Cusco Front and Rear Swaybar Review
12-13-2003, 07:19 PM
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First, I'd like to say thanks to Dan and Ben from BulletProof Automotive. 
I bought these from them during a group buy some time ago and finally got the chance to install these today.
I hope they don't mind me using this picture from their site but it's all in the name of good service, good products and word of mouth.
Link to suspension page @ BulletProof Automotive's site
The installation was done by West End Alignment in Gardena, CA by Darin Nishimura and son, Chris.
Both very professional, friendly and knowledgeable!
18008 S. Vermont Ave
Gardena, CA 90248
(310) 808-9233
Before I go on with the review, anyone in SoCal who's contemplating having any alignment, coilover/sway bar installation and corner weighting done, you should definitely go to West End!
Now on to the data/review:
The kit included 2 trademark blue Cusco sway bars, two sets of instructions (in Japanese) and 4 bushings. You'll need to use the factory endlinks. Packaging was done real well. Totally forgot to weigh these but they're slightly heaver and noticeably thicker.
Stats:
Cusco Front: 32 mm
Cusco Rear: 30 mm
Difference from front and rear: 2mm front bias
front: 172% increase stiffness
rear: 136% increase stiffness
2002-2003
Stock Front: *26.5 mm x 4.5 (2000-2001 28.2 mm?)
Stock Rear: *27.2 mm x 4.5 (2004 uses 25.4 mm)
Difference from front and rear: 0.7mm rear bias
*data from vtec.net
My car: 2002, comptech front strut bar, whiteline x-brace, stock coilovers, mugen header/exhaust, PRM intake, 4.44 gears and stock alignment settings.
My main objective was to increase stability and minimize the slight wobble over uneven surfaces that the car tended to exhibit at low/high speed. Mission accomplished!
After some research, I decided that the Cusco looked like a reasonably matched set of sway bars that wouldn't induce too much understeer or oversteer based on the ratio of size increase over stock. That was on paper but since I hadn't seen any reviews or heard of first hand knowledge, I decided to order them and write up the review.
After installation, I took the car through my favorite canyon run and tested it out. Will test these on the track in the future.
- Stability: The car feels way more solid and stable at speed.
- Roll: Minimized the car's roll tendency and helped greatly with smoother transitions through the twisties.
- Stiffness/Ride comfort: Surprisingly, the ride is still very comfortable and the ride feels taut with the stock coilovers, not aggressively stiff. This is how a car should feel! Very confidence inspiring.
- Front traction: The car had better turn in feel and didn't understeer like a pig. Again, another reason why I wanted a stiffer rear bar to match the front.
- Rear traction: On a tight turn, I can induce power oversteer easily (helps with the 4.44 gears) but the slide recovers smoothly and much more controllably. Very slight spinning of inside rear tire but that could also be due to the 4.44 gears and my old tires in combination with the stiffer bars. It's actually not bad and with good alignment settings and new tires, this should be minimized.
- Lastly, there's no clunking/squeaking noise whatsoever!
All in all, these bars did exactly what I wanted and I would highly recommend these to anyone who wants to do the same. Going to install the buddy club coilovers in the near future and corner weight/align the car. Hopefully the new coilovers don't upset the balance too much. Plan is to use the softer settings and only lower the car a half an inch.
The way the car is setup now for my needs, it feels incredible! Like every good suspension tuner will tell you, there is no perfect combination and each track/course will need a different setting, however this setup works well for me.
I bought these from them during a group buy some time ago and finally got the chance to install these today.I hope they don't mind me using this picture from their site but it's all in the name of good service, good products and word of mouth.
Link to suspension page @ BulletProof Automotive's site
The installation was done by West End Alignment in Gardena, CA by Darin Nishimura and son, Chris.
Both very professional, friendly and knowledgeable!
18008 S. Vermont Ave
Gardena, CA 90248
(310) 808-9233
Before I go on with the review, anyone in SoCal who's contemplating having any alignment, coilover/sway bar installation and corner weighting done, you should definitely go to West End!
Now on to the data/review:
The kit included 2 trademark blue Cusco sway bars, two sets of instructions (in Japanese) and 4 bushings. You'll need to use the factory endlinks. Packaging was done real well. Totally forgot to weigh these but they're slightly heaver and noticeably thicker.
Stats:
Cusco Front: 32 mm
Cusco Rear: 30 mm
Difference from front and rear: 2mm front bias
front: 172% increase stiffness
rear: 136% increase stiffness
2002-2003
Stock Front: *26.5 mm x 4.5 (2000-2001 28.2 mm?)
Stock Rear: *27.2 mm x 4.5 (2004 uses 25.4 mm)
Difference from front and rear: 0.7mm rear bias
*data from vtec.net
My car: 2002, comptech front strut bar, whiteline x-brace, stock coilovers, mugen header/exhaust, PRM intake, 4.44 gears and stock alignment settings.
My main objective was to increase stability and minimize the slight wobble over uneven surfaces that the car tended to exhibit at low/high speed. Mission accomplished!
After some research, I decided that the Cusco looked like a reasonably matched set of sway bars that wouldn't induce too much understeer or oversteer based on the ratio of size increase over stock. That was on paper but since I hadn't seen any reviews or heard of first hand knowledge, I decided to order them and write up the review.
After installation, I took the car through my favorite canyon run and tested it out. Will test these on the track in the future.
- Stability: The car feels way more solid and stable at speed.
- Roll: Minimized the car's roll tendency and helped greatly with smoother transitions through the twisties.
- Stiffness/Ride comfort: Surprisingly, the ride is still very comfortable and the ride feels taut with the stock coilovers, not aggressively stiff. This is how a car should feel! Very confidence inspiring.
- Front traction: The car had better turn in feel and didn't understeer like a pig. Again, another reason why I wanted a stiffer rear bar to match the front.
- Rear traction: On a tight turn, I can induce power oversteer easily (helps with the 4.44 gears) but the slide recovers smoothly and much more controllably. Very slight spinning of inside rear tire but that could also be due to the 4.44 gears and my old tires in combination with the stiffer bars. It's actually not bad and with good alignment settings and new tires, this should be minimized.
- Lastly, there's no clunking/squeaking noise whatsoever!
All in all, these bars did exactly what I wanted and I would highly recommend these to anyone who wants to do the same. Going to install the buddy club coilovers in the near future and corner weight/align the car. Hopefully the new coilovers don't upset the balance too much. Plan is to use the softer settings and only lower the car a half an inch.
The way the car is setup now for my needs, it feels incredible! Like every good suspension tuner will tell you, there is no perfect combination and each track/course will need a different setting, however this setup works well for me.
