Hey guys,

Long time Evo 8 owner here looking to make a jump into a more track oriented setup this upcoming season. I've owned my Evo since July 2012, in which time it has been a summer daily and then became a weekend/evening enjoyable street car. I'll admit I've started losing interest in the car and decided to start hitting some lapping days next summer to re ignite my love for it. I have a number of years of drifting a 350z under my belt so I'm pretty familiar with suspension setup, spring rates, roll bars, alignment, etc. I do all my own suspension work myself however the suspension design of the Evo and its intended use is slightly different to what I am used to. Here is my current setup and plans for suspension this offseason. Any advice/constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated.

05 Evo 8 SSL
-full weight
-battery relocated to trunk
-18x9 +35 Volk CE28N
-Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2 255/35r18
-intake, exhaust, intercooler & piping, GSC S2 cams, ARP head studs. Made 340awhp @ STM a number of years back.

Suspension is currently stock aside from some lowering springs. I've been collecting some parts and plans for winter are:
-Full Whiteline bushing kit
-Whiteline bump steer correction front and rear
-Fortune Auto 500 coilovers (yet to decide on spring rate, was planning on 8k/10k or 10k/12k)
-Stoptech sport pads (currently on the car, I imagine they would be fine for me at first)
-Stainless braided brake lines
-Plan to change to a different tire, unsure of which. Considering Federals as I've had great luck with them on the drift car
-Whiteline anti-lift kit? (not sure if it is worth it or not)

Some pics of the Evo and a few of the drift car for fun

 

If you don't have coilovers yet, I would HIGHLY recommend getting Ohlins over the Fortunes. They will make you fall in love with the car again.

 

Definitely go with ohlins. Ordering them through Performance Shock is the best deal you'll find on them.

 

You'll also want a racing brake fluid flush. My pref is Endless RF650. If you're on stock brembo's you'll likely turn them brown rather quickly, Ti shims and stainless pistons would help as well as fresh rotors.

 

Don't waste the money on the whiteline ALK or bump steer stuff. It helps but it's not worth how much it costs.

Ohlins R&T
Refresh any tired bushings
Motul RBF600 (cheap and works fine if you don't overuse the brakes)
Whiteline rear bar

That's a great place to start. Your car already makes plenty of power so no need to do anything on that front. If you do all that and find yourself wanting more then get a 12 plate rear diff. These cars don't need a whole ton to be very well sorted light duty track cars.

As for tires, my recommendation would be determined by how committed of a tire you want. If you want a good track tire then Maxxis RC1. If you're looking for something that still has good streetability and will last at the track then Hankook RS4. If you want something cheap then Federal RS-pro.

 

1) Do not do the full whiteline bushing kit. Only a couple of the bushings are actually an improvement and some hurt performance with binding. Rear trailing arm, Rear upper control arm, Rear lower control arm shock bushing, front control arm inner forward. All the other bushings from the factory are spherical and need to be that way because the nature of how an evo suspension articulates.
2) WL bump steer correction moves the tie rod in the wrong direction for bumpsteer fix. If you add caster via rear control arm offset bushing or strut top offset caster plate it move the tie rod down, the bump steer kit further moves the tie rod down 5mm which move the ball joint further into the wrong direction. Stock caster is -3.5 deg, if you use the offset control arm bushign and strut top plate you can get in the range of -6deg of caster and that is actually very well offset by just adding the WL RCK ball joint only. Its only 5mm longer than stock but offsets the added caster just right (conveniently) to fix bump steer. The roll center change is extremely marginal but its not nothing.
3) I would go with the Ohlins of FAs and 10k/12k or 10k/14k. FA and all these coilover companies run way too much low speed valving and ramp up very harshly. It gives a sharp feel but thats not a performance improvement.
4) For a mixed use car, the DS2500 pads are pretty good. The ST sport pads are pretty meh as are all the EBC ones I've tried. If those were your options I would just run some Napa premium pads. With some good pads and fresh fluid you'll have yourself some brownbo's in no time! .
5) Ive tried Anti-lift (pro dive), anti-dive, and neutral so many times since its each to switch around on my parts. I prefer just leaving it neutral. But if you offset the rear bushing in the front control arm, depending on other factors, you may have to use the "pro-dive/anti-lift" setting so the arm clears the chassis.

 

Thanks for all the recommendations! I am still on stock Brembos so I will definitely look into the stainless pistons and Ti shims. I will also plan on changing pads and fluid right off the bat too.

Do most guys use dedicated caster plates to add caster via the top of the strut? On some drift cars guys spin the camber plate so adjusting the plate changes camber and caster together. Is this as acceptable way to do this on an Evo?

I also do not see the anti-lift kit on Whitelines website just these offset front control arm bushings. Are the dive/lift characteristics just altered by changing the location of the washers included? https://whitelineperformance.com/pro...r-rear-bushing

 

I dont know if you can get them in the US, but if you can, get Ralliart bushes as they are stock construction (i.e. sphericals in some places as OE) but have stiffer rubber.

 

Can someone just confirm that I have this right? Looks like I'll be sending the Whiteline "essential" kit back as it comes with quite a few unnecessary bushings.

 

Everything is great there except the Toe arm bushing. That's the worst pile of crap bushing you can use. There is no control of orientation on the offset sleeve that is only a few mm change. Just run the OEM bushing there.

 

Whiteline makes a non offset bushing for the toe arm.

 

I was skeptical of the design of that. It seems like it wouldn’t take much to make that offset bushing slip and throw your toe out of wack.

I’ve also been searching for a spherical bearing for the front lower horizontal bushing. I imagine a poly bushing in there will cause bind when caster is added.

 

You are correct and Hardrace makes said spherical.

 

ohlins RT custom valved for 10k/12k is great on track and not supper harsh on street on soft setting. feels more compliant than the stock shocks over small bumps.

 

Oh terribly. I went to Nagisa arms after I added the Perrin spherical because holy cow was getting that arm on and off damn near impossible. I imagine that it induces a significant amount of bind during suspension travel as well. I would not recommend any offset on that rear LCA bushing.

Also, RHDJapan is a good source for parts. They are cheaper than all of the US importers even after shipping is added.

I also went with a spherical on the trailing arm but that combined with the ball joint makes the arm want to "choose your own adventure" with its dynamic orientation. So.... not sure if its better or worse.