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Strut and Sway Bars

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Strut and Sway Bars - 3/31/2008 9:19:13 AM   
atarikid07

 

Posts: 110
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Status: offline 		Whats the difference between strut and sway bars?  Are they the same thing, or are there differences between them.  I know that you have FU/L and RU/L strut bars, but what about sway bars.  What are they and what do they do?

Also, FU strut bars go inside the engine bay, right?  Where do the FL bars go?  I'm guessing underneath the car?
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RE: Strut and Sway Bars - 3/31/2008 9:41:32 AM   
BlkCurrantKord

 

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BlkCurrantKord's photo gallery 		Strut bars connect the strut towers. One in the bay and usually one in the trunk or rear deck lid (top). Lower strut bars usually connect 2 points of the chassis underneath the car, most consider them useless.

Swaybars connect the front control arms or rear control arms (usually). They act like springs to reduce body roll and help keep the wheels planted on hard turns, corners.

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RE: Strut and Sway Bars - 3/31/2008 10:25:06 AM   
sir_nasty



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Status: offline 		Just to add a bit to what blkcurrant said.... Some people will use the term strut bar and sway bar interchangeably meaning that a Lower strut bar is the same as a sway bar (which isn't true but it's a terminology thing that some people don't understand)

If you want to improve handling then get a larger front and rear sway bar (comptech makes some nice ones) and a front and rear strut tower bar (mugen is popular but as long as it's solid aluminum it's fine)... the lower strut bar in my opinion is worthless unless you've had some pretty major damage done to the car in the past that would weaken the cars overall structure


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RE: Strut and Sway Bars - 3/31/2008 4:45:46 PM   
atarikid07

 

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Status: offline 		So, I see a Neuspeed front strut bar for about $120 and a Tenzo-R for about $70.  Why the difference?  Is Neuspeed that much better?  And what would you guys consider the best?
Neuspeed
Tenzo-R

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RE: Strut and Sway Bars - 3/31/2008 11:05:24 PM   
19Accord97

 


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19Accord97's photo gallery 		I would just go w/ a $30 eBay one.

One thing though, I remember awhile ago someone said you should install them when the car is on jacks?
Dont remember.

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RE: Strut and Sway Bars - 4/1/2008 5:36:20 AM   
BlkCurrantKord

 

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BlkCurrantKord's photo gallery 		Neuspeed is better.

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RE: Strut and Sway Bars - 4/1/2008 12:33:18 PM   
atarikid07

 

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Status: offline 		Is it true what 19Accord97 said?  Do you have to install them while the car is propped up?

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RE: Strut and Sway Bars - 4/1/2008 12:39:14 PM   
sir_nasty



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Status: offline 		That applies to sway bars.  With strut tower bars like you are looking it you can do with them just sitting on the ground.

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RE: Strut and Sway Bars - 4/2/2008 3:06:24 PM   
JohnL

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: atarikid07 So, I see a Neuspeed front strut bar for about $120 and a Tenzo-R for about $70.  Why the difference?  Is Neuspeed that much better?  And what would you guys consider the best?
Neuspeed
Tenzo-R
Some tower braces are for function and some for form, i.e. some tower braces don't work. From what I can see in that pic, the brackets at each end of the TenzoR tower brace don't look very well designed (i.e. not rigid enough). The entire brace including the brackets must be very rigid for the brace to work. If the brackets are not very rigid then the tower brace as a whole is as poor as if the brace tube iteslf were flimsy.

Don't buy a cheap brace unless you know something about structural design and can see that the brace is well designed. Even some less cheap tower braces could be better from the rigidity point of view, which really is the only thing that matters with a tower brace.

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RE: Strut and Sway Bars - 4/2/2008 3:28:17 PM   
JohnL

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: 19Accord97 I would just go w/ a $30 eBay one.

And would you be expecting that $30 tower brace to actually do anything, or just be happy with some spurious bling appeal?

There are two kinds of people; those who know from experience that good tower braces work very well to improve their car's handling, and those who bought cheap tower braces and from their experience think they are only for show...

quote:

ORIGINAL: 19Accord97 One thing though, I remember awhile ago someone said you should install them when the car is on jacks?

In the real world, no significant difference.


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RE: Strut and Sway Bars - 4/2/2008 3:40:42 PM   
atarikid07

 

Posts: 110
Joined: 3/3/2008
Status: offline 		So here's my other dilemma.  Should I go with:

http://www.andysautosport.com/honda/1998_2002_accord/suspension/strut_bars/neuspeed/neus00037030.html

or

http://neuspeed.com/products/product_details.asp?app=16|AC&type=12&ltype=ns_import&p_id=841

Opinions?


< Message edited by atarikid07 -- 4/2/2008 3:41:19 PM >

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RE: Strut and Sway Bars - 4/3/2008 8:42:58 AM   
falkore24


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falkore24's photo gallery



The strut bar is the bright polished bar with "Neuspeed" written in yellow.  Anti-sway bars are the best bang for the buck when it comes to suspension.  I found a great article that I'll post later tonight, but it's probably too technical for most .... JohnL will appreciate it!

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RE: Strut and Sway Bars - 4/3/2008 9:46:30 AM   
atarikid07

 

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Status: offline 		Those are both strut bars though, no?

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RE: Strut and Sway Bars - 4/3/2008 10:20:18 AM   
sir_nasty



Posts: 6309
Joined: 2/23/2006
Status: offline 		Sway bar (aka anti-sway bar):  goes under the car from one side of the vehicle to the other and helps the vehicle maintan stability through cornering by attempting to prevent some body roll or "sway".  In the simplest of explinations when you corner the body rolls to the outside because of centrifical force.  When it does this the natural order of things is to start lifting the inside tire up so it has less contact with the road.  A sway bar tries to push that inside tire back down when the outside tire goes down.

Upper Strut tower bar (aka strut bar): goes from the top of one strut inside the engine bay to the top of the other, it's purpose/design is to prevent the struts from rocking in or out due to strain on the body through hard cornering by making the top of them more rigid.

Lower Strut tower bar (aka lower tie bar): same as the upper but goes on the bottom

The thing you will find is that many people who are not suspension savvy don't realize the difference between each of these components so you wind up with a lot of people calling a sway bar a lower strut bar or lower strut tower bar.  However, all three of these items are completely different.  As falk stated a sway bar is by far the best bang for the buck.

In his picture they are not both strut bars, one is a sway bar (aka anti-sway bar) and one is a tie-bar (aka lower strut tower bar).  However, as I mentioned some people will try to tell you (improperly I might add) that they are both strut bars and do the same thing.


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RE: Strut and Sway Bars - 4/3/2008 10:39:37 AM   
falkore24


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falkore24's photo gallery 		One  minor correction .... for Accords anyway.  The lower tie-bar reinforces a weak part of the chasis and is only about 18" long.  It doesn't connect to the shocks like the upper strut tower brace.

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