Strut bars(does cheap work)

The next thing i want to do to my 89civic si hb is strut bars. what ones work the best, and also is the $15 ebay one any good or should i just fork out the money and buy a mugen one. my friend put them on his crx and its solid now so ino strut bars arnt a ripe off.

tnx
Noel

I can bend those Ebay bars with my hands. They suck.

spend the cash..why would you want to put a subpar part on your car. also if you get them just buy the upper front and rears. if you put all three on the car you risk having your car hop when you hit bumps from it not being able to flex properly

if you put all three on the car you risk having your car hop when you hit bumps from it not being able to flex properly

Is this really true?

I'd be interested in knowing what combination would perform the best on street conditions.
Upper front/lower tiebar rear
Upper front/upper rear

ect...

Your car didn't come with upper strut bars so it really isn't necessary. Mine aren't the best named brand but there is no way in hell you could bend them as they are about a 1/2" thick and about 2" wide. I'm pretty sure it helps with steering and may stiffen your suspension a little...

Hehe.. I have ebay strut bars.. all four of them for 40 bux.. I CAN'T bend them with my hands.. they are hollow aluminum, about 1/2" thick, 2 1/2" wide, front upper and lower are curved for clearance, car is lowered 1.5 inches, (not quite) tuckin 13's! lol handles nice, no flex on cornering, and doesn't hop on potholes and such.. and i drive on dirt roads alot.

if you like a stiff ride, they're good... I mean, with ebay coilovers on stock struts, you still notice a real diff in the stiffness and handling of your ride... getting ready to do the same to my boy's EF sedan (LX), b/c he likes the way I have my car setup...

Just keep in mind, if you want your car to flex a lil more, loosen the ends of the strut bar up.. not the mounts, the threaded piece in the end.

Less flex, tighter strut/tie bars.

PS, you can also get a C pillar bar, and a interior floor brace bar that goes across the floor behind the seats. all from Ebay.

happy motoring :)

i had some skunk2 bars and they arent too bad for around $100/pc..as for the ebay bars..they are trash..and most of u couldnt bend a hanger lol you get what u pay for!!!

There is so much false information in this thead... I wont even attempt to correct it, just go buy a book in suspension and chassis design.

Yea, i was going to explain, but thats alot to explain. Basically it stiffens the CHASSIS, and helps prevent it from twisting.

Don't go out and buy something too expensive or too cheap. But you should first figure out if you really need them or not (research), and then decide on what to buy and how much you're willing to spend.

There is so much false information in this thead... I wont even attempt to correct it, just go buy a book in suspension and chassis design.

I know man...
No offense anyone...but you guys teaching each other things is like the blind leading the blind.
Ebay bars are garbage. They don't do anything. You need a solid bar that has no moving parts to be functional. Look into a passwordjdm.com 3 point strut bar. yah, it's over $200 dollars...but that's because it works...lol.

Hehe.. I have ebay strut bars.. all four of them for 40 bux.. I CAN'T bend them with my hands.. they are hollow aluminum, about 1/2" thick, 2 1/2" wide, front upper and lower are curved for clearance, car is lowered 1.5 inches, (not quite) tuckin 13's! lol handles nice, no flex on cornering, and doesn't hop on potholes and such.. and i drive on dirt roads alot.

if you like a stiff ride, they're good... I mean, with ebay coilovers on stock struts, you still notice a real diff in the stiffness and handling of your ride... getting ready to do the same to my boy's EF sedan (LX), b/c he likes the way I have my car setup...

Just keep in mind, if you want your car to flex a lil more, loosen the ends of the strut bar up.. not the mounts, the threaded piece in the end.

Less flex, tighter strut/tie bars.

PS, you can also get a C pillar bar, and a interior floor brace bar that goes across the floor behind the seats. all from Ebay.

happy motoring :)


Ebay coilovers, strut bars, lower tie bars, and all other suspension components have NO performance gain. They are for looks only. If you understood suspension geometry, characteristics, understeer, oversteer and how all the parts in this system work together, you'd know this. When shopping for shocks and springs, you need to find spring rates/shock valving that fit your purposes.
Dropzone, I bet you don't even know what spring rates your ebay springs have...tsk tsk tsk.
A good spring rate for the street is like 400-500 front and 400-500 rear. This will give you a streetable but stiff suspension and reduce understeer.

I honestly would never touch the parts off ebay my self. But it truly depends on what you want.
Do you want your car to handel good or look like it handels good???
Do you want to go fast in a strate line or do you wana auto cross???

Untill you figure that out you realy shouldnt get any parts because it makes a huge diff. in what you should and shouldnt use.

I have the spoon sport strut bars on my car now but If i was to redo my setup i would get cusco adj. top and bottom bars with Jic adj. shocks and springs with all new bushings and camber kit.

But then agan i love to find windy roads and mash thrue them.

Look around yo and dont get some thing jsut cuz you want it and its fits in the budget now, save and get what will work for you in the long run.

yea i really wanna keep my car under 2 grand but be able to take it to a auto cross once a month. i would but a roll cage in it but the car is for a everyday better

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2470880 if u wanna check it out

I agree with you EF9JDM.

BamBam. I know the basics on suspensions, thats why I said I wasn't going to explain it, because I can't really. I know theories, but I can't explain it easy. I know one major thing to consider is what type of surface your gonna be going on. Dirt is completely different than asphault, so its been throwing my suspension setup off.

Speaking of spring rates BamBam, you know where to find out the stock spring rates on Civic/CRX/Del Sol's?

I agree with you EF9JDM.

BamBam. I know the basics on suspensions, thats why I said I wasn't going to explain it, because I can't really. I know theories, but I can't explain it easy. I know one major thing to consider is what type of surface your gonna be going on. Dirt is completely different than asphault, so its been throwing my suspension setup off.

Speaking of spring rates BamBam, you know where to find out the stock spring rates on Civic/CRX/Del Sol's?

Not sure...honda-tech.com search is your best place for searching.
Off the top of my head I think it is 200/150 or 200/100...something like that. It's rediculously low. I mean...it's a very light car.

I got an Ebay strut bar, not the cheapest one, but it was cheap. I put my g-timer in and went around some corners, without the bar the highest lateral G I got was a .5 something, after I got about .9 for a split second, but can hold a .75 on clover leafs.

They are different between the models BamBam. I know the Del Sols have a lot more coils in them than the civics do, so Im assuming there are different spring rates between the models. Main thing I do know is getting the damn spring compressors on a Del Sol spring is a pain in the ass.

bambam, you're right, I know jack about suspension dynamics... I didn't put the coilovers on the car.. the kid I got it from did, but he's one of my friends, that I currently live with.. either way tho, you still notice a HUGE difference over stock, simply b/c the car is lower... lower center of gravity makes it more stable, and it corners better, without rolling.. the ones he got tho, they actually made the car hella stiff before we put the strut bars on it, to the point that it stayed flat (just about) on a 60 degree corner @ 75 mph on stock tyres. you could really start feeling the tyres roll off the sides tho.. 175/70R13 (H rated?) so I'm pretty sure that with a good set of Kumho or BFG 205/40ZR16's on there, it would perform noticeably better.


Tony, if you can't get a coil into a compressor, just reinstall it in the car, put the car's weight on it, loosen the retainer nut like you normally would, take off the retainer, and slowly jack the car up to release the spring pressure... you pry already knew that, but just in case, I had to say it... I don't own spring compressors, and I don't trust most of them anyway... so I just do it that way.