Rear Sway Bar for 1990-1997 Accord & 1997-1999 Acura CL

[bry593]

As of 2023, there are only two aftermarket sway bars available: ST (Suspension Techniques) and Ultra Racing.

The ST sway bar is 13/16" (21mm), but the design has the bar to crossmember bushings mounted closely together. The creates a lot of bending deflection that negates the increased torsional stiffness. I do not recommend.
The Ultra bar is 3/4" (19mm) and the design mounts in the OE locations.
This bar although smaller in diameter will work as well as the ST bar due to the wider spread between the bushings.
Also, since it follows the OE bends, it will clear OE and aftermarket exhaust pipes.

The Ultra bar includes bushings, but these do not fit the OE honda straps. You will need to purchase front sway bar bushings for an '87-'91 Honda Civic. These are a bit wider than the strap, but work just fine.
For the end link bushings, only Siberian bushing currently makes a urethane replacement. You can get a non urethane polymer in blue color from Mevotech. These are acceptable as well.

The ultra bar will need modified at the end link bushing housings (each end of bar). This needs to be ground and filed to 9/16" wide. They are about .09" oversize as received.

The increase in bar stiffness is diameter of old sway bar to the 4th power compared the new diameter to the 4 power. For example, 14x14x14x14=38416 vs 19x19x19x19=130321. 130321/38416=3.4.
The Ultra bar is 3.4 times more stiff than an EX rear sway.

The large rear sway with urethane bushings is the biggest bang for the buck you can do to make your car handle.

Further handling improvements are made by changing front sway bushings to urethane and changing struts to Koni STR.t. Koni and KYB are the only performance struts available for old Accords as of 2023.

[Grumpys93]

Interesting read. I can attest that the ST sway bar clears Aftermarket exhaust pipes up to 3" as I am currently running one.

[SaddleMtnMan]

The Ultra bar mounts to OE bushing locations on the subframe, does this mean it will work with non-swaybar, rear-drum trim levels (aka DX/EX/LX cars, everything but the SE)?
I thought one of the draws of the ST bar was that it's custom non-OE mounting solution worked with all subframes and arms, with small modification.

Asking because a good swaybar is going to be the next big upgrade for my 91 LX alongside some new shocks, and I reallllly don't want to go hunt down an SE rear subframe and knuckle set, considering they're rarer than a cheap gallon of gas by now and switching brakes to rear disks comes with it's own pain points.

[Grumpys93]

You don't need an SE you can use ex as well and it doesn't have to be from a 91. The subframe is universal through the years. My ST bar mounted to the stock mounting points on my ex subframe, So I am not sure if you can mount an ST without either drilling holes or with the ex subframe

[Size9zombie]

I am also running ST swaybars front and rear for my 92 and my wife's 96. They mounted to the stock location with no modification and came with all bishings and hardware needed. No clearance issues whatsoever. Also the EX models are disc rear.

[bry593]

You don't need an SE you can use ex as well and it doesn't have to be from a 91. The subframe is universal through the years. My ST bar mounted to the stock mounting points on my ex subframe, So I am not sure if you can mount an ST without either drilling holes or with the ex subframe

As Grumpy mentioned, the ST bar does not mount to the original Honda sway bar locations as shown here in Honda's exploded parts diagram for the rear suspension: https://www.hondapartsnow.com/parts-...lower_arm.html
It mounts to the bolts that attach the original Honda rear subframe to the body and in doing so, eliminates the need to source OE brackets and straps for DX & LX models. However, this creates significant bending leverage and that works to cancel the effectiveness of the torsional stiffness.

On the other hand, the Ultra is a direct fit for EX and SE models as well as all 1st gen Acura CL and is a superior design (same as Honda, but much bigger).
Unfortunately, DX & LX models will need to source OE brackets and straps and then determine a means to attach (weld is fine) since the holes and weld nuts are nut included on base model subframes.

[ukemike]

I would like to note that when we upgraded our race car to the Acura CL sway bar we had unexpected oversteer several times at the next race. I fixed that with the Moog adjustable upper rear control arms to add some negative camber in the back. A bar as big as those will definitely improve turn-in but are likely to add high speed oversteer as well.

[SaddleMtnMan]

Ultra Racing seems to no longer produce the UR-AR19-024 swaybar for CB7 Accords. They do not list that model number on their website anymore and the only ones for sale online are a single eBay listing and a few non-US resellers (for quite inflated prices). Availability should be considered limited.

The ST Suspension 51120 kit is still available from Summit for $219, and is still in production.

[bry593]

No, the Ultra bar is still on ebay. Price is $345 now.

[bry593]

I would like to note that when we upgraded our race car to the Acura CL sway bar we had unexpected oversteer several times at the next race. I fixed that with the Moog adjustable upper rear control arms to add some negative camber in the back. A bar as big as those will definitely improve turn-in but are likely to add high speed oversteer as well.

I can see oversteer on a car that has stiff lowering springs, sure. I have the factory Acura CL springs which are pretty soft. Before I changed the rear bar, the rear inside tire would chirp in moderate turns. Now the chirp is gone and the speeds are 25% higher.

I do have Koni orange struts and polyurethane at all sway points, so that helps a bunch. I had wanted stiffer springs, but everything available is not engineered and appears to be "me too" designs. These springs have excessive drop for a daily and rely on a ton of dead (stacked) coils. The result is a noisy and bouncy ride. Blows me away that no one seems to know how to engineer a simple spring. Maybe they can get AI to figure it out for them, lol.....