Steering and suspension are two of the most important mechanisms for your car. They allow the tires to move through their range of motion effectively and with precision, without damaging the components or causing excess vibrations. The following are things you should know more about online steering and suspension:
- Lowering Your Car Will Make Your Body and Suspension Longer
If you lower your car, the suspension and body will be longer. This can cause a few problems and should be noted by those thinking about lowering their car. Steering geometry can be affected by this as well, which is why lowered cars require new steering components to adjust for the increase in suspension length.
- Your Suspension and Spring Can Be Dinged Up
Suspension parts are made of rubber, the same material which your tires use to grip the road. Therefore, even a collision that doesn’t involve your car’s tires can cause dents and damage to these components. Another problem that can occur is wind noise from the body rubbing on the suspension, making it vibrate against itself. Neither of these problems is ever too pleasant.
- Spring Rates Can Be Higher
When lowering your car, the spring rate can be higher, meaning that your car will need a stronger suspension. This is because lowering the suspension allows it to travel up and down more than usual, which increases the friction of the spring against the suspension springs. Going through change in rate is among many causes of suspension failures, so you’ll want to avoid this as well.
- Do Springs Bend?
A notorious problem with lowered cars is that they tend to bend their springs by being too low for them to hold them straight for long. This can result in frame bending or even splitting like you might see with an Accord from before its redesign in 2001.
- Suspension Is Vibrating
The movement of your car’s suspension can cause unwanted noise that can be quite disturbing. This is likely the reason why almost every car advertises its soundproofing features, even though they are not that common in real life.
- Stiffer Springs Can Be Better For Handling
A stiffer spring rate means that the suspension is being compressed more than normal when your car goes over a bump or rough road surface, absorbing some of the shock to the chassis and wheels. In other words, you’ll feel less jolt and vibration when driving through bumps.
- But It Can Cause There To Be Less Suspension Travel
The spring rate usually decreases with the increase in height. Meaning, the higher your car is, the softer your suspension is. This can be good for comfort and stability, but it will not help with handling as you would want.
- Transmission Mounts Should Not Be Autozone Parts
Going through a rough road surface can be quite disruptive to your car and its passengers! The transmission mount prevents the transmission from moving around and vibrating with the engine, instead absorbing some of this unwanted movement and transferring it to other components of the car. This can prevent a lot of movement on the engine mounts too.
There you have it, the 8 things you need to know about your car’s steering and suspension. It’s important that you experience them for yourself and learn what works best for your needs. Once you’ve done this, then perhaps you can start modifying your steering and suspension for personal preference or maybe even an autocross to see how well and fast you can take corners.
