Whiteline 26mm Rear Sway Bar 02-06 RSX 01-05 Civic

Whiteline 26mm Adjustable Rear Sway Bar for RSX and EP3 Civic - Part #BHR67XZ

The DC5 RSX and EP3 Civic Si understeer from the factory, and a rear sway bar is the cheapest, fastest way to fix that. This Whiteline 26mm adjustable rear sway bar is the aggressive option for the 2002-2006 RSX and 2001-2005 Civic: a solid 26mm bar with two stiffness settings, both of them several times stiffer than the little factory bar on a Type-S. If you want the car to rotate, this is the one.

What It Is and Why It Works

A rear bar transfers load to the outside rear tire in a corner, which takes load off the outside front and lets the front tires do their job. On a front-heavy K20 chassis that is the whole game. Whiteline rates the soft hole at about 545 percent stiffer than the stock bar and the hard hole at about 652 percent; the stock rear bar on these cars is tiny, so those numbers are less scary than they sound, but this is still a big bar. On a stock-suspension RSX Type-S the soft setting kills most of the push and the car feels neutral at the limit. On the hard setting with sticky tires, lifting mid-corner will bring the rear around. That is what a lot of our customers want on an autocross or track car; it is a lot for a daily driver on all-seasons.

The kit ships with the bar, two poly bushings, two saddle brackets and a pair of lateral locks that keep the bar from walking sideways in the mounts. Whiteline's current listing calls it two-point adjustable; several dealer listings and the older catalog call it three-point. Either way you get a soft and a hard hole. Install is under an hour on a car that already has a rear bar.

Specs

Fitment

Whiteline lists the full 7th gen Civic range and both RSX trims. The base RSX and non-Si Civic did not come with a rear sway bar from the factory, so on those cars you are adding a bar, not replacing one, and you will need end links and a rear beam with the bar mounts present. Check the trailing arms and beam for the bar bracket bosses before you order for a base car.

What to Know Before You Buy

Decide how much rotation you actually want. This is Whiteline's big bar. If you have a base RSX or a non-Si Civic and you are adding a rear bar for the first time, or you daily the car in the rain, a 22mm bar is the safer step and you can always come back. If you are on coilovers, 200-treadwear tires and you have driven the car hard enough to know it pushes, start on the soft setting and only go to hard after a session or two.

End links are not in the box. A Type-S or EP3 Si can reuse the factory links in a pinch, but they are a known weak point and a bigger bar loads them harder; most of our customers add a set of Whiteline adjustable end links at the same time. A base RSX or non-Si Civic has no factory links at all, so you need a set no matter what. Grease the bushings with the supplied grease and torque the saddles evenly or the bar will squeak.

If you are stiffening the rear this much, put fresh poly bushings in the front bar too. A soft front bar and a hard rear bar together is how you end up with a car that snaps instead of rotates. No alignment is required after install, but do one anyway if you are also lowering the car.