alright no motoring today but will clean up my R real nice and maybe go out for a quick ride on my bicycle afterwards. going to be a lazy day today.

happy bday, USA!!

and have a great 4th everyone! drive safe

 

whorely faking hell, it was hot in da garage dis am ..but got my R all cleaned up.
found a scratch on da fender so polish it off (scratchx on griot's red pad) yesterday while i was out motoring and minding my own biz, some bird cut in front of me and i wasnt sure if it made contact, but i suppose it did. hope it died and turned into an owl to eat other burds.

was going to go out cycling but it's just too damn hot right now so cooling off in my music room with an icy cold pepsi zero on da rocks in hand..

 

made another pair of owl eyes dis am and placed it on the other side of the GTI. with a pair of eyes on each side of the cars my GK nor GTI has been hit with bird crap yet.

compared to up until yesterday where sparrows and robins were taking a crap on the car every 3-4hrs WHILE SITTING ON THE ROOF THE CARS this has been a HUGE improvement.

 

so this am helped my wife put together a new mobile island for the kitchen.. thing is really well made except for the drawer... for some reason the manufacturer must've measured wrong cause the drawer would not close without hitting the bottom of the marble top. lol so i did a few adjustments on the drawer and fixed it for her for extra browny points.

this pm was out with my kids shooting empty cans (half filled with water) with my sling shot. had a good time. my older kid is starting to get the hang of it. waay too hot for any cycling for me..

ribs tonight. p

 

alright, got off my lazy j-arse and took my younger son out for some srow-ish cycling in the park. i took my slower bicycle today as i wanted to put more resistance on my banged up knee for rehab purposes. kid had a great time, i was able to confirm my knee is much better today so im also happy. i do a lot of walking in large airports so i need my knee and ankles to be in top shape.

confirmed i lost another 5lbs since mid-june. not that im dieting, but good to be more active and getting rid of useless belly fat. I'm a size smaller on the waist and can finally fit into my dress pants i got like 2yrs ago.. maybe still a tad tight.. lol wish it would cool off a bit so dat i can do some longer distance cycling and rid another 5lbs while building more strength and stamina.

 

Happy 4th guys.

Sounds like those bikes are helping you out Kenchan! Ive been bummed that I can't get a trailer hitch for my Civic due to the center exhaust so I can't take the bikes to any trails. Been making me consider buying a roof rack setup again...maybe...

Wash, Clayed, Polished and waxed the GF's elantra today. Its a 2007 (built 10/2006) and man does it still shine. Its a metallic black and thanks to yours truly you'd think it was new haha.

There are some etches from tree sap and bird poop that I can't seem to get out no matter how hard I try. But oh well.

Tomorrow gonna detail the Miata.

Thinking of upgrading the rear sway on the civic. Basically the SI and CTR rear sways are a direct drop in. Current stock is 16.5mm, SI is 18mm and CTR is 20.5mm.

Found a SI used on the forums since he upgraded to a CTR rsb...figure it was worth it. Shot him an offer via PM and we will see if he bites.

Figure the SI upgrade is more my style as its an improvement with mild oversteer chance. People have been reporting the CTR is a drastic change and potentially too much oversteer.

 

shinjari - Oh yes add that rear sway bar. I'd go for the CTR, more is better right? As far as snap oversteer goes I don't see it being a problem.

Adding a RSB helped the handling of my GTI. Really helped on turn in. I've detected no oversteer, but we are talking about two different cars. Although both are FWD.

 

Good morning Ash. Yeah I mean I have a RSB now (factory is 16.5mm)...but figure more is better.

Both the SI and CTR RSBs are drop in 'upgrades'. 18mm and 20.5 respectively.

Progress brand RSB is 20.5mm so the same as the CTR.

CTR is $100ish
SI is about $80ish
Progress is $180ish

I'm leaning towards the SI, as I like the current comfort and handling. Know that the RSB will stiffen the rear quite a bit so even a minor upgrade would be nice. Several 10th gen owners who jumped on the CTR RSB have swapped to the SI due to the comfort.

Hell I know when I had my GE that removing the progress RSB the comfort improve drastically for the rear passengers haha...but handling suffered immensely.

 

shinjari, good homework on the RSB's! Great that you look at the big picture.

In that regard, how do the front sway bars measure up between the Sport, SI, and CTR?

A lot also comes down to personal preference. I have found I like medium firmness springs and BIG sway bars. Not a fan of the overly sprung feeling. Maybe I'm weird though because I also like having a bit of sidewall.

All of that is for the street of course. I'm not looking to track anything I own so I like a good street setup. For me, that means compliance.

 

Civic Sport (current) - 25.5mm x 4.5mm tubular
Civic Si - 27mm x 4.5mm tubular
Civic Type-R - 29mm x 5mm tubular

So the CTR RSB would be a big jump on top of the FSB.

Think the SI RSB makes sense. The thing that bugs me is the guy on the forum selling the SI RSB wants $80 shipped obo - open to offers...so I offered $65....replies "I think $80 is fair, Im losing out due to shipping".

If you're not accepting offers or even willing to negotiate....dont put OBO or open to offers. Maybe its supposed to be implied that offers are local only.

New the SI RSB is $80 + shipping and tax...so >$100...maybe I just say F-it and accept his firm $80. Thoughts?

 

I agree with the Si RSB making the most sense. Should liven it up some without being too overboard in the rear.

Guessing you've checked hondapartsnow.com and bernardiparts.com?

If it's close in price, I'd be tempted to just order it from them. I've got to save enough $$ to be worth dealing with a private seller or I'll just order from a source that it's easier to dispute the CC charge if needed.

 

Yeah checked usual OEM sites. $80 new plus shipping and tax. So about $100. Would basically save $20. Every little bitbhelps.

 

My take is $80 shipped ain't bad. Remember when you put that thing on have the rear suspension loaded. Otherwise you are in for a fight getting the end links back on. I backed my car up on a set of ramps & it really helped.

 

wat a wtf of a day today.. got to the office the place had no electricity.. like da parking structure gate was propped open so i knew something waz up. as soon as i entered the building the security guy told us dey dont know when the powerz going to be back so ended up driving home and worked from my music room..

i look up 4 hrs went by in an instant and had lunch with the kidz.. and went back to work. a storm popped out of nowhere and it was a STRONG storm. blew one of my 2 owl faces i made off my GTI and it flew away. after da rain passed, kid and i went out looking for it.. couldnt find it, went around da back to da park looking for it, no go.. were dafaq did it go, and i look up at someone's chimney across the park. whorely faking hell, my owl got stuck waaaay up dere at the top of a 3 story building! hahaha! we gave up and went home.

decided to order more lexan sheets, vinyl, and bigger magnets. ill make more on Sat.

 

shinjari- sounds like fun.

i too dont like overly stiff swaybars in the back. it makes the car feel like it is in 2 pieces.

 

Lol at your owl eyes on a roof. Maybe it'll scare birds from sh*tting on that guys roof haha.

 

haha yah, i should send dem a bill. lol

 

so i read dat for the german market VW stopped making MT Golf-R's.. only DSG. uh oh..
GTI are still available MT and DSG..

dat came as a surprise to me but den also kinda knew dis was coming eventually.

 

I find that a large rsb doesn't add much ride stiffness. Unless you are in a turn it just rides along doing nothing to add to the spring rate. Maybe it's my old hard arse that has lost all feeling. ;-)

I figure VW must be selling more R's with DSG's. That may be why they dropped the manual. ken better hang onto yours it's now a rare collectible.

 

ash- yah, i thought in germany more people drove MT cars dan in the usa, but oh well. it is true more people go for the DSG on the R's.

i too have not noticed much ride stiffness going straight from swaybars.