Of Suspension, Camber, Caster and Toe

Suspension provides comfort as well as determines the handling of a car. There are few common kinds of suspension setup available, for instance, Macpherson strut and double wishbones for the front while multi-link, torsion beam and leaf springs for the rear. Every kind of suspension has different characteristic, advantages, disadvantages and applications (ie. Torsion beam to save space and cost, leaf springs to withstand high laden load).

Suspension can be made up of several components: Coil spring, shock absorber/damper and anti-roll bar. Coil spring is to absorb force by extending or compressing itself. Softer spring allows the wheel to move more with the chassis while stiffer spring will make the ride harsher, although it may improve stability during cornering.

Shock absorber acts as a damper which stops the spring from oscillating at a specific rate. Anti-roll bar is able to reduce body roll by keeping both wheels on the same level as they tend to have positive camber during cornering.

The alignment of tyre is important to the optimum traction and straight line stability of a car. However, not everything is good if it’s aligned properly. For example, negative camber tyre where the top of the tyre is tilted towards the inner side of the car will provide increased grip in mid-corner. Straight line performance, however, will be affected if negative camber’s angle is too high because it reduces the contact surface between the front wheels and the road when the tyres are straight.

Caster is the angle created by the steering pivot point from the front to the back of the car. Caster is positive if the line is angled forward, while negative is in the opposite condition. Positive caster will increase straight line stability but also increase the effort to change the direction of the steering as well.

Toe, on the other hand, should be in zero angle at all time. Although toe in promote better straight line stability, it increase the wear of the tyres because both wheels generate force against each other. These are why alignment is essential to be done in fixed interval to reduce the wear and tear of tyres and improve handling.

 
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