Noobie swaybar ques

[ssmith97dx]

Ok, done several searches and I am feeling fairly knowledgeable on the swaybar setups. Now, since I am a lowly State employee I am forced to buy the front and rears at different times.

My Questions:

- Should I buy the front sway or rear sway first?

In addition, I thought I read that you can get either an upper or lower swaybar for the rear. Is this correct? If so, which is good for us financially challenged people?

Thanks

 

[chimchim]

Sounds like you need to do more research.

Since you're here, you probably have a Civic, which is FWD. Since you want a sway bar, you probably want it for performance, so you probably want to decrease understeer rather than increase it. That means you want a rear sway bar.

There's no upper/lower sway bar for the rear. There's just one, and it's essentially "lower". You're probably thinking upper/lower strut bar. That's for stiffening the chassis.

If you haven't replaced your stock suspension with racing/sport ones, then stick to the Si 13mm or GSR 14mm rear sway... or even go as high as 19mm aftermarket. I heard going bigger than that on stock suspension can rip your subchassis. If you have stiffened your suspension, then > 19mm is better, and you'll probably have to add reinforcement.

I hope you already bought larger rims, stickier tires with shorter walls and a larger patch. That's gonna do more for your performance before any suspension and sway bar mod.

 

[yomuppet]

If you have a 97... doesn't your car already have a front sway bar?

 

[edhgreatone]

yea stick with the rear sway bar.... front ones don't do anything.....<-- from what i've heard people that have them cannot even tell a difference

 

[2kstreetcivic]

Im not totally sure what the 97 civics came with on the front but I know my 00 civic has front sway bar, and I believe its 19 mm...dont totally remember off the top of my head, but I would go with a rear sway bar...But you must upgrade your suspension before you throw a rear sway bar that is 19mm or bigger on your car or you will run the risk of ripping from the subframe..I would suggest once you do get a suspension upgrade that you go with a 19mm because you wont have to worry about tearing a subframe and I have heard that 22mm sway bars produce snap oversteer which is very bad...good luck

 

[ssmith97dx]

Thanks all, as for already having a front sway that would be a big negative. It is a DX model so I have no frills or thrills. I plan on getting a set of Eibach or H&R springs and an undecided shock. After that it sounds like a 19mm rear sway is the way to go.

- Any sugestions on rear sways for a budget limited daily commuter?

 

[civic_on_air]

I would go with the comptech unit for the rear..... i believe it is 21mm or 22mm, but also includes the tie bar..... best setup for your money.......... and the best thing about it is that it includes chassis reinforcements so you wont need to bother with a subframe reinforcement kit to run the bigger sway bar

 

[civic_on_air]

Oh and it is 22mm.......... and it looks so damn good from behind hahaha

 

[yomuppet]

Go with the Progress or Comptech rear sway bars, both are 22mm, and neither will give you the subframe tear-out problem. That comes from using a 22mm ITR rear sway bar, which mounts to stock locations (the Progress and Comptech units do not).

 

[Tuezdaie]

What about ST? I heard the make pretty good ones. Does anyone have any idea on pricing?

 

[anfrey]

the suspension forum has some writes up on anti-sway bars

 

[civickidd99]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2467709143&category=33592
Then check their site for the civic mount kit! Good luck.