hi,

im looking for a little better handling on those high speed freeway curves. i was told strut bars would help. does anyone have any suggestions for a easy-to-install (no drilling, etc) and decently cheap (under $150) strut bar?

 

A strut bar is about $129 bucks for your car. Its very easy to install. The most you would have to do is jack your front end up to get the shock studs to line up with the tower bar. It takes 20 min at max to install. I love mine!!

 

a strut bar won't do jack for a high speed curve on the highway. it has to be a very hard corner for it to really make a difference. 98+ V6 accords do have bars that tie the strut towers to the firewall anyway.

what you want are sway bars.

 

Comptech or new Eibach sway bar

 

or new speed RACE which is discontinued.
regular neuspeed sway sux

 

You can get OEM Acura TL-S/CL-S front strut bars and sway bars for your car. Thicker swaybars can correct understeer/oversteer, since they act like a 3rd spring that connects the left wheel to the right wheel.

The Acura TL-S/CL-S strut bar is a one-piece bar that resembles your stock firewall<->strut tower reinforcements with a bar connecting the two together. You can pick it up at an Acura dealer for ~$60.

Many 6th gen owners will agree that this bar is better than the Neuspeed bar, since the Neuspeed bar is a 2-point bar that connects the strut towers together by itself. I asked Eklypse39 about his neuspeed bar, and he felt as though it were a partial waste of money:

Quote:

Quote:

BTW, what kind of differences did you notice with the neuspeed strut bar?

LX4CYL.

nothin! no difference at all. the car is a tank and i'd take alot more than a little bar to stiffen things up. it sure does look cool though. i'm looking into getting some Neuspeed 27mm anti-sway bars though.

Andrew

I'm not sure if syclone posts here, but he does post on http://www.honduh.com. He's done some Auto-X in is Accord, and he feels that the Acura strut bar made a bigger difference than his previous Neuspeed bar.

If you aren't satisfied with the TL-S/CL-S strut bar, you can add the Neuspeed bar on top of it, since it uses different mounting points, and is sold as an add-on upgrade for the TL-S/CL-S. I'm not sure if it's possible to do on an I4 accord though...

Comptech makes a 4-point strut bar that is most likely better than the TL-S/CL-S bar, since it is made of titanium/aluminum. However, it cost upwards of $300. IMO, don't waste your money on an expensive strut bar, unless you are racing...

Acura sway bars are thicker than the stock sway bars on your Accord. Many 6th genners just get the thicker rear sway bar to help reduce understeer by increasing over steer. I think you can get them for $80 at an Acura Dealer. wait for jschmid or alpha to post...

Comptech and Eibach both sell sway bars that are much thicker than the Acura bars, and are sold as an upgrade for both the Accord, and the CL-S/TL-S. I think the Eibach's rear bar is 1mm thicker than the Comptech's rear bar. :dunno:

If you want "cleaner" steering, a front lower tie bar may help a lot. Neuspeed makes one that seems pretty good, and this guy likes it too:

http://board.hondasociety.com/showth...threadid=87640

Now everything I stated above is based on what I've learned off of web forums, since my car doesn't have any suspensions mods If you don't believe me, wait for the others to post. I personally am dead set on getting the TL-S strut bar, Neuspeed lower front tie-bar, Compech sways, and A Neuspeed-Koni shock+H&R Sport drop...

 

ok, so from the replies, it seems that simply adding a strut bar doesnt make much of a difference and a sway bar would help a lot more. does anyone have any idea how much a decent sway bar would cost? what brand? i know comptech is fairly expensive, any other options? and how hard is installation on it? i've never really installed any extras into my car so should i take it to a auto shop to do it?

 

Yep, sways will make much more difference over a strut bar.

I'd say get comptech or eibach, something along those lines. Like LX4CYL said, I have just the rear TL-S sway bar. It's an inexpensive option to tighten up the rear and reduce a bit of the understeer.

Yeah, you can install the bars if you have some mechanical knowledge, ability. Doesn't take experience or a mechanic.

 

are the neuspeed strut tower bars worth it?

 

for a 6th gen, it seems to not work as well as the Acura bar that sells for half the price. IMO, Acura put it in the TL-S/CL-S for a reason...