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Ok guys, I'm kinda new with this stuff, but what's the major and minor differences between these 2 systems? handling wise? efficiency wise? and overall, which is better for what kind of driving?

for those of you who autocross...is mcpherson better? can u tell a difference?

 
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double wishbone is the best. only reason they got rid of it, was for more leg room in the front. you CAN tell a major difference. the way it works is kinda simple. when you turn w/ a MS .... then you are only turning on the edges of your tire due to the way the suspension is set up...however/ with a double wishbone....it allows the FULL surface of the tire to say on the road...giving you better handling. i love my old 99 ex and my 88 supra. both had double wishbone and i could corner like a champ. word.

 
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Double wish bone rules... But yeah, just what he said ^^^

 
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wtf...so honda wanted to give ppl more leg room, and put the damn mcpherson strut in? don't some of the new porches use mcpherson also? @_@

 
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Mcpherson struts are used in almost all companies ranging from Honda to BMW, reason being why the new Civics and RSXs use them is mentioned above, increasing legroom. It is also cheaper than dbl wishbones.

 
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The Unequal lenght Double wish bone suspension is more desierable for handling because of one thing. Camber gain. Wich is.... when the suspension compresses that suspension Gains negitive camber. (Its also why you see a lot of older civics with excessive negitive camber due to lowering) a McPhearson strut gains Little to no extra Camber when it compresses, forcing you to Dial in extra (Static) Negitive camber to help with cornering, and possibly Deminishing Acceleration and Braking Traction...

 
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Pretty much what was said above... just with more reasoning.

remeber porches are little different in that they have a motor in the back, which means they have a natural understeer and to much traction in front leads to circles

 
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Moved to Suspension....

 
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in autocross or any sort of racing involving twisties, wouldn't negative camber be desirable? (because you'd get more tire contact on a turn)

for daily driving, mcpherson would probably be more comfortable for the drive/passenger, but does it handle THAT MUCH worse than a double wishbone?

and to compensate for camber gain on a mcpherson system, could you just get smaller and wider rims with bigger tires? then camber gain wouldn't be so much of a concern...right? @_@

 
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hmmm...for comfort level....i don't think it really did much in the negative side. you do feel the raod a little more. in the 99 ex you can feel the car kinda sink a little as the suspensions compresses and what not giving you the traction...same w/ the old supra. it felt good for me to feel all the little dips and stuff but thats on stock set-ups. if your running a drop...no idea how much more you'll notice such things. otherwise...i have no answer for your other question. lol. werd

 
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For daily driving it shouldn't give that much difference. Howeve I like to race on track, like the Mid-Ohio one. My '94 civic kicked my '03's but all over the place. I've had to get a bunch of parts on my '03 just to get to the times my '94 had with a stock set up. I've almost got the same times now and I've went to a 215/45/17 tire (with negative camber), Neuspeed front upper strut bar, RSX rear sway bar with poly bushings, about a grand just to get to where my '94 DX was stock suspension wise.

Those tires are the same tred to tred diameter as stock. A smaller tire really won't help that much with contact, but it will give the feeling that there is lower gearing on the car and there for a little quicker.

AS far as comfort, I really haven't noticed a difference.

 
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Mmm... cars can work well with MacPhersons. Evo has them! (Along with a bunch of other sport cars). Get this though, I went to a Toyota dealership b/c my mom was lookin into gettin a Corolla. The guy tells me, " want to know why the Civic changed to Macpherson? B/c the Corolla has them". WTF?! lol

 
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^^^ strange...the dealer was prolly just trying to sell you ^_^

 
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we have Mac... struts in the front and double wish-bone in the back right?

 
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yup yup . . .

 
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and after I told the dealer that I would

 
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a lot of cars have Strut type suspensions, and they can be set up to handle very well However, the double wishbone is still a better type of suspension in regards to handling. this doesnt mean that All cars with double wishbone suspensions handle better then cars with Struts. It only means that the cars with Strut type suspensions have to be tuned differently inorder to work as well. (As in Dialing in More static negitive camber)

 
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Honda Struts Suck!

 
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^^^^ That's informative...

 
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Interesting topic. Does dbl wishbone really take up that much room? I don't know suspensions very well, but does it make for a long axel?

 
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They do take up a lot more room, just look at a (for example) a 98 Integra versus an 04 RSX. The Integra feels really tight where the legs are, while the RSX is a lot more roomy. I like the double wishbone meself.