2002 Civic Si Under Car

Thanks to Erick's Racing of Gardena, CA for the use of their lift. Having the car on a lift allowed us to get a much better perspective of a seldom seen (yet vitally important) part of the car. We've only made a few short comments here. We'll post a video analysis of the Civic Si underside in a few weeks.

A heavy duty tubular trailing arm dominates the rear suspension. The rear anti-sway bar looks very easy to replace too.

We cringed when we saw this exhaust pipe. The tiny exhaust pipe is very restrictive and is a good candidate to be replaced. The diameter conjures images of drinking straws. More comments will be in the video.

The oil filter is accessible from underneath the car. It's not the most convenient location, but a DIY'er (Do It Yourself) should not have a problem with it.

The infamous front suspension uses a traditional MacPherson strut setup to save room and manufacturing costs. We had our qualms about this setup, but after a week of driving with it on canyon roads and at the autocross, we came away quite impressed. It has a distinct European feel to it - the springs are on the softer side, but it has a highly damped feel in the shocks, providing a good deal of feedback without punishing the passengers.

As a test, we replaced the stock wheels and tires with high performance 205-45VR16 Yokohama A520 tires and very light weight SSR Competition wheels. Thanks to the TOV reader who let us borrow them. (You know who you are :). The car's handling improved tremendously. The amount of body roll was greatly reduced and the improvement in turn-in response was dramatic. Overall, it was a great improvement. We realize that Honda needs to sell cars to as broad an audience as possible and they are basically forced to use all weather tires with mileage and noise compromises in them. We feel that Honda needs to provide enthusiasts an optional summer tire package, at least for the performance-oriented models. The RSX Type-S is another car that comes to mind which needs to have a summer tire package. Reader's comments are appreciated on this topic.