YangpaNemsay

is there anyone that can give me a breakdown of the different parts of suspension and their purposes?

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pissedoffsol

spring- attempts to keep car at a constant level/height
shock- absobrbs impact, aids spring in levelization
strut tower bars- stiffen chassis, holds top of the suspension peices kinda together-ish
sway bars- connect the suspension down by the "hubs" - attempts to keep both wheels at the same height- there by distributing the force of a corner to both tires instead of just the outside
tie bar- supports the rear lower "frame" from flexing and also aids in sway bar holding.
pillowball mounts- a physical connection between the chassis and the suspension is made with these

thats pretty brief- theres all kinds of scientific stuff to go into about it- but thats the basic idea

then there's all the terms- camber, caster, toe, ride hight, bound, rebound, dapening, and so forth

asmallsol

dont forget camber kits. When you lower your car, the wheels tend to go like this (from front view) / \. The camber kits try to correct this problem so the wheels will look like this | |. This will help you get all your tire on the ground resulting in better launches. Also it will save your tires.

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Collin
Material Science and Engineering
Michigan Technological University

sportlinecrx

Ok, gonna give my .02 cents here…

COILSPRINGS: believe it or not, their true purpose is to the absorb shock from the road and provide ride comfort. performance springs are stiffer and improve handling by reducing body roll during cornering, and by lowering the car’s center of gravity (lowering springs/coilovers). really good springs reduce body roll without sacrificing too much comfort (they do this by varying the stiffness at different parts of the spring...this is called a progressive spring rate)

SHOCK ABSORBERS/STRUTS: “shock absorber” is a misnomer (wrong name). The true purpose of the shock absorber or strut is to dampen the rebound of the springs…and therefore keep the wheels glued to the road. Performance shocks are designed to take more heat build-up than oem shocks, and are filled with gas rather than liquid. Also, performance shocks are usually stiffer to improve responsiveness, keeping the car better glued to the road…and to some extent, reduces body roll during cornering. Adjustable shocks let you pick a soft comfortable ride or a hard ride for better handling.

CONTROL ARMS/TRAILING ARMS: these babies keep the wheels and shock/strut assemblies moving in a nice straight up-and-down path. Without them, the shock assemblies would rip themselves out of their retaining bolts after a few bumps.

ANTI-SWAY BARS: these are usually called “sway bars” for short. See pissedoffsol’s description, cause I don’t know much about these.

STRUT BARS/TIE BARS: these are stiff braces that tie opposing strut assemblies together. Installing them significantly reduces the flex in your chassis during hard cornering and over bumps. This makes steering quicker and makes handling more nimble.

That about covers it I think

pissedoffsol

its CAMBER not chamber! lol you always call these chambers. they are not chambers of love.

pills_PMD

yea that's almost as bad as "VTECH"

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asmallsol

its CAMBER not chamber! lol you always call these chambers. they are not chambers of love. [/b][/quote]
what are you talking about, it says camber in my post

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Collin
Material Science and Engineering
Michigan Technological University