By

Amit Saini
 When people think of automobile performance, they normally
think of horsepower, torque and zero-to-60 acceleration. But all
of the power generated by a piston engine is useless if the
driver can't control the car. That's why automobile engineers
turned their attention to the suspension system almost as soon
as they had mastered the four-stroke internal combustion
engine.
 The study of the forces at work on a moving car is
called vehicle dynamics, and you need to understand some of
these concepts in order to appreciate why a suspension is
necessary in the first place
Some basics to overview
Principle Definition Goal Solution

The vehicle's ability to

Allow the vehicle body to Absorb energy from road bumps
absorb or isolate road
Road Isolation shock from the passenger
ride undisturbed while and dissipate it without causing
traveling over rough roads. undue oscillation in the vehicle.
compartment

The degree to which a car

maintains contact with the
road surface in various
types of directional
changes and in a straight
line (Example: The weight
Keep the tires in contact Minimize the transfer of
of a car will shift from the
with the ground, because it vehicle weight from side to
rear tires to the front tires
is the friction between the side and front to back, as
Road Holding during braking. Because
tires and the road that this transfer of weight
the nose of the car dips
affects a vehicle's ability to reduces the tire's grip on
toward the road, this type
steer, brake and accelerate. the road.
of motion is known as
"dive." The opposite effect
-- "squat" -- occurs during
acceleration, which shifts
the weight of the car from
the front tires to the back.)

Minimize body roll, which

occurs as centrifugal force
Transfer the weight of the
pushes outward on a car's
The ability of a vehicle to car during cornering from
Cornering travel a curved path
center of gravity while
the high side of the vehicle
cornering, raising one side
to the low side.
of the vehicle and lowering
the opposite side.
 How suspension system work
According to Newton's laws of motion,
all forces have both
magnitude and direction. A bump in
the road causes the wheel to move up
and down perpendicular to the road
surface. The magnitude, of course,
depends on whether the wheel is
striking a giant bump or a tiny speck.
Either way, the car wheel experiences
a vertical acceleration as it passes
over an imperfection.
Without an intervening structure, all
of wheel's vertical energy is
transferred to the frame, which moves
in the same direction. In such a
situation, the wheels can lose contact
with the road completely. Then, under
the downward force of gravity, the
wheels can slam back into the road
surface. What you need is a system
that will absorb the energy of the
vertically accelerated wheel, allowing
the frame and body to ride
undisturbed while the wheels follow
bumps in the road.
1. The frame - structural, load-carrying
component that supports the car's
engine and body, which are in turn
supported by the suspension
2. The suspension system - setup
that supports weight, absorbs and
dampens shock and helps maintain
tire contact
3. The steering system - mechanism
that enables the driver to guide and
direct the vehicle
4. The tires and wheels - components
that make vehicle motion possible by
way of grip and/or friction with the
road
With this big-picture overview in
mind, it's time to look at the
three fundamental components of
any suspension:
springs,
dampers
and
anti-sway bars.
 Dampers: Shock Absorbers
Unless a dampening structure is present,
a car spring will extend and release the
energy it absorbs from a bump at an
uncontrolled rate. The spring  will
continue to bounce at its natural
frequency until all of the energy
originally put into it is used up. A
suspension built on springs alone would
make for an extremely bouncy ride and,
depending on the terrain, an
uncontrollable car.

the shock absorber, or snubber, a device

that controls unwanted spring motion
through a process known as dampening
Shock absorbers work in two cycles --
the compression cycle and the extension
cycle. The compression cycle occurs as
the piston moves downward,
compressing the hydraulic fluid in the
chamber below the piston. The extension
cycle occurs as the piston moves toward
the top of the pressure tube,
compressing the fluid in the chamber
above the piston
 Anti-sway Bars
Anti-sway bars (also known as
anti-roll bars) are used along with
shock absorbers or struts to give a
moving automobile additional
stability. An anti-sway bar is a
metal rod that spans the entire
axle and effectively joins each
side of the suspension together
When the suspension at one
wheel moves up and down, the
anti-sway bar transfers movement
to the other wheel. This creates a
more level ride and reduces
Photo courtesy HSW Shopper
vehicle sway. In particular, it
combats the roll of a car on its Anti-sway bars
suspension as it corners. For this
reason, almost all cars today are
fitted with anti-sway bars as
standard equipment, although if
they're not, kits make it easy to
install the bars at any time.
Coil springs - This is the most common type of spring and is, in
essence, a heavy-duty torsion bar coiled around an axis. Coil springs
compress and expand to absorb the motion of the wheels

Photo courtesy Car Domain

Coil springs
Leaf springs - This type of spring consists of several layers of
metal (called "leaves") bound together to act as a single unit. 
Leaf springs were first used on horse-drawn carriages and were
found on most American automobiles until 1985. They are still used
today on most trucks and heavy-duty vehicles

Photo courtesy
Leaf spring
Torsion bars - Torsion bars use
the twisting properties of a steel bar
to provide coil-spring-like
performance. This is how they work:
One end of a bar is anchored to the
vehicle frame. The other end is
attached to a wishbone, which acts
like a lever that moves perpendicular
to the torsion bar. When the wheel
hits a bump, vertical motion is
transferred to the wishbone and then,
through the levering action, to the
torsion bar. The torsion bar then
twists along its axis to provide the
Photo courtesy 
spring force. European carmakers
Torsion bar
used this system extensively, as did
Packard and Chrysler in the United
States, through the 1950s and 1960s.
Air springs - Air springs, which
consist of a cylindrical chamber of air
positioned between the wheel and
the car's body, use the compressive
qualities of air to absorb wheel
vibrations. The concept is actually
more than a century old and could be
found on horse-drawn buggies. Air
springs from this era were made from
air-filled, leather diaphragms, much
like a bellows; they were replaced
with molded-rubber air springs in the
1930s Photo courtesy HSW Shopper
Air springs
 Types of suspension systems

Suspension Types: Front Suspension Types: Rear

Dependent Front Suspensions Dependent Rear Suspensions

Independent Front Suspensions Independent Rear Suspensions

 Dependent Front Suspensions
 Dependent front suspensions have a rigid front axle that
connects the front wheels. Basically, this looks like a solid bar
under the front of the car, kept in place by leaf springs and
shock absorbers. Common on trucks, dependent front
suspensions haven't been used in mainstream cars for years.

Independent Front Suspensions

In this setup, the front wheels are allowed
to move independently. The MacPherson
strut, developed by Earle S. MacPherson of
General Motors in 1947, is the most widely
used front suspension system, especially in
cars of European origin.
The MacPherson strut combines a shock
absorber and a coil spring into a single unit.
This provides a more compact and lighter
suspension system that can be used for
front-wheel drive vehicles.
The double-wishbone suspension, also
known as an A-arm suspension, is another
common type of front independent
suspension
Specialized Suspensions: The
Baja Bug
 Baja Bugs
The Volkswagen Beetle, or Bug, was destined to become a favorite
among off-road enthusiasts. With a low center of gravity and engine
placement over the rear axle, the two-wheel-drive Bug handles off-road
conditions as well as some four-wheel-drive vehicles. Of course, the VW
Bug isn't ready for off-road conditions with its factory equipment. Most
Bugs require some modifications, or conversions, to get them ready for
racing in harsh conditions like the deserts of Baja California.
 One of the most important modifications
takes place in the suspension. The torsion-bar suspension, standard
equipment on the front and back of most Bugs between 1936 and 1977,
can be raised to make room for heavy-duty, off-road wheels and tires.
Longer shock absorbers replace the standard shocks to lift the body
higher and to provide for maximum wheel travel. In some cases, Baja
Bug converters remove the torsion bars entirely and replace them with
multiple coil-over systems, an aftermarket item that combines both the
spring and shock absorber in one adjustable unit. The result of these
modifications is a vehicle that allows the wheels to travel vertically 20
inches (50 cm) or more at each end. Such a car can easily navigate rough
terrain and often appears to "skip" over desert washboard like a stone
over water.
 Specialized Suspensions:
Formula One Racers

 . Unlike road cars, however,

the shock absorbers and coil
springs of a Formula One
racecar don't mount directly
to the control arms.
Instead, they are oriented
along the length of the car
and are controlled remotely
through a series of pushrods
and bell cranks. In such an
arrangement, the pushrods
and bell cranks translate the
up-and-down motions of the Formula One racecar
wheel to the back-and-forth
movement of the spring-
and-damper apparatus.