I am planning on eventually going with a coilover set up (hopefully tuned by robi) but in the mean time I am looking with going with just springs temporarily. Is it possible to lower the car on springs without hurting the handling or effecting the suspension geometry enough to where it will be difficult to align. With using only springs and an alignment will it be possible to still have fairly even tire wear? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

 

You'll be able to align the car and have decent tread life, but the handling will suffer. It is very difficult to improve the handling over the stock set up...

 

I definitely wouldn't say that your handling will suffer if you go with springs. You just have to go with the RIGHT springs. We have had a lot of success with Swifts, as we believe the rates and the drop about as good as it gets with Evo springs. Obviously a coilover will provide far superior handling and adjustability, at the cost of a less comfortable ride (and much higher price as well). As far as alignment, a bit of negative camber and 0 toe shouldn't affect tire wear too much, if at all.

-Dan

 

Dan. 2nd question. I popped on your website. I have a IX and the only springs on are for the VIII and the MR. Am I correct in assuming that the VIII and the IX springs are the same?

 

Yes, that's correct.

 

Get Tanabe, Swift, or Espelir and your handling won't suffer.

 

IIRC, Robi was in the process of developing springs to his specs (which should be respectable) and with a minimal drop. If dropping it too much is your concern, then this might be the way forward.

But really, I doubt any drop form springs (and make sure you get ones that actually work well with your struts) will significantly affect your tyre wear - just rotate your tyres often if you're worried about that.

 

How much would the stock struts life be shortend, if at all with a good set of springs?

 

It's temporary right, so who cares? I would just wait until you can afford the CO's then do it all at once.

 

The dampers on the EVO are fairly rugged, so there should not be any significant decrease in their usage when using a properly designed lowering spring that has a rate that falls within it's damping range.

The GF210 spring we offer has been a very popular option on EVO M, and several users have been using theirs for a few years without any issue.

Definitely recommend searching, as there are quite a few options out there. You should be able to get some additional objective information from members who run this setup on their vehicle.

 

To add to what Tanabe said, the stock EVO dampers are fairly overdamped with the stock springs. They're not really being used to their full potential in stock form.


A slightly stiffer spring matches up with them well.

Puts it in the sweet spot, so to speak.



- Andrew

 

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