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Got a question to ask you guys, Will installing the rear RSX sway bar affect the amount of body roll the front end of the car gets ? Does the RSX sway bar make the entire car flatter in a corner ? Which will be better to make the front end stiffer, the Neuspeed X-Brace or Neuspeed Upper Front Strut bar ?

 
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I'm sure others will chime in, but I think installing a thicker rear swaybar will increase front end traction and at the same time reduce body roll. Also, it'll increase oversteer and make the rear end want to push out more then before. The thicker the bar, the more effect it will have. The key is finding the right size that fits your driving style and habits.

 
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^^ pretty good analagy.

One of the biggest misconseptions about handling is that Body roll, or the lack there of is a sign of a well/poorly handling car. and thats just not true. You could build a car with 0 body roll and it could handle like crap, and you could build a car with lots of body roll and have it handle like a champ..

what you would be doing by getting a bigger rear anti-roll bar is adjusting the all important Roll couple distribution. Which is the amount of roll resistance at the front of the car Vs the amount of roll resistance at the back of the car. This distribution of roll resistance (Adjusted by both your springs and anti-roll bars) determins the handling balance of the car. To much roll resistance at the front of the car and you understeer, to much at the back, and you oversteer. and then it gets tricky.. See a cars tendency to oversteer increases with speed, so if you set the car up to be nutural for slower corners, then the car will oversteer more on high speed corners, and Vice Versa if you set the car up to be Nutural on Higher speed corners, then the car will Understeer alot more in slower corners..... This is why picking the right parts for what you intend to do is so important, there is no Best setup, its all a mater of how you want the car to handle.

So, after this long winded post, Will a Rear anti roll bar help flatten the car out? Ya, a little bit, But more importatntly, it will make the car handle better becasue the Roll couple has been shifted more twards the back.. (Stock, Most cars are Heavily biased twards the front, becasue for an average driver Understeer is safer then oversteer).

 
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I've tried the RSX rear bar with both a 15.9mm and a 25.4mm front sway bar, and no it doesn't have much of an effect on body roll in the front. The 15.9mm (03',04') left too much body roll, with otherwise stock suspension, for high speed driving IMO. I only notice my neuspeed upper strut bar help with steering during HARD cornering, and I've never tried the x-brace.

 
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So you were running on stock shocks and springs during the 25.4/19mm combo and the 15.9/19mm combo ? I intend to go for the 25.4/19 combo. With the front sway bar at that setting combined with the thicker rear, what is the effect compared to the 15.9/19mm combo ? I think there is too much roll in the front and sometimes it shifts me out of my seat alittle when I corener, as I am relatively light . Unlike the EG and EKs, they roll so much lesser. I just want to know if I will get the desired results with a thicker rear sway alone on my '01. As Zyxxx mentioned, roll is not the issue, but I am willing to sacrifice some handling gains to reduce the much undesired roll. What would you guys recommend then ?

 
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You being shifted out of the seat will happen Body roll or not... Thats being caused by the turn its self, the harder the turn the more force there will be that trys to push you out of the seat. Same reason why things in your car tend to slide tward the out side of the turn. even if you get rid of all the cars body roll, that force still exzists. The only way to lower it is to go through the corner slower. You could allways get better seats... that would hold you better.

I've ran the car with both the 25.4mm/19mm set up, the 25.4mm/13mm set up, and the 15.9mm/19mm setup, and for what I do, the 15.9mm/19mm setup handles the best. It has the most body roll, but it handles the best. In the near future I plan on Running it with the 15.9mm front bar and a 22mm rear bar, but I do not reccomend that for Most people. If you autocross, shure, but its not really sutible for the street.

 
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Yes, I was on stock shocks and springs (03 Sedan). I really think 25.4/19 or 22 rear is the best setup for the street. It makes less body roll, better highway tracking, but like ZZ says at the cost of at-the-limits handling. The 25.4/19 setup really feels more balanced, probably not as good as 25.4/22 but still better than 15.9/19.

 
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Don't want to upgrade the endlinks on the rears, so the max I'm gonna go is 19mm. By the way, the part numbers for the RSX oem sway bars seem to tally internationally. Checked the part numbers of the sway bar from Japan and they are the same as some of you posted here. Could it be certain parts like the sway bars are manufactured in Japan and shipped over to the states for assembly on to the Civics/RSX ? Or does Honda standardise their part numbers globally even if they are manufactured on different parts of the world? The RSX seems to be called "IS 2.0" in Japan and Asia. Anyone knows if they have the 5/6-speed variants equivalent to the Base model and Type-S ?

 
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ok im a noob with suspension issues, but wouldnt you want better handling more than less body roll?

 
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Zzyzx.. how about stock bar size in front (whatever that is) and 22mm in the rear? Still unsuitable for daily street driving?

 
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What year? the 01 and 02 Coupes have a 25.4mm front bar, the 02 Sedan had a 22mm front bar, and the 03+ have a 15.9mm bar.... So... Get the 22mm rear bar, tied in with the 25.4mm front bar you shouldnt have any problems, if you want a little more out of the car, try the 22mm front bar, and if you reall get in to autocross then you'll probably run the 15.9mm front.

 
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it's an 02 lx coupe... so just doing a 22mm in the rear with the polyurethane bushing kit for the front factory bar (25.4?) will give me good handling for street driving? I'm looking to redistribute some of the weight to the rear as mentioned earlier in the thread...

 
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so much to know about strut bars, i jus got a cheap one off ebay (dont bash me, i dont race or nothing jus wanted to reduce the body roll) but i was wondering about the rsx rear sway bar also, but it seems it will reduce the body roll, i really wanna get rid of that too

 
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Did you buy a cheap STRUT bar, or SWAY bar? A cheap STRUT bar is ok....but a cheap SWAY bar is BAD NEWS...IMO

People get these mixed up, or so I hear around town. The strut bar is on TOP (across motor) and the SWAY bar is UNDER the car.

Cheap strut bars (or any strut bar) won't help reduce body roll, at least not a noticable amount. Strut bars just keep the tops of the struts from flexing toward each other. Like connecting two halves into one whole. (If that makes sense) It's a BODY stifening device, not chassis.

Sway bars....well....I wouldn't go cheap with those. They can decide the safety of the car, and just about anything safety related...DO NOT BUY CHEAP...because no matter what people say, when it comes to suspension, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR....if you get a cheap part, you're compromising the integrity of your suspension....thus compromising YOUR OWN safety, not to mention other cars on the road.

So, if all you want to do is REDUCE body roll, just invest in an RSX-S rear SWAY bar (19mm) and you'll FEEL the difference...

 
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Strut bar, i felt a noticeable difference when i installed it, made my turns feel tighter, yea but will the rsx-s rear sway fit my car, 4 dr civic ex, does the coupe and sedan civics have the same frame or sumthin, or can i not get it cuz i have a sedan?

 
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it works with the sedan.