The Ultimate Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Suspension - Garage Tech

The low-speed damping circuit mostly affects body roll and pitch, as does the rebound control. With the ability to adjust low and high speed and rebound damping independently, it's possible to have a car that can meet all of these seemingly diametrically opposite goals, taking on big hits, resisting roll, squat and dive and riding relatively smooth. Contrary to popular belief, race cars need to ride as smoothly as is practical to reduce tire shock. Tire shock is any sort of hopping or skipping that upsets the tires contact patch. For a tire to give its best grip, it has to be planted solidly on the ground. A car that bobs, rolls excessively or hops is losing grip. With the sophisticated damping control that Moton offers, it's possible to get away with a softer spring for less tire shock and a decent street ride to boot. Conversely, a high spring rate for the street can still ride well due to the Moton dampers precise control.

Moton dampers have a high-precision valve system so that each click of the adjusters changes the damping force by an equal amount. Hardly any shocks can do this and common street adjustable coilovers aren't even close to having consistent changes for each click. Most shocks adjust damping force by changing the preload on a stack of valve washers. Moton dampers change the diameter of precisely machined metering orifices when you turn the knob. The dampers also have a large diameter shaft, which displaces a lot of fluid as the shaft is pushed into the shock body. More shaft displacement means more fluid flow though the valves. The large volume of fluid makes the shocks valving all the more sensitive, even at low shaft speeds.

Moton dampers also have adjustable gas pressure. There's a shraider valve in the shocks remote reservoir where the nitrogen gas pressure can be adjusted. The nitrogen is kept separate from the fluid in the remote by a floating piston. Gas pressure works like spring preload. It changes the force needed to move the suspension initially but doesn't affect the spring rate. It's possible to raise the gas pressure for a more responsive suspension for the track and to reduce it for a softer street ride. The Moton strut bodies also have an adjustment for camber built into the lower mounts. This enables us to adjust both the caster and the steering axis inclination angle.

To attach the Moton dampers to the front of our car's chassis we used a Ground Control camber caster plate. We think the GC unit is superior to any currently on the market for several reasons. The first is that it allows a generous amount of caster adjustment. We feel that the EVO needs more positive caster. Positive caster improves straight-line stability and the EVO has such telepathic steering that it can be twitchy when driving on the freeway. Adding caster can improve this. Positive caster also increases negative camber when the wheel is turned, which helps front grip, making the addition of positive caster a win-win situation. The GC plates bolt on top of the strut tower so they allow the car to be set lower while maintaining wheel travel. Insufficient wheel travel is a common handling problem with radically lowered cars. Finally, the GC plates incorporate an ingenious system to reduce the load on the spherical bearing the shock shaft rides on. The upper spring seat has a ball and socket surface with a roller thrust bearing underneath it. The ball and socket allows the suspension to articulate smoothly through its travel and as the wheels are turned while the thrust bearing supports the weight of the car. This allows the GC plate to last a long time without maintenance.