Rep Power: 192

Today i ordered the 19mm rear sway bar off of an RSX. It will be going on my 04 civic. What type/brand of bushings should i get?

 
Rep Power: 285

http://www.energysuspensionparts.com...prod=16%2E5132

 
Rep Power: 192

Thanks!! I ordered them.

 
Rep Power: 285

No problem!

 
Rep Power: 183

Did you also buy RSX bushing brackets and end-links?

Thanks

 
Rep Power: 192

The bar i came with had the bushing brackets so i didnt have to order them, but if you're asking if the stock civic sway bar bracket will work the answer is no. You can use the stock end links though.

 
Rep Power: 0

Wait, so if I were to buy an RSX rear sway bar, I have to order the bushing bracket, bushings, and end links too? (I heard Moog is great)

 
Rep Power: 367

I think some were able to use the stock brakets (bushings naturally need to be bigger)

 
Rep Power: 183

I heard you also need to reinforce the rear end chassis by adding a rear strut brace since the new bar puts more stress on it.

 
Rep Power: 181

Yep, should've ordered the bushings and brackets that match the bar from the RSX. They line up perfectly to the EM2's holes. ANd you don't need new endlinks, or any form of subframe or strut brace. The car is plenty strong to handle a 19mm. Mine's 21mm and i've had no issues.

 
Rep Power: 192

If you're going to get the 21mm bar and you plan on pushing it (auto-x, etc.), you're probably going to want a brace so you dont risk sub frame tear out. You definitely wont have problems with the 19mm though.

Ive heard moog endlinks suck....I believe its gearbox that has snapped a few. I've never had a problem with stock endlinks.

 
Rep Power: 183

We keep talking about how the rear sway bar affect the overall handling and stability of the car, but what about the front sway bar?

My car is an 04 sedan, and I believe someone said 03+ had a 15-16mm front sway bar. Does anyone have that set up?: front 16mm/rear 19mm.

I want to know if upgrading the rear means I have the stiffen up the front by upgrading it to a 22-25mm (not quite sure what size it is). Based on Energy Suspension front sway bar bushing on their website , there are 16mm and 25mm sway bars for Civic 01-05 non-SI.

 
Rep Power: 812

my moog front and rear links are great, no problems after years of use. i did snap those metal "competition" endlinks. the moog has a greasable joint and some play in it so would be hard to snap those. they work like oem, but stronger. but not as good as fixed endlinks since the bar still moves around a bit. i have rear 19mm rsx bar with ES bushings and front 25mm? bar with stock bushings. car handles well. i would recommend front bar being larger than rear for daily driving.

 
Rep Power: 181

Front and rear sways don't necessarily affect each other. If you upgrade only the rear, the front will still be fine. It's all a balance of understeer vs. oversteer with the front bar, so it's the drivers opinion mostly.

 
Rep Power: 192

Ohh for some reason i thought you snapped the moog links.

You dont have to upgrade the front sway bar. If you did the car would be more prone to understeer. Some people even take them off if they are autocrossing. But if you just dont like body roll you could upgrade the front sway.

 
Rep Power: 352

i upgraded to 21mm rsx-s rear sway bar and it almost eliminated understeer... its so much more fun to drive now.

 
Rep Power: 192

Did you have the 19mm before you bought the 21?

 
Rep Power: 352

no, i just had the stock EX one... its a 13mm i believe... it was so pathetic compared to the 21mm RSX-S

RSX base (all years) has 19mm
RSX-S 01-04 has 19mm

only the 05-06 RSX-S has the 21mm

here are some pixs of the stock 13mm vs the RSX-s 21mm

 
Rep Power: 181

I have the 21 too, it's fantastic. If you have 2.5" exhaust tubing or bigger, you may have some clearance issues at first, but it's not too bad. I taped a foam pad around my sway bar so it doesn't hit the exhaust.

 
Rep Power: 192

See im thinking about upgrading to the 21mm but will it make enough difference for me to go through the trouble?

 
Rep Power: 352

The guys in club rsx say it does but from my exp, it made one hell of a difference from my 13 mm bar

 
Rep Power: 192

Yeah im gonna look around for a 21mm at the local scrapyards

 
Rep Power: 181

Huge difference. Every mm counts. My sway bar is my favorite upgrade on my EM2 so far. That says a lot when I only paid $50 for it.

 
Rep Power: 352

heard that one before

 
Rep Power: 367

well, time to sum up - some are stuff i read around, so i can not vouch, but:
brackets: - they could be used for the sway
bushings - naturally need to be bigger
endlinks - no need to change, but recommended - they will go away (but it's easy enough to change them, so keep yours until they start making noises
subframe brace - it seems that the 7th gen is beefier, so no need (tale comes from the 6th gen). I have the progress, so i installed the reinforcements anyway).

finally, the front sway: we increase the rear so that the rear will rotate. if you increase front sway, it will simply negate the front-to-rear balance again and make the car squeal front tires like a pig instead of turning the car. only effect left will be less body roll.
so, no, we do not recommend changing front sway for bigger - i removed my eibach and run more front camber than rears.
makes much more grip on the fronts. still not as much as my rwd cars...
warning - an understeer car is safer for the average driver.

 
Rep Power: 352

If you get stock 21mm rsx sway bar bushings, they will fit in our oem "civic" bushing-bracket

 
Rep Power: 181

really? I didn't even notice... I figured the EM2's brackets would be too small.

 
Rep Power: 192

^Yeah i figured the same thing.....so how does that work? Bigger bushing, bigger bar, same size bracket..?? Maybe the 19 and 22mm bushings are thinner? Thoroughly confused here

 
Rep Power: 0

Wondering where you got your bushings riceboi? The link at the beginning of the thread is for 19mm and checking that site I didn't find a 21mm. Just wondering which would be best for the 21mm?

 
Rep Power: 352

Stock civic bracket with 21mm bushing




My stock 21mm bushings came with the sway bar. I got lucky. You can always order them from Honda.

Energy suspension doesn't make stock replacements for the 21mm unfortunately. The red ES bushing set I ordered didn't fit because the bracket wasn't long enough to bolt on the frame.

However the stock bushings are not soft rubber. They were as hard as the ES material.