I previously had an Acura TSX and upgrading the sway bars really improved the corner ability.

1. What are the plug and play upgrades for this model?

2. Which sway bar front or rear improves handling the most?

3. Which sway bar is easier (less labor)to swap and do?

Also, the 2006 RX 330 I believe is still on the original spark plugs. Should those be changed at the next oil change. No performance issue regarding it.

 

The rear sway bar can be done with the car on the ground in probably half an hour if you don't run into any rust. The front on the other hand is a massive ordeal and prob not worth it for a FWD as you'll just increase your understeer even more. More details about that in the other sway bar post I replied to.

There is an 18mm Cusco and a 19mm Ultra Racing bar rear bar for the FWD RX. The Cusco is a lot more easy on the wallet to buy and looks every bit as nice if not nicer than the UR bar. The rear bar will be your best bang for buck on these and really wakes up the car. Even the 18mm isn't really big enough in my opinion for these. The FWDs could probably get away with a 21 or 22 with the stock front 23mm bar. AWDs get very lift-off oversteery with 23mm and 22mm Addco 2109 rear bar (2001-2003 AWD Highlander or RX300 only), which is why my car has a 26mm front from a 2010-2015 RX350. That balanced it perfectly. Now there is a very predictable amount of lift-off oversteer without it being tail-happy

 

Is there a difference between the two options? Is the mm in thickness making any meaningful difference?

 

Never tried them so can't comment on them, but the Cusco is almost half the price so way more bang for buck for a reputable Japanese aftermarket part

4mm over the stock 14mm toothpick of a rear bar will make a noticeable difference

 

I am not sure on these cars, but I had a 2010 Subaru Legacy with a standard 16 mm sway bar. With the standard sway bar, you could feel significant side to side movement when merging onto busy 70 mph or so traffic. When I put on the 18 mm, it stiffened the car up, but the deficiency set in. It needed a front upgrade. I got a 26mm front bar from a 2013 model and it sharpened the front response out. The car was perfectly balanced and would tread fearlessly. To be truthful, I would do both, but bang for the buck on the rear is very good and worth the money. I ran it for 2 years before upgrading the front bar.

 

for the Cusco - is it also advised to upgrade the bushings that hold it… maybe to something stiffer and/ or the endlinks too?

Or can you just do a straight away bar swap?

 

Cusco comes with stiffer bushings already. For end links use steel ones from the front of a 2000-2011 Ford Focus, they are the same 237mm length as stock and beefier as they are designed for a front sway bar vs. a rear. I have been running those on my car for years with no issue

 

I just put the Cusco 18mm unit in my RX350. The car has perceptibly sharper reflexes and the rear definitely more readily tracks the front. I have some front end work to be done, so I will have a more complete report, but so far, it feels more planted on the freeway, more comfortable at speed.

I did a similar thing many years ago to a Subaru Legacy. It had a 16 mm sway bar on the back. The car would lterally sway from side to side when I entered the freeway. The fact that the car was AWD didn't help matters as more power was delivered to the rear wheels, exacerbating the rear side to side. After putting the new bar in, it was a lot better. About a year later, I put a 26mm bar from a 2013 on the car. Doing that tightened up the cornering response very well.

I look forward to adding a front bar to the car later on.

I don't really like the RX350 compared with my old ES300, however, I'm beginning to like it better as these mods get implemented.

 

Luckily doing the front sway bar on one of these is easier on FWDs vs. AWDs. No transfer case to worry about. On my AWDs I had to remove the steering rack, driver side strut and rear engine mount to get it in. I imagine on the FWDs you'd have an easier time slipping it in, maybe being able to get away with just the steering rack