track setup.... Typically a well preped autocross (assuming your not running the stock classes) or road course car will be fairly unstable on the street. This does not mean that it is undriveable on the street, but rather you have to be more aware of how you are driving. Simply because the car will be more apt to punish you for your driving mistakes... as in, you will be more likely to spin the car when you mess something up then with a more understeer tuned car... How you set it up vaires, so I wont get in to it.
what does this mean?? Personally, i'd rather see someone tune their car to the Street side, They will be more then happy with the handling and it will keep them and their pasengers safe.
This is coming form an Avid autocrosser who went from an understeering pig of a car, to a Fully Preped nationaly compeditive car (89Si)... All that I can say is the si can do things on course that my car can't even dream of doing, but I wouldnt want my mom to pick up groceries with it... (now that I'm not driving that si, I've put alot of effort in to making my 01 EX handle as close to that car as possible... which explains my Anti-roll bar selection...
)
The one concern I have with people modifying their suspension is this... Basically there are 2 paths you can take when modding the suspeinson for performance... the street driven path and the ***** out autocross/race track path.
the street driven path is by far the safest of the two, and I'd suspect would be more then adiquite for the majority of people who want better handling on the street, even posibly with limited track use. Esentially you go out and buy a set of sport springs and some shocks (Often forgotten) or maybe one of the cheeper "Coilover kits" then you get what ever wheel and tire combo you want, a few chassis reinforcements, and finally you upgrade the anti-roll bars, probably with bigger bars both front and rear. what this does is crate a car that will handle MUCH better then stock and sure as hell Feels much better then stock. Will it make the car handle as well as it could?? Most likely not, but it will probably handle well enough to satisfiy the average joe driver, and still keep them Fairly safe. As in, the car will mostlikely understeer in most "at the limit" situations, wich is good. It keeps you from getting in to too much trouble.
Then there's the autocross/track setup.... Typically a well preped autocross (assuming your not running the stock classes) or road course car will be fairly unstable on the street. This does not mean that it is undriveable on the street, but rather you have to be more aware of how you are driving. Simply because the car will be more apt to punish you for your driving mistakes... as in, you will be more likely to spin the car when you mess something up then with a more understeer tuned car... How you set it up vaires, so I wont get in to it.
what does this mean?? Personally, i'd rather see someone tune their car to the Street side, They will be more then happy with the handling and it will keep them and their pasengers safe.
This is coming form an Avid autocrosser who went from an understeering pig of a car, to a Fully Preped nationaly compeditive car (89Si)... All that I can say is the si can do things on course that my car can't even dream of doing, but I wouldnt want my mom to pick up groceries with it... (now that I'm not driving that si, I've put alot of effort in to making my 01 EX handle as close to that car as possible... which explains my Anti-roll bar selection...
) Autocross Junky
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Rep Power: 380 Eh, Run how it sits now, preferably in the Stock classes.... That will teach you more then any thing.
if you must modify then wheels and tires will make the single greates improvement in handing. (save for some light 15X7s) after that, springs and shocks.... either Konis with ground contorols (or other adjustible spring) or one of the higher end "coilovers".
then, Drive the car some more..... learn its new limits..... then you can start lookingin to anti-roll bars. and hopefully by then you'll know more of what you want to tune the car to do, so you can pick out the right anti-rol bar... or bars.
also the proper alignment can make the difference between an understeering pig of a car and a well handling car.
Basically, I'd have to say get as much seat time as you can, change only one part at a time, and above all Spend time tuning You as a driver... Not all handling problems are because of the car.
if you must modify then wheels and tires will make the single greates improvement in handing. (save for some light 15X7s) after that, springs and shocks.... either Konis with ground contorols (or other adjustible spring) or one of the higher end "coilovers".
then, Drive the car some more..... learn its new limits..... then you can start lookingin to anti-roll bars. and hopefully by then you'll know more of what you want to tune the car to do, so you can pick out the right anti-rol bar... or bars.
also the proper alignment can make the difference between an understeering pig of a car and a well handling car.
Basically, I'd have to say get as much seat time as you can, change only one part at a time, and above all Spend time tuning You as a driver... Not all handling problems are because of the car.
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Rep Power: 403 yea... i dont' know what else to do with my suspention... short of a roll cage... but i love the handeling with this... the only think i think i can do is get better tires...
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Neuspeed front polished Strut bar
Neuspeed "X" brace
Cusco rear upper Strut bar
Tein SS dampers
SPC camber kit front and rear
Grey's custom endlinks
Progress front sway bar
Progress rear sway/tie bar
Centerline rpm's 18's polished (14.5 pounds)
Parada spec 2 215/40/18
Rear disc brakes off a 02' Si
i gotz
Neuspeed front polished Strut bar
Neuspeed "X" brace
Cusco rear upper Strut bar
Tein SS dampers
SPC camber kit front and rear
Grey's custom endlinks
Progress front sway bar
Progress rear sway/tie bar
Centerline rpm's 18's polished (14.5 pounds)
Parada spec 2 215/40/18
Rear disc brakes off a 02' Si
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Originally Posted by HondaLuver
Centerline rpm's 18's polished (14.5 pounds)
Parada spec 2 215/40/18
Parada spec 2 215/40/18
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