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Alright I have read the faq, I read the suspension 101, all kinds of stuff. Now I have a few more questions. Right now I have eibach sportlines. I want to make my car handle better, im not going to go auto-crossing. I just want to handle better on the road for those times you just open up a little bit and have fun on the winding roads. I'm trying to base these on the understeer/oversteer thing but im definately still learning. So these are my questions, I thought about buying a neuspeed front strut bar, and I thought about getting lower sway bars. What is the best brands to get first off? Which ones should I get, front and rear sway bars, front and rear strut bars? Do these have problems I saw that grey made new endlinks for his sway bar, is there an issue w/ these parts?
Thanks for all help in advance
Realitycheck

 
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bump it up!

 
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If you dont have struts, I would consider buying those first. Stock struts will suck eventually with lowering springs. Thats JMO though. I have tokicos and they handle freakin awesome compared to stock on nice open curvy roads.

 
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Simply put, a stut tower bar or Tie bar will make the car feel better, altering the anit-roll bars will actually alter the cars handling characteristics.

However if you are trying to tune the car for best handling the #1 thing you need to do is get rid of the crappy OEM shocks. Konis would be your best bet for pure performance, KYB would be a step down, allong with the D-Speck Tokicos. Finaly, a good street/sport damper would be the Tokico HP.

after that, you'll probably want to alter the anti-roll bars. THis is where you'll need to be more in tune with where the car is understeering or oversteering. The basics here are.... If the car is understeering, either increase the size of the rear bar, or decrease the size of the front bar, or both. If the car is oversteering then either decrease the size of the rear bar or increase the size of the front bar or both.

 
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Well I've been riding around on the stock shocks, for like almost 2 years now with no problems. How much and where can you get the konis?
Can I not just get the anti-roll bars instead?
I've never pushed my car to a limit where it is beginning to under or oversteer, so I dont know which it does I just want it to handling characteristics to be better, so my best option would be what?

 
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your best bet that saves you money, and will give you a nice set up.

tockio blues
rsx rear sway
a nice set of tires would help as well.

 
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I drove around on my Ebach sportlines for 3 years, thinknig nothign was wrong just like you... Untill My friend finally talked me in to picking up a set of Konis. Oppon disassembling the suspension I found that the rear two shocks were weak to the point of obserdity and the right front shock was blown completly (no Preasure, but it never leaked any oil). With the Konis in, it was like I was driving a completly different car. One that actually reacted quickly to my steering imputs, and it actually turned much better.

Konis will run you about $560 or so... If you dont plan on doing autocross like you said, then you dont need adjustble shocks... Pick up a set of Tokico Hp's they have better valving the OEM and they are a whole lot tougher then them too. Or the Tokico D-Spec... May be a good comprimise, as would the KYB AGX shocks.
The vendors on the site should have all of these.


You could just get the anti-roll bars... But as you said, your just learing and you havent really gotten the car to the oversteer/understeer point, so how are you suppose to konw which bars would best suit your needs? e.g., something as small and cheep as the RSX 19mm rear bar may be more then enough for what you do with the car...


BTW, what Characteristics are you trying to change: Describe please.

 
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Well what I want is to just make the car stiffer and handle better around the turns. Basically I want to be able to go faster in the turns and feel safer and more stable,
what do you suggest for that?
and can I replace the shocks on my own what do I need to do this?

Thanks for your help man
Realitycheck

 
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Safer and stable = Get better shocks Seriously... The HP's would probably be perfect for you. You could probably do a swap with the Hp's on your own.. the Konis need a bit more work to mount so if you arnt handy with tools its probably best to have a Pro install them.

other wise, for anti-roll bars... Start out with the RSX's 19mm one. should run you around $80 New. remember to get bushings for it (you can reuse your stock brackets and endlinks.

 
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Okay Zzyzx I did a little research and im gonna go with the tokico "blues". They seem to be best for me.

 
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Which one is the rsx one where can I get it?

 
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its actually the OEM bar of the Acura RSX.... you can pick one up at an Acura dealer ship new, or you can ask around the RSX forums to find one cheeper. http://www.clubrsx.com/

 
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We have a Progress Rear & Front sway bar sale.........

Front bar $125
Rear $135

See sig link

 
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Really, and it just fits right into place of ours?

 
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Hey dezod, what mm are your rear ones?

 
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the Progress rear bar is 22mm

realitycheck, what Year civic do you have? If its an 01-02 then the rear progress bar may be a good choice... if its an 03+.... You should definitly pick up both front and rear, or atleast pick up the front bar off of an 01-02. other wise the car may want to bring the rear end around a bit too often then you'd like.

 
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Neuspeed upper strut bar
RSX-S rear sway bar

Both made the car much more stable in turns like it should have been stock. I can actually accelerate in a turn and not feel like the car is gonna flip.

 
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Well guys I have an 02 EX, the first thing I will get as soon as I get my new head unit will be, the tokico blues. Actually my struts starting feeling a lot more bouncy yesterday before I ever even starting reading on this stuff. I think they may be just hosed now, but I dont have any oil leaking, oh well! So what you think Zzyzx, since I have an 02 progress rear and neuspeed upper tie bar. Or what?
Another question for you also Zzyzx, will I need to have my camber realigned when I install the blues?
thanks again man
Realitycheck

 
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Neuspeed upper tie bar wont really affect your performace.

 
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Front is 27mm

Rear is 22mm w/ Tie bar

 
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So it comes with a tie bar also?

 
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that would be a good place to start. Aim to get the Tie bar last if you cant get all of it at once. (Shocks then anti-roll bar then Tie bar)




Yes, You'll need to get an alignment after you install the struts..

 
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Hey man I really appreciate the help. I'm gonna get the shocks right after I get this new head unit. Then I will do like you said and get the anti roll see what it does, then the tie bar.

 
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good. Its best to change suspsension parts 1 piece at a time.. that way you konw what each part is doing, and if you add something that you dont like, you konw exactly which part is causing the problem... Rather then changing every thing at once... where you wouldnt konw which part was giving you grief.

 
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The blues are the HPs, if you werent aware?? You will like them much more over stock, and I can take 90degree turns at 35mph without skidding. I can get on the freeway onramp going about 70-75 w/o skidding. They really helped out a lot on the turns (maybe along with my lowering at the same time) I got an alignment afterwards, and my car was majorly off. Its only like 70-80 bucks depending on how bad its off.

 
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When I install everything my springs my tokicos and my ingalls camber kit will the wheel shop have a hard time alignining my car? Or will it be like any other car they align?