rear swaybar in cd5. Hollow?

[55EXX]

looking to upgrade the rear sway and the stock bar is 18mm and the whitline i was looking at is 18mm too. same size but any advantage of the whiteline over oem? solid? worth doing? i'm looking at uprating the rear sway any other suggestions?

[CB7_OWNER]

Did you measure the rear sway bar?? Cause i think the stock is either 14mm or 16mm....Whiteline is solid.... but im pretty sure the oem is also solid too....

If the oem sway as you say is actually 18mm... then i just recommend upgrading the endlink bushings and the D bushings...

Apart from that your goner have to source one from the states i think.... Suspension techniques make ones... that are like 22mm or 24mm....

Another idea just came to mind... If your in Sydney try.. K-Mac in Rockdale.. they do custom suspension parts for all makes.. I got quoted about $270 i think for a 18mm (but i think the price was the same for any diameter you need) adjustable rear sway, NOT including installation...

[JohnL]

I think it will be about $150 for a non adjustable rear ARB from Kmac (?).

My understanding is that the CD5 rear ARB is a bit thicker than the CB7 rear ARB, but I'd be surprised if the CD5 rear ARB were 18mm (the CB7 item is only 14mm). To give some idea how this relates to stiffness, according to my calculations a 17mm bar is very close to twice as stiff as a 14mm (of otherwise identical dimension), and a 19mm will be very close to 2.7 X as stiff as the 14mm.

Of course this doesn't mean that fitting an ARB that is say twice as stiff will result in twice the rear roll stiffness because only some of the total rear roll stiffness comes from the ARB.

[sugz]

OEM sway bars are hollow and im pretty sure the stock CD5 rear sway is 16mm.
whiteline sway bars are solid as! theyre almost twice as heavy as the OEM product and they come with polyurethane bushes as well...

as for installation, its easy as..
theres a diy here by fellow member with CB7, which pretty much is the same as CD5

[JohnL]

OEM sway bars are hollow and im pretty sure the stock CD5 rear sway is 16mm.

The stock front ARBs are hollow, but I'd be surprised if any stock rear ones are...(?).

A problem with the CB7 (and probably CD5) is that the rear ARB mountings are quite flexible and this affects initial rear roll stiffness in much the same manner as if you had very soft 'D' bushes etc.

The mountings in question are the brackets each attached (with three bolts) to the subframe that carry the 'D' bushes / clamps, and the 'studs' that attach the upper ends of the end links to the trailing arms. The D bush brackets are just flimsy and flex up/down under load, and need to be reinforced by strategically welding additional metal onto the brackets (for additional thickness to existing metal as well as extra bracing webs).

The 'studs' on the trailing arms are arranged so that the upper end of each end-link is several CM from the trailing arm, but the stud is only attached to the trailing arm in single shear at the other end of the stud, so load causes the 'stud' to act like a lever arm and flex the metal from which the trailng arm is made. The inner end of the 'stud' (stud end furthest from the trailing arm toward the middle of the chassis) needs to be braced with a strut welded to the bottom of the trailing arm.

These mods to the rear ARB mounts (D bush brackets + end link trailing arm attachment) cause the ARB (of whatever torsional stiffness) to act more or less as if it were at least somewhat stiffer, and for the chassis and suspension to 'see' the ARB sooner, which will sharpen up handling response. The stiffer the rear ARB the more this bracket / mounting weakness will affect initial 'delay' in roll stiffness and rear lateral weight transfer as provided by the ARB. The affect of stiffening the rear ARB attachment points is similar to fitting poly 'D' and end link bushes, but more so since the 'flop' in the stock brackets can be substantial.

[rahul]

looking to upgrade the rear sway and the stock bar is 18mm and the whitline i was looking at is 18mm too. same size but any advantage of the whiteline over oem? solid? worth doing? i'm looking at uprating the rear sway any other suggestions?

I was in the same situation, ended up ordering a 20mm rear sway bar from shelbys. I havent installed it yet...

i was told 20mm would not rip of the rear subframe, hope its the case!

[rahul]

installed the 20mm rear sway bar today. the stock one is 14mm solid bar.

first impressions... the independent rear suspension def lost some of its independence. the 18mm sway bar might be a better upgrade/compramise....prolly too soon to conclude after only 1 day of driving.

[FAT VTI]

i was told by whiteline they didnt carry swaybars to fit cd5s.
this was a while back, do they do it like k-macs and just make em in-house?

[JohnL]

Kmac will have a template from which they can make one up to special order, I seriously doubt they'd have a rack of ARBs in stock or old Accords. I understand they'll also make it to your spec, i.e. whatever wire diameter you specify (within reason). You can probably ask for a different colour if you don't like the Kmac stock colour (I'm not sure what that colour might be these days, but years ago it was a horrible orange).

[Feverpitched]

I don't know whether its hollow or not, but my measuring showed the rear sway bar on the CD5 VTi to be 15mm, measured using a 15mm spanner.

Instead of upgrading the rear bar, have you thought about replacing the rubbers with fresh ones?

[aaronng]

I don't know whether its hollow or not, but my measuring showed the rear sway bar on the CD5 VTi to be 15mm, measured using a 15mm spanner.

Instead of upgrading the rear bar, have you thought about replacing the rubbers with fresh ones?

Just weigh it. You can tell when it is a hollow bar. For 18mm, I think it is hollow.

[zorann]

ordered my white line sway bar for my cd5 accord the other day, cost me 150, installation nothing =)

[JohnL]

^ Let us know how it feels after you fit it...

[Spoon-Accord]

i hate whiteline swaybar in my old h22a accord

didnt feel any diffrence compared to my stock accord i have now

guess i didnt change to better bushes :S

[JohnL]

Soft bushes (particularly the 'D' bushes) 'delay' the action of the ARB, i.e. the chassis begins to roll and the bushes start to deflect simultaneously with the ARB deflection. This makes the ARB 'system' softer in the initial stages of roll, until the compliance in the bushes is taken up. After the bushes have compressed significantly the ARB stiffnes effectively increases. This is more eveident with stiffer ARBs, i.e. the bushes become the weakest link.

Softer initial roll stiffness affects handling response and transient under / over steer characteristics, but may not so much affect ultimate roll stiffness and thus may not have as much affect on static state understeer or oversteer at / near the limit, though it will mean more roll motion.

On at least some Accords (CB7 for sure, and probably CD5) the rear ARB mounting brackets at the subframe and trailing arms are also too soft and flex under load. The affect is somewhat similar to soft bushes. Reinforcing these brackets is worthwhile for improving handling response. The soft upper damper bushes (i.e. OE) also adversely affect handling response, and replacing these with poly bushes (or pre-loading the OE bushes by compressing them) is a good thing.

[zorann]

the whitleine sway bar is very nice very tight on cornering can feel the rear move as one with the car highly recomended!