Does anyone have a set of Suspension Techniques Sway bars? i was just wondering how they handled and would it be better to get a set of Tanabe sway bars.

 

I've had the set on my EK Civic for 2 years now with no complaints at all. They provide enough transitional stability to handle my Hoosiers through a fast slalom, but the ride quality is not compromised too much. Balance is fairly neutral with a hint of oversteer. IMO, spring rates should be what's used to handle most of that anyway. The design of the rear bar also makes it easier on the sub frame. Since the endlinks mount at the very end of the control arm, the rear sway bar provides more stability without exerting as much leverage on the sub frame mounting points. The poly bushings are top quality. The powder coat has held up fine. Installation was pretty easy, and the price is right.

 

i have some st's right now and I like them so far, I have had them on for about 3 months now or so. http://www.overboost.com/story.asp?id=445 go to that link and see the install

 

ST's are great because you can use them with civic LCA's that never had oem mounting holes for swaybars.... what? what did you say? you want all possible performance ???

all righty then!!!--> those civic LCA's are lighter too!
I have the ST swaybars in my bedroom just waiting to be bolted up to my 92 CX, asap... just need warmth and dry weather..., well, okay I'll be happy with just dry weather....

 

love them no body roll

 

i have the progress rear bar i believe its bigger than the st and i have no front bar so that tells you how my car handles *** out hehe

 

I have one in the front and love it
It holds the car very nice, but you do need good tires to hold it on the ground

 

I see the listing of what cars they make it for...Do they make it for a '99 HATCH? i hope so...

 

there niiiiice!

 

i have the bar in the rear of my coupe. it incredible and i love it.. causes some squeeks here and there but nothing big or annoying.

 

>>Do they make it for a '99 HATCH?<<

Yep.

Also, it's definitely less work than trying to swap out the front control arms (cheaper too). Their front control arm mounting brackets have held up great. Installation is easy. Just don't be intimidated by the large bag of bolts and washers that comes with the ST kit. Most of them are for the endlinks. Once you follow the diagram in the instructions everything gets pretty simple.

 

I have the rear susp tech 23mm instaled in my car and they are holding up well as stock. There shouldn't be any problems either brand you decide to go with. Sway-bars aren't usually as complicated as choosing a set of springs rates. Sways are very much like torsion springs, the diameter of the tubing tells you the excact stiffness. There are no other factors like progressive diameter and winding, as well as, variable lengths that you must worry about.

ps. One plus I noticed with Susp tech bars is they come with Urethane bushings, which is far superior to rubber. Actually, the Susp Tech bushings are made by Energy Susp.


[Modified by Raymund, 11:57 PM 11/27/2001]

 

Do you guys think that a car with just the rear bar would turn in sharper than the same car with both larger front and rear sways? Wouldn't upgrading the front sway (or putting one at all for the cars that don't come with a front sway) induce understeer and turn in worse? Just wondering...have never really gotten a definitive answer.

 

i love my st sway bars. they help balance my car out very well after i did my motor swap in my 95 civic coupe. the only bad thing is that the front bar hangs a little low. but other than that they are AWESOME!!!!

 

you NEVER want to upgrade the lower front bar. but adding an upper bar is great

 

A stiffer sway-bar in the rear promotes over-steer. A stiffer one in the front promotes under-steer.

In general, swaping out both sway-bar will increase the front and rear cars resistance to body-roll. Quiker turn-in response will also improve with a stiffer front sway. But, the cars handling trait wont be changed. If the car under-steered originaly, it will still under-steer, but at a higher cornering limit.

 

So if I drive a an EK hb with no front or rear sways and want to go with the ITR rear sway (w/ the Beaks EK SRK--almost done), then I should go with the ST front sway before I autox to raise the limits of my car's handling?

 

Not so sure what those two sway instaled in your car will do since I dont know how thick the sways are. If I recall, the ITR rear sway are 24mm thick. I have no idea how thick the ST fronts are.

For base reference, a stock GSR has a 20mm front sway and 13mm rear sway. I maybe off on the #s, but you can use that a base.

 

GSR front=24mm rear =14mm
ITR front=24mm rear=22mm
99-00Si front =26mm rear =13mm
I am going to go with the Neuspeed poly bushings for my stock front 22mm bar, and get the ST 19mm rear bar.

 

The ST front is 23.81mm for my application. Does this clear up what I should do?

 

Yes, use the front bar to start with. It will be easier to control the handling. If then you want more oversteer, remove the front bar.

 

Thanks guys...so it sounds like adding the ST front bar would increase understeer but have more predictable behavior at the limits. How bout if I just get the ITR rear sway in and then add the ST front if I need it?

 

Good bars. Although if you plan on doing any hard driving (auto-x, track etc).. get their sway/tie bar combo. I had the rear ST bar and after 2 years of auto-x/daily driving, the subframe started tearing where the bar mounts.

I have the Comptech rear bar now to replace it. ST rear bar should be fine if you don't plan on competing.

 

some basic suspension tuning:

The "best" way to affect oversteer/understeer is with spring rates. Suspension tuning involves a lot of compromise, but if you start out in the right direction it can save a lot of $$$ in the long run. A large rear sway bar and no front bar (or a little bitty one) will induce oversteer, but it's not necessarily the "best" way to induce oversteer. Ideally, each suspension component should do exactly what it was meant for. You can use sway bars, tire pressure, or even shocks (or all of 'em together) to induce oversteer, but that type of setup compromises what the sway bar, shock, or given tire pressure was primarily meant to do. Springs are the *best* way of inducing oversteer, but if you have high spring rates, you need a correspondingly bigger sway bar to handle them.

The primary purpose of sway bars is to induce transitional stability. In other words, under a hard transition like a slalom, the sway bar damps down the amount of suspension "backlash" that could cause the car to wallow or fishtail.

That said, I think that the ST sway bar set is the best place to start. The bars are meant to perform as a set, and ST designed them that way. You will still get a lot more oversteer than stock. Then, if you're really interested in building a good suspension, find a set of adjustable coilovers (struts too) and get them with spring rates that will give plenty of oversteer. Then you'll have quick turn-in, AND nice predictable oversteer.

 

Why is it that some cars (like many del sols in autox) take off their front sway? According to your philosophy, they would be lowering their cornering limits and have more unpredictable oversteer. I guess I have always thought of front sways just negating what an upgraded rear sway can do. Hmmm...I'm confused, what do you think?