PRODUCT DETAILS
Progress Technology Rear Sway Bar - 1988-1991 Honda Civic Hatchback & CRX
The EF is a light, well-balanced chassis with one persistent tendency: it understeers. Honda set these cars up soft and safe from the factory, which means the front pushes wide before the rear does anything interesting. A bigger rear bar is the single most effective fix, and this Progress bar transforms how an EF turns for less than almost any other handling modification. Available in 22mm or 25mm depending on how far you want to go.
Why A Rear Bar Fixes Understeer
Worth understanding, because the logic is counterintuitive the first time you hear it.
Stiffening the rear of the car makes the rear tires work harder in a corner and shifts the balance away from the front. The nose stops pushing wide and the car rotates instead. On a front-drive chassis where all the weight and all the power live over the front wheels, that's exactly the correction you want.
What you feel is a car that turns in more sharply, holds a tighter line, and stops fighting you on corner entry. On an EF, which is already light enough to change direction quickly, adding rear rotation makes it genuinely playful.
22mm Or 25mm?
Same bar, same three adjustment settings, same fitment. The only difference is diameter, and diameter is roll stiffness.
22mm is the street pick. It gives you a clear, noticeable improvement in balance and turn-in while keeping the car predictable in mixed conditions. If the EF is your daily, sees weather, or you'd rather not have the rear too eager, this is where to start.
25mm is the aggressive option. Considerably more roll stiffness and considerably more rotation, which is what you want on an autocross car, a track build, or a dedicated backroad toy. It's a lot of bar for a car this light, so go in knowing the back end will move.
Both are adjustable, so either one gives you range. The 22mm on its stiffest setting and the 25mm on its softest overlap somewhat. If you're genuinely torn, the 22mm is the safer buy and you'll still feel a substantial change.
Three Settings, So You Can Tune It
Both bars have three adjustment positions. Set it soft for street driving where you want the balance improved without the rear getting too eager, then move to a stiffer hole for autocross or a track day when you want maximum rotation.
Worth being honest here: a stiff rear bar on a car this light will get the back end moving, and on a wet or cold road it happens quicker than you might expect. That's not a fault, it's the trade you're making. Start on the softest setting, learn what the car does, and work up rather than going straight to the stiffest hole and finding out on an off-ramp.
Stiff Alloy Steel And Poly Bushings
Both bars are stiff alloy steel and come with polyurethane bushings rather than rubber. Both details matter.
The diameter is where the roll resistance comes from, but a bar only works if it's held firmly. Factory rubber bushings deflect under load, which means the bar starts working late and part of your input goes into squishing rubber. Polyurethane barely compresses by comparison, so the bar begins resisting roll immediately rather than after the bushings have finished moving.
The result is less body roll and flatter tire contact through a corner, which is what actually puts grip on the ground.
Grease The Bushings Properly
One piece of advice that determines whether you're happy with this in three weeks. Polyurethane bushings need proper lubrication on the inner surface where the bar rotates. Use the grease supplied, or a quality poly-specific grease, and be generous with it.
Skip it and you'll get a squeak that shows up after a few weeks and drives you up the wall. It's the most common complaint with any poly bushing and it's entirely avoidable in two extra minutes on install day.
Consider Adjustable End Links
Worth thinking about while you're ordering, and more so on the 25mm.
Fitting a larger bar changes the geometry your factory end links were sized for, and on a car that's also been lowered, fixed-length links can put preload into the bar before you've even moved. Preload means the bar is applying force at rest, which introduces cross weight and uses up travel before the corner starts.
Progress adjustable end links (67.10.080) let you dial that out completely so the bar sits neutral at ride height and starts working the instant it should. If your EF is lowered, they're worth doing at the same time rather than revisiting later.
Fitment
1988-1991 Honda Civic Hatchback
1988-1991 Honda CRX
Not listed as fitting the EF sedan. Select your diameter at checkout.
Who Should Run This Bar
This is for the EF owner who wants the car to rotate instead of push, whether that's on an autocross course, a back road, or a track day. It's one of the highest-value handling changes available on this chassis, it bolts on in an afternoon, and you feel it on the first corner. Pick your diameter honestly, grease it well, start on the softest setting, and go find out what your Civic can actually do.
Fits: 1988-1991 Honda Civic hatchback and CRX. Diameters: 22mm (part 62.1043) or 25mm (part PRT-621047). Material: stiff alloy steel. Adjustment: three positions on both. Includes: polyurethane bushings. Pairs with: Progress adjustable end links, part 67.10.080.
1988-1991 Honda Civic Hatchback
1988-1991 Honda CRX