Struts Bars And Sway Bars

[kaysersoze]

This is off the torontocivics site. Its good info on the diff. between the two and which ones better than the other. It helped me cuz i didnt know which one was better and for what.

"a sway bar connects the lower control arms together. and it twists as one side rises and the other doesn't move..

this twisting results in Torsional resistance to the up and down movement of the wheels....

as you go through a turn body roll will cause the outside wheels to compress and the inside wheels to lift or extend a sway bar counteracts this motion. because with it installed as the wieght of the car tries to deform the suspension in this way it must over come the torsional stiffness of a sway bar.

The larger in diameter a sway bar is, the more resistance it offers to body roll

now strut tower braces (upper) they connect the top of the strut towers together. this results less chassis twisting between those points.... and with less chassis twisting you'd get quicker wieght transfer and your car will set and settle for a turn better... if the chassis isn't reiforced like this the body can twist resulting in a more sloppy feeling .... at least this is my experience since my roll cage acts as a strut tower brace for the rear struts.... "

[PH1]

good post .. jus learned somethin new :)

[DumbasSi]

If I can add abit to that...

The bigger the rear swaybar is, the more likely you are to damage your subframe without a re-inforcement kit. Bigger bars can also induce oversteer which can cause the rear of your car to swing around in a turn.

The best strut bars are the one piece type similar to the stock SIR/GSR/ITR or aftermarket like Neuspeed. The multi piece ones can flex which defeats the purpose of having them anyway. However, really expensive multi piece ones like Cusco are extremely stiff and will definately do the job.

[PH1]

so ne sir/gsr/itr strut bars or sway bars r good?

[DumbasSi]

Most SIR/GSR/ITR stuff is compatible to EL's and in my case, Civics. Some modding is required, but the parts are cheaper then aftermarket and work just as good. I'm a firm believer in using OEM stuff. If you want to spend $300 on a strut bar go ahead, but with that cash you could probably find an entire OEM suspension set-up (struts and sways).

[kaysersoze]

This little bit is also to be added to my post earlier.

"Strut tower braces are there to stop the struts from moving around... If you got big rims and good tires, its probably a good idea to do them, cuz more flexing gets transfered to the strut tower to chassis points, instead of the chubby tires on a set of 15s taking the flex..."