Me like. Excellent fit and finish. Uses square tubing instead of the traditional round tubing, for the main bar, which I think will make for a stronger, more rigid setup. Heim Joints look to be excellent quality, with very smooth action both on the joint, and the threading into the aluminum radius arms. Threading is nice and thick. The front torque mount tabs look to be very strong ( I opted out of the mount option b/c I want to fabricate my own.). Overall the piece weighs in at just a over 20lbs and looks like it can take on hell of a beating (damned missouri roads). I look forward to elaborating once this is installed. Couple of things I liked about ESP, they ship a set of instructions with their bar, and on them are pictures of the bar mounted on their DA. They use actual cars/shells that have had no body damage due to wrecks/etc, to measure for their products. That is a HUGE plus in my book. Also they don’t overbore the mounting holes. They are in fact smaller, and ESP says to drill them out only enough to allow the bolts to squeeze through. They say allows for a tighter, cleaner fit. We’ll see!
well that depends on how you look at it. think about beam strength. the ability to withstand deflection. force applied horozontally vs vertically (like in a building), and the ability of the beam to resist bending/breaking under extremes. when i think about it, a round tube would be stronger in an application of diagonal force (like the radius arms or the tubing inside the swing arm on a crane. but a square tube would clearly be stronger in a vertical application, which is why frame rails aren’t circular (forces applied directly to the front, back, or sides.) :read:
Thanks Iceman. do you have any pics of this installed on your car? I have nothing bad to say about the traction bar, but for the price of $450…why ESP? I thought they were priced at around $330 or something. there prices are up there wtih Full-race and Z10.
I’m going to do a writeup. We’re installing them tomorrow morning, and i’ll take pics and such. The higher price is for their $100 front torque mount, which i opted out of b/c i want to make my own. I will do a writeup on that build as well. i went with esp b/c of their price, exclusivity (everyone has full race, etc), and design. i’ll keep you posted.
eh…i dunno about the square bars. Thats what Placeracing design was using, and thats the style that was breaking from all the welds. Plus Round tubing is always stronger then square, round weighs less square tube, and is available in stronger metals then square is.
Plus round is waaay stronger in torsion type tension, which is the kind of stress a crossmember is put under.
Placeracing’s Design was poor from the get go. it wasn’t the bar that broke on mine, it was where the radius arms attachement to the crossmember that broke.
although this design looks promising, I Think people need to take into consideration that if this bar or any bar that you have on your car gives, YOU ARE GOING TO LOSE CONTROL!!! our drivability depends on the front crossmember, and without that, it will be unpleasant, and dangerous. so with that said, do your research and get the best bar your money can buy, and BE SAFE!!!
Yea I think out of all the aftermarket traction/crossmembers the Z10 is the best clearance, strongest and still mantains a front mount, and best designed for the money you spend on a traction bar.
dude no offense but you’re making that statement based on what? have you seen them all installed and tested them to see which is strongest?
sorry i’ve been late with the pics and writeup, but i’ve been CRAZY busy. I can say that the Explicit Speed bar sits high enough that it’s half covered by the bumper’s splash guard, and has a front mount. I will try to get some more pics up after i get home.
i’ve heard nothing but TERRIBLE things about the Z10 and the PlaceRacing bars.
Haven’t heard much negative about the esp bar though. i met the guy with the worlds fastest prelude in Severn, MD and he’s told me that he LOVES this bar.
Ha Ha. You have the “anti-scrape bands” on ur header too.
Seriously though; I kinda prefer that my cross member is bashed on the ground over my header. With one that high, the header is sure to hit on parking curbs or potholes. If its for a mainly race DA, then It’s not too much of an issue.
:getsome: :manual:
Corniest quote ever: "Get yours today! JDM is IN!"
[QUOTE=h93da6;1839278]Ha Ha. You have the “anti-scrape bands” on ur header too.
Seriously though; I kinda prefer that my cross member is bashed on the ground over my header. With one that high, the header is sure to hit on parking curbs or potholes. If its for a mainly race DA, then It’s not too much of an issue.
:getsome: :manual:
Corniest quote ever: "Get yours today! JDM is IN!"[/QUOTE]
actually those are mounting brackets for the jdm heat shields. i had a skid plate on it at one point, didnt’ really help. it is a daily driver, and has been raised since i installed a significantly more expensive header on. i will be making a more functional plate soon.
i based my opinions on Z10 off of what I’ve heard. just like i said. i don’t have any experience with them because I’ve never heard good things about them. i do have personal experience with this ESP bar though, and with a Full Race and Innovative.
ESP specializes in making H22 swaps work in ED chassis civics, and DA chassis integras. That is their specialty. It seems they know a thing or two about the chassiss in question.
[QUOTE=h93da6;1839278]Ha Ha. You have the “anti-scrape bands” on ur header too.
Seriously though; I kinda prefer that my cross member is bashed on the ground over my header. With one that high, the header is sure to hit on parking curbs or potholes. If its for a mainly race DA, then It’s not too much of an issue.[/QUOTE]
on my CRX, the ESP bar sits much lower then my header and my oil pan. and my CRX has a 2.0l in it.
I completely agree though. Its great protection for the oil pan and header…just feels a little more violent when you hit.
[QUOTE=SOL1D;1837434]