2002 ES Rear strut bar?
 

The old FAQ stated that the sedan's rear struts were already braced. Yet Corksport lists rear strut bars for the sedan. What's up? I love what the front strut bar did on my ES. Is the rear bar bogus? thanks.

The rear is consitered braced becuase of the construction of the trunk, but it can always use alittle more stiffness.

My front strut tower bar is causing the car to understeer like a mofo so Im looking into rear strut bars to help that out a bit. Only problem is that there is no way it will clear my subs!

If you can find a cheap one I say go for it, you wont see too many gains from it though.

Another way to go would be a bigger/thicker sway bar in the rear.

Yea but you have to watch out and not get to big of a bar. I have been doing some checking on sway bars and read that on the speed the stock struts were not sutible for larger bars. This is from the RB web site.

(Sway Bars & Shocks
Many of the suspension parts that were included on the Protege MP3/Mazdaspeed cannot be easily installed on the non-MP3/Mazdaspeed models. When designing the suspension for these cars, it was decided that the endlink mounting flange on the side of the shock absorber would need to be reinforced to accommodate a larger diameter sway bar. The MP3/Mazdspeed shock supplied by Tokico features this reinforced endlink mounting flange. For this reason, the use of the MP3/Mazdspeed swaybars on non-Tokico equipped Protege models is not recommended, as damage to the stock shocks are possible. Click on the photos below to see close-up photos of these modifications.


Tokico Shocks Now Available!
Finally! Tokico has released two versions of aftermarket shocks for the Protege. Chose from either the standard HP model, or the fully adjustable ILLUMINA series. Combine these shocks with a set of Racing Beat springs and transform your car into a canyon-carving machine! Tokico has equipped these shocks with a heavy-duty endlink mounting flange, which allows for aftermarket sway bar upgrades.)

So I would be sure to upgrade the struts before you go with the bigger swaybars.
But if anyone has already upgraded their swaybars and drive like I do (like your in a race evey time your driving) let me know. I want to upgrade also.

The stock struts will definitely not hold up to a stiffer sway bar, at least not for too long. The mounting tab is simply not beefy enough. A rear strut bar in a sedan is really not a good cost effective mod, IMO the idea that the rear deck could be flexing seems a bit of a stretch. The GT Spec stuff looks nice and all, but some of it seems a bit overkill. The larger rear bar is a very cost effective mod though, and it will change the handling balance of your car. Just be careful, at highway speeds a little understeer can be your friend. The Tokicos have the Mondo-Mega Flange, I think you'd tear off the subframe before that tab gave way.

The rear strut bar isn't simply a bolt on procedure IIRC. I think you need to cut out some of the fabric and whatnot. The GT-Spec one takes up a lot of trunk space as well. The only problem with a huge rear sway bar is much more oversteer. I almost lost control on the highway with mine. Scary!

Just to show you how much the big sway bar does oversteer...I have the Tokico Blue struts with H&R springs, so to improve handling I added the AWR 21.5 mm RSB. I had to add the front strut tower bar, GT-Spec lower front tie bar, and GT-Spec ladder bar to make handling very close to neutral. Excellent set up, but be careful with just tossing on a huge ass bar on the rear.

How much did the whole set up cost you?

Hmm...it's been a looong time but probably ~$1000-1100. Sheesh when I add it all up that's a lot of money lol! I bought most of this stuff when it was brand new though, so I'm sure by now there are other options. Like the new Tokico adjustables weren't around when I got my stuff, and I'm sure other new stuff is out now, too.