Where to go for suspension tuning info?

[transient]

Every once in a while I'll find myself lost in a thread that's talking about suspension tuning that I just have no clue about; mostly to do with adjustment procedures and effects. I know a certain amount about tuning, but I don't know the important things like certain things that will generate oversteer or understeer... etc. So... does anyone know of a good site (or book) all about suspension and suspension tuning?

[adey]

right here, baby!!
I've learnt probably 60 - 70% of all I know about cars on this forum, and still vividly remember asking a similar question to yours back in the day. By trying to follow suspension tune threads and by talking to people (in real life that is) who know more than you do, you can learn a lot.
If you're into RC cars, they're very realistic too, or so I'm led to believe...
another very practical way to learn about suspension is taking off a wheel and inspecting everything, comparing it to pics in FSMs or pics that you've found online.

The one relatively uber suspension guru I know of on this board is DriftingPanda... he's not on much, but he knows his stuff pretty well; I happen to work on cars a lot with him, and have learnt much in the world of suspension tune from him. :thumbsup:

[transient]

Definately, this board is great, but I'd really like to find a book or web site that would teach me the basics. Kinda like Turnfast (http://www.turnfast.com) does for driving techniques.

[thx247]

Reading is probably the best way to go about this.

http://www.bimmerhaus.com/tech/shocktuningTN.html

http://www.sae.org/servlets/productDetail?PROD_CD=R-146&PROD_TYP=BOOK&COMMON_SUCCESS=TRUE


First link is for you ADD people out there

[transient]

W00t! I'm totally ADD, haha. Thanks :)

Edit: Btw, that second link is telling me that my cookies aren't enabled, etc. They probably don't allow direct linking. Can you give me the name of the book that you linked to?

[240Dave]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0879380713/qid=1064365833/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-7508988-0288912?v=glance&s=books

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0879381868/ref=pd_bxgy_text_1/102-7508988-0288912?v=glance&s=books&st=*

Although I haven't read those books (yet) I've never heard anything bad about carroll smith...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/185960644X/qid=1064366191/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-7508988-0288912?v=glance&s=books

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0912656468/qid=1064365983/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/102-7508988-0288912?v=glance&s=books

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1557880557/qid=1064365983/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-7508988-0288912?v=glance&s=books

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0837602270/qid=1064366115/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-7508988-0288912?v=glance&s=books
More on driving than setup but has good sections on setup and tires also.

Read the reviews and view the sample pages and pick whatever sounds the most interesting...thats how I buy most of my books regardless of the topic.

[Heartwork]

there is a good book on basics about suspension called "High Performance Handling Handbook" written by Don Alexander.....
not the greatest, but very basic and easily understadable...

[Rennen]

Gran Turismo!

While it may sound stupid, It is in fact a driving simulator, and is quite informative. When you enter the settings menu, it describes the pros and cons to each adjustment in a running line of text at the bottom of the screen. It also explains each mod when you go to buy them. Also, after you have made an adjustment, you can drive the car and see how it handles differently, of course, its not exactly true to life because you can't truly feel the car, but the car's behavior is very lifelike. I was always a car nut, but Gran Turismo got me into Modifying cars.

-Matt