strut and tie bars

are any of these worth the money.. and what do they do exactly?

They increase structural rigidity. I'd def. get the Type R rear sway. For 150 canadian, you almost eliminate understeer, and you can sell your stock bar to civic owners for about 80-100 CDN.

Definitely a good buy if you have some money kicking around. Besides, it's always nice to take cash from Civic owners whenever possible.

Off topic for one sec Canuck...Hows it feel to be famous? :lol2:

I feel like a rockstar :D Now I know how Celine feels when she goes out on stage :D

:lol:

Off topic for one sec Canuck...Hows it feel to be famous? :lol2:

??? I have been off the forum for about a week now, did I miss something?

Yeah- Canuck here was just signed to a two album record deal on the same label that carries Celine Dion. I think it's already going to his head. Pretty soon he'll be hanging out in the Ferrari forum.
Well, at least we can say we knew him before he was famous...

thats cool, go canuck, don't forget your roots man.

Wow, a famous crazy Canadian. What's next?

Congrats on the record deal! Post some pics of the Ferrari when you get it. :biggrin: I know you're not going to get it in ABP, because they don't make them in that color! :grinyes: :grinyes: :grinyes:

Darn it! I was wrong! They do have some blue Ferraris. :mad: Oh well I guess we know what color you'll get!

Screw Ferrari and screw blue. I'm getting a brown Hyundai Santa Fe. Maybe i'll repaint it silver later on:p

Live the dream, my friend. Imagine the chicks you'll pull in a brown Hyundai. I mean, a Hyundai is sweet enough...but BROWN. Jesus, I'm jealous. Please send pics so I can say it's mine in other forums...

Closest thing I culd find to brown. I pre-ordered it.
http://www.hyundaicanada.com/eng/images/showroom/santafe/sh_sa_color_car3.jpg

I wonder if APC sells altezzas for this baby.....

I swear Canuck just go out in that Hyundai roll down the window for some girls and say "Santa Fe...hop in" and the ladies will pile in...plus you can show off the power of the V6...


and can you tell Celine something for me? tell her shes an embarassment to Canadians and her and Anne Murray should hop on a raft and drift out to sea...

Can I have your RSX when you buy your Santa Fe?

I just installed a Tornado under the hood of my RSX. So damn fast now it can't be parked. Catch it if you can.

Closest thing I culd find to brown. I pre-ordered it.
http://www.hyundaicanada.com/eng/images/showroom/santafe/sh_sa_color_car3.jpg

I wonder if APC sells altezzas for this baby.....
Man, that is quite a sexy ride. Now I know why you wanted one. You'll definitely pull in the older women with that ride. You know, the one with kids! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

With a bitchin' ride like that i'll get both old blind women AND men :D

With a bitchin' ride like that i'll get both old blind women AND men :D


No dont take the blind women! they are all I've got....well except for women in Montreal...WOW

are any of these worth the money.. and what do they do exactly?

I have a Base RSX..
bought a Neuspeed Front Strut Bar.. DC Rear Lower Tie Bar..
nothing but great things for the money..
the more u push ur car the more difference u can feel
they work so well infact.. makes me want to get a rear strut bar(cusco??) and a rear pillar bar(something like mugen)
In my opinion they're great suspension mods for price

I've always heard that the DC Sports Rear Tie Bar is pretty much only for cosmetics. The JDM rear sway will be a really good mod as its cheap, and you can sell your existing bar to a civic owner for about 60US, half price (ish) of the JDM. And its supposed to kill a lot of understeer.

I've always heard that the DC Sports Rear Tie Bar is pretty much only for cosmetics.

personally i felt like it tied up my rear suspension really nicely

A bigger sway bar in the rear will decrease understeer on a FDW car, correct. A bigger rear sway bar tends to create oversteer, so on a FWD car that tends to understeer anyway it helps eliminate it. A lot of RWD cars don't use big rear sways for the oppisite reason...they create oversteer, something they have a lot of. A RWD car can benifit form a bog front sway, since those create understeer, or in the RWD case it helps eliminate oversteer. For a FWD car a bigger rear sway is benifical.

As for both strut bars and tie bars, get solid 1 piece versus the hinged style like DC sports. DC sports and other hinges style bars are more for looks than anything. If you are looking into strut or sway bars, forget the hinged ones and get a good 1-piece design strut and/or tie bars.
Beak's, Cusco, Neuspeed and Benen all make great solid one-piece lower tiebars. Nuespeed off the top of my head makes solid 1-piece strut bars, though not sure if they make them for the RSX. When looking just remember to get a solid 1-piece type and not a hinged type like DC.

If you are very serious about handling, upgrade rear sway & solid 1-piece lower ties are must have. If you want to top it off with strut bars to reduce chassis flex, go with a good solid 1-piece one as mentioned above. As I said before, stay away from the hinged type sturt/tie bars like DC Sports. If you are serious about handling, get a front H-brace or crossmember versus sticking on a huge front sway bar. It will help give some benifits without the effect of increasing understeer a larger front sway would produce. I don't know of anyone yet how makes a front crossmember for the RSX yet, though I know Darkstar racing makes them for the 94-01 Integra and all Civics from 88-00.

I always wondered about those multi-piece strut bars.....I mean, if you are attempting to add rigidity, why would you use something that isn't solid?! And then they polish or paint it and sell them for a small fortune!!

Does anyone out there know where I can get a cheap, solid front strut tower bar? I know Acura puts them on some RSXs, presumably the Type-S. I bought two (front and rear) for my Intrigue (RIP) from GM for $30. Made an incredible difference in rigidity and handling. I don't need polished aircraft grade aluminium or titanium........

Thanks.

I always wondered about those multi-piece strut bars.....I mean, if you are attempting to add rigidity, why would you use something that isn't solid?! And then they polish or paint it and sell them for a small fortune!!

Does anyone out there know where I can get a cheap, solid front strut tower bar? I know Acura puts them on some RSXs, presumably the Type-S. I bought two (front and rear) for my Intrigue (RIP) from GM for $30. Made an incredible difference in rigidity and handling. I don't need polished aircraft grade aluminium or titanium........

Thanks.

You can get a set of mugen "replica" strut bars for front and rear around the $140 price range(total for both). I have them on my RSX and they are as solid as you can get when it comes to strut bars, in my opinion. I got them at 4caroption.com, but there's a better place you can purchase them(can't remember the name of the place) that give you the longer bolts for the rear bar. Sure beats paying $500+ for the real ones!

You can see the replica in my avatar(kind of small). It goes over the stock strut bar, so you don't have to remove anything.

Here's a link to some posts on how I installed them. It has larger pics so you can see the bars better - http://forums.clubrsx.com/showthread.php?t=171347&page=3&pp=25

Hope this helps

How do you like them?

How do you like them?
They look nice and seem to provide much more rigidity. I feel the road a bit more than without them. I haven't gone to a track or anything so I can't attest to their performance.

"It goes over the stock strut bar, so you don't have to remove anything."

You have multiple strut bars?!!!! $500 for the real things??!! Are you referring to Acura parts by "real things"?

I have a non-S-type, so I don't have any strut bar. Would love to find a strut bar in the junkyard (sorry - recycled car part place) but don't think I will find too many there!

By real things he means brands like Mugen and Spoon and other JDM companies which cost around 1000 if i'm not mistaken.

Well, I guess some people need that kind of strut bar. I just want something solid that fits. I still don't understand why anyone would pay that kind of coin for a strut bar that isn't one piece!! Crazy! I should get into the business....people will evidently spend a lot of money on things as long as they are shiny!! I guess that's what kept the Big 3 alive during most of the 20th century, come to think of it.

I'm still wondering if he has multiple strut bars......sounds like it.

Me again. I just contacted my local Acura dealer and he is pretty certain that a Type-S strut tower bar will not fit my non Type-S. I think he is being cautious. It's a special order, non-returnable part.

Has anyone else done this installation?

Are the engine compartments so different?

Sorry, no clue about the Type S sway....try ClubRSX......

Oh and the main reason people pay that much is because they're an expensive, high quality JDM name. I think its highway robbery but hey, whatever floats their boat. Mugen and Spoon are great companies but some prices are just too much. They're the same people who spend 350 for a Integra DOOR SILL! on their RSX....

Integra door sill?! On an RSX?! What's up with that?!

Yeah, the OEM part is only $50, but I don't want to pay if it won't fit.

I'll try Club RSX. Thanks!

Yeah, a huge craze (IMO its real tacky) is to rebadge your RSX as a Honda Integra. There are Lexus IS300's rebadging as Toyota Altezza's, 350Zs are Nissan Fairlady Z's, G35s as Skylines, etc.

Basically the Acura RSX is the Honda Integra still everywhere else. I say still becuase the Acura Integra here was called the Honda Integra everywhere else. They re-named the car the RSX here but kept the Integra name everywhere else. Some people feel the need to re-badge the RSX what it's called everywhere else...as crazy-canuck said, it's not the only car people do it with. Some re-badge the 350Z the JDM name, fairlady Z, some re-badge the IS300 the JDM name, the Toyota Altezza...etc.

When I said real ones, I meant the ones from Mugen. Anything from Mugen costs 10x as much. The replicas are made just like the Mugen bars except that they are made with a different metal so they weigh more.

As to having 2 strut bars, yes, I have both. I liked the idea of not having to remove the stock and just adding more support with the Mugen replica.

As to the base RSX, the TypeS strut bar will probably NOT fit in there since there are four special areas where the bar is bolted down. I don't know if the base has those.

As to the mugen replica that I bought, that should fit without a problem on the base RSX since you're using the three bolts above the strut towers.

Thanks, mmont0 for the info. You say there are a couple "special areas" on the Type-S. Do you mean extra holes and brackets? I can always drill and (hopefully) get the bracket and bolts from dealer. They want $50 for the bar which sounds like the least expensive one I have seen so far.

I had to drill four holes in my Oldsmobile's strut towers to mount the bar for that car - I think it was only stock in the Regal and Grand Prix - so there weren't any holes for it. And there wasn't enough hood clearance for them to design it to mount to the strut mounting bolts.

No prob. I would highly recommend spending an extra $20 for the Mugen replica. It is much sturdier than the Type-S stock bar and fits very easily into the car. No need to drill holes either. It also provides better stiffness since the bar is bolted right on top of the strut towers and not next to them.

Just my 2cents.

No prob. I would highly recommend spending an extra $20 for the Mugen replica. It is much sturdier than the Type-S stock bar and fits very easily into the car. No need to drill holes either. It also provides better stiffness since the bar is bolted right on top of the strut towers and not next to them.

Just my 2cents.
OK, I'll probably get flamed for resurrecting this thread, but I figured starting a new one isn't much different.

I am again considering a rear sway upgrade, probably to JDM since that's the cheapest way to go. I never posted to this thread after purchasing (and installing) Neuspeed front strut tower bar and Neuspeed rear upper tie bar (not really a strut tower bar, more of a rear sheet metal tie bar - and a pain to install if you screw up the "nutserts" like I did!) They both made a significant improvement in body rigidity and the rear bar especially made a big contribution to handling improvement.

Anyway, I'm wondering how important a rear lower tie bar is and whether or not I should spend the extra money for a Progress rear sway/tie bar combo or just stick with the JDM Type R.

Any feedback? I guess one would really have to drive each setup side by side to know for sure.