Traction Bar Question! What one to get?!

Hey there fellow G2ICers, heres the deal. Come income tax time im gonna be ordering a BISI header. for that to fit im gonna need a traction bar. my question is what ones have you used and would recommend?! i appreciate the help:)
-DAN

If your only reason for needing one is header clearance than any of them will work. A lot of people like full race but I don’t like the ground clearance they have. They sit really low. I’m going to be getting an explicit performance one, probably be my next big purchase for my car. K tuned are also good.

Well im also looking for performance as well. You know if ima do it might as well do it right!

i have the k tuned and love it…with my front lip you cant even see it either

The k tuned one looks good and is roughly the same price as explicit speed performance. Hmmm

Full-Race, hands down the best. Who else puts up a design report on their page???
http://www.full-race.com/articles/traction_bars.pdf

i didnt know the full race bar sat really low. i dont like that. because of that 1 reason, i think the k-tuned bar is one im going to get. could you post some more pictures of it?

btw, ETD racing and k-tuned are the same company. i just realized that i have that traction bar for my da back home. i still havent seen it yet. its in the box and all that. so i dont know what its like installed. i have no problem buying another one though.

The full race bar is nice, but does hang low. I put one on and took it off after a few days, my car was too low to get in/out of my driveway. I then put the explicit speed bar on, which has quite a bit more clearance. That’s been a good bar now for over 2 years.

That said, I guess i have a full-race bar for sale if someone’s looking for one.

If ground clearance is your only requisite for a traction bar, then by all means get the other bars. I do agree that the FR bar hangs pretty low though. I destroyed mine going over some train tracks at about 1mph, lol.
Several reasons why the FR bar is superior though:
1.) Round tube is stronger than square tube
2.) Chrom-moly is stronger than DOM/mild steel
3.) Radius rod mounting points are placed optimally as to not allow any binding of the LCA, which causes premature bushing wear.
Read the design report, it explains everything. This is one I built for a friends 87 Prelude (no one produces bars for these cars) back in '11. I used DOM, but I went with thicker tube to keep the strength up. Pretty much just used the FR bar as an idea

the k tuned bar is round. and i dont seem to have any binding…lemme see if i have any more pics of it on

thanks for the pictures. im sold on buying another k tuned bar. i dont think the difference in strength will be noticeable on the street or on the togue. myabe if i was on a track or something i the difference may be noticeable. but what i’m using it for, i think i’ll be fine.

[QUOTE=pcolony;2282265]The full race bar is nice, but does hang low. I put one on and took it off after a few days, my car was too low to get in/out of my driveway. I then put the explicit speed bar on, which has quite a bit more clearance. That’s been a good bar now for over 2 years.

That said, I guess i have a full-race bar for sale if someone’s looking for one.[/QUOTE]

how much would you want for the full-race bar? Shoot me a email at jkao234 at gmail dot com

The bar is over at my dad’s garage, I’ll go over this week and confirm I have all the parts together and get back to you.

I was referring to the Explicit Speed bar doe. Also the geometry is off on that K-tuned bar. The radius rod mount on the lateral tube should be in line with the inside most bolt of the LCA. You already have it installed anyways, so it’s not like I’m gonna change your mind or anything, lol

Have fun with that…

I’m still convinced that a modified stock piece with spherical radius rod ends would be the best combination of strength, weight, and ground clearance (I don’t have any proof of this, it’s simply a hunch). I’m too lazy to fab one up myself, and too cheap to pay someone to do it, so for now my Full Race will have to do. But if I ever run out of other projects to finish I’d definitely consider going back to a stock piece notched for header clearance.

I still have some brand new OPM spherical bushings laying around, and they fit stock radius rods so I might have to try that out. A while back when Nino was parting his car, I bought his Place Racing traction bar, and he was using OPM bushings with stock radius rods, so using a stock crossmember is not too far of a stretch. But the stock crossmember is made out of stamped steel spot welded together, so I think the TIG-welded, Chrom-moly FR bar probably edges it out in the strength category, lol

[QUOTE=mrpenny;2282505]
Have fun with that…[/QUOTE]
I will

Yeah, that would be the way to do it, use the OPM bushings. Even better if you fabbed all new aluminum radius rods to save a little weight. As for strength, does it need to be stronger? In some directions the stock piece will actually be stronger, at least the stock piece doesn’t seem to deflect at all when used as a jacking point, and the FR does, in that direction I imagine the boxed oem piece would be a stiffer. Plus, if you notch it you could reinforce as needed.

Btw, I’ve got a Full Race bar I’m selling if anyone is interested.

look p reviews on them all, I’ve heard people complain of the hiem joints makings noise.

Ground clearance is also an issue. I sat there and stared at my DA and she’s low.