Springs, LCA, or shocks?
3/13/05, 09:09 AM
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I've seen posts and articles about lower control arms (lca), springs, and now shocks (qa1) helping during launch.
Can anyone tell me how these are different from the other? How do they affect over all ride quality? Price vs performance? Why they even work at all?
I was thinking about some adjustable shocks that I could firm up when I wanted to race then put back to "normal" for everyday driving.
thanks for any help,
Chris
Can anyone tell me how these are different from the other? How do they affect over all ride quality? Price vs performance? Why they even work at all?
I was thinking about some adjustable shocks that I could firm up when I wanted to race then put back to "normal" for everyday driving.
thanks for any help,
Chris
3/13/05, 10:18 PM
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Your post has been up for a while without a reply so here ya go. I'm not sure how much you know so I'm giving a basic explanation for how the suspension works. It's all probably over-generalized and I'm sure I'll be corrected if I didn't explain enough or said something wrong. Just skip it if you know it already.
Springs control both ride height and stiffness. When you hit a bump your tire moves up compressing the spring. Stiffer springs will result in a more stiff ride since the won't give as much when you hit a bump. Softer springs are more comfortable since they give more.
Shocks also act when you hit a bump. When you hit a bump your springs compress but then they decompress as they want to return to their original shap. They will continue to oscillate up and down until it runs out of energy. Shocks dampen this action so that the movement up and down is minimized. This keeps your tire in contact with the road as much as possible since your tires aren't always bouncing. When your shocks wear out the car bounces up and down after hiting a bump. You've probably seen this in older cars on the road.
The lower control arms help control the twist in your rear axle when you accelerate. When the axle twists a lot your tires tend to hop up and down causing a loss in traction. Better lower control arms would help control or eliminate this hop.
Other parts of the suspension (like the anti-sway bars) are important as well since they control side to side twisting in the body of your car.
********* End of Explanation of suspension workings ************
When you are road racing in general you want a lowered, stiffer ride all the way around since it will help keep your tires in contact with the ground as you are cornering.
In drag racing it is a little different. You want your weight to be transfered to the rear of the car as soon as possible on launch to help your rear tires with traction. The front end is only for steering all of the traction is in the rear. So a stiff rear set up is good, but a softer front end would help transfer weight to the rear of the car. There are adjustable shocks avalible so you can modify this at the track. Also removing weight from the front end and transfering it to the rear (if it cannot be done away with) is a common practice. Battery relocation to trunk, removal of front sway bars, etc.
I've seen a few posts so far about wheel hop being a problem when drag racing, and of it being cured by upgraded control arms so they sound like the best first investment if drag racing is your intention.
Springs control both ride height and stiffness. When you hit a bump your tire moves up compressing the spring. Stiffer springs will result in a more stiff ride since the won't give as much when you hit a bump. Softer springs are more comfortable since they give more.
Shocks also act when you hit a bump. When you hit a bump your springs compress but then they decompress as they want to return to their original shap. They will continue to oscillate up and down until it runs out of energy. Shocks dampen this action so that the movement up and down is minimized. This keeps your tire in contact with the road as much as possible since your tires aren't always bouncing. When your shocks wear out the car bounces up and down after hiting a bump. You've probably seen this in older cars on the road.
The lower control arms help control the twist in your rear axle when you accelerate. When the axle twists a lot your tires tend to hop up and down causing a loss in traction. Better lower control arms would help control or eliminate this hop.
Other parts of the suspension (like the anti-sway bars) are important as well since they control side to side twisting in the body of your car.
********* End of Explanation of suspension workings ************
When you are road racing in general you want a lowered, stiffer ride all the way around since it will help keep your tires in contact with the ground as you are cornering.
In drag racing it is a little different. You want your weight to be transfered to the rear of the car as soon as possible on launch to help your rear tires with traction. The front end is only for steering all of the traction is in the rear. So a stiff rear set up is good, but a softer front end would help transfer weight to the rear of the car. There are adjustable shocks avalible so you can modify this at the track. Also removing weight from the front end and transfering it to the rear (if it cannot be done away with) is a common practice. Battery relocation to trunk, removal of front sway bars, etc.
I've seen a few posts so far about wheel hop being a problem when drag racing, and of it being cured by upgraded control arms so they sound like the best first investment if drag racing is your intention.
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