I came across this picture of my car at the track from early on. In a steady state of cornering, no bumps or wheel jerking going on, and the car is on 3 wheels, and if you look closely at the front inside, about half of its contact patch is off the ground. Look at the passenger, he's hanging on because it probably feels like he is going to fall out the window.
Anyway, cured it with the RRE Jic's.

 

That's the stock suspension's way of saying "Thanks for the Hoosiers!"

 

The stock suspension although aggressive is still a compromise between street and track use ... a little bit of body roll is not a bad thing, but I have to agree that the tires coming off the ground is not a good sign ... stickier tires have a tendency of bringing out the shortcomings of the stock suspension ... but as always stiffer suspensions don't absorb bumps well and may even lead to a loss of traction ... for my needs the stock is the best compromise ... beats changing your setup to varying conditions ...

 

So what? You got some roll...

Let me say this - We've got an instructor in our region who tracks a stock 80's VW GTi. His inside back wheel is so high off the ground you can see his undercariage (sorta feel guilty following him - like looking up someones kilt or something ) On long sweeper, the tire and wheel *come to a stop* in the air, and like a landing gear, "touchdown" at corner exit... BUT - He is *fast*, really, really fast. Dispite the softer springrate. Just a choice.

I've gone down this route starting with this (145# stock springs) dragging the side skirts along the ground!


And eventually ending up with this (550# coilovers)


This was after big springrate + double adjustables dampers + huge inf. adj. sway bars, tons of money an about 1.5sec faster per lap. So what?

Bzzzt - Thank you for playing!

I ruined the street drivability. Period. Anyone that says there is a compromise possible between a track setup and an *enjoyable* street setup is kidding themselves.
And not just "Oh it feels just about the same as before I did the mods" I challenge them to *live* with the setup for a year or two, and then come back and tell me it was better for the street *and* better for the track.

Please note that the EVO stock springrates are very good. And *matched* to the dampers. I now have an GG MR, and the Bilsteins (stock) are very well done out of the box. They are softer than the standard EVO!

Think long and hard about what you are undertaking - and for what purpose.

Deetz

 

The ride with the RRE Jic's is not the greatest, but I do drive the car almost everyday. On my car, this suspension setup knocked 3-4 seconds off at VIR full course. This, to me, is a worthwhile tradeoff. For people who are less hardcore, this probably would not be the right way for them to go.

 

Keep in mind, especially you RS/05 guys, that the front limited slip helps greatly. On an 03 car, you get that inside front tire unloaded and it is just going to spin and increase understeer. You guys with the limited slip, when your inside front is unloaded, that outside tire is going to help turn the nose into the corner. I recently put the Quaffe (I'm sure that is not spelled right) in and it made a nice difference in regards to spinning front inside tires and inducing power oversteer and/or reducing power understeer.

 

I dont stock springs/shocks are well matched... the shocks are valved for
something thats stiffer than the oem springs. So the normal ride on street is
overly harsh but once pushed there's too much body roll for track use.

Here's a report done by SelGP.
http://www.selgp.com/evolution_viii1.htm