It takes more than a decent set of lowered springs and shocks to really get the power down and make your car handle better than Pavarotti rolling down a hill in Tuscany . Here is a look at a few of the essentials.

Springs

Springs are what hold the weight of the car up. They also work in tandem with the shock absorbers to ensure that the car is supported and can navigate any bumps safely. There are four types of spring systems: coil springs, leaf springs, torsion bars and air bag springs. Here we will cover the first three types of springs. A spring is a device which stores potential energy. In simple terms it stores this energy by straining the bonds between the atoms of an elastic material.

Coil springs are by far the most commonly used type of spring. Coil springs compress and expand, absorbing the energy and motion of the wheels. The shock absorber's job is to restrict and slow down the movement of the spring.

Sprung mass and unsprung mass is important to understand when talking about springs. Sprung mass is the weight of the vehicle which is being supported on the springs. The unsprung mass can be very loosely considered the mass between the road and the springs. Luxury cars which are loosely sprung are very smooth and can ride over bumps without even noticing them. However under braking, acceleration and cornering, they roll and squat. This is why larger family cars' handling is described as 'boaty', because their motion resembles a boat at sea. Tightly sprung cars like most sport cars, may provide a bumpier ride, but can handle aggressive braking and cornering while still maintaining a fairly flat stance.

Leaf springs are derived from horse-drawn carts and they consist of several layers of metal which are bound together to act as a single unit. American automobiles almost solely used this type of spring until 1985. Today leaf springs can still be found on trucks and heavy duty vehicles. Commercial vehicles can often be found with leaf springs also.

Torsion bars work based on the twisting properties of steel. The bar is anchored to the vehicle frame, while the other end is attached to a wishbone. This acts as a lever and moves perpendicular to the torsion bar. Hitting a bump causes the vertical motion of the wheels to be transmitted to the wishbone and then to the torsion bar through the levering action. At this stage the torsion bar twists along its axis providing a spring force.

Shock Absorber

Known as a damper in Britain , shock absorbers are a fairly simple mechanical device that are designed to smooth out sudden jolts and bumps which are transmitted through the tyre and wheel. A shock absorber will damp a shock impulse and dissipate the kinetic energy it produces.

A vehicle lacking shock absorbers would experience a bouncy ride. The energy of each bump and bounce is stored in the spring and would be released onto the chassis of the car, sometimes which might be more than the allowed range of the spring movement. This would be dangerous and uncomfortable.

Shock absorbers limit the effective range of the springs and this means that lower rate (softer) springs can be used in order to create a comfortable ride. They also damp the movement of the unsprung weight up and down on the springiness of the tyre and spring.

Shock absorbers can be pneumatic or hydraulic and are usually a cylinder with a sliding piston in the centre. The cylinder is filled with a viscous fluid or air, helping to dissipate the energy. Where this energy will go is one major consideration when designing a shock absorber. Most modern shocks will convert energy into heat in the viscous fluid. Air cylinders will transfer the heat to the air which is then exhausted.

The most common type of shock absorption method in the automotive field at present is hydraulic dampers. Hydraulics relates to the flow of fluids through narrow orifices. This creates friction which damps the energy collected in the springs and then transfers the heat into the fluid.

Sway Bars

The purpose of sway bars is to ensure that the car experiences minimal roll through a corner. Sway bars can also be referred to as anti sway bars, anti rolls bars and stabilizer bars. When a vehicle goes around a corner, its body tends to lean towards the outside of the curve. The faster the car is punted through the corner, the more body roll the car will experience. As the lean is increasingly pronounced, the contact patch of the tyre to the ground decreases in area, resulting in lower grip levels.

The goal of a sway bar is to keep the tyre as close to perpendicular to the road as possible. Thicker, stiffer sway bars will limit the roll angle of the car which in turn will limit the tyre camber during a turn. The length of the bar will have a profound effect on the stiffness and quality of the handling, with the shorter bar being tauter.

When you head into a corner, the outside wheel's suspension set up gets forced upwards. The sway bar has torsion applied to it, which transmits to the opposite suspension components causing them to compress also. The result is a flat angle through the corner.

Strut Brace

Strut braces are designed to increase the structural rigidity of a car's chassis. Rigidity is extremely important in determining the attitude and responsiveness of a car. Strut braces bolt across the tops of the front and rear strut towers, increasing the chassis stiffness.

Any play in the suspension components is taken up before the car responds to the drivers input. Soft suspension takes a lot longer to respond that tighter suspension due to less play in the suspension components.

By fitting strut braces the chassis is reinforced at key suspension points for added rigidity. Increased chassis stiffness improves responsiveness, gives great feedback to the driver, and improves the overall geometry and effectiveness (particularly under load) of the suspension and braking components. Every part of the suspension works closer to its optimum, improving grip and braking capacity simultaneously.

Strut braces are a simple and cheap upgrade which can yield great benefits in many areas of handling dynamics.

Bushes

Suspension bushes can be found on all vehicles where a moving suspension part is connected to the vehicles chassis. They are positioned in these areas in order to dampen vibration and noise. Commonly bushes which come from the factory are made of rubber, but due to the enormous stresses placed on these components in their lifetime they deteriorate with age. The predominant reason car manufacturers use rubber is its cheap cost.

Purpose built race cars in particular single seat track based cars, feature metal joints with no dampening properties and an extremely short serviceable lifespan. Obviously this would not be acceptable in a road-going production vehicle as there are other considerations such as noise and durability. The deterioration of bushes are the biggest reason why a 3 year old car will feel markedly different to a brand new car from the showroom.

Aftermarket bushes are often made of harder materials such as polyurethane which is stiff and long lasting, but has a degree of flex in it also. Bushes are a must for any performance handling set up and can change the dynamics and feel of a vehicle, but are often overlooked by the modifier.