mitchmercer

To start off, this is an explanation on stock suspension, not how to modify for improved handling.

Lately I've gotten a lot questions from some of my friends on how wishbone suspension works, I decided to make this thread and save myself from explaining everything to everyone I know.

Suspension serves 2 main purposes, maintaining contact between the tire and the road, and making your ride in the car much smoother.

Now that you know what suspension is for, you need to know what parts your dealing with so you can understand my explanation



The parts listed are the basic components of a suspension setup (additional parts are listed for added information).

Attached to the lower part of the Upright is the hub assembly which connects to the rim and tire assembly. As you hit bumps in the road, accelerate, and stop, your wheels experience vertical travel (up and down). When the tire travels vertically the upright now moves with it, causing the Upper A-Arm (Upper Control Arm) and Lower A-Arm (Lower Control Arm) to travel also. This is good because now the tire can make and keep contact with the road surface much better than a solid setup.

But how do we stop the upright from staying at the top of the range of motion (effectively causing a solid setup)?

We add Springs! (Coilover)

Springs cause your upright to stay in a position that will allow travel in both directions vertically. To design an effective spring one must take into consideration what the car will be used for, where the upright should be positioned, weight of the car and it's passengers, and space available. The Spring, or Coilover in our case, causes resistance in the movement of the upright causing it to stay close to its optimal position.

Now your thinking, "WAIT, I've played with a slinky before, if it's just a spring it'll move all over the damn place."

We add Shock absorbers (dampers)!

Now that the suspension has a set position, we need a way to keep it there under pressures that the spring alone cannot handle. Shock absorbers (dampers) are gas or oil filled tubes that are under extreme pressure (hit one with the claw end of a hammer if you don't believe me). This pressure is used to stop a rod from moving excessively. The Spring is sandwiched between the end of the rod, and the mid section of the tube, and is now quite sturdy, and less prone to movement. The Shock absorbers (dampers) and Coilover combo now gets bolted to the Lower A-Arm (Lower Control Arm) and the frame of the car. This setup causes much more resistance than just a Spring and now the Lower A-Arm (Lower Control Arm) won't travel up as easily.

To reiterate, The Shock absorbers (dampers) and Coilover combo resists the travel of the Upright, keeping it in its optimal place. The pressure from the Shock absorbers (dampers) and Coilover combo also pushes down on the tire and keeps the tire firmly on the road

So now we have a basic explanation of how a Wishbone Suspension setup works.

Ignore any poor grammar or spelling, I was a math major lol. I checked this over a billion times but I probably missed something. I was also watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia when I wrote this and added the labels to the picture, so excuse any small mistakes .

*DISCLAIMER* Do not hit a shock absorber with the Claw end of a hammer as this will cause injury to either you, your loved ones or your property. Heed my warning when I say this is a VERY bad idea (I may have crushed one with a hoist at one point :sweatdrop

BigRick903

Nice write up surprised no one has wrote anything in a year but that's pretty much it

josephcmiller2

Thanks. I know what all the parts are but your explanation of the perspective to keep each one on is helpful.


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datbumper

Nice and simple, good post!