I have a 03 Evo8 as my daily driver, I love everything about the car except for it's suspension. It is just too stiff, the car jumps all over the place during small cracks. I feel just about every crack, bump in the road. My wife complains all the time, and I do agree with her. It's stiffer and bumpier than my old 91 tercel with dead shocks. It's great at the track but in real world driving it quickly gets tiring.

I'm contemplating doing a swap to the MR suspension to get a smoother ride. Can you MR owners tell me how the MR's suspension compares to the Evo8's. I know I didn't buy a luxury car, but I want the Evo to handle the bumps and cracks better. My dream car has always been the EVO and I love it to death but might just have to trade it in for something smoother if the MR suspension won't solve the problem.

I've driven the STI and I would settle for something like it. It's not the smoothest car out but the ride is manageable. Please share your comments..

 

Try buying a used set of the MR Bilsteins. I like the ride of my car. I rode in a Muellerized car (JIC coilovers). It was certainly stiffer, although I wouldn't call the ride jarring. can't remember what a stock Evo 8 feels like since I've only been in one once.

 

Try riding on a Ninja I Never rode in a MR, but my STi had a softer ride. It couldn't handle as well though.

 

Try different tires. The sidewalls on the Advans can be pretty wicked. Other than that either get a different suspension setup or a different car.

 

get an alignment

 

let some air out of your tires and get the best HKS COILOVERS.

 

The MR suspension is substantially more forgiving for every day driving. Try to find someone that lives close to you with one or see if your dealer has one on the lot. My dealer let me test drive the MR they have on the lot and it was definitely much more forgiving. Another option, although more expensive, is to go with a set of coilovers with an electronic damping controller in the cabin. That way you can still have the great handling that goes along with a stiff suspension when you want it, but also turn the damping down for every day driving.

-Paul

 

When I got my evo I actually thought the ride was pretty good. It wasnt too loud and I like feelilng what your riding on. I believe the mr suspension will help or get some coilovers with adjustable shocks.

 

Try Toyo T1-S tires.

 

One word: Tires...

One of the biggest improvements in terms of ride quality that I have noticed is when I swapped out the stock Advans for a set of Toyos RA-1s. I only ran the toyos for a couple of weeks before the track event but the ride was much smoother. Since then I have switched over to a set of Toyo Proxes 4s and the ride is great with those too. They don't have the incredible dry pavement grip of the Advans but the Proxes 4s are pretty damn good, especially in the wet.

 

i have a MR and i have ridin in a lot of regular evo's and i didnt notice that much of a diffrence as far as ride quality.(maybe it is because i dont really care about those things as long as it handles well.

 

This is true. So I got me a set of crappy Kumhos Extasca's or something. Whatever they're called. The first thing I noticed was that it was like 20% smoother and softer. The second thing I noticed shortly after was that it didn't grip nearly as well. I guess you have to give a little to get a little.

 

hum.... . I just wanted to make sure because $800+ installation for a used MR suspension for just a little softer ride wouldn't be worthed it for me. As for tires, the car came with BF goodrich G-Force tires. They seem to grip pretty good.

really, the ride's not all that bad but I would just really like a softer plush ride and would trade handling over it. Too bad no-one I know has a MR and I haven't seen any at the dealerships.

 

I'm changing to MR suspension on my GSR and going with Michelin SP2s. Will do a write up on results but it'll take a few months to complete. I think the tires will have much greater effect than the suspension change.
Re-aligning the car will change dartiness and make it more sluggish in handling.

Suggest SUSPENSION SUPPLIERS come out with a "comfort" coil-over package. It will sell VERY well. Soften up the spring rates and more pliable shocks. Now we have 50 choices to make the car run rougher and/or with lower ground clearance than stock.

 

the stock tires are very hard and short sidewall and this will help some. but the best setup is the Tein Flex with the EDC then you can go from soft to track setup with just a turn of the knob. the setup is about 1800.00 but will give you the best of both worlds and if your keeping your car this is small change. everything else is just a compromise and will not make that much difference. the seats are not the best padded and a nice set of seats would help but just a comp set of recaros are like 3000.00 so the coil overs seem really a great deal .

my next step when the engine mods stop.

Wanted nice used set of Tein Flex with EDC.