So,

I own 2000 Civic Sedan, which is also DX VP :thumb down:


recently did a full tune up from Honda dealer, using Honda parts - head gasket, new radiator, water pump, spark plugs, trans oil, engine oil, coolant, braking system, new battery, fuel, air filters etc I mean everything Car has 90xxx trouble free miles.

Now it is time to do some modifications, I'm obviously not going to touch engine, but handling.

Where should I start?
I'm thinking about stock rear sway bar - maybe 13 mm bar from EX or aftermarket 19mm.
Thinking about leaving front without sway bar for now. Just don't want to deal with replacing front lower arms yet, is that a bad idea?
Rear and front strut braces
Why would I need to install rear aftermarket LCAs, Subframe brace is it necessary ?
Also I'm choosing a new 15 inch tires and rims - 195/55/15
Not going to drop car yet.

Any advice would be helpful, what is useless, what needs to иу installed first, maybe any trusted brands (budget friendly and good quality)

 

Installing only a rear swaybar will reduce understeer. It's not a bad idea, but having two swaybars is better than one. Sizing them is preference of the driver. I haven't read anything about which combinations result in the best track times with equally skilled drivers.

Rear and front strut bars aren't a bad idea, remember that you don't have to stop there though. I've seen, i think, five or maybe even more bars that will all increase chassis rigidity.

People install rear aftermarket LCAs for flashiness. The brace is the same way, until you get to 20mm+ rear bars. At that point, the brace becomes useful if not necessary.

Make sure you get an offset that fits the car. IIRC people usually stick with 15 x 7.5 with about 35mm offset.

I think the rear LCAs are useless. They often come with inferior bushing material. I think people would be better off replacing the bushings and reuse the factory arms.

 

If you don't have grippy tires, nothing else will matter much.
Why don't you plan on lowering it? Some good coilovers would make the car handle amazingly so long as you were reasonable with how low you made it.

 

Alot of inexperience members can take "reasonable" in a whole lot of ways....

Grippy tires can only do half the work if your suspension isn't up to par.....

 

Just as suspension will only do half the work if your tires aren't up to par.
It has to be a good combination of both in order to have a car that functions.
But every car I have ever seen works well with a good 1-1.5 inch drop. I'm curious why the OP doesn't want to lower it yet.

 

Probably because good coil overs will cost as much as everything else he wants to do.

 

OP doesn't want to lower it because thats NOT WHAT HE WANTS TO DO YET.

 

Thank you guys for your feedback, this is our second car, I drive it on weekends also my mom and my wife drive sometimes, when they don't want to wake up SUV we have, I don't want to make it less comfortable or make them worry to drive over the bumps. My daily, which is 2016 Dart is lowered on coilovers, not crazy drop, around 2 inches, but I scrape everywhere, that is the reason they don't drive my Dart and I don't want them to feel uncomfortable driving Civic. And yes, good coilovers are expensive And just springs are no good in my opinion

Anyway, back to my list, I just ordered rear dc sports struts bar, I know I know, I should've go with tires first, but that is coming next month with new SI rims or any other aftermarket, tire rack is giving me an option for $300 that I'm thinking about, 15 lb rim, looks like OEM and by the way that strut bar was only 50 bucks, used from amazon
having hard time to find front one piece brace, due to stupid d16y7 air box

now back to sway bars, i was thinking about 17mm eibach rear and 22mm eibach front, but since I'm not doing front sway bar yet, I'll probably just do rear, and again, I didn't know I have to buy subframe brace, just not ready to spend $200 on that and I'll go with 13 mm SI sway bar. Can you guys check my list, is this all I need ? Did I choose the right amount of hardware and maybe you guys know better way to purchase parts ?

 

2001 integra base model front sway bar is 24mm. They're like a dollar at a junkyard. JK, they're like twenty dollars or something idk i bought a whole subframe not just the bar.

You're gonna need new front LCAs to install a swaybar, if the 6th gen is like my 5th gen. I think the same thing goes for the rear, not sure i haven't looked yet since i'm going to drop out an integra rear everything for my car too, just like the front.

 

I have a 97 DX that I did a suspension and Brake upgrade to over the summer. After trying some energy suspension I decided to to go back with rubber bushings and installed Hard Race suspension components all around. Adjustable uppers and toe links with aluminum lowers, all with their hard rubber bushings. So far, I've been very pleased with the result and quality of the product.

I also added a factory front sway bar which really helped but it really needs the rear. With the front being much stiffer it easy to swing the back out on tight corners.

 

and the integra sway bar doesn't even come close to fitting a 96-00 correctly.

 

Oh, i thought it did. Sorry.

 

I don't get it, this is a car you drive every once in a while and plus your parents drive it. Why waste money on performance parts when oem is fine.

if all the parts on that list came from a 99-00 civic si(EM1) than thats all you need.

 

that what I thought too, wanted to get Eibach rear bar, found locally used for just $60 but don't want to buy enforcement plate I'll go with stock parts Thanks

 

If you go anything bigger than a 13mm than yes you will need the reinforcements. The 13m does fine for stock but you might also want to look into replacing bushings. They play a big role in your suspension, thats something I'll be looking into soon and will have to plan out.

 

Meh, I have the Eibach 17mm rear bar without any enforcement. No issues what so ever, and I drive my car hard.

Your an idiot if you didn't jump on the bar for $60