09-19-2007, 09:34 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Columbus OH
Posts: 275
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Originally Posted by RBYCC
I think I read it when it came out in the mid seventies....
If you have it then see what he writes about "roll center"
Front lower then the rear?
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I don't have it with me, I'll have to refer back later.
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Suspensions are very complex and components must be well matched to achieve balance, especially with struts in the front.
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The 300E doesn't have Mac struts.
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Tires are a much more important suspension component then most realize.
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Why...because they present an infinitly variable component to the equation.
Under acceleration they respond to what they see, power, road surface, etc.
Cornering there is the slip angle to consider.
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Yeah, tires are the single most important part of the suspension.
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Also spring rates....higher in the front produce less weight transfer when braking and limit the amount of understeer they induce.
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Spring rates do not affect the amount of weight transfer.
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Use an example of a slight rear/front ride height bias with heavier front spring rates.
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Brake as you enter a corner and weight shifts to the front, but the heavier front springs do not allow front end dip or a substantial increase in understeer.
As you accelerate into the corner the weight moves to the rear, leveling the car, and affording better traction allowing the vehicle to operate under hopefully optimum understeer.
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Having the rear higher than the front raises the CG v. having them the same height. Naturally, the engineers decide to have the CG at a certain point. Raising the rear is different from designing the rear to be higher. The reason the rear may be designed higher than the front is, with a RWD car, the drive wheels get more of the weight transferred to them during acceleration. In your example, you have the weight transferring front to back. In a corner, it also transfers side to side. You are loading - at turn in, the outside front - and in the corner, both outside tires. In a corner, there will be more weight transfer to the outside front with a higher CG v. a lower one, and more weight transfer to the outside rear mid corner.
You're right that it's complicated, which is why I commented on the seemingly simplistic statement of yours. Rake is not always best.
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I stand by my opening statement that the choice of HD's or Sports with a lowering spring is up to the owner.
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Certainly it's up to the owner, but his ride quality is due mainly to his springs. A less stiff shock may help a bit, but it will also wear out faster.
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1984 300TD
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