I know many people have experienced issues with the Suspension Techniques Rear Sway Bar ripping out from the sub-frame, which is something I definitely would not want to deal with.
Which Rear Sway Bar would be the most reliable, best performing, etc? I know Neuspeed and Tanabe offer them too...
doesn't progress make one for the 4th? i got one for my 5th. amazing piece of work. just get some custom endlinks... they're a bit expensive but well worth the price and a non clunking sway bar.
pretty much any stiffer rear sway has the possiblity of ripping out from the mounts. its just the fact the cars are old and the mounting point probably wasn't designed for these aftermarket rear sways.
I would have a nice piece of metal welding where it attaches like others have done if you are worried about it.
and btw, i have a brand new never used 4th gen tanabe
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IMHO, sub-frame tear-out is a car specific issue (ie. rust, age) I've had my suspension techniques rear sway bar on my 4th gen. since 2002 and have no issues with sub-frame tear out. Back then, I still had the stock front sway bar & was running Koni Yellow shocks with OTS Ground Control spring rates. Now, the same suspension techniques rear sway bar is still on the car & it is on a track-car with very high spring rates (850 F, 1100 R) & no front sway bar. The car has had 5+ years of hard track miles; including many bad off-track incidents - including one "dukes of hazard" jump & a hard shunt into a tire-wall. The sub-frame is still in fine shape!
IMHO, sub-frame tear-out is a car specific issue (ie. rust, age) I've had my suspension techniques rear sway bar on my 4th gen. since 2002 and have no issues with sub-frame tear out. Back then, I still had the stock front sway bar & was running Koni Yellow shocks with OTS Ground Control spring rates. Now, the same suspension techniques rear sway bar is still on the car & it is on a track-car with very high spring rates (850 F, 1100 R) & no front sway bar. The car has had 5+ years of hard track miles; including many bad off-track incidents - including one "dukes of hazard" jump & a hard shunt into a tire-wall. The sub-frame is still in fine shape!
so, sounds like you like your st sway bar. i am working on putting together the suspension for my 4th gen race car. i have been planning on running high rate GC's with shortened/revalved Koni's. i havent decided what sway bar to run yet though. on my Civic Si I ran the Comptech rear sway bar/tie bar combo. i loved it; the way it mounted and looked was awesome. unfortunately, they do not make these for the prelude. no body makes anything for the prelude.
Yeah, we're pretty much limited with sway bars: it's either the non-adjustable ST or the adjustable Progressive set-up. We can always upgrade the endlinks, though.
If you're serious about racing, you can try & see if you could have a custom bar made. On corey's old race-car, he got rid of the ST bar & had Saner (which I believe went out of business) make him a custom bar.
Do more of a search in this forum for "progress". I've talked about it several times. You can use the Progress bar on a 4th gen but it is not designed for it. You have to build your own endlinks (the 5th gen ones don't work) and it's a pain in the ass because the top bolt of the endlink it 10mm and the bottom is 12mm (and normally they're supposed to be the same). I got it to work but it always rattled a little and it is so stiff that it made potholes really, really uncomfortable. I think I'd go with one built for the 4th gen if I did it over again.
Do more of a search in this forum for "progress". I've talked about it several times. You can use the Progress bar on a 4th gen but it is not designed for it. You have to build your own endlinks (the 5th gen ones don't work) and it's a pain in the ass because the top bolt of the endlink it 10mm and the bottom is 12mm (and normally they're supposed to be the same). I got it to work but it always rattled a little and it is so stiff that it made potholes really, really uncomfortable. I think I'd go with one built for the 4th gen if I did it over again.
my car is actually a track only car. i wouldnt mind it being extra stiff. ill have to do more research. but, from your experience, would you suggest it for a track only car?
Ahh, track only. Then I would recommend it. I haven't tried ST but the progress is stiffer (quite heavy), 5 way adjustable, and comes with huge beefy brackets which should reduce the chance of a subframe tear. I did several HPDE days with it and it was great. Understeer was much reduced and it felt a little more stable in turns on the middle setting. I never felt like it was about to go into oversteer although I didn't try it on the stiffest setting.
The endlinks are a little complicated to make and as I said I always had a small rattle but others have made them work. There's several people who have made them on h-t.com as well.
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