I have rear and front type r sway bars. The rear is definitly going on, but would the front hurt performance? I had just the front on once and I really liked the feel, except for the understeer(noticed it on bumpy turns). Would a smaller bar improve handling with the type r rear? I'm trying to set my car up for autocrossing. Thanks.

 

Maybe tell us more about the car (like what the car is)...

 

I write these posts, but I don't read them! I completely forgot to list my car.
'95 civic cx. 'oo Si shocks/springs, cheapo strut bars, stock 13" wheels. The shocks made a big difference, but my car still plows around turns.

 

I would say, for autocrossing, keep the front bar on. It will be more likely to improve times by improving transitional response (which is especially important in autox), than it is to hurt times due to any additional understeer it may add.

This is just a guess based on generalizations.. I don't own a civic and haven't done any testing on your specific situation..

For autocross, though, tries will probably make a bigger difference.. so maybe check on some Azenis and a spare set of rims if you haven't already.. (I'm assuming you're STS class) Talk to Mike Louie at one of your local autocrosses.. he's a good guy.. drives a blue Civic SI.. CivicSiRacer on this board.

 

a front sway bar can be faster in autocross, but other setups can be fast as well. if you were going to get a front bar i think you also need to get different lower c/a for the front. the itr front bar isn't the biggest on the market though. the 00 si has a 26mm front bar, the itr/gsr has a 24mm, and the rs/ls and civic ex has a 21mm front bar. at this point, since your car is so soft spring wise, i would get the biggest bar i could find. if in the future you start to increase your spring rates, you could probably reduce your bar size, or you could just go higher with the rear spring rates.

nate

 

Honestly, swaybars will help you some, but a different set of springs will yield the best benefit.

The stock Si springs aren't the best on the planet for autox. Personally, I don't recommend using such huge swaybars (ITR rear) on such soft springs. I think it makes the car handle weird.

 

Would ITR springs help out? Would they be ok to mount on Si shocks? I was thinking about that, but this is my daily driver and i was afraid they would be too stiff.

 

If you want to change springs, you will be better off going to a GC type set up. The 'stock springs' are biased very heavily towards the front. In general, with the higher rate up front, you are encouraging understeer (plowing). I also wouldn't advise large bars with 'stock' type rates. There have been a number of subframe tear outs on 5th gen cars reported. The common items seem to be large bars (22mm +) & stock spring rates.

 

ITR springs would be fine on stock Si shocks. Ride is good too. I put ITR springs on my GF's Ex coupe (with stock EX shocks) and the car rides and handles good.

The only oem honda spring worth anything is the ITR spring.