Just installed my carbing strut bar on my 07 Civic LX!! - my experiences..(pics)

[Andrei'sCivic]

I just installed my newly purchased Carbing front upper strut bar.

Pros: Car handles much better now. Turn in, response, evasive manuvering. Extremely light weight. Even after the shit that I went through from 10pm till 2:30am. It was still worth it.
- on a side note: I had the oem rear anti-sway bar from the Si, and I thought that this made the rear a little too stiff, but after the install of the frontupper strut bar, it is better and does not feel too stiff, it is closer to understeering now.
I will continue by getting the front anti-sway bar from the Si (actually not sure about that idea anymore) and the rear tie bar.

Cons: It ended up taking me hours to install this!! I got really pissed off at Carbing. Their whole bar is aluminum, even the mounts. It might have been how I sarted the installation. I put the mounts in first and torqued them down. Don't do this the aluminum will warp, twist, bend. I could no longer slide the holes over the studs!! I f*cked with a vice grip in order to try my best to straighten it out. Please if some one from Carbing is reading this, please make stronger.. more RIGID mounts, maybe out of steel? For the money I spent I thought that I wouldn't have these kinds of problems.
Even the ebay strut bars with steel mounts resisted bending a little better or at least they were still functional afterwards.
-The tires seem to loose more traction in hard cornering, just a bit at a time. the strut bar is punishing them. ( new toyo Proxies: 225/40/18) Your car has less mechanical grip.

In the end I would definetly recommend buying this strut bar. But preferably used, maybe for half the cost.









Also, if you have this strut bar on your car as well, feel free to give your opinions on it.

[Black_civic_Si]

nice job, damn you see the piece sticking up.

[Andrei'sCivic]

Anyone else with a Carbing strut bar installed? How did the install go for you?

[blueroadster]

I installed the same bar. Install was easy if you keep the nuts on the brackets loose, run the bolts through the bar, and then torque everything down...It is suppose to be a tight fit once installed...That was probably why you ran into issues by bolting the brackets down before connecting the bar and bolts.

[importtuner13]

Originally Posted by blueroadster

I installed the same bar. Install was easy if you keep the nuts on the brackets loose, run the bolts through the bar, and then torque everything down...It is suppose to be a tight fit once installed...That was probably why you ran into issues by bolting the brackets down before connecting the bar and bolts.

I did mine just like that, plus it says that in the instructions that come with it. I'd say the install was easy, about 20 minutes tops. The hardest part was getting the plastic cover off.

[Jay Kincannon]

How much is the bar, looks high $$$$$

[HondaFREAK]

Originally Posted by Black_civic_Si

nice job, damn you see the piece sticking up.

That's the vin number for the chasis or the glass, can't remember which...only reason it's sticking up is because he removed the black plastic cover that covers the windscreen and the base of the windshield

[ourmanritter]

noob question, does the plastic that was there before go back over the bar?

how much $?

[importtuner13]

Yeah man, the cover fits right back over just like it should. The only thing that sucks is you can't see the bar after that. If I remember right it was about $250 or so. High price, but great quality. Good mod for a lowered car.

[ourmanritter]

Originally Posted by importtuner13

Yeah man, the cover fits right back over just like it should. The only thing that sucks is you can't see the bar after that. If I remember right it was about $250 or so. High price, but great quality. Good mod for a lowered car.

thanks for clearing that up. i was like... ???

will still make a worthwhile improvement on a stock suspension car? not sure when i'll actually lower it...

[Djstorm100]

put the bar on as a whole, with everything loose then go in a patteren little by little tigthing the nuts for the mounts then tigthen the bar

[importtuner13]

Originally Posted by ourmanritter

thanks for clearing that up. i was like... ???

will still make a worthwhile improvement on a stock suspension car? not sure when i'll actually lower it...

From what I've heard there's betters way to spend the cash on a non-lowered car, but to be honest I dropped mine and installed the bar a day later so I'm not sure of the difference it makes on a stock suspension.

[WhiteSicivic06]

Im eventually going to get this bar, but for a retail of $280 it can wait. I heard SummitRacing has a similar steel bar for much less, although it is orange!

[ourmanritter]

Originally Posted by WhiteSicivic06

Im eventually going to get this bar, but for a retail of $280 it can wait. I heard SummitRacing has a similar steel bar for much less, although it is orange!

who cares about the color, it'll be covered any way, right?

[Ruthless909]

Where did you purchase this bar??

[Andrei'sCivic]

Originally Posted by Ruthless909

Where did you purchase this bar??

I bought this bar from a member of socalcivic.com. He drives a 8thgen civc sedan. I bought the Carbing front upper strut bar for $150.
Big difference in handling, with stock suspension!