I have a Neuspeed strut tower bar and was going to install it tonight. But, I have a question about installing it. The guys at the shop I bought it at said I had to jack the car up when I install the bar or it would ruin the bolts. Does that sound right? I was just going to throw it on. It didn’t come with instructions from Neuspeed so now I‘m curious.

 

It's a pretty tight fit. I found that I needed to jack up the front end of the car to get the suspension in droop before the bar could fit on. Even so, you may need a (soft ended) mallet or some muscle to put it on. The end bolts should be torqued to 37 ft lbs.

FWIW, I've since removed my Neuspeed bar. It was a poor fit from the beginning and rubbed my stock bar, ultimately making a rubbing noise every time the front end lifted a bit (over a bump or dip in the road). I think if you're going to keep the stock bar, the Cusco is a better design, at least in my case. Hopefully, you'll have better luck with this inanimate carbon rod then I did.

 

depends. i would just try installing it with the car on the ground first, but have a jack nearby. if the holes slip onto the bolts smoothly then you're good to go. my install was perfect like that. if the holes are binding on the threads of the bolts, jack up one side of the car to hopefully induce enough flex to bring the tops of the shock towers closer together.

oh just had a thought, take the bar out to the car and just align the holes over the bolts with out loosing anything. the bolts stick out far enough from the nuts.

 

You had both on at the same time? The stock and the Neuspeed? I thought the stock went bye, bye when you stuck on the Neuspeed.

 

Neuspeed fits without removing the stock STB (though not real well, in my case).

Cusco fits without removing the stock STB.

Comptech fits only with removing the stock STB.

 

my Neuspeed fits well with my stock.

 

I had to jack mine up as well. I didn't need a mallet, just needed the drop to get it to slide over the bolts...
It is still on, and doesn't make any noise as Slimey claims...

 

Same here.
Mine is tight, but no noise.

Shawn S

 

The noise occured from rubbing between the Neuspeed STB and the OEM STB. They were in physical contact from day one (and yes, the Neuspeed was corrrectly installed squarely on the bolts - I rechecked this a bunch of times). I could run a piece of paper between the two bars and they paper would get caught -- it was that tight.

I did a search here when I identified this problem and found some early posts (~2001) that also confirm the overly tight fitment (between the stock bar and the Neu one, I'm not talking about the tight fitment on the bolts/side-to-side). Obviously, one solution would be to remove the stock STB, but seeing that I've had bad experience with Neuspeed products & service otherwise, I sought to make my car Neuspeed free.

I now have the Cusco bars and they work like a charm. They fit well with no rubbing on the stock set-up.

 

Mine touched, but look closely and you’ll notice three strategically placed black ZIP-TIES around the stock bar.
A tip from Jens at Park Avenue Acura.

Shawn S

 

When my bar and my 02 CLS was new, the bar just slipped right on. No jacking, it fit perfect. When I got my 03, I took the same bar & installed it on that car. I had to jack the car up to get it to fit. I also don't have noises or rubbing with the stock bar, & Neuspeed.

 

Zip ties are probably a good solution. My solution worked well too.