Hondacivic90ed

Roughly 8 months ago I purchased and installed the ASR rear subframe brace and 24mm rear swaybar on my 1999 Honda Civic hatchback. The install went OK as in the stock muffler had to have its flange heated and bent out of the way, not a big deal.

The problems started when installing the rear swaybar links as there was not any direct pictures of the way the bolts and washers and endlinks were supposed to fit, however I got them to go on and all was ok until... I drove away and the heim joints were far too loose allowing the links to constantly rotate on the spherical joint and make and irritating clink clink noise all the time.

So I installed some stock 01-05 civic ex rear sway bar links with the shitty plastic joints, but they were quiet, thank god. A few weeks passed and another issue began with a noise over bumps, squeaking coming from the bushings which were lubed with the correct grease when installed. So I re-greased the swaybar bushings and the noise subsided for another few weeks. Then it returned and I re-greased again. At this point I had a feeling that the bushings were too tight against the swaybar and prevented the thin film of grease to remain and as it went through cycles of rotation it would eventually dry out.

Now as the weather warms up and I am going through the usual spring clean-up, tune-up, I can no longer continue to drive the car with the noise it is making now. The rear sway bar bushings have become so worn that the swaybar makes a very loud noise over bumps in the rear. I have checked the endlinks, they're tight, not popping, not loose. The swaybar bushings are allowing the swaybar to move vertically and horizontally and I believe this is where the problems are arising because I have inspected all the usual suspects, lca bushings, ta bushings, compensator bushings, upper control arm bushings, shocks, and rear coil springs.

The noise definately is coming from this and I'm wondering if anyone has had this similar issue or has come across this issue before. I purchased both as a set from JHPUSA.com and I like the swaybar's affect on the handling of the car but not the NVH that comes with it. I see that a lot of other people are running different swaybars with the ASR subframe brace. When you do this do the bushings for the specific swaybar you use work with the subframe brace bushing mounts? And if I was to switch swaybars to something else to remedy this problem, which swaybar would you recommend? ITR, ST? I am currently running a ST front swaybar with no issues. Thanks in advance and sorry for the length.

xd69

iTrader: (1)

I have my ASR paired with a CTR rear sway and OEM Honda D brackets and bushings and it bolted in 100%. ASR designed their brace to be compatible with oem sway bar setups.

Are your sway bar bushings made out of poly or rubber?

Hondacivic90ed

not sure what they're made of, they are the ones supplied by ASR with their 24mm rear swaybar.

Arthas

Woahhhh dude. Paragraphs own you.

Hondacivic90ed

Unlike many people on this site I like to state exactly what the problem is instead of having 1000 posts on 30 pages of people asking hundreds of 1 line questions that could have been answered if the original post was thorough. But your contribution is utterly worthless.

BRN12345

I have had an issue with the fitment of an ASR brace and their 24mm swaybar kit. The problem is as follows:

- The 24mm sway bar has 2 washers tack welded to the main bar.
- The aluminum caps that house the bushings are open on one end and closed on the other (Meaning that the bushing can only slide of the cap in one direction)
- When installed, the tack welded washer is supposed to be on the open side of the aluminum cap. (This ensures that the bushing is locked in place)

On the particular 24mm bar i recieved, the take welded washers were welded on in such a way that the caps when istalled would not align themselves with the threads in the ASR brace unless they were installed upside down. Meaning that the bushing is not locked in. To rectify this, i had to undo the tack welds on the washers, realign and them tack weld them again.

I am not sure if this is the same problem you have, though i hope it helps.

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

While his post may not have contributed to the thread, I whole-heatedly agree that your post would have a million times easier to read if you had broken that one huge block of text up into a few paragraphs.

As for your issue, I would just replace those sway bar bushings with either OEM bushings, or Energy Suspension sway bar bushings with a grease fitting so that you can easily add grease to the bushings. Most likely you'll have to do the latter as there probably aren't any OEM rear sway bar bushings in a 24mm size.

Hondacivic90ed

While my swaybar didn't have the same fitment issues yours did I did notice this as being a bit of a strange way of keeping the rear swaybar in place (the welded washers). I didn't understand why they didn't just have a flanged bushing that would be held in place only by the d bracket. Being located with the washer, the bushings get pushed left and right any time the swaybar sees a load or is twisted. Ideally I think the swaybar should be free-floating from the bushings so they won't bind laterally. My issue is really with the clearance between the bushings and the swaybar itself. I think there isn't enough there causing it to run dry. I used to work as a service technician at a Honda dealership and very rarely would we have to lube swaybar bushings unless they were being replaced because of wear like what I'm seeing on my swaybar that has seen a mere 8 months of regular street driving use. Thanks though.

alphalanos

When I installed my ASR brace and CTR bar I had creaking noises which were reduced when I installed a rear strut bar. Im using ES bushings and tons of lube with Si endlinks and Omni lower arms. (possibly part of the problem.) Im thinking its just a combination of the rear being stiffened and the body flexing. And maybe inferior bushings.

Hondacivic90ed

I know that it doesn't have anything to do with the body flexing. This noise sounds like something is loose (the swaybar) and it happens only over repeated quick bumps or potholes. I am just wondering if anyone has had any issues specifically with ASR's 24mm swaybar or their bushings wearing out prematurely. From the sounds of it, most people go with an oem swaybar and the asr brace, I just like the adjustability of the ASR and the fact that it is 24mm. What is the next smallest swaybar that is an oem fit?

Hondacivic90ed

bump, anyone have any ideas? if not what swaybars are you using successfully with the ASR brace? I'm looking at a DC Type-R 22mm rear bar. How do you think it would compare with the 24mm I'm currently using as far as rear end stiffness? My car has a somewhat snap oversteer which I've grown accustomed to but never felt like I could go 100% with. Just looking for opinions. Thanks.

Andres-eh2

I have that 24mm kit and have experienced 0 issues. The car doesnt daily drive but when it comes out it's for lot of autox abuse. used for about 4-5 events with about 16 runs each time. I agree that the instructions kinda suck but everything worked fine for me.

Hondacivic90ed

I think I'm going to try out the 24mm rear swaybar offering from Cusco. I've used several of their products on a friends S2000 and my own 1990 hatch and I like their way of mounting the bushings to the car better. I just can't drive around with this thing bouncing down the road anymore. Thanks for the help though.

FlatBrokeHatch

I second that...and add that I drive my car daily without a single problem. I've also heard guys saying that the ASR subframe brace and 24mm swaybar will hit a WS2 exhaust, but mine fit perfectly with plenty of clearance. *shrug*

Hondacivic90ed

well I finally got under the car today and removed the ASR swaybar because I couldn't stand listening to the annoying noise over every bump in the road and here is what I found. The bushings had worn away the powdercoat/paint on the swaybar where they were around it, which can certainly be expected with 15k + of regularly driven miles. The noise was the welded washer banging into the asr brace as the bushing didn't allow enough clearance between the bar's washers and the brace. This was evidenced by the marks on the brace and the worn shiny parts of the washer on the swaybar. The bushings also allowed the swaybar to move more than it should. I removed the swaybar, no more noise. I'm currently waiting on my Cusco swaybar in the mail. So for all the naysayers, I wasn't trying to shoot down the asr parts, but there is a better way and it isn't making the bushing mounts over-engineered and bulky, there simply is no need and it has proven to be more of a problem than an un necessary improvement in my opinion.

Slystone

EK whit CTR SB bolt on no problem but ITR bar on EK link you need those bushing!

Hondacivic90ed

well im going to be using the 24mm cusco swaybar which I believe has stock sized holes for the endlinks.