Removed front Si sway bar - mini Review

[06NaviEX]

I’m going to throw more fuel on the fire!

I’ve had my rear Si sway bar on now for about 1 year. About 4 months ago I put on the front Si sway bar. Below is my review of the front Si bar (that I removed today BTW).

After driving on it now for about 4 months on dry, wet, gravel, snow and icy roads (Christmas trips up north); the car really does handle better with just the rear Si sway bar.

1. On the dry pavement, the front and rear Si sway bars feel great. The front is really stiffened up and seems to corner better.

2. On wet pavement when turning, there is tons of under steer. I really notice this when making a U-turn and the car doesn’t want to turn, just push straight. I didn’t get this with the EX front sway.

3. On snowy and icy roads, the front of the car felt really unstable and wanted to wander side to side. Last year I didn’t have this issue with the EX front sway. I also had a really hard time turning due to the excessive under steer. The car performed the same as above on gravel roads.

I now totally agree with the Auto X guys on the front Si sway bar on the EX. I like my rear Si bar, it really does make a difference. The front does too, but only under ideal conditions. I don’t drive my car hard at all, so I can’t really comment on inside wheel spin when hard cornering that I've read about. This is just my review as a daily driver.

Brian

[Highrev1]

Now imagine being on the edge of handling and the added benifit of a smaller or no front bar...You get the idea

[8thgenuser]

Some members have switched out the front sway on their Si to the LX front sway and have reported good results.

[aki]

I'm strongly considering getting a smaller front sway. When taking a corner, I really notice the front hunkering down and preventing rotation--there's a discernable transitionary understeer that kicks in towards the start of the apex. Through the corner it stays pretty neutral, but I'm feeling like the front sway is the biggest hurdle to get my rear to rotate.

Pondering getting a FD2 CTR front sway, which is about 26mm, and taking it from there. Sure I could get a fatter rear sway first, but I'd rather add traction to the front than lose traction to the rear (speaking in grossly oversimplified hypotheticals, of course).

I could always get the 25.4mm EX front, but wondering if that'd make it too soft up front, making the handling less responsive.