[AccordEli]

I need to know if anyone with the TL rear sway bar has pushed their car hard enough to know if it will tend to oversteer before understeer with this setup. The car feels so neutral now that it concerns me. If you are pushing a FWD car hard enough on dry pavement and a stiff rear bar snaps it into oversteer BEFORE the front tires understeer, it could be a very bad situation.

My wife drives this car evey day and if this is the case, I am going to step down to the 17MM bar or go back to stock.

Any input?

Thanks,

-Eli

 

[Inspector1]

Welcome to the forum AccordEli!!!!

I think we may have Half a dozen people that have that installation......

I am quit sure you should get some input.......10Ring, lbjgh, Accordtx1

I1

 

[AccordEli]

Thanks I1. Been looking for a good Accord Forum.

-Eli

 

[bcclements]

I need to know if anyone with the TL rear sway bar has pushed their car hard enough to know if it will tend to oversteer before understeer with this setup. The car feels so neutral now that it concerns me. If you are pushing a FWD car hard enough on dry pavement and a stiff rear bar snaps it into oversteer BEFORE the front tires understeer, it could be a very bad situation.

My wife drives this car evey day and if this is the case, I am going to step down to the 17MM bar or go back to stock.

Any input?

Thanks,

-Eli

I have the 17" and it feels just right. I do not recommend returning to the stock bar. Search sway bar for more info.

 

[AccordEli]

Re: Re: Important question about TL 20MM rear bar...

I have the 17" and it feels just right. I do not recommend returning to the stock bar. Search sway bar for more info.

Do you mean the 17MM bar from the normal TL? If so, do you have the part numbers handy?

Thanks,

-Eli

 

[OwAce]

lets just put it this way

the only time you will ever have the car snap into over steer if you are on a snowy road and your front tires have more grip than your rear tires.

otherwise dont worry about it at all, the car is not at all prone to over steer.

i have taken 50 mph curves at 90 since the bar and i still think the car understeers.

worry more about your tires that the oversteer issue. very smart thing to install that bar, car is so much stiffer and noticeabley less body sway.

 

[AccordEli]

I have just really been wondering lately if the 20mm bar makes the car unsafe at its limits. This weekend I had to make a very evasive move to miss a car jacking its brakes in the left lane. I had to snap to the right going about 70 MPH. The result was that I missed the car but was not able to recover. The back end came around and I slid across the interstate winding up in the center median facing backwards. Noone hurt and nothing damaged thankfully.

I wonder how the car would have reacted with the stock bar? I guess there is a possibility it would not have turned fast enough to miss the accident. I also wonder though if the back end would have fallen in line better with a thinner bar.

Thanks for the responses,

-Eli

 

[Inspector1]

I don't think the sway bar would create a problem other than pushing the tires to their limit on hard cornering or evasive maneuvering. A wider profile and shorter sidewall on your tires may have prevented the spin out .
Like you said, with the OE sway you may not have missed the other vehicle...

I1

 

[AccordEli]

I just ordered the 17mm bar and bushings. I will thow it on when it gets here and see how the car reacts to that one. I will report back with my findings.

-Eli

 

[TooHypper]

Here is some info:

http://www.v6performance.net/forums/showthread.php?t=26982&highlight=TL+rear+sway

 

[stevel]

I have the 20mm bar and, if what you are asking is "can you tell if your gonna lose it before you do?". yes. with stock tires, you still get the tire slipping sound way before it's time to get nervous.

 

[Dave]

...

 

[OwAce]

I have just really been wondering lately if the 20mm bar makes the car unsafe at its limits. This weekend I had to make a very evasive move to miss a car jacking its brakes in the left lane. I had to snap to the right going about 70 MPH. The result was that I missed the car but was not able to recover. The back end came around and I slid across the interstate winding up in the center median facing backwards. Noone hurt and nothing damaged thankfully.

I wonder how the car would have reacted with the stock bar? I guess there is a possibility it would not have turned fast enough to miss the accident. I also wonder though if the back end would have fallen in line better with a thinner bar.

Thanks for the responses,

-Eli

lets just say this, that with the stock bar you would have been body rolling the car all over the place. did you snap right adn then left again? if so that would be a large reason why you lost the rear end. with the oem bar your first snap right would result in body roll and 2nd snap left would result in more body roll and yo would feel like a boat in a storm.

 

[RTexasF]

I just ordered the 17mm bar and bushings. I will thow it on when it gets here and see how the car reacts to that one. I will report back with my findings.

-Eli

Please do! I am on the fence as to which one to get and look forward to your input. Don't test it the same way as the previous one

 

[lbjgh]

After lots of reading I went with the 17mm part as opposed to the 20mm part for my I4 '04 auto sedan.

The Accord and TL have the same platform and the regular TL comes with a 25/17 front/rear sway bar setup. Since the I4 has a 25mm front I figured the 17mm rear bar was a natural.

Sometimes I wished I had gone with the 20mm bar but perhaps when I replace my snow tires with the summer tires everything will be good again.

I noticed a huge improvement with the 17mm bar as it has a 50% larger cross sectional area than the stock bar.

p.s. I too noticed that the Accord wallows badly in extreme evasive maneuvers before and after the sway bar upgrade.

 

[RTexasF]

This is kinda off topic since it pertains to the other end of the car but it worked well for me. From a previous post:

OEM strut tower support
I did a search for the subject and came up with nothing. I hope this helps others seeking a better handling car.

I can't take the credit for this mod but I can verify that it works!

If you have an 03-04 Accord 2.4l (mine is an '04 5 speed manual EX), the Honda tower strut brace (actually attaches to the firewall) from an 03-04 V-6, 6 speed coupe bolts right up. It IS a pain in the arse but worthwhile for much better handling. For $116 + tax I couldn't have imagined how much better the car would handle and corner. The only modification was to drill a hole for a guide that keeps the throttle and cruise cables from getting fouled up. One hole, one sheet metal screw, done!

IMO well worth the few bits of lost skin and a couple of hours time. Now I believe I could install one in half the time and not lose as much skin! I'm sure that it could be purchased for less, I just went to the dealer and ordered it.