Using K&C Measurements for Practical Suspension Tuning and Development

In recent decades suspension kinematics and compliance (K&C) testing has become a support-testing standard in the vehicle industry, providing invaluable data for suspension design and vehicle dynamics simulations. But in practical ride and handling tuning/development work, many readily available K&C test measurements have yet to achieve the empirical significance of traditional derived parameters such as roll center heights and roll stiffness distributions. In an attempt to emphasize the practical usefulness of K&C test data, this paper presents several methods by which this data can directly assist with chassis tuning and development. Traditional K&C data interpretation methods are discussed and new concepts such as “yaw efficiency” are developed and presented.