Aiight, i need help. I'm ordering buddy club racing spec coilovers for my 06 EVO MR.... I noticed that all the standard coilover setups for the EVO except the Apexi's use stiffer springs in the front than the rear.

i know usually the school of thought is to make the rear softer for better traction for FR cars, but on the EVO or an FF car it would seem that the rear should be stiffer, or the rates should be the same F/R. The spring kits i've seen for the EVO are usually stiffer in the rear than the front which makes more sense.

I'm planning on getting 9kf and 9kr because i think that setup would work best for what i'm gonna use it for. i've seen alot of EVO's with that setup do really well. i just want to know what you guys think about how it should be set up. you guys have alot more experience in EVO tuning than i do, so the opinions would be appreciated. thanks.

 

if you're not into messing with the suspension trying to figure out what works best then go the RRE route. If not that then try the buddy club from AMS or try other coilovers offered by other well known tuners.

I've had the RRE Buddy clubs on my eight since last October and I couldn't be happier. John knows how to set up the car! you won't be dissapointed.

 

i am into messing with the suspension to see what works best. i've done the setup on every car i've ever had. i just don't have much experience with EVO's other than what i've read and watched. i'd like some first hand knowledge and advice about the f/r rates before i order.

 

bump for help

 

it depends on what you are planning on doing with the car! I went with a 9kg front and 7kg rear because the rear is alot lighter than the front of course already so it is not necesary to run equal spring rates unless you want! You want a good spring rate in the front anywhere from 9-11kg because of the weight of the front end, and anywhere from 7-9kg in the rear or stiffer in the back! Also depends on if you are road racing, and autocrossing or drag racing or off-road rallies and hill climbs because they all require different setups!

 

i'm gonna be road racing and autocrossing... i'm not going any stiffer than 9k. i just need to know what your thoughts are on keeping equal rates front and rear. thanks for the help. oh, and what kind of setup do you run?

 

i am running ksport kontrol coilovers(36 way adjustible) that i got from GSC motorsports! Great guys to work with! Back to topic, i mostly run autocross and mountain roadracing and i am running 9kg front and 7kg back! You can run equal setups but i chose not too because i also have a Hotchkis 24mm rear sway bar and i end up pitching it sideways a little more often than i like so i have to compensate with a little more camber up front and a little less in the rear for traction(5 degrees in the front and 2.5 degrees in the rear)! It all depends on the type of setup that you have already and just try things out until you like your setup! If you want another good little secret and dont mind getting a little creative, try pumping some highly expansive boat foam into your frame rails, it helps improve rigitity by around 65%!

 

im thinking of 9/9 f/r and just using the spring preload and shock stiffness to adjust the balance. i'm gonna be upgrading the rear sway, and adding a bunch of chassis braces next too. the 9/9 spring rates, with softer shock damping in the front, along with stiffer rear sway worked wonders on Gran Turismo 4 haha. so it should work in real life. i guess we will see.

any thoughts on 10k springs? or would that be a bit stiff on the street?

 

Stock uses higher spring rates in the rear for a reason. Stick with that. If you have your heart set on 9k in the front then run ~11K in the rear. This is still pretty soft. Stiff spring, soft compression dampning, and stiff rebound dampning. You will have to experiment to find the best dampning rates for your setup.

Check here for a list of some rates:

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=66296

EVOlutionary

 

yeah, that's what i'm saying...either stiffer in the rear, or the same front and rear...am i right?

 

Does that mean you haven't raced or autocrossed, or just not in the Evo? Either way, give it a try on the stock suspension first. Deetz and Hooligan run some nice times on stock MR suspension. Depending on where you race and how you drive you might want to change the F/R spring rates and ratios, but how will you know if you don't have a good baseline?

I'm running Espilir ASD springs (supposedly around 4.7F/5.7R), Hotchkis rear bar, and front camber plates. That's about as radical as I intend to get. I don't think I could survive Nelson on anything stiffer.

Dave

 

imho, there is nothing magic about having the same rates front and rear. And really i don't see the need; the loads are different and the damping values are different (in the stock setup). What _is_ more important is that your springs match your damping and to a certain extent ride height.

Taking Ralliart as an example, they do 3 suspension kits for the evo8.
1)Height adjustable made by Bilstein: 12f/9r - helper springs up front
2)Height adjustable sports kti: 6f/6r
3)Non adjustable, for domestic Gr.N: 5f/5.5r

(1) has a recommended ride height of about 30mm lower than (2) at the front and 35mm lower at the rear. The way it is shown is not clear how this relates to stock numbers.
(3) is 5mm taller at the front and 10mm taller at the rear compared to stock.

Some from Tein
4)Type HT for Gymkhana: 16f/12r - standard, can be purchased with other springs.
5)Super Street: 6f/6r
6)Type RA: 12f/9r

(4) is just crazy. I don't know how much it lowers the car, but what I've seen of it is LOW. And really, 16 up front is just asking for a hernia. (6) to me is strikingly similar to (2) including in appearance and fits with stock upper mounts, but lower the car by 35mm and 10mm respectively. Type RA is their 'racing' type but it's unclear as to what kind of racing this is, but it is part of their premium line. {their Gravel spec, Type HG comes with 6f/6r also, but fits 15" wheels.}

Carrozeria Japan (pretty much Ohlins Japan)
7)Flag-L: 12f/10r
8)'Standard' kit: 10f/8r
(7) is probably the best coilovers in the world, save proflex. Lowers 45mm front and 35 read. (8) is their cheaper kit, lowers 40 and 30mm.

GAB
9) Prosso Zero for VIII and MR: 10f/10r
10) Prosso Zero for VII: 12f/12r
(9) lowers by 35mm at the front and 30 at the rear. (10) lowers the rear by 35 but the front by a stunning 50mm.

I believe that most suspension kits out there have relatively stiff springs up front because of the agressive lowering, specially the Japanese kits. Having soft springs will just bottom out.

Tein S-Techs lower something like 35mm and are relatively soft. However I think they recommend you cut the bump stop rubber by around 30mm or so on both ends.

Also, the stock softer front end is probably there for comfort and to reduce the tendency for the front to push, while the rear can be stiffer since there's nobody sitting there (who expects any kind of comfort anyway) and a more slidy rear will help the understeer. This would agree with your observations about ff and awd cars since they both tend to understeer. However, I could be totally wrong.

It would be very interesting to try out a bunch of spring rates, but that means getting your hands on a bunch of springs and a lot of time on a track. What you'll most likely find is that what you prefer might not be what somebody else prefers. If you're not sure, I'd either seek to drive one with a similar setup to what you're thinking of or not go to extremes with you rates.

 

Wow, all these numbers seem really low to me. I drove my car all last year using >12k springs all around and I think it rode better on the street and definitely performed better on the track. I'd like to try out a lower spring rate sometime just to see how much different it feels.

EVOlutionary

 

Well, stiffer normally means sharper response. Anyway, it depends on what the roads are like where you live. >12k is find on a nice surface. But really 16 is going too far for the evo. (9f/6r is considered pretty stiff on Sit's).

Anyway, do try the softer stuff, specially with the MR struts (Bilsteins). They're softer but not any less responsive, which is pretty good. You get the comfort and it's more controlled over bumps and stuff..

And since I haven't posted enough last time , the front:rear weight distribution is about 4:3 or something like that.

 

Closer to 5:3 from when I saw Derek on the scales at BeaveRun.

Dave