Does anyone know about these?
What they do (If anything), & are they effective?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mitsu...87357617QQrdZ1

 

I'm not 100% sure of the effectiveness on a Lancer, but generically speaking, by looking at the pictures they seem to tie you mounting point for your lower control arms into the side rails/subframe. Theoretically, they should help to stiffen up the chassis, reducing flex, and improving handling. That being said, like many parts on eBay, I'd be leary of poor quality parts. I didn't read through the whole add, what there was of an add at least, so don't recall if those were name brand or not, but I'd just be cautious that they might be made of thinner wall tubing, have inferior welds, etc. In addition, most lower tie bars that I've seen tie the left and right side together to really eliminate a lot of the flex. Another point to consider, even if these do work as well as the seller would hope, do you need the extra stiffness for your driving style? If so, some other things you'd want to consider is replacing your rubber mounts for polyurethane at the very least, if not going to solid mounts. From the factory, often times performance is sacrificed for comfort to appease the masses rather than the enthusiasts...

 

^To add to the above, there's no point in stiffening your chassis if your suspension is still flimsy. Get coilovers and an upgraded sway bar first then start spending money on strut bars, tie bars and such. Those are also for the evo so I would be hesitant on trying them on a lancer.

 

Yeah, sorry I missed those points as well...I was on my way out the door to work. Definitely start with the items amby mentioned first before considering any kind of tie bar

 

yep as like the others said, lower tie bar wouldn't really help much if suspension sucks. But do get the upper strut bars

 

Well I would have a Front Strut Bar, Rear Strut Bar, a "free" Trunk Bar.. and an Engine Damper.. But NORTHSTAR CREATIONS "Yes You, NSC".. ripped me off.
It'll be a year in July since Ive ordered, and theyre still giving me the run-around, since I havent seen my parts yet, nor a refund for about 250 bucks.

 

Get coilovers first, trust me, bars do little to nothing, they are one of those things you do after you have the main components.

 

These braces will not make you faster, but a proper coilover set-up will. Go get coilovers and tires with more grip if you want to improve your handling.

 

If you're actually serious about making the car handle better (rather than just having lots of parts you can brag about) coilovers are a must as are smaller rims (18s and performance do not go together on a lancer) with sticky tires.

 

I'm not sure what that's all about...it doesn't really tie in to your OP. But, as the others have said, coilovers should be your first step. Now, if you KNOW you WILL get coilovers and happen to come across a great deal on products made to stiffen up the chassis that are known to work (again, I'd be hesitant about some of the inferior eBay parts out there), then you could go ahead and get the bars first, but just don't expect much, if any, of an improvement from them...at least, not until you get the coilovers...

 

^agreed once I got the coilovers on, the car feels so much better on turns.
I also lost 14lbs or so.