Suspension Types in Cars

There are different types of suspension systems available for cars for front and rear axles. Most prominent types are dependent suspension and independent suspension systems for both front and rear. These also apply to other types of vehicles such as semi trucks. Each type of suspension system contains and use shock absorbers and springs. If there are only springs in the suspension system, your car would boat and wallow along with the road while you are driving. To overcome this problem, shock absorbers or dampers are used. Now we will see different types of suspensions.

  • Front suspension system: There are again two types of suspension systems for front. Those are dependent system and independent system. If a rigid axle binds the wheel to do not move independently is known as dependent system. If the wheels are permitted to move independently is known as independent system. The following are the some of the common suspensions that used in mainstream cars.
    • Dependent front suspension systems: In the dependent front suspension system front wheels are connected with rigid front axle. Basically, it is under the front of the car and looks like a solid bar. It is kept there along with shock absorbers and leaf springs. These are common on trucks but in mainstream cars, it haven’t been used for years.
    • Independent front suspension systems: This system was developed by the General Motors in the year 1947. This is the widely used suspension system in cars especially those of European origin.
  • Rear suspension system: The rear suspension system also has both dependent and independent systems. Now we will see them.
    • Dependent rear suspension system: The suspension system in a car is usually quite simple if solid axle connects the rear wheels. American automakers are using this in car manufacturing for years because of its simplicity. These are based on either a coil spring or a leaf spring. In the old design, leaf springs are directly clamped to drive axle and the ends of leaf springs attached to the car frame. The shock absorber holds axle and spring as it is attached at clamp. By replacing the leaf springs with coil springs, same can be achieved. In this case, the shock absorber and the spring mounted as a separate components or single unit. The springs can be smaller when they are separate.
    • Independent rear suspension system: If both front and rear suspensions are independent, all wheels sprung individually and mounted. Any suspension that are used in the front can use in the rear also. But in the rear suspension system, steering rack is not appeared. Steering rack is the assembly of gear wheel and it enables to turn the wheels side to side, which means these are simplified versions of the front suspension systems.

All the basic principles in both front and rear suspension systems are same as per its dependent and independent methods. Even the parts of the system like springs and shock absorbers also used almost in same way.