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Rear Sway Bar for 08 si sedan

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17K views 21 replies 7 participants last post by  Praiaxmugen  
#1 ·
I'm looking for the first step to increasing my cornering ability and tightening up my overall handeling. I know traditionally that's shocks and springs or coilovers but for my first mod I'm not looking to spend that much. From what I've read I'm going to go with a RSB. So stock size is 17mm. I've seen 19mm-22mm and even a 25mm somewhere. I've heard rumors of a 32mm RSB but cant find it. (Maybe it bombed?) I was wondering what size you guys think is appropriate for a daily driver that I want the best practical performance out of. Is it a big deal to have an adjustable sway bar? Feel free to post your suggestions/experiences/preferences
 
#2 ·
IMO for all practical purposes the stock bar is the best for any daily driver situation. With that being said why not save up to get new springs and shocks instead.

I only say this because I did something similar with my old 98 but i already had the whole suspension done but when I added the rear sway bar i felt very little difference in what it handled.

i just don't think it will make as much of a difference as you think.
 
#5 ·
19mm for a DD ! Get progress adjustable rear sway bar or eibach is the same also!
It is always good to be able to tune it / adjustable is the way to go!
No reason to go bigger than 22mm for your purposes. Pair it with some HD endlinks or strengthening brackets (just to be safe) and you'll be more than happy with the way the rear of the car rotates during some spirited driving.

I don't have any experience with adj RSBs, so I can't help you there. Good luck!

Haha... three simultaneous posts... good stuff
 
#4 ·
No reason to go bigger than 22mm for your purposes. Pair it with some HD endlinks or strengthening brackets (just to be safe) and you'll be more than happy with the way the rear of the car rotates during some spirited driving.

I don't have any experience with adj RSBs, so I can't help you there. Good luck!
 
#9 ·
There are two schools of thought from what I've been told on how to control body roll:

1) Use your springs/dampers to control body roll
2) Use anti-roll bars

imo if you go too stiff with your springs and coils to control your body roll, then your suspension doesn't do as much work keeping your tires planted on the ashpalt. A car can only corner as fast as the least loaded tire produces traction. So if one wheel is up in the air, then your car is not generating as much traction as it possibly could...and probably not cornering as fast as it possibly could.

I am under the strong opinion that a anti-roll bars (front and rear are BOTH beneficial) should be used to control your body roll. A spring and damper should be chosen to reduce dive and squat to an extent and provide with a fine tunable suspension. Generally, it's better to go with as soft a possible spring rate as you can possibly get away with while maximizing your cornering ability.

Often people go way too stiff than is required and you end up spending a lot of wasted time going sideways more so than forwards. Just my .02.
 
#13 ·
A lot of people are under the same impression. Stiff rear = better rotation. This logic is true but a bigger front sway will help sharpen steering response. A better turn in = faster corner entry, which means you carry more momentum through the corner which results in faster lap times.

A rear RSB is awesome for making a car rotate but those who have done the front and rears together will attest to a better driving feel at the very least, than just a rear RSB.

A simple way to test this theory is if you have GT5 or GT4 (the video game). Simply buy a FWD car like a DC5R or FD2R (something similar to our vehicles) and install an upgraded suspension where you can vary the front and rear anti roll bars. You'll notice that as you increase the rear anti-roll bars rate, your lap times will get better, and then get worse. If you do just the fronts, your lap times will get worse. lol If you do front and rear (with the rear slightly more stiff) your lap times increase from just having the rear done.
 
#16 ·
Unless you track the car alot or compete in autoX's, your stock endlinks should be fine... assuming they are still in good shape. With the larger rear sway bar you should probably consider the strengthening brackets Corsport has packaged with the Progress bar. There are a few threads on 8th where the endlink brackets have snapped due to the added stress of the larger bar.

If you are upgrading a non-Si model, the hardware coming with the Si rear sway bar should work just fine. :thumb: