Mitch,
OLDE GUY brings up a good point - choosing the right bars depends on (1) Your goal and (2) Your current or planned suspension set up. For the most part, the Type R front bar is for the track (because it works well with the really stiff Type R springs), but it can work well on a street driven NSX if you balance and work with all of the suspension components.
I'll share what I use for my street driven NSX (I don't track it). This is from knowledge gained from NSXprime, other suspension tuning websites and from my own experimentation.
My goal: Slightly stiffer suspension, reduce body roll and make the car near balanced, with a tendency to understeer (to keep it safe). I've had my experience with snap-oversteer and I don't want to experience that again.
1. OEM springs (1992 model year)
2. Bilstein on lower perch
3. Zanardi rear sway (its stiffer than the stock bar)
4. Type R front sway (you can use the Zanardi front sway if you don't want to go with a big front bar like the Type R, but the parts guy at Acura told me its basically the same as the non-Zanardi coupe)
5. 215/40/17 front tires @31 cold PSI on a 17x8 rim. Offset pushes rim to 1/2 inch of fender lip
6. 275/35/18 rear tires @ 38 cold PSI on a 18x10 rim. Offset pushes rim to 1/2 inch of fender lip. Tires on rear are softer compound than front tires, but same brand and similar tread pattern/model.
7. Front alignment: stock toe setting (mid-point). About 1 degree negative camber
8. Rear alignment: stock toe setting (mid-point). About 2.2 degree negative rear camber
So, what did I find with this setup?
1. Before I put the front Type R sway on, I used the Zanardi rear sway with the stock 1992 front sway. I did this because my huge rear wheels and tires were giving me too much understeer and a larger rear sway would help counteract that. In this case the rear sway was stiffer than the front. It worked. I got oversteer and the car was more oversteer-prone. It was nice being able to guide the tail with small inputs, but I started getting nervous about the oversteer-prone setup. It was fun to take corners with the rear coming around quickly, but it's not a safe thing for the street.
2. This weekend I put the Type R bar front sway in to get some understeer back and to reduce body roll. Well, that worked too. The understeer came back and the car isn't as tail happy now. This setup will work fine and is safe, but it's just a little too much understeer for me and I want more of a balanced setup with slight understeer.
3. What's next. I'm adding an Okayama rear strut tower brace to see if I can stiffen the rear end some more. If that doesn't give me enough, I'll reduce the rear tire width by 10mm (to 265/35/18). Finally, if that doesn't work, I'll adjust the rear toe (less toe). These items are corrections for understeer.
4. Of couse, I could also adjust the handling with stiffer springs (like the Type R setup), but my goal is a slightly stiffer ride, not a very stiff ride, so new springs wouldn't work me.
One other option which I forgot to mention: Leave it alone and drive the car with the stock suspension, alignment and tires. That will save some money, but may not get at your goals; whatever they may be. :smile:
