DMS 50's BETTER street ride AND blazing fast at the track....a time to shoot for Stock turbo Buschur Stage 4 with stage 3 head 280's EMS, 390 dynojet WHP Willow springs International Raceway A a NASA TT event...1:29.2XX. other Evos and DSM's are there but are all big turbo cars.

 

Just FYI, I daily drive (in the summer) on full on national level autocross suspension setup. With street tires rather than R-compounds mind you, but I still put on 36,000 miles last year! I say it is far from impossible to have both, but personally I want my car to handle like a race car on the street not like a cadillac.

I've never experienced any other high-performance racing suspension, but I guess I always thought that if it handled well on the track it would do so on the streets too. Is this not always the case?

EVOlutionary

 

That "race car on the street" thing is exactly what we've been working on. You just dial down some click settings and the shock curves are dialed there for non-R compound tires. They don't develop the same cornering force so you don't need as much roll control etc.. The upper click settings dampening rates and curves are specifically set for the grip of R compounds. That way you can have both a good street ride and better street handling (because the curves/rates match the tires) than you would if you ran your R compounds click settings with you street tires.

 

Agreed. I ran in ESP last year, SM this year. I was top 5 in pax most of the season. Our solo safety steward's car was down (he's a nationals level FP driver)
Long story short-he beat me by 2/100 in my own car. It is the best indication that my best mod will be seat time. I know I need coilovers and bigger tires to compete in SM, but I truly believe that driver behavior will be the biggest factor in reducing times IMO.

 

Why not just buy mine....see for yourself. Custom built Ohlins, by the same shop that preps our ALMS cars... I have a ton of $$ into this setup, so who ever buys it is getting a great deal! https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=184503

 

So how did the new re-valve work out?

 

Cadillac, now that's funny

What I am talking about is if I spend $3k+ on a suspension and I am mostly driving to work on crappy roads, I am going to be really pissed if the ride is MORE uncomfortable than the severly overdamped stock setup. I like to do some spirited riding on the streets where a race-like setup is great. I can live with a stiff suspension provided that it is the same or better than stock.

I am encouraged by chronohunter's post that it blends the two worlds without being a large compromise at either end of the spectrum. It makes me more easily want to part with the $875 or whatever it will be a corner!

BTW -- are Ohlin having their products made in China, Taiwan or somewhere else? Shiv keeps alluding to the change in supply side. If not what is the poop? Everyone is saying that nobody has any Ohlin product.

 

Something to consider about inside wheel spin due to less traction....

You can dial a lot of this out by increasing your droop height on the rear shocks.... this is a common problem I see with shorter length struts. Most people try to compensate by ONE of the following, either a larger rear anti-roll bar, or stiffer springs. It is not the source of the trouble though. This will only mask the issue.

Do an experiment, add a 10 or 15mm spacer to the top of the strut, see what happens.

DMS actually sells droop tuning kits to help out with this for autocrossers.

-mark

 

Before I got into car racing I used to race 4-wheelers. Anyone familiar with racing quads, dune buggies, or baja trucks has probably heard the term "zero preload", "self sagging device", etc when referring to racing shocks. Sounds like what Mark is talking about here.

In these shocks they use anywhere from 2-4 different springs (triple rate, quad rate, etc.) on each shock, with one of them being quite a bit softer than the others. This allows the shocks to be 1/3 - 1/2 of the way into the shock travel under no load conditions (at optimal ride-height). But when you go over a depression in the ground or get alot of lean in a corner, the helper spring pushes the tire down to keep in contact with the trail giving you better handling and more traction. If you just used a single short spring to get the proper ride height it would not be able to push the wheel down under these conditions because it can only extend so far. Does this make any sense?

If you can picture this - at rest my quad sat with the frame about 6" off the ground. I could stand in front of it and lift the front end about 6" and the tires would still be touching the ground.

So, does anyone dual or triple rate springs on their cars??

EVOlutionary

 

DMS springs are a duel taper barrel wound tripple progressive spring (I think the biggest advantage) My car has 6" of total rear travel and 4.5 in the front end...WAY MORE than stock..look at post by David Buschur when I set his car up for the C&D event he couldn't understand how the car road better with the racing set-up than stock...how? ..DMS thats how.

 

Sorry to correct here Robi,
DMS makes 3 different winds of springs. All of our springs are what we desginate dual rate springs. The KST type is a very smooth transition (compared to the rest of our springs) and is used on setups like HONDAS, or very, very fast tracks. Hard to control for low speed turning though.

The MG springs are the most flexible. They have the dual rate at both ends of the spring, but have essentially 3 steps in the their progression. The DP springs are hard to setup ride heights, but are like the MG. We use these primarily for street cars or cars were we need the most low speed traction / control.

All of our springs were designed to work with our valving. Recently however I have had possitive feedback from people using them with different shocks. I thought it was pretty cool actually !

-mark

 

"whatever" lol the top progressive portion of my springs at ride hight is "coil bound out" like a helper spring on a straight rate spring the bottem progressive portion isn't. so even if not so designed they work like a tripple rate spring...;-).

 

Funny that you say that, It's been said that Rubins is going through a team ordered left foot learning curve in his Works Honda this season. It'll be nice to see him win one for Honda ...before Button does.

 

Perhaps this may give you some insight on Ohlins design:

http://www.ohlins.com/pdf/07255-01.pdf

 

I haven't used Ohlins so I can't give any first hand feedback on them. I've heard wonderful things from rally guys about the more expensive Ohlins, but they're in a whole other ballpark in price.

Those of you who've been on our website have seen the WRX 4 feet in the air on the opening page, so you know how I drive. I've killed stock struts by blowing the damping units and by bending the housings like pudding.

The new shop car has DMS 50's in it. It's been hammered on for years without any issues. I have to agree that these coilovers are almost bombproof. I've proven it time and time again. I have lots of bent wheels, but no bent DMS struts.

I drove the car daily all last summer and I love the way it rides too. It's certainly not for everyone, but most people don't mind stiff as long as it's not bouncy, which my DMS are not.

For the record I've never sold either brand so I have no reason to try and sway anyone's opinion. I'm happy with my choice of the DMS 50's because I know I can drive the car any way I want and count on my equipment to take the abuse.

-Mike