Spoon Sports Stabilizer Bar for FK8/FL5 Civic Type R

Spoon Sports Stabilizer Bars - 2017-2026 Honda Civic Type R (FK8 & FL5)

The Type R is already one of the best-handling front-drive cars ever built, so a sway bar has a high bar to clear here. Spoon's answer is a matched front and rear set of hollow tubular stabilizers designed to sharpen cornering and straight-line stability without wrecking what makes the car livable. The front is adjustable between two stiffness settings. The rear is a significant step up at 180% of stock. Sold individually so you can run one or both.

What Each Bar Does

Front (51300-FL5-000) is 30mm hollow tubing against the 29.2mm factory bar, and it's two-hole adjustable. The outer hole gives you 130% of stock stiffness, the inner gives you 136%. That adjustability is genuinely useful, since you can set it up for street driving and change it for a track weekend without buying another bar. Custom bushings are included.

Rear (52300-FL5-000) is the bigger change. It's 25.4mm hollow against a 20.5mm factory bar, which works out to 180% of stock stiffness. That's a substantial increase, and it's where most of the balance change comes from. Ships with a dedicated holder and custom bushings.

The Rear Bar Changes The Car's Balance

Being straight about this, because 180% is a lot and you should know what you're buying.

Stiffening the rear shifts the car's balance away from understeer. That's the point, and on a front-driver it's how you get the car to rotate instead of pushing. On a dry road or a track it's a genuine improvement in how the car turns.

The tradeoff is that a much stiffer rear makes the back end more willing to move, and on a damp or cold road it happens quicker than you might expect. That's not a fault, it's physics, and it's worth knowing before your first wet drive rather than discovering it on an off-ramp. Drive it a while and get used to the new balance before you go looking for the limit.

If you want more turn-in without going that far, the front bar on its own is the more conservative route.

Read This If You're Lowered

Important, and easy to miss. If your car is lowered more than 40mm below stock, or if you want to use the inner 136% hole on the front bar, you'll need Spoon's adjustable stabilizer links (51302-FL5-000). Those are sold separately.

Practically speaking: if you're on progressive lowering springs at roughly 20mm, your factory links are fine. If you're on coilovers sitting 40mm down, or you want the stiffer front setting, budget for the links in the same order so you're not stopped halfway through the install.

Installing Them

A few things worth planning for. Get an alignment after installation. Changing roll stiffness affects how the car loads its suspension, and you want the geometry set properly to take advantage of it.

Grease the bushings thoroughly on assembly if grease is supplied. Bushings that aren't properly lubricated squeak, and it's the most common complaint on any sway bar install. Two minutes of attention on install day saves you a noise that shows up three weeks later.

Front, Rear, Or Both?

Both if you want the full effect, and that's how Spoon developed them, as a matched set for balanced cornering and straight-line stability.

If you're going one at a time, the front is the more conservative choice and gives you sharper turn-in with the car's fundamental balance intact. The rear is the bigger change and where the rotation comes from. Plenty of people start with the front and add the rear later once they've got a feel for it.

Fitment

• 2017-2021 Honda Civic Type R (FK8)
• 2023-2026 Honda Civic Type R (FL5)

Select front or rear at checkout. Each bar is sold individually.

Who Should Run These

This is for the Type R owner who's using the car properly, track days, time attack, or fast road driving, and wants more roll control and a sharper front end without ruining the daily-drivable side of it. It's from a company that's been developing Honda suspension since before most of these cars existed. Decide how far you want to go on balance, sort out your links if you're lowered, and get an alignment booked.

Fits: 2017-2021 Honda Civic Type R (FK8) and 2023-2026 Honda Civic Type R (FL5). Front (51300-FL5-000): 30mm hollow, two-hole adjustable at 130% or 136% of stock, bushings included. Rear (52300-FL5-000): 25.4mm hollow, 180% of stock, holder and bushings included. Required for lowering beyond 40mm or the 136% setting: Spoon adjustable stabilizer links (51302-FL5-000), sold separately. Recommended: alignment after installation.