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ok well theres currently a group buy going on for progress suspension stuff so i have a chance to get a rear sway bar for 130+shipping. thing is i have an LX and dont have a rear sway bar, so id also have to get the adapter kit ($115), do u guys think its worth it? im thinking about getting into circuit style racing and just wondering how much difference does the rear sway really make. im not going to be getting too serious, i might not even upgrade my stock springs/shocks. itll just be a more for fun thing anyways since i have an auto, wont be beating many cars with it lol.

 
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Sway bar is good to fine tune your suspension. How thick is the bar that your getting? A thicker rear bar is used to promote oversteer. From the factory our cars understeer and installing a thick rear sway bar can help get your car to understeer less. If your a race car driver it is must to be able to oversteer your car. You will be able to take turns faster and adjust through the turn more, covententionally your cars front tires would just slip and push forward. You might even want to spend a bit more if your gonna be racing and get yourself an adjustable one.

 
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It's like night and day just upgrading a stock sway to a thicker one. I can only imagine what kind of improvement you would get from adding a sway to a car that didn't have one to begin with. Go get it, you won't regret it.

 
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well like i said im not going all out, so not sure if i need the adjustable. but alrighty ill look into it, any recommendations on good rear sway bars?

 
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oh and the front bar is 27mm. thing is that i have a rear strut bar on right now and the car seems to oversteer a bit, so ill see how things are with the front sway bar and if its understeering a lot ill get the rear sway too.

 
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Oversteer is when your rear tires are able to slip while your front tires have grip. Are you sure your getting oversteer with a 27mm front and no rear bar. A rear strut tower bar doesn't do much on our cars because of our double wishbone setup, I learned that by gathering into through this forum. With oversteer you can actually get the tail end of your car to come around.

 
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i dont have the front sway bar yet, and yes i can get my rear tires to slip with the front ones still gripping. its lotsa fun going around corners like that .

 
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You don't have a front sway bar? I believe all the Civic comes with a front sway bar & DX doesn't come with a rear sway bar. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

As for your question, yes it is worth it getting a thicker aftermarket rear sway bar. It's much more worth it than adding the rear strut bar. You will feel more oversteer with a thicker rear sway bar than the rear strut bar.

Oh yea & from my own personal experience, I find most FWD car handles better without adding a front strut bar.

 
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no no no. i have A front sway bar, i just dont have THE front sway bar im talking about in this post which is a progress front sway. also i dont believe LX's come with rear sway bars, and i think the HX doesnt have any sway bars.

 
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Oh okay, just keep the front sway bar stock & add the rear thicker sway bar.

 
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ok i just checked. the 01 LX's didnt come with a rear sway bar so yeah id have to get the adapter kit, and that would involve drilling. not sure i if i want to do that, so ill just see how things go after i install the front sway, if its got too much understeer then ill get the rear one too.

 
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By replacing the stock front sway bar to a thicker aftermarket one, you will increase understeer. Especially that you don't have any rear sway bar at all. The rear strut bar just won't do much.

Then again if you aren't taking your car to a circuit or an autocross, you won't really feel much of a difference on the street. You really have to push your car real hard to notice the difference.

 
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i dont know why, but the car has obvious understeer with just the rear strut bar. its not extreme or anything but i can definetly break the rear end loose while still have the front stick. the front swaybar upgrade might outweigh this greatly, dont know never messed with my sway bars. but we'll see.

 
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Maybe we should wait for Zzyzx, Boilermaker or RobClark to give you the right info.

 
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If you can swing out the rear easily, isn't that characteristic of OVERsteer?

 
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My 2004 Civic LX came with both front and rear sway bars, and it gets really loose in the rear end when cornering fast, any improved sway bars both front and back will make a difference. stock it rides like a caddy, I want it to ride like a beamer.

 
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yeah sry my bad, should be oversteer not understeer in that post.