ArcticMax

Ok, people are trying to make their suspension as rigid and stiff as possible. I mean, the quest to STIFFEN the suspension never ends. So, I began to wonder:

Imagine a car, but it has no supension. It just has axles, which are attached directly to the frame without any sort of damping, and wheels are attached at the end of the axles.

Now, what would happen when the car turns? would it rollover since there is no suspension to lean the car sideways? I am extremely curious. I guess the ride would be very harsh and jarring, but what would happen when the car goes through lateral accleration?

For the sake of illustration, let's say that the wheels are steel wheels, no tires, just steel wheels like those on a train. Cause if there were tires, it would have the effect of a suspension and let the car roll little bit when turning.

So, what would happen in this scenario? When the car absolutely cannot roll at all when turning.

We add RSB to reduce body roll, my example is like the extreme end of the RSB effect. COMPLETE elimimation of body roll through NO SUSPENSION.

Anyone have any ideas?
I have to post many stupid stuff so I can move up in rank.

Kenneth

iTrader: (8)

go-kart

Zprime

welp...assuming we have everything setup on our car the way it is and removing the shocks and spring...the susp arms will just fall down..
anyway..you are probably thinking about replacing those guys with something solid...well...humm...hit a bum...break an axle...pretty much like that....

I think even those F-1 cars have shox and springs...not much, but it is there..and those tires...is there any air in them or just solid rubber?...pretty solid if you ask me...
how do these cars turn? Pretty darn good!!!!
But I think it is not as much as the shox and spring...more of the toe and camber?...I might be wrong...oh heck...those toys cost like a million bucks each..more..so they might have a zillion thingy that make it turn good...
what else...will it flip..humm...depends on where your CG is and your side force..too big a moment arm and not enough friction will surly cause it to flip..but if your tire sticks like glue..should not be a prob...
so...yes..you can have no suspension sys...but that will impose you to one strong axle and engine..well those things...
try it on the gran turismo....set the spring rate to the highest...damper to nothing....whatelse...umm I forgot...see how it turns...I think it would be ok on smooth road..but as soon as you hit something..good luck.....
and you do need to adjust camber and toe....
I have not gotten this down well enough...but have fun with it...I think that is the easiest way to see...do it in granturismo
hehehehe
=]
have fun

HoJo

You would havc big problems with traction on anything but the smoothest surface. One job of the suspention is to keep the wheel on the ground while going over bumps, the spring compresses while going up over the bump and uses the stored energy to push the wheel back down on the other side going back down. So if you had no suspention what would happen is the wheel would follow up the bump but would loose some or all traction on the downhill side, the weight of the car would push it back down, but not near as fast as a spring.

nismomaxse97

iTrader: (4)

Yeah, that is it

brubenstein

To make a car handle well the wheels have to be kept in proper alignment and the tire patch maximized. The "brute force and ignorance" method has been to use very stiff suspensions. This was necessary when car chassis weren't very stiff, and it was the only way to keep the wheels pointed in the right direction. Even then it only worked well on perfectly smooth pavement. Without any suspension movement, the tires would slide every time you hit a bump in a curve.

Eric L.

I dunno about handling, but I can tell you that if you are driving a car with super stiff suspension, you better lower the drivers seat. A friend of mine has a completely hopped Civic hatchback with adjustable coilovers. He has it completely slammed, so there is like no suspension travel. Needless to say, I will never ride in that car again, especially after I hit my head on the ceiling while he hit a bump on the freeway going 105.

I was thinking, imagine how many more interior rattles the Maxima would develop if people put super stiff suspensions on it. It would be a "rattle me to death" nightmare.

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

F1 cars DO have suspensions.. if I had a digicam, I'd go out into the shop and take some pics ot my boss's Formula Ford car.. the suspension on it is very similar to what you see on an F1 car. the springs are about 4-6" long and they have high pressure nitrogen-filled shocks.
they only have 1-2" of suspension travel in them. not a lot. but then again, they're only 1" off the ground.
The suspension is a KEY ROLE in those cars perform on the track. my boss has a box of springs and shocks so big that it wouldn't even fit in the trunk of my car when I tried to help him get set up for a weekend at a new track.. They keep charts and data on each track and change suspension and gearing settings at each one.. on bumpy tracks, they'll go to softer springs and more nitrogen pressure in the shocks.. on smooth tracks, they'll drop pressure and go to stiffer springs.

Ahhhh, just imagine a $7000 car pulling 4Gs through a corner, powered by a 160hp 2.0L Ford Pinto engine, mated with a 4 spd transmission.

As for what would happen to a Maxima with no suspension? think about how well a riding lawnmower would take a corner at 50mph. (and even they have suspensions on the front!)

selle

I saw a Lincoln last summer that quite clearly had no suspension whatsoever. I am guessing that the guy took out the springs completely. I was driving behind and to the right of hom on the freeway for a while, and it scared me to death. His tires would literally come off the ground over bumps, and the tires would compress to the rim every time. I was just waiting for the tires to blow, or the car to jump over and hit someone else. IMHO, not a good idea for daily driving

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

Yes like Matt said, F1 cars DO have suspensions. They don't spend millions every year for suspensions for nothing right?

You want to know what it's like to ride w/o a suspension?? Go watch an old western and watch those old horse driven wagons. Or better yet, watch some fool who cut his stock springs by about 3-4".

I30CeFiRo

You'd get brain damage from all the constant vibration, your car will fall apart, everytime you hit a small bump, your tires will bounce off the ground and you'd lose control...oh yeah, and everyone will point and laugh at you and the bouncy car

Black VQ

You'd have a Flinstones car if there was no suspension.