BGevoIX

iTrader: (75)

After reading on and off for the last week or so about different suspension stuff, I am now more confused than ever.

Use these coilovers for street and track. No, those suck, use these. They are better but cost $3500. You don't need coilovers on the street...yada yada ya!

Now that I'm done with that, here is my plan to start out with. If you suggest to swap to something else, please state a good reason why. And don't say because your mom's third cousins neighbor uses them on their Honda Civic. If you have relevant info that pertains to the Evo platform, please post up.

My car will be primarily a street car. Daily driver now, but probably not for much longer. It will still the street a bit though. I will be going away from the straight line scene (with the exception of a couple times a year) and getting into road course and/or time attack. To get the feel for everything, I'll be taking the car to some NASA/HPDE events to see what I really want to do with the car. I do quite often hit up some local back roads for some fun mountain runs. Right now the only suspension work is Crucial Racing progressive rate lowering springs. They ride great, sit nice and handle pretty well while still being on the stock shocks. I don't think at this point, the car needs much. My plan for this year is to upgrade the rear sway bar with the Perrin stout mounts. I might just do the full Perrin set with endlinks as well. I'm also looking to upgrade the shocks, but not sure what I want to go to considering I plan to keep a factory replacement spring for the year until I decide more on what I want the car to do.

My questions are this:

1) is the Perrin sway bar setup a good setup to run, or would you suggest something else? If something else, please state your reason (and include the size you suggest)

2) would you also suggest doing a bushing swap for all the other components of the suspension, both front and rear

3) would you suggest a front sway bar? if so, which one and why (please include size)

4) I already have stainless brake lines. I am sticking with the stock calipers. Which upgraded rotors and bads do you suggest? I want something with low dust and I don't want to hear them squeak everytime I stop.

5) The wheels I plan to run for the track for now are 17x9 5zigens. I have other street tires and wheels for the street. I'm looking for a budget tire setup for these wheels. If I need to roll the fenders a little or run a spacer, I don't mind it.

6) What other suspension or aero parts do you suggest (I.E.: strut bars, cusco under braces, etc)?

I am trying to keep a budget in mind, however I know you get what you pay for. Therefore it will probably get built upon throughout the year. Not only does this offset not having to dump a ton of money at once, it lets me make a couple upgrades then head out to the track to feel the difference and decide if it's a good difference or not.

Thanks for all the help!

Brandon

BTW - the car will NOT be running the power that's in the sig for these events. LOL

Smike

iTrader: (8)

1. Do both front and rear sway bars. Whiteline and RobiSpec are two sway bars worth reading up on.

2. Nah. Help some, but a bear to put in.

3. See #1

4. Street pads and track pads are two different pads. And dust is a by-product of braking. Can't have no dust and great stopping. I recommend Axxis ULTs front and rear then running a front track only pad. Blank rotors are fine.

5. Until you have lots of track days under your belt, run street tires. 245/40 or 255/40 on the 17x9 Dunlop Z1*, RE11, etc. Do NOT get r-comps.

6. Nope.

BGevoIX

iTrader: (75)

Sweet. I was reading a lot of your responses on other threads. Seems you have a TON of knowledge on this. With the rear sway bar, would you use the stout mounts or just stay with the stock stuff? And why?

I know the brake pads are going to make some dust, I just don't want to have to clean my wheels everytime I drive too and from work. Something similar to stock and maybe a little worse, that's not a problem.

Thanks for the info on everything. And no plans on R-comps. Those are left for the big dogs and strict competition.

SLUG LIFE

iTrader: (3)

you doing some NASA events?

Smike

iTrader: (8)

Stock mounts, you will get new sway bar bushings with the new bars.

For DD and AX, Axxis ULTs are hard to bet for their cost and availability. For track pads, there are a handful of choice pads.

kanyonkid

iTrader: (33)

easy solution.. Contact Muellerized, they have a questionair thing..

BGevoIX

iTrader: (75)

Yes, I will be doing a couple of NASA events. Just gotta get back home and see what works with my work schedule!

Thanks again Smike!

xtnct

iTrader: (33)

My strategy and advice is not to do anything until you have driven the car, then do what the car tells you or you determine you want the car to do. It is a lot cheaper that way and when you do mod, you do it right for your driving style. You also learn a so much during that process. You also become a much better driver faster that way. If you are a beginner, you will actually discover that a stock car is quite capable and will take you some time to get it to the limits where the car will tell you that it wants a change.

I have driven my car stock for 2 events to get to know it before I did anything (I am advanced group). The only mod I had was brake ducts based on what I learned on my past car that I modded one mod at a time for 10 years. Make a mod, test at the track to see if it worked then went to the next thing the car told me to change.

These are the mods I chose and in the order I put them on given my driving style with what the car told me it wanted and biggest change for the buck:

1. brake ducts
2. DTC60 track front pads, HP+ rear pads (don't have to swap out that way)
3. R-comps on 8.5x17 (9" wheels would have been better but I got the 8.5 for good deal)
4. Swift Spec-R with camber plates (rotated for more caster as well) and RCK kit. That way I can run -2 camber at the track and -1 on the street (using toe plates to adjust toe).

My next mod will probably be a rear sway bar or the ACD tune flash depending how well it progresses over the next 1/2 year just because it looks like a very significant change to how the car behaves. Leaning towards the latter now since I already know what the rear bar does and how it feels based on my last car so I'd rather try something I did not try before.

Good Luck.

BGevoIX

iTrader: (75)

Thanks for all the info. As I also mentioned, my plan is to get some track days under my belt with the car the way it is. I haven't done any yet, but for a beginner, I feel I have a good grasp of how the car handles, though I know on a track it will feel a little different.

I'm hoping to hit up a NASA event at the end of April. Would go earlier, but I won't be back in town until early April at best.

chu

iTrader: (72)

Racing Brake ET-500 pads are a great balance for DD&autox use. I highly recommend them for price and performance

BGevoIX

iTrader: (75)

I would think AutoX and road racing or time attack would need a different brake pad. I might be wrong, but AutoX tends to be more quick and short sprints, where the road course will stretch the car out and require hard braking at higher speeds. I do not intend to do any AutoX events.

chu

iTrader: (72)

The ET-500s are still a great performer whether you plan to autox or not. It is a great pad to dd on, good bite, low dust, and no noise. The thing with going to a "race compound" is that you will sacrifice noise, and sometimes high dust, and take some heat to get them to operating temps (easily on the track, but not on the street). All of which you may not like while driving on the street. For road race, RB offers the ET-800 and 900 which will suit those conditions. Most people will swap out to their track duty pads when they get there. Having said that, a few people I know have run "racing" pads on their dd, myself included. I use ET-800s for street and autox.

All that said though, overall setup is important too. Fluids easily overlooked, but make a huge difference. I recommend the ATE for its affordable price point, good wet and dry boiling point, and its overall fluid life. Of course, there are better performing fluids out there, but they fail in affordability and life expectancy. ATE could can last up to 2 years before a flush. I wouldn't recommend any fluids staying in the system longer than that. You can read all about fluids in SmikeEvo's thread in the stickies, along with brake lines, and varying rotor designs!

Brake ducts are great, but beginners never get their brakes hot enough on a track day to even require them. Now, I'm only saying that with the assumption you've never tracked before, so take it for what it's worth. My opinion is for anyone to run a better vented rotor setup before making ducting a necessity.

o-townFLA

iTrader: (4)

Pad choice from me to you would be the Performance Friction Z-rated pads... They have low/no dust and can handle light track use and are excellent for street use...

DO NOT step up to r-comps, like smike mentioned... Just stick with some decent street tires such as the Nitto NT05, Dunlop Start Spec, Kumho which are all relatively cheap, maybe $500 for a entire set if you shop right...

RobiSpec makes a killer 26mm 4-way adj sway bar that comes with new brackets and bushings for about $200... in its softest setting the thing is 100% stiffer than stock!!!

I still DD my car and tracked my car heavily with no ill effects on RobiSpec KW Clubsports... I ran Swift springs in the past and these are pretty comparable with the street mannerisms but once you really hit the g's in corners thats were you can feel where your money was spent...

It may seem like I'm throwing all this RobiSpec BS jargon but I was like you and searched a lot which led me to where I am now...

Laxman

iTrader: (5)

+1 Its the way I'm going!

ssteve

iTrader: (5)

I have a RRE 3way rear sway with perrin end links Ill trade you for your stocker Brandon.