strut bars

[eurobeaner]

ok, i have a 95 civic and im going to get strut bars... i really want the front upper, rear lower and upper, h bar, and c pillar bar... are all these neccisary, or are some just for looks?... i will eventually take out the rear upper because of the custom system i plan to do next summer... so, what will the benefits of having all these be? (5 all-togeather).. any help would be great. thanks!

[SilverY2KCivic]

Originally Posted by eurobeaner

ok, i have a 95 civic and im going to get strut bars... i really want the front upper, rear lower and upper, h bar, and c pillar bar... are all these neccisary, or are some just for looks?... i will eventually take out the rear upper because of the custom system i plan to do next summer... so, what will the benefits of having all these be? (5 all-togeather).. any help would be great. thanks!

Not much benifit on a street car. You almost won't even notice the differance. You need a good set of swaybars, goo coliovers (or spring/shock combo) and other stifeening stuff to get good benifit from strubars, otherwise they are an expensive waste of money. On my Civic, I have the suspension stiff enough that if I took off my upper fron and rear lower bars, I wouldn't notice ANY differance. Just FYI on that for you.

[eurobeaner]

ok thanks... now, is it worth it to get the integra rear disc brake conversion? i do LOVE to brake quite heavily, prolly dangerously, but i tend to do it all the time, is it worth 200 dollars, or will drilled/slotted rotors be more efficient?.. thanks silvery2k!

[SilverY2KCivic]

Originally Posted by eurobeaner

ok thanks... now, is it worth it to get the integra rear disc brake conversion? i do LOVE to brake quite heavily, prolly dangerously, but i tend to do it all the time, is it worth 200 dollars, or will drilled/slotted rotors be more efficient?.. thanks silvery2k!

Definitely NOT drilled rotors. Slotted are ok, but blanks are the best. I used to run slotted rotors, but when I switched back to Brembo blanks with my Hawk HPS pads, my braking was better and more umm predictable I guess you could say. I tend to brake kinda excessively sometiems too and I almost never get fade with this combo, not even when I knock off 80 miles on the track of hardcore road racing(Buttonwillow Raceway).

As for the rear discs, keep in mind they won't really improve your braking much if any since 80% of the braking is taken care of at the front of the car. That is why front brakes are almost always larger than the rears. $200 is a great deal for the parts. On the otherside of it, the parts weigh more than the stock drum parts, and that adds extra unprung weight to your axle ends. Not good from a handling performance standpoint. Also dispite what people will tell you, drums CAN be modulated by adjusting the spring tension on them. This means you can adjust when they activate. With the fronts, slightly before the fronts or after the fronts grab... It's a pretty useful adjustment actually as long as you know 100% what you are doing. So really it's a 50/50 toss up. It's not a bad mod, but it probably won't improve much either... And I believe if I remember correctly, you'll need to upgrade to the Integra or Civic Si "15/16 size master cylinder for the brakes with that mod for them to work efficiently and correctly. Good luck!!