I've been reading about car chassis recently and read about double wishbone suspensions. They seem to be very beneficial in many ways, so I was wondering is it possible to change the front MacPherson suspension on the Evo into a double wishbone one? I was suprised to find out that Honda actually used double wishbone suspensions on their Civic for a time seeing that the Civic is their cheaper, economy car. Anyways would a front Doublewishbone benefit the Evo? And is it possible to make one?

 

Anything is possible... But, not gonna happen. This is definitely one of those topic where if you have to ask you cant do it.

 

I would say if you started off with a tube frame chassis with an evo body would be the easiest way. What are you trying to accomplish with this?

 

I'm not planning on doing it now, I was just wondering if such a thing was feasible. Double wishbone seems to be superior in many ways so I was thinking why the Evo didn't have one in the front. If it is possible I might do it one day in the future when I have extra cash or want to heavily modify my Evo.

 

To be blunt, if you have an Evo VIII, but want double wishbone front suspension, presumably for road racing, then I'd just get a 2G DSM. After all, for a long time the 2G DSM was, effectively, the road-racing version of the Evo (which is a rally car at heart).

 

Okay, thanks for the replies. Maybe I will get a 2g one day. Just out of curiosity why does the Evo use MacPherson Struts up front? Is it stronger? Or is it just smaller and cheaper to build.

 

By my understanding, the main reason for struts on rally cars is suspension travel. (I know that this is the reason you don't rallycross a 2G DSM ... lack of travel.) Maybe strength and weight play roles, too, but travel is key.

 

You would have to cut and weld in new suspension mounting points as well as be familiar with how to align a vehicles suspension, But to answer your question. Yes it can be done.

 

Oh, it can definitely be done. If you search the DSM forums, you'll find at least one example of someone putting a 2G DSM front suspension on a 1G DSM. It turned out to be a nightmare and not worth it, IIRC, but it's been done.

 

They use Macpherson because its cheaper to produce.
If you want a vehicle with double wishbone just sell your car and get a miata or a an s2k or something. Any of the older hondas are doublewishbone as well.

but macpherson has its advantages as well. ease of adjusting camber at the track with plates. even though they are pretty set throughout travel.

Just because a car has macpherson doesnt mean it sucks. Most Porsche's use macpherson up front. Heck they rave about how well the cayman and the boxster handles and it has a macpherson setup on all four corners.

 

I do not agree. If the only advantage of struts for a rally car was cost, then none of the WRC cars would have struts, since cost is not an issue to them. But all rally cars do have struts and it's for the reason I gave above: more suspension travel.

 

I dont know for sure but I suspect Rally uses mac-strut for the lack of camber change through out its motion. A road race car has high grip and chassis roll where a rally car spends its times over bumps, un-even roads, and sliding sideways. So minimal camber and toe change under bump is more important than camber gain.

As far as which is more robust, Id argue double wishbone is more robust since all the suspension parts are loaded as two force members (or roughly so) where as with Mac-strut the strut is loaded in bending.

 

Well, it is cheaper too and that's the reason for most (maybe not all) street cars that run a macstrut set-up.

- drew

 

Packaging for one. The McPherson strut package takes up less room, which when the engine is sitting transversely, that's an advantage.

Less parts to break for another, I think this is partially the reason for the use in Rally cars too, as you can make a double wishbone have any kind of camber curve you want but the Strut is one robust piece of equipment, even though it has to take both axial and radial loads where a double A-Arm shock only carries axial loads.

FWIW, the EVO, the 911 turbo, and the M3 are some of the best handling cars money can buy...they all have struts up front. I'm not saying it is better, but it can get the job done.

 

If you wanted to, Dallas, you can design a double wishbone with a flat bump-camber curve. Equal-length, parallel arms. If that's what they wanted for a rally car, they'd do it. (In fact, I've seen plenty of rally trucks with exactly that.) And given that a double wishbone has the strength advantage, there must be a different reason for struts on WRC cars. Oh, wait. I have an idea. Suspension travel.