Infinite
01-18-2007, 09:02 PM
little quick write up i did
Suspension 101
The suspension is a critical aspect of your car. It will help put the power down and more importantly keep you on the road. Many people overlook the necessity of these components and many only buy the bare minimum parts. In this thread I will try to cover some of the major areas and some of the major questions that have been asked. I am not an expert on these but I have done lots of research and will write everything I know to my knowledge. If any information is incorrect or I leave something out, please feel free to email me or post up the mistake.
I think it is very important to understand how the actual suspension works. This may seems basic, but I know there are some “noob’s” out there who don’t know much and looking for the very basic’s so I will start there and try to define and explain the main parts of suspension.
Stabilizer bars/Anti-roll bars:
These bars are used to keep the car stable throughout a turn. Think about it this way. If you are driving and go around a turn, the car will “roll” to the outside of the turn. Therefore a lot of weight is being placed on the tires on the outside side of the corner, and the inside wheels have less weight on them. This causes a loss in traction, steering may be compromised greatly, and the car can even flip over if to much roll is involved. These anti-sway bars help reduce that “roll”. So how do they work? These bars are connected to the frame of the car. They are attached with bushings allowing them to move when the car is cornering. When the car goes into a turn one side of the cars suspension will compress down and take most of the weight. This roll bar is connected to the suspension unit and when the suspension is compressed on one side the bar has a tension placed on it. This causes the other side of the bar to rise and compress that sides suspension component. Therefore both sides of the suspension compress and keep the car more level throughout the turn.
Corner Weighting a Car:
This process if very beneficial but can be very expensive. The only downside to this technique is only adjustable suspensions (coilovers) can benefit from this. Like tuning a turbo the suspension can be tuned. You can move the weight of the car to where ever you want it. Corner weighting allows the drive to place a set weight ratio to the car (i.e. 50/50, 40/60, etc.)
Strut Bars:
These bars made the cars frame more rigid. They are metal bars that are placed from the top or the strut towers (front to front and rear to rear). Then the car enters a turn the body of the car tends to twists. These bars make the frame more rigid and less prone to twist.
Struts:
The strut is a very important part of the suspension setup. Struts are also commonly called dampeners. They purpose of these is to compress and absorb energy when going into a turn or going over a bump. When you go into a turn the strut compresses. Many of the struts out there are full adjustable. This means a person can set it to either a full stiff, full soft, or various places in-between. But what does a full stiff/soft mean and how does it work? Picture this. You place 5 of the plastic Dixie cups on top of one another. Then you compress them together. Now picture 5 coke cans on top of one another and you compress them. Which will be stiffer? There is no real answer to the perfect setting. There are too many variable involved such as, the car, the drivers driving style, etc.
Springs:
The spring is what pushes the wheel back to the road. As the strut compresses and the wheel is compressed, there must be a part to keep the wheel back on the road. You may have heard of spring rates, but you might now know exactly what they are. The higher the spring rates the stiffer the spring/ride of the car. The stiffer they are the more likely they are to stay contacted to the ground rather than being compressed more easily. Usually a spring setup rides a little nicer and is softer than a coil over setup. I have attached a list of spring rates (for Civics) I have researched and compiled (mostly from Clubsi.com).
Camber:
When you lower a car the camber changes. Camber refers to the vertical movement of the tires. Negative camber is when the top of the tire leans towards the inside of the wheel well. If you were at the front of the car looking down the right side (your right side) of the car, the wheel would have this lean “/_/”.
Positive camber is when the bottom of the tire is leaned into the wheel well/car. Looking from the same position as above the tire would appear to have an angle like “\_\”. If you don’t understand my picture let me know and I will make a diagram.
Some ask, “Why do a lot of people run negative camber?” Negative camber has its pros and its cons. First the cons. If you are and avid drag racer and don’t car about turns then a 0 degree camber would be beneficial (on the drive wheels). This allows for maximum contact patch with the pavement. If you love to autocross or drive in the twists then negative camber is for you. When a car enters a turn the car tends to roll and the tire will usually roll some also. When you have negative camber the car and tire will virtually roll onto itself. Since the camber is at an angle the car tilts at an angle and then creates a nice flat patch of tire to keep traction with. If you don’t understand this picture either let me know. These theories are hard to put in words and much easier to diagram.\
Ok so what is the perfect suspension setup?
There is no answer to that. It is all about what car you have, how you want the car to respond, etc. The Civic is notorious for having loads of under steer. There are many variations to cure this problem. One must understand that by adding a anti sway bar or new coilovers, will not make the car invincible. The car will have its limits and more likely than not, the car will react differently then before the part was placed on it. Learning to dive a Civic with large amounts of over steer takes some getting use to. There will be times when you need to get on the gas when you natural instincts will tell you to brake. This will only cause you to go into an uncontrollable spin.
Suspension 101
The suspension is a critical aspect of your car. It will help put the power down and more importantly keep you on the road. Many people overlook the necessity of these components and many only buy the bare minimum parts. In this thread I will try to cover some of the major areas and some of the major questions that have been asked. I am not an expert on these but I have done lots of research and will write everything I know to my knowledge. If any information is incorrect or I leave something out, please feel free to email me or post up the mistake.
I think it is very important to understand how the actual suspension works. This may seems basic, but I know there are some “noob’s” out there who don’t know much and looking for the very basic’s so I will start there and try to define and explain the main parts of suspension.
Stabilizer bars/Anti-roll bars:
These bars are used to keep the car stable throughout a turn. Think about it this way. If you are driving and go around a turn, the car will “roll” to the outside of the turn. Therefore a lot of weight is being placed on the tires on the outside side of the corner, and the inside wheels have less weight on them. This causes a loss in traction, steering may be compromised greatly, and the car can even flip over if to much roll is involved. These anti-sway bars help reduce that “roll”. So how do they work? These bars are connected to the frame of the car. They are attached with bushings allowing them to move when the car is cornering. When the car goes into a turn one side of the cars suspension will compress down and take most of the weight. This roll bar is connected to the suspension unit and when the suspension is compressed on one side the bar has a tension placed on it. This causes the other side of the bar to rise and compress that sides suspension component. Therefore both sides of the suspension compress and keep the car more level throughout the turn.
Corner Weighting a Car:
This process if very beneficial but can be very expensive. The only downside to this technique is only adjustable suspensions (coilovers) can benefit from this. Like tuning a turbo the suspension can be tuned. You can move the weight of the car to where ever you want it. Corner weighting allows the drive to place a set weight ratio to the car (i.e. 50/50, 40/60, etc.)
Strut Bars:
These bars made the cars frame more rigid. They are metal bars that are placed from the top or the strut towers (front to front and rear to rear). Then the car enters a turn the body of the car tends to twists. These bars make the frame more rigid and less prone to twist.
Struts:
The strut is a very important part of the suspension setup. Struts are also commonly called dampeners. They purpose of these is to compress and absorb energy when going into a turn or going over a bump. When you go into a turn the strut compresses. Many of the struts out there are full adjustable. This means a person can set it to either a full stiff, full soft, or various places in-between. But what does a full stiff/soft mean and how does it work? Picture this. You place 5 of the plastic Dixie cups on top of one another. Then you compress them together. Now picture 5 coke cans on top of one another and you compress them. Which will be stiffer? There is no real answer to the perfect setting. There are too many variable involved such as, the car, the drivers driving style, etc.
Springs:
The spring is what pushes the wheel back to the road. As the strut compresses and the wheel is compressed, there must be a part to keep the wheel back on the road. You may have heard of spring rates, but you might now know exactly what they are. The higher the spring rates the stiffer the spring/ride of the car. The stiffer they are the more likely they are to stay contacted to the ground rather than being compressed more easily. Usually a spring setup rides a little nicer and is softer than a coil over setup. I have attached a list of spring rates (for Civics) I have researched and compiled (mostly from Clubsi.com).
Camber:
When you lower a car the camber changes. Camber refers to the vertical movement of the tires. Negative camber is when the top of the tire leans towards the inside of the wheel well. If you were at the front of the car looking down the right side (your right side) of the car, the wheel would have this lean “/_/”.
Positive camber is when the bottom of the tire is leaned into the wheel well/car. Looking from the same position as above the tire would appear to have an angle like “\_\”. If you don’t understand my picture let me know and I will make a diagram.
Some ask, “Why do a lot of people run negative camber?” Negative camber has its pros and its cons. First the cons. If you are and avid drag racer and don’t car about turns then a 0 degree camber would be beneficial (on the drive wheels). This allows for maximum contact patch with the pavement. If you love to autocross or drive in the twists then negative camber is for you. When a car enters a turn the car tends to roll and the tire will usually roll some also. When you have negative camber the car and tire will virtually roll onto itself. Since the camber is at an angle the car tilts at an angle and then creates a nice flat patch of tire to keep traction with. If you don’t understand this picture either let me know. These theories are hard to put in words and much easier to diagram.\
Ok so what is the perfect suspension setup?
There is no answer to that. It is all about what car you have, how you want the car to respond, etc. The Civic is notorious for having loads of under steer. There are many variations to cure this problem. One must understand that by adding a anti sway bar or new coilovers, will not make the car invincible. The car will have its limits and more likely than not, the car will react differently then before the part was placed on it. Learning to dive a Civic with large amounts of over steer takes some getting use to. There will be times when you need to get on the gas when you natural instincts will tell you to brake. This will only cause you to go into an uncontrollable spin.