First let me start with the RSB since it is something a lot of people are interested in doing. I went with the 22mm Progress Tech bar base on the recommendation from Chris (Redshift) to give me a nice balance without overpowering one end of the car. The installation was pretty simple except for the instructions that come with the RSB are for a 2006-2011 civic, but its the same bar, so I called Progress Tech and spoke to Ed a few times to verify a few things because I was installing it blindly.

First, you have to remove two of the underbody panels (plastic under trays) and the brace that holds the gas tank. For the brace, you have to remove it completely, meaning two bolts in the back and one in front for it to come out - if you only remove the rear bolts the bar won't come off int he rear, it has a safety tap. Then you can remove the RSB. If you have a car on a lift and not on jack stands, you might be able to angle the RSB enough to wiggle it out without removing the gas tank brace however, but it might just be easier to remove the brace as it will allow you to just mount the new bar easier with the bushings and bracket already attached. When putting the bushings on the RSB, first wrap it with teflon tape where the bushings will go to prevent it from ever squeaking, or so I read on a car magazine from a race mechanic. I had Whiteline sway bars in my Subaru prior and they squeaked like crazy after a rain, but I just drove the ILX in the rain after the install and it was quiet. The endlinks bolts will spin when trying to remove the nuts if you don't use a 5mm hex on the end of the bolt, which someone else in the forum found out and used pliers I believe to prevent the bolt from spinning (if I remember correctly). When tightening up the endlinks, be careful when torquing everything up to spec, 28 or 32 lbs, because the 5mm hex can strip as I found out. So when tightening up the bolts, use the hex bit to prevent the bolt from moving just enough so you can use the torque wrench on the nut by itself, without the need of the hex bit. I did not know how tight to torque the gas tank brace and under tray panel bolts, so I just hand tighten a much as I could without feeling like I was going to strip them. Torque specs would have been nice.

Now onto how the RSB handles. The car used to handle fine, but it would understeer in tight turns if not trail braking deep to maintain traction on the front wheels during turn-in. Part of it was learning how to drive the ILX since it is FWD and I was used to my previous car, a Subaru, which required less trail braking during turn-in and I could get on the gas earlier than the ILX - partly due to how the Subaru was setup. Otherwise, once I acclimated to the ILX I had no issues with understeer as long as I was smooth because I could not be aggressive like I could with the Subaru, which I got used to just throwing around and stomping on the gas because of all the traction available. The ILX requires a smooth driving style and I have to be smooth and progressive with the gas and delay your braking a bit longer to get it to corner and come out of a turn without spinning the tires and losing traction. On a corner like a highway offramp if you let off the gas the car would start to oversteer, but it was very slight and the rear end would come around very slowly, so pretty safe for grandma if she were to accidentally brake during turn, but not so great for advance driving where lift-off throttle oversteer is a good handling trait.
Now with the Progress Tech 22mm RSB, the car has a lot shaper turn-in on every type corner, even when driving slower you can definitely feel it. When driving with more haste, the car really turns in where before it was more vague and less immediate. When taking a corner fast if you let off the throttle the car oversteers more rapidly, the rear starts to come around quicker but in a controllable way, so it is more enjoyable now since I can play with the handling and adjust the attitude of the car with the throttle. The ride is a tiny bit harsher, just noticeable, but I live in Detroit and the roads are like minefields, so it might be more noticeable where I drive. Overall, the car feels better, noticeably better. It is sharper to turn and it is more balance now. Once I drive the car more I'll get a better feel for the changes, but so far in my three drives since changing the RSB, you can feel the difference.

And lastly for those of you who are undecided as to the size of the RSB you want to get, here are some more observations that might assist you in choosing the right size bar for your requirements. With the 22mm RSB, the car is more balance and the rear will step out when lifting off the throttle, as explained earlier. But when taking hard turns, like turning into a street, a tight radius turn, or a quick lane change - abrupt, where the front suspension compresses all the way, you notice/feel that the outside front tire will roll on its sidewall, and so a bigger sway bar might be wasted because our cars have positive camber in the front when compressed. So even with low profile tires and bigger wheels, and even higher spring rates through springs or coilovers (to a lesser degree with the last two), you are still going to end up riding the sidewall. That will make the car loose traction up front (less contact, smaller tire patch) and push, which I don't find a desirable trait. So if you are going to up the size of the RSB, I would suggest getting front camber bolts to gain negative camber, help with turn-in even more (more tire on the ground) and take advantage of the bigger RSB, or installing a bigger front sway bar to keep the tires from rolling, but that will increase understeer which we are trying to reduce) - front camber bolts will also be more comfortable and possibly provide more traction on corner exit according to Chris. I'm installing the front camber bolts (1.5 negative camber - which is recommended for aggressive street driving, any more is recommended for track driving) next weekend, and in a few weeks will install the Redshift/GC coil-overs, so I'll report on the feel of the upgrades.

One more thing, for those wondering about trimming the rear bumper for bigger exhaust pipes, the bumper already has the cutout, so all you have to do it get under there and look to see it, and trim the bottom lip following the lines. Its hard to describe, but basically Acura did not trim the bumper lip but designed it with the cutout in mind, so cutting it will be easy since the shape of the cutout is already there.

Now on to the Kurt hitch. The hitch is a pain on the butt to install. You have to lift the hitch, muffler, and muffler shield at the same time and then bolt it on all together while trying to squeeze your hand in there, which is a pain because there is barely enough room to do it. You will need a second person and probably something like a jack stand or two to hold the muffle and hitch in place during the passenger side mounting of the hitch. The instructions are included and show you the steps, but they don't really explain how difficult it is to bolt everything together, not enough detail.

I hope somebody finds the information useful.

 

i already installed a rsb but great write up!

 

Sevi, did you have to remove the rear wheels before removing the OEM rsb? I'm hoping to install a '14 Civic Si rsb in a couple weeks.
Thanks