Anyone have recommendations of a book to pick up to read to start learning what makes a good suspension "good" and why?


I find myself asking people what they think is a good mod to buy/install but I would like to go further and understand why said mods are good or bad.

Topics I'd be interested to know more about are shock dyno's, how a sway bar helps, how shocks/springs/swaybars work together, roll centers, and center of gravity etc etc.


Thanks for any tips!

Buy all the Carrol Smith books.

Once you've made it through those Race Car Vehicle Dynamics is the book, but an engineering or math undergrad is probably needed to really understand the math involved.

I'd grab a copy of Chassis Engineering and read it first if you need a basic understanding.

Then the Carroll Smith chassis books. If you decide to start building your own parts, I'd make sure to read Engineer to Win for materials knowledge.

A shock dyno is just a tool to measure the dampening curve of a shock as an engine dyno is a tool to measure engine performance.

Thanks guys. I have a mechanical engineering degree. That's not to say I will understand the whole book 100% but I could somewhat make sense of it. The engineering degree is the driving force behind wanting to know what to alter and by how much and WHY. All to easy to throw parts at a car but to me the fun is understanding the goal, research components that will meet that goal, install/modify the car for the goal and then actually achieve the goal.

http://www.amazon.com/Think-Fast-Racers-Wh...ast+engineering
(full disclosure: I edited this book)

I second the Smith books.


Costas
cars and such...

Milliken & Milliken_Race car vehicle dynamics

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0ENraeA_j...dit?usp=sharing