How to check what gives rigidity in the suspension. Soft suspension for your car: is it worth it? Rear spring problems

Distinguish between vertical, longitudinal and lateral stiffness of suspensions.

The vertical stiffness of the suspension should provide the required smoothness of the car. Its value can be assigned according to the known value of the vehicle mass per axle and the required natural frequency of oscillation of the sprung mass according to the formula:

Mass attributable to the front suspension,;

f- natural frequency of oscillations, we accept f= 1 Hz;

The total stiffness of the suspension (2 wheels), taking into account

tire stiffness.

From the resulting total stiffness of the suspension, it is easy to single out the stiffness of the suspension itself:

Choosing the right suspension travel

For driving on a rough road with a normalized microprofile, in principle, (a large dynamic suspension compression stroke is not required. According to the results of calculations of the car’s movement, even on a broken dirt road the standard deviation of the suspension travel is no more than 20 mm. Then, according to the For rule, it is enough to have a compression stroke of 3 * 20 = 60 mm. At the same time, when moving single bumps in a turn or when braking, a greater stroke may be required. Suspension travel must be large enough and in order to provide certain roll angles. Practice shows that for cars with a track of about 1400 mm, it is necessary to have a compression stroke from a fully loaded state of at least 70 mm and a rebound stroke from a load state of 1 by the driver not less than 50 mm. Larger track requires more suspension travel. We accept: S rebound = 50 mm - rebound stroke; S compressive = 70 mm - compression stroke; S? = 210 mm - total suspension travel.

Let's construct the suspension characteristic according to the known values ​​of the sprung mass in two extreme loading states and according to the stiffness of the suspension.


The elastic characteristic, built in this way, does not provide the proper coefficient of suspension dynamism. The usual value is K d =2 for vertical loads. In addition, with a full rebound stroke, there is a force of 1400 N (140 kgf) on the wheel. Without additional elastic elements, the suspension will "pierce", jolts on the "tiebacks" will also be noticeable. To avoid them, we introduce additional elastic elements.


The compression buffer activation point must be chosen empirically. However, although a long compression buffer provides a softer start, it usually has limited mileage. Soft suspension, which is required to ensure a good ride, leads to excessive roll when turning the car. To reduce the roll in the suspension, elastic elements are used - stabilizers roll stability. A feature of the stabilizer is that with the same suspension stroke, it does not develop additional effort, but is included in the work only with a different stroke. The lack of a stabilizer - it increases the stiffness of the suspension when hitting an obstacle with one wheel.

Longitudinal and lateral suspension stiffness

The stiffness of the suspension must be large enough to ensure the controllability of the car and to reduce the required space, which is occupied by wheel arches. At the same time, to ensure a smooth ride, these stiffnesses cannot be too high.

Non-linear characteristics are desirable.

We accept: C x \u003d 12 * C z \u003d 12 * 32465.7 \u003d 389588.3 N / m; C y \u003d 12 * C z \u003d 90 * 32465.7 \u003d 2921912.2 N / m.

Angular suspension stiffness

Should be large enough to prevent excessive body roll when cornering.

Maximum - allowable roll according to GOST R = 7 ° at 0.4 g. In fact, for ordinary cars- from 2 to 4°. Let's take 4°.

Calculate the angular stiffness (total):

Where kg is the sprung mass;

The resulting total angular stiffness is distributed along the axes. For rear-wheel drive vehicles C lane / C rear \u003d 1.3. C lane \u003d 20900. This distribution is associated with the desire to get some understeer and the position of the roll axis. The exact values ​​and distribution of angular stiffness are obtained during the development of the car.

damping in the suspension

Damping in the suspension has a significant effect on vehicle vibration. The damping force depends on the strain rate of the suspension. Usually, to evaluate the damping, the coefficient of relative vibration damping is used:

K p - damping per wheel, N/cm; C zp - suspension stiffness (1 wheel), N/m; m p - sprung mass per 1 wheel.

relative damping should be 0.25...0.30. An important role in ensuring wheel vibrations without leaving the road is played by the relative damping of wheel vibrations.

C zk - wheel stiffness, N/m;

Kf - coefficient of increase in wheel stiffness, depends on the material of the cord in the breaker, k f = 1.05.

K k - own damping of the tire, K k = 30 N/cm;

m K - unsprung mass per 1 wheel; it includes the entire mass of parts that make a full stroke together with the wheel and S part of the mass of levers, one end of which is fixed on the body.

Upgrading the chassis of the car will help make the car more comfortable. Consider how to make the suspension softer.

What affects driving performance

Determinants driving performance car:

  • spring stiffness and design;
  • shock absorbers;
  • tire size and rubber composition;
  • the ratio of unsprung and sprung masses.

We do not take into account the elasticity of the rubber of silent blocks, since the owner rarely has the opportunity to personally evaluate the difference between manufacturers of rubber products. In addition, often the main difference is the resource of silent blocks. difference in driving performance depending on the manufacturer of silent blocks, it is extremely difficult to notice. The transition to . This type of suspension is designed for sporty driving and harsh operating conditions. If polyurethane products are installed on your car, then switching to silent blocks made of ordinary rubber will make the car softer.
Before starting the tuning of the chassis, carry out a comprehensive one. Perhaps too harsh, loud reaction to bumps is a malfunction of some node, and not design flaw. A similar effect is observed when driving on pumped tires.

Springs

The elasticity of the springs and the amount of force required for compression depend not only on the thickness of the coils, but also on the alloy from which the elastic elements are made. Since it is extremely difficult for an ordinary buyer to find out the characteristics of the metal, you can focus on the thickness of the coil. Patterns that affect the driving characteristics of the car:

  • spring design. Springs with variable coil thickness are recognized as the most comfortable. Such springs have a so-called comfort coil;
  • the stiffer the spring, the more clearly the vibrations are transmitted to the car body. Accordingly, the thicker the coil, the greater the stiffness of the spring. Soft car suspension and hard springs are absolutely incompatible things;
  • The length of the spring affects the compression stroke of the suspension. The smaller the suspension travel, the shorter the distance to the "breakdown" of the shock absorbers (occurs when the shock absorber, working out the unevenness, rests on its extreme position; at this moment, it hits the bump stop). A shorter spring length results in less suspension travel, which must be taken into account when installing sports springs (especially when cutting coils). That is why it is important to strike a balance between the stiffness of the coils and the length of the spring.

Another important aspect is the stiffness of the material against which the spring rests. If a gasket made of a dense layer of rubber is placed under the elastic element, then the number of vibrations transmitted to the body will decrease. If you wish, you can calculate all the parameters of the springs, and then make them to order. We recommend watching the video to better understand the essence of the processing of elastic elements.

shock absorbers

If the main purpose of springs is to absorb impact energy, then shock absorbers are designed to dissipate the energy of shocks. Two-pipe gas-oil shock absorbers cope with this most effectively. If your car has oil dampers, now you know how to make the suspension softer.

Both types of shock absorbers use oil as the working fluid. The difference lies in the fact that during the compression of oil models on working fluid there is no reverse force. To check, you can compress the shock absorber by hand. You will see that the stem will remain in a compressed state or only slightly return to its previous position. In gas-oil shock absorbers, the compensation chamber is filled with an inert gas (nitrogen), therefore, when compressed, a return force acts on the working fluid (the rod tends to return to its previous position after being pressed in).

The use of gas in the design allows the wheel not to hang in the air after the suspension has worked out irregularities and will not hit the roadway. It is worth recognizing that when driving at low speed, both types of shock absorbers work about the same. Another disadvantage of oil models is that during intensive work and overheating, air bubbles appear in the oil, which negatively affects the performance of shock absorbers and the level of comfort. It would be wrong to say that the suspension becomes softer after such tuning, but driving at high speed on a bumpy road becomes much more comfortable.

It is not necessary to install single-pipe gas-oil vibration dampers (often called gas dampers). This type of shock absorbers has greater rigidity, which will only reduce the level of comfort when overcoming bumps.

Rubber

In order to make the car more comfortable, it is not always necessary to make the suspension softer. It is enough to install tires with a higher profile and soft rubber composition on the car. The profile height is the distance from the seat on the disk to the end of the tread. The parameter must be marked on the sidewall of the tire. Consider the marking 170/70 R13, in which 70 - percentage A that defines the height of the profile. In our case, the height is 70% of 170 (profile width) and is equal to 123 mm. How tire profile parameters affect handling and comfort:

Influence of mass on suspension kinematics

The unsprung mass of the car is the total weight of the elements that, during the operation of the suspension, are in a movable state in relation to the body. In other words, parts of the car that move along with the suspension and some elements of the chassis. In a car, these include wheel disks, tires, elements brake system, hub bearing (approximately 15% of the total amount of the car, the remaining 85% is the sprung mass).

To increase the smoothness of the ride, you need to either increase the sprung mass (familiar to owners of spring cars, who often load the axle for a smoother ride), or reduce the weight of the unsprung elements. Since the first option leads to an increase in fuel consumption, a deterioration in dynamics and controllability, then you need to focus on unsprung mass. To make the suspension softer, just install alloy wheels, do not overdo it with the width and height of the tire, as well as the size of the discs themselves.

Elastic suspension elements appeared on transport hundreds of years ago, it was too hard to ride carts on cobblestone pavements. The term "suspension" accurately conveys the essence of the design: the body of the carriage or britzka was literally hung on leather straps. In 1804, instead of belts, leaf springs appeared, and a hundred years later, already on self-propelled carriages - cars - they were replaced by more comfortable and technological twisted springs.

Surprisingly, since then the design of the elastic elements has not fundamentally changed. The suspension was overgrown with advanced shock absorbers, floating silent blocks and hydraulic stabilizers, and coil springs did not disappear anywhere. Moreover, even archaic springs are still in use on trucks and pickups. Of course, there are also curiosities: torsion bars (elastic rods - the progenitors of springs) and air bags. But on most cars today you will meet the classic spring suspension. Let's talk about them in more detail.

Springs as the basis of the suspension

Springs are key suspension elements. It is they who keep the car above the road, and also "swallow" all the blows from the pits and bumps. Replacing the springs can drastically change the behavior of the car on the road.

Springs are selected by engineers based on the mass and purpose of the machine, and shock absorbers are selected according to the characteristics of the springs, damping their inertia. Often even different configurations springs of the same machine have different characteristics. For example, diesel models are often equipped with stiffer and longer springs than gasoline models due to the severity of the engine. There are also differences depending on the market: for North America where comfort is valued, cars are traditionally equipped with softer springs.

Spring rate

Rigidity is a key characteristic of the spring, which affects the energy intensity of the suspension (the ability to drive over bumps without “breakdowns”), the ride and handling of the car.

The opinions of car owners about the stiffness of the springs are diametrically opposed. Someone is sure that "the harder - the better", arguing this with the accuracy of the steering wheel and the absence of rolls. Some will say that hard springs are evil, killing comfort and handling on bad roads. Both are right, and finding the right balance is not an easy task.

The characteristics of the spring are calculated by its dimensions - there are even online calculators for this, as for tires. And knowing the basic patterns, some conclusions can be drawn even "by eye".

Springs differ from each other in their reaction to the load: it can be linear and progressive. Often, car owners replace one type with another: either they put progressive springs instead of linear ones in order to improve suspension performance, or vice versa - in order to save money.


Linear spring
- this is a classic winding with the same coil pitch and constant stiffness. It is easy to manufacture - therefore the cheapest and most common. Under load, such a spring is compressed linearly: at the moment of full compression, all the coils close at the same time.

Progressive spring features variable stiffness and non-linear compression under load due to different coil pitch. The harder you push on the spring, the harder it becomes. Under load, the smaller pitch coils close first, the total number of remaining free coils decreases, and the spring rate increases.

When and how to change springs

Usually the springs are changed due to their breakdown or when the machine sags noticeably. But it is better not to bring either to one or the other.

Breakage of the spring bar is an unpleasant situation: the car is completely immobilized, and you will have to go to the service on a tow truck. Springs often break impact loads off-road, far from civilization, which further complicates the task.

But springs do not break just like that - except for rare cases of factory defects. Usually such a breakdown is preceded by either metal fatigue or corrosion. The latter can be identified in advance: if you notice rust on the spring, do not hesitate to replace it! The center of corrosion is a probable place for a future breakdown.

There is nothing good in the subsidence of the car either, and it's not just a decrease in ground clearance and the inability to drive onto a high curb. Sagging springs increase the load on other suspension and transmission elements - shock absorbers, wheel bearings, CV joints. And in the MacPherson suspension, because of this, the wheel alignment angles even go astray.

Slightly sagging springs are difficult to detect with the naked eye. It is better to take a tape measure, measure the distance between the center of the disk and the wheel arch and compare with the factory value. Moreover, unacceptable roll to one side: both left and right height should be the same. Often, the springs on the more loaded side - the driver's side, are the first to "surrender", especially if the gas tank is located there.

What is the resource of the springs? Previously, it was believed that it is equal to two shock absorber resources, i.e. springs need to be changed not with them, but every other time. But those days are already in the past: the springs are becoming thinner and lighter, and now they fail almost simultaneously with the shock absorbers, having “worked out” 70-80 thousand km.

It is often more economical to change springs together with shock absorbers - you won’t have to pay twice for the same work if they are assembled. Just keep in mind that springs, like shock absorbers, are changed in pairs on each axle: a single replacement will lead to an imbalance in the suspension.

Spring tuning

And yet, the most popular reason for replacing springs is not a breakdown or subsidence of the car, but tuning. Suspension lift or lowering, additional stiffness or smoothness - all these are reasons to change the springs. Fortunately, now on sale are a lot of options for non-standard springs for all running car models.

But you need to engage in customization wisely, without turning tuning into a "collective farm", of which there are many examples. One of the most common is cutting the springs: either their own, in order to lower the suspension with “little blood”, or taken from another car in order to adapt them to their own.

The spring is not uniform throughout its length. At the ends of it are the so-called support coils, the task of which is to strengthen the structure, correctly fold the spring during operation and fix it in place. Trimming the reference coil violates the entire calculation of the spring, creates additional stresses in the metal and, after some time, leads to the breakage of the bar. Never cut springs!

The installation of “approximately suitable” springs from other cars is also doubtful. The load will not exactly match the calculated one, which will reduce the life of the spring, worsen the performance of the suspension and affect handling. The experiment can end ahead of schedule: unsuitable springs often fly out of their seats in the limiting modes of suspension operation (for example, when hanging a wheel), and the car falls on its “belly”.

If you take up tuning - choose springs designed specifically for your car. And do not forget that the shock absorbers must match them not only in length, but also in terms of characteristics: in good tuning kits, and for good reason, they come in one set.

Suspension specialists have many interesting examples to share, but I will have to limit myself to a brief account of why stiffer is not always grippy, and softer is not always comfortable. The work of car suspensions is not at all as simple as it seems at first glance. They perform many functions that are not entirely obvious. I will try to briefly mention the main ones.

In general, many books have been written about how pendants work, and most of them are very thick. I will only try to outline the main points "on top" in order to fit into the format of an informative article.

Why you can't do without a suspension

Even more smooth roads in fact, they have a bend in many directions, and the Earth itself bears little resemblance to an infinite plane. And in order for all four wheels to touch the ground, they must be able to move up and down. At the same time, it is highly desirable that the running surface of the wheel is adjacent to the coating with its entire width in any position of the suspension. So cars with rigid and short-stroke suspensions are practically doomed to poor wheel traction, because one of the wheels will always be unloaded.

1 / 2

2 / 2

Why Suspension Must Have Compression Travel

For all wheels to be in contact with the road, it is not at all necessary that the suspension can compress, it is enough that the wheels can only move down. But when the car moves in corners, lateral forces arise that tend to tilt the car. If at the same time one side of the car can rise, and the other cannot fall, the center of gravity of the car will shift strongly towards the loaded wheel, which in turn will cause many negative consequences.

First of all, even greater unloading of the internal wheel in relation to the rotation and an increase in the roll moment due to the movement of the center of gravity upward relative to the roll center of the suspension (about it below). And, of course, if the wheels don't have compression travel, then even a small bump under one of the wheels should move the body, move all the other wheels down, with all the associated lifting energy and reduced wheel traction. Which, to put it mildly, is not very comfortable. It is also destructive to the body and suspension parts. In general, a suspension needs to be balanced, with both compression and rebound travel in order to function properly.

Why does the car roll around corners?

Since we have decided that the suspension of the car must be and has the ability to move up and down, then purely geometrically a certain point is formed, the center around which the car body rotates during a roll. This point is called the roll center of the machine.

And the sum of the inertial forces acting on the car in a turn is just applied to its center of mass. If it coincided with the roll center, then there would be no roll in the turn, but it is usually located much higher, and as a result, a rolling moment is formed. And the higher the center of roll is located, the lower the center of gravity, the smaller it is. On special racing structures like Formula 1 cars, the center of gravity is placed below the roll center, and then the car can roll in the opposite direction, like a boat on water.

Actually, the location of the roll center depends on the design of the suspension. And automotive engineers have learned quite well how to “raise” it higher by changing the design of the levers, which, in theory, could save not only low sports cars from rolls, but also quite high ones. The problem is that the suspension, which is designed to provide an "unnaturally high" roll center, successfully copes with body lean, but does not cope well with the main task - damping bumps.

Why should suspension be soft?

It is quite obvious that the softer the suspension, the less the change in the position of the body when hitting a bump and when rolling, the load is less distributed between the various wheels. This means that the adhesion of the wheels to the road does not deteriorate and energy is not spent on moving the center of mass of the car up and down. Well, have we found the perfect formula? But, unfortunately, not everything is so simple.

Firstly, the suspensions have limited compression strokes, and they must be consistent with the change in axle load when the car is loaded with passengers and luggage, and with the load that occurs when cornering and bumps. Suspension that is too soft will compress so much when cornering that the wheels on the other side will lift off the ground. So the suspension must prevent exhaustion of the compression stroke on one side and hanging the wheel on the other.

It turns out that too soft a suspension is also bad ... The best option is a relatively small range of "softness", after which the suspensions become stiff, but setting up such a design is the more difficult, the higher the difference between its hard and soft parts.

With any redistribution of the load between the wheels, the overall grip of the wheels with the road deteriorates. The fact is that additional loading of some wheels does not compensate for all losses during unloading of others. And in the case of hanging unloaded wheels, an increase in grip on the loaded side does not compensate even half of the losses.

In addition to a general deterioration in grip, this also leads to a deterioration in handling. They fight this unpleasant factor by changing the inclination of the rolling plane of the wheel relative to the road - the so-called collapse. As a result of constructive measures aimed at programming the camber change during the roll of the machine, it is possible to compensate for the change in wheel adhesion under lateral loads in a reasonable range and thereby make the machine easier to control.

Why do you have to make the suspension stiffer on sports cars?

The controllability of the car is extremely negatively affected by any changes in the angles of the suspension when the car rolls and delays in response to control actions due to a shift in the center of gravity. This means that you have to make the suspension stiffer so that the rolls decrease in the turn.

The extreme output is a powerful anti-roll bar - a torsion bar, which prevents the wheel from moving one axle relative to another. But this is not the best way. Yes, it improves the situation with changing the angles of the wheels in a turn, but it unloads the inner, in relation to the turn, wheel, and overloads the outer one. It's a little better to just make the suspension stiffer. This affects comfort more, but it does not unload the inner wheel as much.

Considerable value of shock absorbers

In addition to elastic elements, the suspension of the car also contains gas or liquid shock absorbers - elements responsible for damping the vibrations of the suspension and removing the energy that the car spends on moving the center of mass. With their help, you can correct all the suspension reactions to compression and rebound, because the shock absorber can provide much greater rigidity in dynamics than a spring. At the same time, its stiffness, unlike springs, will be very different depending on the suspension travel and the speed of its movement.

Of course, a very soft shock absorber will not be able to fulfill its main task - vibration damping, the car will simply sway after passing through the bumps. And installing a very stiff one will create an effect similar to installing a very stiff spring that does not want to compress and thereby increases the load on the wheel and unloads all the others. But fine-tuning will help reduce body roll in corners and help springs, reduce body dive during acceleration and braking, and at the same time not prevent the wheels from passing through small bumps. And of course, do not allow the "breakdown" of the suspension when driving through hard bumps. In general, they have an impact on the behavior of the machine no less than the stiffness of the springs.

A little about comfort and vibration frequencies

It is clear that a car without suspension would have zero comfort, because all the small bumps from the road would be transmitted directly to the riders. Brr. But if the suspension is made very soft, then the situation will not be much better - constant buildup also has an extremely bad effect on people. It turns out that a person does not tolerate vibrations both with a small amplitude and high frequency from a rigid suspension, and with a large amplitude and low frequency from a soft one.

To create comfortable conditions for passengers, it is necessary to coordinate the stiffness of springs, shock absorbers and tires so that on the most popular surfaces for this car, the vibration frequencies of passengers and the level of acceleration remain within comfortable limits.

The frequency and amplitude of suspension vibrations are also important in another aspect - the natural resonance frequencies of the car-suspension-road system should not coincide with the possible frequencies of control actions and disturbances from the road. So the task of the designers is also to bypass dangerous modes as far as possible, because in the event of a resonance, you can turn the car over and lose control, and simply break the suspension.

So, what should be the suspension?

Paradoxically, the softer the suspension, the better the grip on the road. But at the same time, it should not allow strong rolls and changes in the contact patch of the wheels with the road. The worse the roads, the softer the suspension needs to be to get good grip. The lower the friction coefficient of the wheels, the softer the suspension should be. It would seem that the installation of an anti-roll bar can solve the problem, but no, it also has its negative features, it makes the suspension more "dependent" and reduces the suspension travel.

So suspension tuning remains a matter for true masters and always requires a lot of time for full-scale tests. Many factors are intricately intertwined and by changing one parameter, you can worsen both handling and ride. And not always a hard suspension makes the car faster, and a soft one makes it more comfortable. The controllability is also affected by the change in the rigidity of the front and rear suspension relative to each other and even the slightest change in the characteristics of the stiffness of the shock absorbers. I hope this article will help you to be more careful about the choice of components for suspensions and prevent rash experiments.

Any part of the car is tested before new brand the car will go into mass production. The suspension has certain adjustment parameters to improve operating conditions and improve driving safety. These adjustments are made by the manufacturer. They have average values ​​and are intended for driving on public roads.

The driving style of each car owner is different. This dictates the different requirements that drivers place on their cars. There are two inversely proportional criteria that designers try to average out. This is the smoothness of the suspension and handling. Unfortunately, the high performance of one of them dramatically reduces the performance of the other. Therefore, depending on what exactly needs to be increased, a certain suspension tuning is performed.

Spring installation

The spring plays a key role in movement and maneuvering. To improve handling, it is necessary to choose stiffer springs, as they are able to respond faster to constantly changing forces. Any component manufacturer indicates the degree of spring stiffness and provides a choice of this parameter. An external sign of a reinforced spring is the marking on outside coil in the form of a strip of green or blue. If the marking is not applied, then you should pay attention to the diameter of the rod. Larger diameter corresponds to greater rigidity. If the spring consists of two sections with different coils, then this is a direct sign of excellent controllability.

Some manufacturers specialize in the manufacture of sports springs and offer products in different price ranges.

Installation of shock absorbers

Combining stiff springs and stock dampers is not only pointless, but also wasteful. High oscillation frequency and low amplitude can quickly damage stock equipment. In order to effectively dampen the vibrations that have arisen, a rigid shock absorber is needed. Gas models have such properties. Since the classic two-tube oil shock absorber has one significant drawback - oil foaming under intense loads, the single-tube gas version will be the best solution to improve handling.

The work of a rigid spring with a gas shock absorber provides timely compression and rebound, which leads to improved grip of the wheels with the road surface. In corners at high speed, the body of the car is less prone to roll. When accelerating and braking, it is possible to get rid of the "peck" characteristic of a soft suspension. All this affects the information content of the steering wheel and the sharpness of control.

This is interesting: Electromagnetic suspension: the principle of operation, the pros and cons

As in the case of springs, branded manufacturers have stood out, producing shock absorbers with high technical performance.

Rack supports


This node affects handling only in two cases: if the shock absorber is hinged to the support and the support allows you to change the angle of the castor. In the first case, such supports are not installed on production cars, and the second will be described below. However, car owners prefer to install supports from leading manufacturers, because high-quality vibration absorption is also combined with good handling.

Wheel alignment

As it was said at the very beginning, the assembled elements into a single node will not yet give the expected result of the work. To achieve certain indicators of car handling, it is necessary to adjust three parameters - wheel alignment angles.

castor angle

The castor angle can be defined as the angle of deviation of the axis of rotation of the wheel from the vertical passing through its center. Without specially modeled animation, it is quite difficult to imagine the effect of the castor angle on the behavior of the car. The designers note that this angle must be different from zero in order to be able to self-center the steering system after the effort is stopped (when exiting the turn). A larger angle contributes to more efficient rudder return. But in parallel with this, the turning radius and the effort to complete the maneuver increase. V technical terms the castor angle allows you to adjust the camber angle in an increased range, which affects the area of ​​adhesion of the wheel to the road. However, many manufacturers do not provide the ability to adjust the pivot axis by setting the optimum angle at the factory.

The modern auto industry is distinguished by the ability to adjust the castor. To do this, on front-wheel drive models, shims are provided on the strut struts. Adding one puck increases the angle by 19 minutes. The maximum deviation of the axis of rotation can be 3 degrees. But with SS20 strut mounts, you can achieve more. Experiments with this parameter should be carried out in a special service, since changing it will entail reconfiguring the camber angle.

It is interesting: Air suspension principle of operation pros and cons

The plane of the wheel should not be strictly vertical, as this will play a cruel joke when driving through bumps and cornering. The camber angle is the angle between the wheel plane and the vertical plane. It is considered positive if the upper part of the wheel protrudes outward, and negative - inward. At the turn, the body will necessarily begin to roll, which means that the wheel for better grip must change its plane relative to the vertical. This is only possible with negative camber. Some car brands do not provide for setting this parameter, the rest have their own specific indicators. If it is not possible to visit the service, then by any means and means you should achieve a negative camber setting of 15 degrees. Although this angle will provoke more intense tire wear, it will provide good handling at high speeds.

Convergence angle

The toe angle is plotted relative to the direction of travel. If the planes of the wheels intersect in front of the car, then the angle is positive. Negative angle is bad for handling. The manufacturer recommends adhering to the normal position with allowable amendments. However, to increase the responsiveness of the car to steering turns, the toe angle is made for 10-15 minutes in positive side. This setup is not without negative moment- Uneven tire wear.

Considering all the options for improving manageability, it is impossible to single out best option, since any structural change or change in settings has its drawbacks. Basically, racing enthusiasts resort to these procedures. They can afford to radically overestimate the handling parameters to the detriment of comfort and parts life. Judging by the reviews of car owners, suspension tuning for everyday driving should be done in 1-2 points.

Liked the article? Share with friends!