i'm a little new at this area and i was wondering what exactly should i be looking for when i buy a strut bar, and sway bar.

I saw the megan racing front/rear strut bars for half the price of some greddy and neuspeed ones, is it the material or brand name??

Also i drive a Civic 2000 EX, and i heard that you can get a certain size sway bar or it will mess up your car(too big, too small) iduno?? =( someone guide this noob with some good information.
Much appreciated!!

 

It really depends on what kind of setup you're going for (springs & shocks? coilovers?)and what kind of driving you want to do (dd, autoX, road race, drag, etc.)

Search & research.

 

strut bars = not needed, sway bars = useful, get front and back

 

I do some canyon running, and DDing, and i'm most likely going for the Groundcontrol coils+ koni combo. But as for now i have eibachs prokit and tokico hps.

And to the second poster: why are strut bars not needed?

 

Usually on a DD you want a balanced car. This keeps it easy to drive but still performs when you want. You add a rear sway bar or switch to a bigger one if you have one already. This reduces the FWD tendency to understeer(go straight when you turn) Sway bars are far more effective than strut bars which are really a fine tuning part and pretty much unecessary on the street. It might make a tiny difference. Body flex doesnt matter if your suspension is not working well in the first place. wheels, tires, springs, shocks, and swaybars are more important.

 

thanks! =]

 

yeah i agree with the previous posters. sway bar > strut bars. you'll feel the difference more if you get a sway bar especially when you go hard on those corners. good luck.

 

Strut Tower bars
-Passive suspension upgrade (Do not move with suspension)
-Strengthen the rigity of your car giving a more responsive chassis
-Mainly helpful if you have a stiffer suspension

Sway/Anti-roll/Anti-sway bars
-Active supension upgrade (Move with suspension)
-Connects one lower control arm to another by a bar that rotates and flexes, essentialy acting as a spring reducing body roll
-Larger Front = More responsive steering input and UNDERSTEER (Front of car has more weight so front bars will be bigger in most set-ups)
-Larger Rear = OVERSTEER

Basically for 96-00 civics:
Lower models come with no sway bars
EX (Si Canada) Comes with a front 22mm sway bar
Si (SiR Canada) Comes with a 26mm front and 13mm rear sway bar and a front upper strut tower bar

For example:
On a 96-00 Civic I would suggest starting off with a moderate sized rear sway bar (17mm or 19mm) and picking up a stock 22mm front sway bar and LCAs if you don't have one. This will give a fairly neutral set-up. As for stut tower bars, you get what you pay for. The more expensive brands will tend to fit better and keep their re-sale value.

 

thanks for the info, If i didn't mention i dont think, i have a civic 00 Sedan, i'd like to do everything right the first time so i dont have to 'upgrade' later on to something better
I just need someone to lead or kind of give the best suggestions on the 'do it right first time' choice. Money isn't the problem i just want to know what to buy exactly to get the best handling/reduced bodyroll with the swaybars.

 

Eibach 17mm rear sway bar
SKUNK 2 Front and rear strut tower bars

 

This might sound stupid, but why wouldn't you wanna get the fattest sway bar out there?

 

It could be overkill for your setup. A stiffer sway bar will transfer more load, which could decrease the combined maximum cornering force of that pair of tires. It will change the oversteer/understeer characteristics but possibly for the worse.

There is no right and wrong answer, since it depends on the application. Some cars could benefit from lower spring rates and stiffer anti-roll bars, and some cars can benefit from the opposite.

 

shall i get a brace for this or no??

 

What kind of brace. Subframe brace, yes. ASR makes probably the best one. Strengthens the subframe to reduce the swaybar tearing the mounts out. Other braces like lower arm braces, etc, I wouldnt waste money on at this point.

 

yea i was thinking about a asr subframe brace, but will that subframe brace have the size for a 17mm sway bar??

 

The subframe brace will also act as a tie bar, I don't think that's been mentioned.

The sway bar itself will just bolt on to the subframe, so every sway bar will fit on that brace.

 

THe sway bar will fit if you have the right d-bracket to hold the sway bar to the brace. In most cases a universal d-bracket with the correct size (mm) D-bushing will be best.

An EX front sway bar should bolt up to your car. The front LCA's are different between the base models compared to the Si and CTR.

Your rear LCA's already have a hole ready for a sway bar to bolt up to. I'd wither go with the Eibach system or do a nice upgrade on the ASR system for you.

My Si has the front 26mm and I upgraded the rear with a comptech brace and a CTR sway bar (22mm). It greatly improved handling overall and is nice for DD and autox.