Book and suspension tuning

[WestTexasS2K]

Has anyone found any good books on suspension tuning. Preferably something written more recently. Most things tha I have found seem to be fromt he 70s or 80s.

[JohnK]

Suspension tuning is nearly timeless, except when you get into aerodynamics, and I don't know anyone who can afford to do anything significant aerodynamic-wise. All of Carroll Smith's books are gold mines - but don't expect an easy read. Most if his stuff takes much thought and lots of practice in order to get the benefit. Allan Staniforth wrote COMPETITION CAR SUSPENSION. The first time you go through it you think "this is great". After doing suspension tuning for 10 years you re-read it and think "Oh, THATS what he was telling me!" The Milliken and Milliken book available from SAE is an encyclopedia and stuffed with great information (cosmic truths like "slip angle"). It requires some very heavy lifting: you'll need to have the rigor of an engineer to handle the maths as well as the perspective of a scientist to understand what the maths mean.

My experience - It was easier getting a masters degree than it was getting to the point where I (think I) understand the basics. The only thing I need now is a race track for development and the reflexes of a 19 year-old so I can get the car to do what it's capable of doing in order to test things like changes in rebound settings.

Cheers,

 

[James A]

I agree with John, any of the books by Carroll Smith are very good. I would add to that a book that has been around since 1981 and still remains one of the best books for understanding and tuning suspension, "How to Make Your Car Handle" by Fred Puhn. It dispels many myths and has a lot of real world examples and calculations.

[JohnK]

Hey, thanks James.

I've used Puhn's Brake Handbook to help me design a well-balanced brake system for my car and was very impressed with how compete his work was. I didn't know he'd written one on suspension and will have to add it to my set of references.

Cheers,

[powderbrake]

Loren:

try Chassis Engineering, by Herb Adams Amazon... ISBN # 1557880557 $12.89

It has some basic diagrams for front and rear suspensions, and discussions of their characteristics