[on2]

Anyone look underneath their cars yet?

The 4-cylinder models have itty bitty sway bars.

I noticed on the Honda website that the V6 models have thicker sway bars front and rear.

That would be an upgrade I presume or we can wait for aftermarket.

 

[on2]

DONE! No more teeny tiny 14mm rear sway bar. Hello 20mm rear sway bar.

No more understeer, but slight oversteer if pushed.

The car (Sport sedan) corners much flatter and is much more willing to rotate through corners.

Could really use a front sway bar to corner even flatter and reduce the oversteer, but could cause understeer to come back depending on bar thickness.

Right now the rear bar is thicker than the front bar which doesn't seem right.

Best part? Less than $80.00 shipped and took me only an hour to swap it out.

The factory bushings were not greased therefore I did not grease the new bar/bushings. I did not hear any noises during my test drive.

You can definitely feel the significant differences right away and it puts a smile on your face as soon as you take your first sweeper hard.

The bad effect though is that you now feel how loose the chassis is. Some chassis stiffening under braces are much needed.

Rear on v6 is the same ... Front is only 2mm thicker. Wait for aftermarket!

Rear on V6 is not the same. It is 1mm thicker.

Tha Accord handles better than competition (flatter cornering IMO) and any increased thickness will likely be unnoticed as stated.

Really? Ever test a 2013 Nissan Altima? Stock for stock the Altima handles better and corners flatter. Ever test a 2012 Mazda6? It also handles better and corners flatter. I imagine the 2014 Mazda6 coming out will be even better.

Have you even seen the factory sway bar? 14mm is very thin. Increasing the thickness will significantly increase the torsional stiffness of something so small to begin with. In my case over 300% increase in stiffness and very noticeable.

Changing to more aggressive summer tires will make a much larger difference than a couple mm of sway bar thickness. No need to wait for the aftermarket there.

Sure, changing tires from factory all-season to summer tires will make a larger difference. That's a well known fact, but we are on the topic of flat cornering and understeer/oversteer, not the amount of grip/traction the car has on the road.

 

[on2]

useless imo. drive slow - this isn't a sports car.

Driving pleasure IMO even when you're driving slow you feel the difference. Doesn't have to be a sports car to receive performance upgrades or benefit from such.

 

[on2]

Anyone look under the car and check out the rear suspension design? It appears to me that Honda may have designed it with the ability to add all wheel drive. Is this design shared with any other Honda products? There seems to be room under the rear strut for a half-shaft. Just wondering. I noticed that when I was looking around for the rear jack point. Put the snow tires on the car Friday.

You hit the jackpot. Acura TL SH-AWD. Now you all know where the sway bar came from.

The rear end is also shared with the TSX and 8th gen Accord.

 

[on2]

Is it the ...

52300-TK5-A02 SPRING, RR. STABILIZER
[TL | 2011 | 4DR TECH (AWD) | KA 6MT

Can you re use the factory end links?

And On2, if you could explain what you are experiencing for chassis "looseness". I we talking creaking, shifting? Just looking to know if ill regret the upgrade based on it making the car feel or sound cheaper.

Yes that is it. Yes use the factory end links. They seem beefy enough IMHO.

The sound of your car will not change from upgrading the sway bar. There are only positives to this upgrade. Looseness as in the chassis is not stiff like many European cars or some sports cars.

If you feel like you need adjustable spherical end links, the ones from Progress Suspension will fit.

If you feel like you need a bigger rear sway bar, the 22mm and 24mm rear sway bar from Progress Suspension will fit, however will induce oversteer even more so without a front bar upgrade.

 

[on2]

Hmm, looks like a good mod.
So you bought the AWD TL bar correct? Because I think the FWD and AWD have different swaybars.

Yes, they both fit however the AWD bar is thicker.

 

[on2]

Thank you!

What i was getting at was, the looseness you describe, what gives that impression if not a sound?

The feel when you drive the car.

 

[on2]

I would be very careful of putting a 20+mm in the 2013 Accords . While they are using a similar rear suspension , the front is struts now with 10mm smaller front bar than 8th gen . that is huge change . I guessing they have firmer struts compared to the older setup due to being struts now . spring rates it probably higher with this setup .

Make sure for ones using this you test it out "good" to make sure oversteering will not be problem in wet/dry, when throttle lift on turns etc .
Oversteering is worse than under when it goes to far . Good thing the VSA will try and kick it but you don't want that happening if at all possible .

Looking at specs I would think the 17mm tsx would be good match with front .

I had the same concerns before doing this modification, but for the price I had to try it knowing that I could always reverse the modification or go with a thinner bar.

Also, I did extensive research on the 8th generation forum where this modification is popular as well as other Accord forums. Other owners do not have any oversteer, or snap oversteer problems even when going with the even thicker 24mm Progress rear sway bar. I understand that they have a thicker bar up front from the factory to equalize with the rear, but continued based on knowledge about other vehicles with similar suspension setups and aftermarket rear sway bars.

While your concerns are valid, I do not believe this to be an issue as I have over 3,000 miles on this modification and do not feel any adverse effects thus far.

I have pushed the car hard through corners and have tried to purposefully make the car snap oversteer by throwing the weight around on and off the throttle hard. I put the car in situations that I normally would not do. I could only get the VSA to come on a few times. The car pushes through corners and just rotates much better. You can feel the oversteer coming on slowly as you push harder.

Many 8th gen owners went with the 17mm bar initially and felt some difference, but many wished they had gone with the 20mm bar in the end once people started finding out that it fit. And now Progress Technology has a 22mm and 24mm rear sway bar available. The only concern so far is that the rear sway bar mounts are not very beefy from the factory and some owners with the larger bars have broken said mounts. Also, the end links may start to fail when used with the larger bars. Aftermarket solid spherical end links are available from Progress Technology.

I'm currently searching for a front bar that will fit to balance out the car even better. A common upgrade for 8th gen owners was the TL AWD front bar, but our front suspension being different now requires different solutions.

 

[on2]

Could a modification such as this have any effect on factory warranty?

Yes, but only in relation to parts relating to said modification.

But the install is so quick and painless that if I did have an issue I would just return it to stock.

 

[on2]

altima vs. accord?
i smell a shootout.
thats exactly what is in my driveway. my wife has a '13 altima. and i hate how it handles.

nice work with the swaybar mod though!

I test drove the 2013 Altima SV recently as my brother was interested and since it was in the same ballpark ($$$) as my Accord Sport.

I am usually biased towards Nissan products having owned many in the past however I was left very disappointed or maybe I am just spoiled by my new Accord.

The Altima seats feel cheap and econo regardless of the NASA marketing mumbo jumbo they want to exclaim. The reverse camera monitor is small and not in the optimal position and looks cheap (which reminds me of the EX and up i-MID touchscreen display). The exterior styling looks strange and not cohesive. The rear taillights droop down and looks "sad". The only nice thing I liked was the triple layered glovebox and double layered center console and the nicely lit gauges. The Altima drives nice and has good feel and feedback however the CVT feels rubber bandy unlike the Accord's more traditional transmission feel. Also, no vanity mirror lights, no paddle shifters, no 18" wheels. Dollar for dollar the Accords wins by a huge margin in my book. But at least the Altima is loads better than that vanilla Camry.

 

[on2]

Best bang for your buck MOD.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrVhEwHIP64&playnext=1&list=PL12FDBD9B93CE4D72&feature=results_main

On my sedan it was not necessary to touch the exhaust and was easier to remove the driver side rear wheel to wiggle the sway bar out. Thanks for posting for others to see how easy this is though.

This by far beats out any other mods I've done as it is noticeably felt in everyday driving.

 

[on2]

The factory sway bar specifications are as follows for the 2013 Accord sedan

4 cylinder - 17mm front, 14mm rear
6 cylinder - 19mm front, 15mm rear

The factory sway bar specifications are as follows for the 2013 Accord coupe

4 cylinder - 18mm front, 16mm rear
6 cylinder - 19mm front, 16mm rear

 

[on2]

I about shat when I looked back at my 2003 EXV6 sedan specs...front is 25.4 and rear is 13. I thought it was a typo after reading what was on the 2013 v6. Really surprised Honda is going that small up front now especially with the end of the double wishbone. Maybe the larger rear bar on 2013 offsets that some?

It might but there is no replacement for having nice big bars that or at least what I believe are "normal sized" sway bars.

Regardless of suspension design/layout, both front and rear are twigs. I was really surprised by how small they were the first time I looked underneath the car. I'm so accustomed to seeing larger bars, bars that I thought were "normal sized", on many cars.

I haven't seen Honda's with such tiny bars since the early 90's.

 

[on2]

Would it be better to run the non AWD version? Since it would be more equivalent to our vehicle?

It all boils down to how you feel when you drive the car and whether you plan on upgrading the front bar if and when it is possible.

Some people may want a smaller bar since they don't want to mess with the front bar (changing the front bar can be a lot of work, 8th gen owners have to drop their subframe) and they feel like the numbers should less offset.

I don't care about the numbers. Typically the front needs to be larger, but I'm working with what parts we have available currently. And besides that I know it feels good regardless of the numbers.

But like I've said in my previous posts, the 20mm rear bar feels great to me and the oversteer that may concern some people is only minimal. The oversteer comes on gradually and you can get a feel for it and adjust your driving.

I've tried to get it into snap oversteer situations and had to try really hard to make it do that. I can only imagine this being a concern if it was wet out and having to do some crazy avoidance maneuver.

I plan on going with a bigger rear sway bar (with solid end links) regardless if I change the front bar or not. If there are no front solutions then I will at least upgrade to the V6 front sway bar.

 

[on2]

Well....I think the stock suspension is lacking...coming from a 350Z.

Not to take anything from the Accord; it does handle well compared to its contemporaries, however if you've driven any high performance sports car, then you know that the Accord is not very capable nor precise OTB as it is not meant to be.

Which is the whole point of this thread and modding in general.

 

[on2]

Does upgrading the sway bar cause any problems with the factory end links? Just wondering if that makes them more likely to break? Maybe a stiffer bar actually puts less pressure on the links though?

It could if the factory end links were small but fortunately we have amply sized end links. If you want to upgrade to solid spherical ones then Progress does make a set for our cars.

 

[on2]

Running on my fun tank of gas, I tore up some curvy roads on the way this morning and gosh darn it feels good. Push it hard and it keeps on going and gripping. God I love this mod. Glad it's working out for the rest of you all.

 

[on2]

I find it takes a lot to get the tires to squeal and break traction with the rear sway bar mod. I'm really impressed with these Michelins.