Through appendices and diagrams, Car Suspension and Handling, 4th Edition outlines the purpose and history of vehicle suspension systems, while defining the basic parameters of suspension geometry. In addition, the book delves into human sensitivity to vibration, and offers data on durability, tire background information, steering calculations and suspension calculations.
This book provides detailed coverage of the theory and practice of vehicle cornering and handling. Much of the material in this book is not available elsewhere, including unique information on suspension analysis, understeer/oversteer, bump steer and roll steer, roll centers, limit handling, and aerodynamics. Each chapter ends with a wide selection of problems, providing an ideal review. This book is an excellent resource for vehicle designers and engineering students who want to better understand and analyze the numerous factors affecting vehicle handling.
To make your car handle, design a suspension system, or just learn about chassis, you’ll find what you need here. Basic suspension theory is thoroughly covered: roll center, roll axis, camber change, bump steer, anti-dive, ride rate, ride balance and more. How to choose, install and modify suspensions and suspension hardware for best handling: springs, sway bars, shock absorbers, bushings, tired and wheels. Regardless of the basic layout of your car—front engine/rear drive, front engine/front drive, or rear engine/rear drive—it is covered here. Aerodynamic hardware and body modifications for reduced drag, high-speed stability and increased cornering power: spoilers, air dams, wings and ground-effects devices. How to modify and set up brakes for maximum stopping power and handling. The most complete source of handling information available. “Suspension secrets” explained in plain, understandable language so you can be the expert.
Do you really know what oversteer and understeer are all about? This helpful guide will teach you about steering and suspension, and discuss why all cars handle so differently. Not a stuffy technical book, but practical information and a straightforward text to help you understand your car's suspension.
When automotive manufacturers stuffed large V-8 engines into intermediate-size cars, the American muscle car was born. Built from 1964 on, the vast majority of these amazingly fast machines did not carry cutting-edge chassis and suspension systems, and now these cars are up to 50 years old. Today, owners do not have to settle for poor handling and ride quality. Muscle car and suspension expert Mark Savitske has built his business, Savitske Classic and Custom, on making muscle cars handle and ride at their best. With this updated edition, Savitske shows you what it takes to transform the handling of these high-horsepower machines. He explains the front and rear suspension geometry so you understand how it functions, and in turn, you realize how to get the most from a particular system. He also reveals the important aspects of spring rates, shock dampening, and ride height so you select the best spring and shock package for your car and application. He discusses popular high-performance tubular suspension arms and sway bars, so you can find the right combination of performance and adjustability. The suspension system has to operate as an integrated part of the car, so you’re shown how to select best suspension package for a well-balanced and responsive car. He also discusses how to extract maximum performance from popular GM, Ford, and Mopar muscle cars. You can harness the potential performance potential of your muscle car and put much more power to the ground with critical chassis and suspension updates and products. A muscle car that carries modern suspension technology not only provides far better handling and ride comfort, but it is also much safer. How to Make Your Muscle Car Handle is the essential guide to unlocking the handling and performance potential of your muscle car. If you yearn for better handling, comfort, and performance for your muscle car, this is the book for you.
DIVTurn your daily driver, weekend fun ride, or track car into a corner-carving performance machine. From planning a course of modifications to installing parts to tuning handling characteristics, High-Performance Handling for Street or Track will have you cranking out high-g cornering forces on your favorite twisty course. Topics covered in High-Performance Handling for Street or Track include:• An overview of vehicle dynamics• How to tune handling for differing applications• Guidance for selecting aftermarket components, including anti-roll bars, springs, shocks, bushings, chassis braces, camber adjusters, wheels, and brakes• Tire and wheel selection advice• Case-study projects Whether you’re building a high-performance street car, an autocrosser, or a track-day machine, High-Performance Handling for Street or Track will help you create an integrated suspension system and tune it for maximum performance./div
In most forms of racing, cornering speed is the key to winning. On the street, precise and predictable handling is the key to high performance driving. However, the art and science of engineering a chassis can be difficult to comprehend, let alone apply. Chassis Engineering explains the complex principles of suspension geometry and chassis design in terms the novice can easily understand and apply to any project. Hundreds of photos and illustrations illustrate what it takes to design, build, and tune the ultimate chassis for maximum cornering power on and off the track.
Semi-Active Suspension Control Design for Vehicles presents a comprehensive discussion of designing control algorithms for semi-active suspensions. It also covers performance analysis and control design. The book evaluates approaches to different control theories, and it includes methods needed for analyzing and evaluating suspension performances, while identifying optimal performance bounds. The structure of the book follows a classical path of control-system design; it discusses the actuator or the variable-damping shock absorber, models and technologies. It also models and discusses the vehicle that is equipped with semi-active dampers, and the control algorithms. The text can be viewed at three different levels: tutorial for novices and students; application-oriented for engineers and practitioners; and methodology-oriented for researchers. The book is divided into two parts. The first part includes chapters 2 to 6, in which fundamentals of modeling and semi-active control design are discussed. The second part includes chapters 6 to 8, which cover research-oriented solutions and case studies. The text is a comprehensive reference book for research engineers working on ground vehicle systems; automotive and design engineers working on suspension systems; control engineers; and graduate students in control theory and ground vehicle systems. - Appropriate as a tutorial for students in automotive systems, an application-oriented reference for engineers, and a control design-oriented text for researchers that introduces semi-active suspension theory and practice - Includes explanations of two innovative semi-active suspension strategies to enhance either comfort or road-holding performance, with complete analyses of both - Also features a case study showing complete implementation of all the presented strategies and summary descriptions of classical control algorithms for controlled dampers
Shave lap times or find a faster line through your favorite set of S-curves with professional race driver Ross Bentley as he shows you the quickest line from apex to apex! With tips and commentary from current race drivers, Bentley covers the vital techniques of speed, from visualizing lines to interpreting tire temps to put you in front of the pack. Includes discussion of practice techniques, chassis set-up, and working with your pit chief.
Hand-selected by racing engineer legend Carroll Smith, the 28 SAE Technical Papers in this book focus on the chassis and suspension design of pure racing cars, an area that has traditionally been - farmed out - to independent designers or firms since the early 1970s. Smith believed that any discussion of vehicle dynamics must begin with a basic understanding of the pneumatic tire, the focus of the first chapter. The racing tire connects the racing car to the track surface by only the footprints of its four tires. Through the tires, the driver receives most of the sensory information needed to maintain or regain control of the race car at high force levels. The second chapter, focusing on suspension design, is an introduction to this complex and fascinating subject. Topics covered include chassis stiffness and flexibility, suspension tuning on the cornering of a Winston Cup race car, suspension kinematics, and vehicle dynamics of road racing cars. Chapter 3 addresses the design of the racing chassis design and how aerodynamics affect the chassis, and the final chapter on materials brings out the fact that the modern racing car utilizes carbon construction to the maximum extent allowed by regulations. These technical papers, written between 1971 and 2003, offer what Smith believed to be the best and most practical nuggets of racing chassis and suspension design information.
