What is the best rear strut tower bar to reduce flex? I hear noises from the rear when I remove the hatch cover. Even with the hatch cover, there is some flexing noise. Is there a rear strut tower bar that does not require cutting the plastic panels?
Here’s some XceedSpeed.
Don’t know about having to cut your rear panels or not.
Isn’t there a removeable piece on the 2 doors?
No matter which ones you get, you will have to cut the plastic panel. Just get a cheap Ebay one.
I love my EM racing one. I had the ebay bar for a long time and finally upgraded. The difference in product is amazing but if your just going more for the bling factor. The ebay bar is good for the price.
I thought mugen made one that doesn’t require cutting the panels.
the one i got only required that i notch the cover piece and trim a little of the edging. just cut a U shape and it fits like a glove around it… looks stock
EM Racing bars are great top notch quality, cant go wrong with them. You might have to cut a little not much though,
if you want a strut bar there just for looks, get the first one you can afford.
if you want a strut bar there that works, get EM Racing, or something from Skunk2 (not sure if they make a rear bar though)
also, when it comes to the panels that you can remove that cover the shock towers in the rear, after installing the bar, why not just leave the little removable panels OFF? instead of hacking them up? that way, if you had to sell the car, you can just remove the performance parts (in this case, the rear bar) and put the panels back in place. that way, you dont have to BUY panels to replace the ones you might hack up.
^^^freaking genius right there:up:
Cusco makes one. :bye:
I think that he is talking about the whole plastic panel not just the cover. I had the same problem in my 88 civic hatch. The bracket wouldn’t clear the panel so I just notched a little out and it fit.
yes the plastic little covers are off, you have to cut into the rear side panels to get it to fit properly, pretty much the the hole where the covers go just a little bigger.
i just notched the covers… buying new rear covers is easy if u do decide to sell.
here is a pic of mine… not to clear but u can see it doesnt look hacked.
I’m looking for something that works not for looks. EM Racing looks solid but it is hard to tell from just pics. Is there anything better than EM Racing?
Who has the lowest price on EM Racing?
Thanks.
Is a dremel tool the best to use when cutting the plastic panels? How much do you take off - 1 inch, 2
inch?
dremels will melt plastic. also, why not wait to get whatever bar you’re going to get and then decide how much to cut off?
Right now I am planning to buy an EM Racing, unless some one can point out something better. How much do you have to cut to get an EM Racing rear strut tower bar to fit? 1 inch, 2 inch?
If not a dremel, then what? A box cutter? hack saw?
Saint, what kind of bar do you have?
Once you get the brackets and put them on you’ll see how much you have to cut off, it’s maybe an inch. i used some big wire cutters, and a dremel. It took me about 5 min. Once you get the bar you’ll see what we mean by quality, i dont think there is anything better out there.
MoRBiDThOuGhTs, did you notice a difference after installing the EM Racing? Was there less flexing noise from the rear? Better handling? I already have front and rear ST sway bars so I wonder if I even need the EM Racing rear strut tower bar.
I just used a utility knife to cut he plastic panels…they’re not to thick or tough so it was easy…D