Have you ever wondered about how to improve torsion beam suspension? Torsion beam suspension is the most commonly chosen form of rear vehicle suspension, and its features significantly impact the automobile’s handling stability. As its mechanism is in motion and under duress, suspension performance is primarily identified by suspension compliance and kinematics.
The dynamic behavior of the wheel axis largely relies on the volume of suspension travel when the suspension is underway. It mostly tracks the radius of travel in parallel and opposite directions.
This change in the position of the suspension tap point caused by the talc needle deflection in the suspension arrangement of the vehicle is called the compliance characteristic. But how can you establish the changes in real life? Read our article to find out.
What is Torsion Beam Suspension?
Torsion beam suspension is not a simple thing to define. Instead, you can call it a fascinating technical solution, given that this is a system that acts as a suspension and also as an independent suspension.
When a car wheel experiences an unevenness on the road that is not significant, the suspension function only occurs on one side.
The inconsistency in the suspension can lead to either the wheel on the opposite side of the same wheel responding to the discrepancy in a dependent suspension.
The transverse axle is positioned in the front of the vehicle and provides support to the steering wheel because of their interaction and enables them to perform a specified number of tasks via the torsion bars.
At the same time, it attaches to the function described above, and these bars additionally work as an anti-inflammatory device, but some additionally make use of an anti-roll bar system.
Why Is Torsion Beam Suspension Used in So Many Vehicles?
You’ve probably heard many automobile enthusiasts claiming that torsion beam suspension systems are no match against properly mounted leaf springs for handling, but the truth could not be further from that. It’s nonetheless been a regular part of many automobiles, but why? Let’s find it out.
They Are Compact
Suspension designs that require multiple brackets throughout the foundation occupy more space than modern ones that make use of torsion bar setups. This makes it harder to design the interior of the coach.
High-capacity vehicles with a torsion bar suspension feature a larger boot and have more interior space than vehicles with only multi-link systems.
They Have a Lightweight Design
Since a torsion beam suspension is composed of relatively few parts, its overall weight is less than that of other suspension systems. A lighter curb weight in your car indicates that it is more fuel-efficient, as well.
They Are Less Expensive
The torsion beam suspension assembly is a link suspension bar between the two front tires. The torsion beam suspension bar loosens slightly under load. Multi-link assemblies are more complex and require many components.
They also have higher expenses and complex mounts. If a mass-market model was equipped with a multi-link rear suspension, the cost would be relatively high.
They Are Durable
The torsion beam setup generally lasts longer than a multiple-link setup with fewer parts. Because the design is also less complex, it also needs fewer bushings, which lessens the wear and tear of these kinds of parts over time. In the future, these parts are expected to require fewer repairs.
How To Improve Torsion Beam Suspension
Improving a torsion beam suspension may seem to be complex unless you have some skill. In most cases, the performance or durability improvement techniques are in the research stages.
However, we have gathered some of the recently investigated processes that help to improve torsion beam suspension in terms of handling, durability, and performance.
Improving Fatigue Life
The effects of all the forces and weights generated by the car on the road are transferred to the automobile’s chassis with the help of a torsion beam suspension. This will ensure that the motor vehicle operates properly.
However, during the entire process, it will charge the most modified stress, and the more cycles the torsion beam goes through, the more fatigue damage it builds up and the less energy and efficiency it will yield.
The coupling mechanism can be made by changing the work area location (where the hard point is located) of the torsion beam suspension system. By performing the design load model of the vehicle dynamics simulation, it was determined how the load variance of the helical spring depends on its position.
It has since been determined what the ideal helical spring position design is. The study of spring hard point location has shown that fixing it makes parallel shafts more resilient and increases the lateral strength of the torsion beam, which lends support to the design of torsion beam suspension.
Even the life of aluminum alloy enables automobile rear axle housing compound endurance by 17%, and the length is increased by more than 5%.
Height Modification
It’s very bad for the driver of the vehicle to drive on a crappy road with too much weight, as this leads to the mechanism of the vehicle, wheel alignment, and suspension system being badly damaged.
That’s why car companies work hard to design suspension systems so that the damage they cause to the truck is minimized. To maintain that damage, finding the ideal ground clearance elevation can be achieved through a torsional bar by changing the trim height through a Torsion Bar Bracket mounted Tilt.
Still, sometimes, the torsion beam bar, trim height change bracket, and bolt tilt design fail on rough roads and under load. If the vehicle can maintain the correct caster and toe-to-axle-height settings, the wheel alignment values, particularly the caster and vehicle heights, will not suddenly fail.
The aspects primarily relating to torsion bar size, bolt shank diameter, and bracket thickness, as well as the maintenance of correct trim height, help reduce the likelihood of failure.
Using Torsion Beam Stiffener
Unlike conventional suspended suspension systems, which rely on a spring to connect the automobile to its wheels, a torsion beam suspension utilizes a torsion bar beneath the car’s rear end, connecting the two opposite suspension arms and absorbing shocks and shock vibrations by twisting.
Besides its competitive pricing and hassle-free assembly, a stiffer rear torsion bar has been proven to be effective in improving handling by restricting unnecessary motion.
In theory, this can help in reducing body roll by lessening the quantity of torque experienced by one wheel when the other is moving. Moreover, the stiffer it is, the more it is stable in the rear end. That means it’ll be less vulnerable to jabs and hindrances.
For this, you have to attach a High-rigidity steel gusset (reinforcing strip) to the left and right torsion beam fixing parts of the rear suspension, which is subjected to significant loads, especially during cornering.
The balancing plate was standardized as the mass production plate in mass production on the same part. This prevents the component from being distorted and can improve handling.
Structural Modification
When a vehicle rolls, load transfer from left to right wheels occurs and is vital for the performance of the suspension. When load transfer from the left to right wheels of the engine takes place, the stiffness of the suspension arm’s side is affected. This will influence the load transfer from the suspension arm to the wheel, which controls the wheel’s power and, ultimately, the steering wheel.
The alterations in the opening angle of the torsion beam and the corresponding installation angle of the rubber bush will impact the shear center, roll center, and roll stiffness of the suspension, thereby affecting its frequency response characteristics.
By analyzing the structure of a torsion beam suspension, we can be certain that the alteration made by changes has influence mechanisms.
Final Words
A rear torsion beam suspension is not a factor in this equation, but it does not necessarily make a car a bad handler. For small- and minicabs, this setup greatly increases the nimbleness of the car and its fun-to-drive character.
For example, Suzuki Swift’s drunkenness and Suzuki Swift Sport’s giddiness are celebrated for these qualities, as are many other small cars and SUVs that work exceptionally well. And when you know how to improve torsion beam suspension, you can rip the highest benefit.
