Whatever lowering spring you choose will have detrimental effects on ride quality and road holding due to the reduction of suspension travel they create. People that desire the lowered stance that lowering springs provide should be lowering their EVO with an improved 'look' being their top priority, and improved performance being a distant 2nd objective. Proper suspension travel is the primary reason for going with a coilover system, or if the coil over system is out of reach financially, the best bang for the buck is our RRE wheel alignment, rear trailing arm bushings and upgraded rear anti roll bar. This system keeps the stock spring/shock combination so you still have a streetable level of ride quality, with excellent turn in and mid corner grip.

 

Thanks again John - Your reply answered all of the questions I had about going the spring only route. I'll be placing my order shortly

 

increasing the spring rate...(measured in # of pounds/KG required to move the suspension a given amount of inches or mmeters) is what determines the amount of travel for a given "bump" event this is what determines the suspension travel used by the "bump" event in question NOT the ride height. example Total travel avalible is say 6" with a 200# per inch spring that hits a 600# bump event will move 3" (in a perfect undampened world) The same car with a 400# spring (droping the car 1" like most lowering springs) over the same "bump" event will only move 1.5". We still had 3" of travel left on the 200# setup but even factoring in the 1" lost to the "drop" we have 3.5" of travel left on the lowering spring setup...AND alot more spring to resist the higher amplitude deflections too...Factor in an extra 3/4 " of progression and the springs I like RIDE better TRACK better and as for me an UNIMPORTANT side effect also give the EVO a more aggressive stance...You suprize me John with both the error in your thinking and simplistic lumping of all lowering spring products into bling only. Every one who has the "RobiSpec Basic" is amazed at the handleing differance in their evos...AND Halster has run LOW 1:34's at BIG willow 255 ra1's, Pump gas, dynoflash, MBC@21psi, and CATback exhaust for HP mods...not bad for a "stock damper bling bling lowering spring" suspension imho ymmv lol

 

CLEARLY coilovers are best, but if springs are so detrimental whay is the reputable Robert Fuller (Robi) using them as part of his economical set up? He is certainly getting good results.

 

OK - so the robi post above mine wasn't there when I started writing it. But I still make the point/ask the question!

 

lol .. and I thought you died and fell off a cliff...

1:34 on BIG willow on your economical set-up? dayum.. that is some amazing driving!

n

 

Everyone has different needs/wants and avalible $$$'s I was trying to see if using the stock dampers using a minimum of $$$'s we could adjust the rest of the car to take full advantage of their settings damping rate. Looks like the importer has sold out of the springs I recomended...so something must be working out right..;-).

 

Robi - can you let us know what set up you recommend then? You can PM too if you'd like...thanks

 

Thanks for the response, but are you guarding your trade secrets here? Can you give specifics about the parts that you reccomend for helping the track performance of an Evo without coilovers? Your opinions and experience are highly regarded and many of us are dying to improve the handeling performance of our cars without shelling out 2-5K for coilovers. I was leaning towards Hotchkis but I have a feeling that you prefer another brand of spring. Thanks Again

 

I am talking about EVO suspension, not a hypothetical description. EVO suspension when one is talking about the stock dampers has only 5.5 inches total travel, 3.5 inches in bump from ride height, and 2 inches extension.

The bump stop is 2.375 inches in height, which gives an EVO 1.125 inches of suspension travel uneffected by the spring rate of the bump stop itself.

Lowering the car 1.77 inches by using the Espelir GT spring in front results in only having 1.73 inches of bump travel from metal to metal contact, This means one must shorten the bump stop, which will increase its spring rate and ruin the progressive nature of it.

With lowering springs one will be compressing the bump stop at all times in compression, as EVOs have over 950 pounds of weight on either front wheel with the vehicle parked, which makes the reality of the situation being bottomed out all of the time.

Plus increasing the spring rate gives the shock much more stored energy to deal with, which results in poorer ride quality especially on the highway. Add that to the fact the stock shocks are extremely prone to fading (with stock springs!)on the race course makes resolving the lowering spring question extremely easy.

The percived performance increase on track you are giving to lowering springs is more of a function of the progressive nature of the production bumpstops, and an EVO with lowering springs will spend the vast majority of time with the suspension fully compressed onto the bumpstops.

Thanks for your opinion, but I think the wheels need to move up and down for best performance and ride quality.

 

good info! i need to have someone come and tune my zeal v6's....wish i lived in cali. Since the Guru's are here i was interested in finding some good alignment info for my evo.... Any info would be great. The car will do a fair amount of drag racing...but i didn't do sparco seats, harnesses, autopower roll bar setup , zeals and full brakes just to go straight...
Dave

 

We carry JIC, Buddyclub, DMS and Ohlin. Later next month there will be a 5th option. We believe there is not one suspension that is best from both a budget and performance standpoint, and take pride in tailor fitting each suspension offering to each customers actual usage and driving experience level.
We have EVO shocks that have run mutiple seasons without rebuilding without any performance drop off. Pricing for rebuilding varies a lot between brands, and which components need to be replaced.
This is a question that can be answered only after a person fills out one of my suspension information forms, as there are many pros/cons for each system, and my opinion of what is best for you depends on the specifics of your vehicle, how well you are trained to use it, and what your specific goals for your EVO are.

 

I certainly am no expert in suspension setups and would certainly prefer to stay out of the line of fire in any ongoing pissing contests... but would add that I am a very satisfied customer of Robi, having driven to S Cal to have Robi install his budget setup. Has transformed the handling of the car.

I recently did a track event at Thunderhill in N. Cal, where Randy Pobst (very accomplished racer for those who dont know him (www.randypobst.com)), was a guest. I had him take me for some laps around the track in my evo, and he had nothing but good things to say about my suspension setup. He was very complementary and "wouldn't change a thing". I doubt he was just being polite either, since there were several drivers there who's suspension setups did not receive such good reviews.

He was crazy fast in my evo, and if there were major deficits in the suspension setup, I think that his driving would have brought them to light.

just my 2 cents.

 

Great advice from both John and Robi. Harmless banter like this can only improve the breed. These two guys are dedicated to the tenth degree to making our cars turn better and Mitsubishi is glad to have them on our side.
I haven't had a chance to drive Robi's spring setup but I did have a chance to drive John and Kent's race car last year on both the street and at Streets. I was an instant believer. How the hell RRE is able to improve the handling so much while retaining respectable ride quality is beyond me. My Muellerized coilovers are getting installed on Friday, just in time for Buttonwillow the following weekend.
I'm thinking I'm going to need that cage sooner then later, John!

 

Pobst drove your car! Briliant!