Car Suspension and It's Importance

Have you ever given much thought to your car’s suspension?  Most people probably haven’t and many probably don’t even know the components of a car’s suspension.  A car has a suspension to maximize friction between the road surface and the car’s tires.  Thus the suspension provides better handling, steering stability, and helps to ensure passenger comfort.   Essentially, the suspension carries the car and it’s weight, it keeps the wheels perpendicular to the road for the best grip, it absorbs the accelerating and braking forces of the car, it consumes the torque created from the car’s driveline, and it helps in the cornering of the car.

What Does a Car’s Suspension Do?

A car suspension system is needed to keep the body of the car riding straight while the wheels of the car follow imperfections in the road.  So as a car moves down the road, what things benefit from the car’s suspension?  Most engineers consider the dynamics of a moving car from the perspective of “handling” and “ride”.  “Handling” is the car’s ability to accelerate, brake, and corner.  “Ride” is a how well the suspension is working to make a ride down a bumpy road smoother.  “Handling” and “ride” are made up of three principles that include cornering, road holding, and road isolation.  Obviously, cornering is the ability of the car to travel a curved path.  What about the other two principles?  Road holding is the amount of which the car maintains contact with the road during various driving directional changes.  For instance, when braking occurs the nose of the car angles toward the ground and when acceleration occurs, the rear of the car angles toward the ground.  The parts of the car that connect with the ground during braking and acceleration make up road holding.  Lastly, road isolation is your cars ability to isolate and absorb road shock from the passenger side of the car.

What Happens During an Inspection of Your Car Suspension?

There are many components that can make up a car’s suspension.  These include rubber, torsion bars, coil springs, hydro pneumatic elements, the car’s steering wheel and more.  If your car has the shimmy and the shakes, it might be time to get your car suspension inspected.  The first thing that our technician may do is to drive your car to see where the shaking is coming from.  For instance, if the vibration is felt in the front of the car it suggests one thing, if it is felt in the seat it suggests another suspension problem.  Our technicians will take a look at the many parts of your car’s suspension including the wheel bearings, bushings, tires, tie rod ends, idler arm, and other parts of the steering linkage.  Along with the physical inspection of these elements, our technicians will use our diagnostic tools to look at your suspension system and fix any problems.  Keep your car running smoothly down the road by paying close attention to your car’s suspension and setting up an appointment if you suspect that there is a problem.