Madness Shop Manual

Suspension 102: Theory + Vocabulary = !DANGER!

Now that we have a bit of vocabulary, let’s get into the dirty stuff. No, I’m not going to tell you which parts to get here. In fact, I’m not going to recommend any parts at all. You can go to forums or shops for opinions on parts.

First, understand that the focus of suspension is a pleasant relationship between keeping ride quality, performance, and stance (appearance). To improve any of the three, the balance must be broken. To improve suspension performance, performance needs to be defined.

Suspension performs based on the amount of traction the car has at any given point in time. Drag racers set up suspension very differently than autoX racers, but both focus on the same basic principles.

AWD cars have superior (more consistent) handling characteristics because they are set up to maintain maximum traction on all four tires.
FWD cars experience understeer when accelerating because they are set up to maximize traction on the front wheels, and the rear wheels consistently transfer more weight to the front than on any other platform.
RWD cars experience oversteer (partly) because they are set up to maximize traction on the rear wheels.

There are three axis of motion in suspension geometry: lateral (side-to-side), longitudal (front-to-back), and vertical (up-and-down). Each of these is handled in a different way, and there’s also a balance to maintain.