UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN

LEE KONG CHIAN FACULTY OF

ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE
UEME3233 MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS

Assignment: Critical Review (MacPherson Strut Suspension)

Group Member:
Name
Aaron Phan Wee Siong
Ian Anthony
Lim Cia Lev
Remie Png Kuang Xi

ID
1102087
1101975
1204099
1105255

Course/Year
ME Y3S3
ME Y3S1
ME Y3S3
ME Y3S3

______________________________________________________________________________

ABSTRACT

This article represents a critical review on some four wheeled suspension systems that exist,
particularly the MacPherson strut. This review was done in an effort to critically analyse and
comment on the history, purpose, design, structure and benefits of the MacPherson Strut. This
was done by reviewing various journals and articles with reference to the MacPherson Strut
as well as a few other suspension types for comparison. The MacPherson strut was invented
by Earl S. MacPherson of Ford in the 1940s. It is suitable for small cars due to its compact
dimensions. It is also low in cost, has good ride qualities. However, it has been shown that
the MacPherson Strut design cannot allow vertical movement of the wheel without some
degree of either camber angle change, sideways movement, or both. Regardless, the
MacPherson strut is used in the front wheel drives of almost all modern car models.

INTRODUCTION
In vehicle design, many things are emphasized including horsepower, torque zero-to60 acceleration, as well as steering and handling. But one extremely important aspect that is
often overlooked and underappreciated by a consumer is the vehicle suspension.
The suspension system can be traced back to its earliest form early form of on oxdrawn carts that had the platform swing on iron chains attached to the wheeled frame of the
carriage. This system remained the basis for all suspension systems until the turn of the 19th
century, although the iron chains were replaced with the use of leather straps in the 17th
century. The first workable spring-suspension required advanced metallurgical knowledge
and skill, and only became possible with the advent of industrialisation. Obadiah Elliott
registered the first patent for a spring-suspension vehicle. In it, each wheel had two durable
steel leaf springs on each side and the body of the carriage was fixed directly to the springs
attached to the axles. Within a decade, most British horse carriages were equipped with
springs; wooden springs in the case of light one-horse vehicles to avoid taxation, and steel
springs in larger vehicles. These were often made of low-carbon steel and usually took the
form of multiple layer leaf springs. In 1901 Mors of Paris first fitted an automobile with
shock absorbers. With the advantage of a dampened suspension system on his 'Mors
Machine', Henri Fournier won the prestigious Paris-to-Berlin race on 20 June 1901.
Suspension systems are the system of springs, shock absorbers and linkages that
connects a vehicle to its wheels and allows relative motion between the two. Suspension

systems serve a dual purpose, contributing to the vehicle's handling and braking for good
active safety and keeping vehicle occupants comfortable and ride quality reasonably well
isolated from road noise, bumps, and vibrations. Because both parts cannot be perfect, car
manufacturers must often trade-off between these components to fine tune the suspension
system to best suit specific car model.
Modern suspension systems contain 3 main components. They are the springs,
dampers and links. These components are arranged in various configurations to create
different types of suspension systems like those that will be mentioned in the coming
paragraphs.
There are 3 major types of springs. They are coil springs, torsion bars and leaf
springs. Coil springs are what most people are familiar with, Leaf springs are what you would
find on most cars up to about 1985 and almost all heavy duty vehicles. They look like layers
of metal connected to the axle. The layers are called leaves, hence leaf-spring. Dampers
dampen the vertical motion induced by driving your car along a rough surface. Without
dampers, a car would continually bounce because of the springs. Dampers perform two
functions. As mentioned above, they absorb any larger-than-average bumps in the road so that
the upward velocity of the wheel over the bump isn't transmitted to the car chassis, but more
than that, they also keep the vehicle wheels planted on the road. The last components, the
links, are the main body of the suspension. They keep the springs and dampers mounted to
the chassis and wheel as well as offer the ability for manufacturers to tune the suspension
system to suit the vehicle by holding different configurations and angles.
The various components have been tried and tested over the last few years and have
come together in many finely tuned configurations that are used by our modern day vehicles
such as the systems explained as follows.

Types of Suspension Systems

1) Double wishbone
Background

A double wishbone suspension is an independent suspension design using two

wishbone-shaped arms to locate the wheel. Each wishbone or arm has two mounting points to
the chassis and one joint at the knuckle. The shock absorber and coil spring mount to the
wishbones to control vertical movement. Double wishbone designs allow the engineer to
carefully control the motion of the wheel throughout suspension travel, controlling such
parameters as camber angle, caster angle, toe pattern, roll centre height, scrub radius, scuff
and more.
First introduced in the 1930s, French car manufacturers Citroen first used it in the
1934 Rosalie and Traction Avant. Over time, most cars employing this design have rapidly
shifted to the MacPherson strut thus leaving this system with less and less use. A good
example of this is observed in the Honda Civic, which changed its front-suspension design
from a double wishbone to a MacPherson strut after the 7th generation (EP) introduced at the
year 2000.
Over the 60 years that it was in use, the system underwent several alterations to make
it more efficient. Early versions had arms of equal length running parallel but this caused a
problem with the camber angle of the wheels whenever the cars made sharp turns reducing
the life of the wheels. Newer versions saw a solution to the problem by making the top arms
shorter than the bottom arms.
Design

The double wishbone suspensions name is reflective of its design with its two
triangulated wishbone-shaped arms and a track rod to guide the wheel. It is an independent
system with the suspension spring wrapped over the shock absorber. Each wishbone has two
mounting points to the car's chassis and one joint at the knuckle. The shock absorbers and
coil springs, mount to the wishbones to control vertical movement. The wishbone arms are
not always parallel, and are usually of unequal lengths. Early versions had equal length arms,
but this caused the wheels of the car to lean outward in turns. When unequal length arms
were developed the camber change problem was solved, and in fact became a huge advantage
because it made the wheels develop increased negative camber during vertical suspension
movement.

Advantages / Disadvantages

Although not as widely used currently, the double wishbone has many superior
qualities that made it one of the most used suspension systems in the world. One of its

primary benefits is the increase of negative camber as a result of the vertical suspension
movement of the upper and lower arms. This creates better stability properties for the car as
the tires on the outside maintain more contact with the road surface. Handling performance
also increases because of this. Another advantage of this system is it allows easy adjustments
of camber, toe and other properties. This provides the engineer more free parameters than
most other types do. The effect of each moving each joint, is simpler to analyse so
the kinematics of the suspension can be tuned easily and wheel motion can be optimized. It is
also easy to work out the loads that different parts will be subjected to which allows more
optimised lightweight parts to be designed. In addition to the above, this system is much
more rigid and stable than other suspension systems, thus steering and wheel alignments are
constant even when undergoing high amounts of stress.
However this system also contains various drawbacks. The biggest issue with this
system is that it takes more space and is slightly more complex than other systems like the
MacPherson strut. Due to the increased number of components within the suspension set up it
takes much longer to service and is heavier than an equivalent MacPherson design. The large
number of components require more maintenance as every time any of these malfunction of
fail, your whole system fails. But it is by far not the most complex as it is requires less
maintenance than the multi-link system. It takes up significantly more room than other
independent suspension systems and weighs more too. It is also more expensive to produce
due to its complexity and amount of components compared to the MacPherson strut. It also
offers less design choice.

Application
Double wishbones are usually considered to have superior dynamic characteristics as
well as load-handling capabilities, and are still found on higher performance vehicles. Higher
end vehicles such as the Alfa Romeo, MG, Pontiac, Honda, Mercedes-Benz and the Tesla
Model S all have models that use the Double wishbone system. Short long arms suspension, a
type of double wishbone suspension, were very common on front suspensions on cars such as
the Honda Accord, Peugeot 407, Citroen C5, Peugeot 508 GT or Mazda 6/Atenza. Most of
these have been replaced with MacPherson struts currently.
In short, most cars no longer use this system, however when this system was used, it
was used in mostly higher end cars.

2) Multi-link Suspension System

Background
The multi-link suspension system, also known as the independent wishbone
suspension system, is a passive, independent suspension system. It follows similar principles
of the double wishbone although the arms of each wishbone are separate items. The multilink suspension was first introduced in the late 1960s by Mercedes-Benz on the MercedesBenz C111. For a long time, the double wishbone suspension systems have lagged behind
other leading systems such as the MacPherson system until the production of the multi-link
system. Due to its superior capabilities in camber control and the fact that it is significantly
lighter than its competitors, the multi-link system has become more popular with car
manufacturers since the 1990s.

Design

The multi-link design uses several short links (arms) to attach the hub carrier to the
car's body. The links are configured to ensure that the camber angle of the wheel remains
unchanged during suspension movement. 'Toe' and 'caster' dimensions are also controlled by
the links depending on their initial design geometry. Multi-link systems can use as few as
three links, up to as many as five depending on the design. Typically each arm has a ball joint
or rubber bushing at each end. Consequently they react to loads along their own length, in

tension and compression, but not in bending.

As the spindle turns for steering, it alters the geometry of the suspension by torqueing
all suspension arms. They have complex pivot systems designed to allow this to happen. Car
manufacturers claim that this system gives even better road-holding properties, because all
the various joints make the suspension almost infinitely adjustable. Multi-link arrangements
are used on both the front and the rear suspensions. Since there isn't a single set multi-link

setup, different manufacturers customize different variants of the same design to best suit
their product. Some BMW setups use four links, while the Honda's multi-link system uses the
basic double wishbone suspension but with an added fifth control arm and the Hyundai
Genesis have both front and rear 5-link systems.
Advantages / Disadvantages
The multi-link suspension design has been called is the most advanced and functional
independent suspension available for an automobile because it offers the best compromises
between handling and space efficiency and comfort and handling.
Its principle advantage over other leading competitors is in its ability to control
camber, toe and caster. Its complete flexibility and customizability allows it to be tweaked to
near perfect adjustment for every individual car design. This allows it to accurately control
each wheel with a greater degree of precision. The multi-link is also advantageous for the
designer who can alter one parameter in the suspension without influencing the entire
assembly. This is a major difference compared to a double wishbone suspension where
moving a hard point or changing a bushing compliance will affect two or more parameters.

The multi-link suspension design has been called is the most advanced and functional
independent suspension available for an automobile because it offers the best compromises
between handling and space efficiency and comfort and handling.

Its principle advantage over other leading competitors is in its ability to control
camber, toe and caster. Its complete flexibility and customizability allows it to be tweaked to
near perfect adjustment for every individual car design. This allows it to accurately control
each wheel with a greater degree of precision. The multi-link is also advantageous for the
designer who can alter one parameter in the suspension without influencing the entire
assembly. This is a major difference compared to a double wishbone suspension where
moving a hard point or changing a bushing compliance will affect two or more parameters.
Another strong point of the multi-link system is in its weight and design. Due to the
smaller link and spring system, the multilink system takes less space than almost any other
suspension system and can accommodate smaller more compressed bodies. It also is
significantly lighter than systems like the MacPherson strut or trailing-arm suspension
systems.
Although the multi-link may be the most advance suspension system, it is not without
its drawbacks. Its very design, although well crafted, works against it. The designs and
variants are extremely complex and require intense design scrutiny. Its complex system
makes it difficult to tune the geometry without a full 3D computer aided design analysis.
Also, because of the many small links and high complexity, it has more potential points of
failure. And lastly, its biggest disadvantage is that it isnt economical. Due to its high
complexity, tedious design analysis and use of more components, the system is just too
expensive for most mainstream vehicles. For this reason, this system was introduced in most
luxury brands. But despite of this, lower vehicle production costs and higher customer
expectation have more recently seen the technology filter down to many large and midsized
mainstream vehicles although this system is still far from common.

Application
Because of the detailed nature of the design as well as the number of components, the
system is overly expensive to produce. As a result of this, it is only used in luxury cars.
The multi-link system represents the most advanced car suspension system on the
market. But because of this it is more used in luxury cars and is not economical enough for
standard mainstream cars.

3) MacPherson Strut
Background
Another world renowned suspension system is the MacPherson which was invented
by Earl S. MacPherson of Ford in the 1940s. Implementation of MacPherson suspension,
includes front and back suspension is still in used until today. This is a strut base suspension
system whereby the spring connects directly to the steering knuckle and to the chassis and
acts as a link in the suspension. This will result in a simple and compact suspension system.

The McPherson strut often has a steering arm built into the lower inner portion. This
type of positioning is surprisingly simple and this can be pre manufactured into a particular
unit at the assembly line. To allow more width in the engine bay, simply just remove the
upper control arm, this will then ease any maintenance work or engine design requirements.
This design structure is very useful for smaller cars, particularly with transverse-mounted
engines such as Front engine, front wheel drive (FF) drive designed vehicles. Further
simplification is possible by substituting an anti-roll bar (torsion bar) for the radius arm. As
shown in the top left picture, the top view shows the positioning of the anti-roll bar. This will
also ease method to set suspension geometry. This breakthrough leads to the production

overheads to be more cost effective and making this a very common design set up in today's
marketplace.

Picture below show a much more details regarding McPherson Suspension System.

Generally, this design is suitable for small cars due to low in cost, has good ride
qualities, and has the compact dimensions(small size) necessary for front wheel drive cars.
This will then offer better driving experience as well as smoother journey for the passengers
on board. The advantages will be broken down and further discussed in detail in later section.
There is no such thing as a perfect system in real life. McPherson suspension systems also
has its disadvantages, Geometric analysis has shown that MacPherson Strut design cannot
allow vertical movement of the wheel without some degree of either camber angle change,
sideways movement (or both). The double wishbone suspension is then favoured for
Motorsport applications. Picture below shows the structural difference between McPherson
and Double Wishbone suspension system.

McPherson suspension system can been seen in many cars such as Hyundai Atoz, Alfa
Romeo GTV, Alfa Romeo Spider, some of the Chevrolets, some of General Motor (US) cars,
some of Renault cars, Ford and so on.

4) Torsion Beam Suspension

Background
The torsion beam suspension is one of the well known semi-independent suspension,
which combining characteristics of the dependent and independent suspensions. It was first
introduced at 1930s and it was wisely implemented on European cars in 1950s. It is a type of
semi dependent suspension and is often used as the rear suspensions for front engine front
drive (FF) type of vehicles.

Design

Basically, the torsion beam suspension consists of two longitudinal trailing arms
attached to the chassis with bushings and the wheels. In between the trailing arms, a torsion
beam is connected. When a wheel undergoes an impact, the beam will twist and some of the
shock is absorbed, reducing its transmission to the opposite wheel. The torsion beam must be
stiff enough to support lateral forces during cornering. Besides, it must also flexible enough
to allow the right and left hand wheels to displace differently when driving over a bump.

Torsion beam with no load applied.

Torsion beam with load applied

In the case of rolling motion where a relative displacement between a left wheel and a
right one occurs, the torsion beam must carry vertical and longitudinal bending moments with
minimal deformation, and must simultaneously allow large torsional deformation over its
length. In order to satisfy these requirements, a cross-section of the torsion beam is usually
designed as V or U-shape with open or closed channel. The cross-sectional properties
including the second moment of inertia, the polar moment of inertia, and the loci of centroid
and shear center are calculated to evaluate the suspension performance. That is, the second
moments of inertia and the locus of centroid are used to evaluate bending stresses. The polar
moment of inertia isutilized to estimate the roll stiffness. The locus of shear center and the
location of twist beam determine the characteristic of the alignment behavior in the case of
rolling motion. Thus, the suspension performance is highly dependent on properties of the
cross-sectional shape.

Advantages / Disadvantages
The torsion beam suspension comes with numerous advantages. Firstly, the
suspension design is simple and easy to apply. Secondly, its cost is low since it require lesser
components for the system to function as a suspension. The Besides that, a torsion beam
suspension is durable. This kind of suspension also does not need a separate anti-roll bar to
help reduce the body roll of a vehicle during fast cornering or over road irregularities. On the

other hand, the disadvantage for the torsion beam suspension is that it is not very easy to
adjust the roll stiffness. The torsion beam also cannot provide a progressive spring rate like
coil springs.

Application
Previously, there were quite a number of cars that applied torsion beam suspension
such as Porshce 924, 944, and 968, Jaguar E-Type and Volkswagen Beetle. But since the
development of independent suspension, the torsion beam suspension is not so popular
anymore. The Renault Megane and Citroen C4 are the very few car that still using this kind
of suspension after year 2000.

5) Twin I-Beam Suspension

Background
In 1965, Ford introduced a new kind of suspension which known as twin I-beam
suspension. This twin I-beam suspension is used exclusively by Ford and it is the motivator
behind the Fords long success in selling its F-Series pickup trucks. It is a "swing axle" type
of independent front suspension. The twin I-beam suspension is made up of few main
components: I-beams, radius rods, I-beam pivot bushings and bolts, radius rod bushings and
bolts, I-beam pivot brackets and radius rod brackets. Basically, this type of suspension is
simply replace the traditional one-piece solid-beam axle with two separate suspension beams
designed to move independently and then hinging it at each ends. But if it is done, so this
design would create camber issues if the axles were simply hinged at the center of the car. So
to solve the problem, Ford lengthened each axle so that each could be hinged near the
opposite wheel because if the axle is longer, the less the impact on camber.

Twin I-beam suspension.

This new suspension would allow both tires to be isolated from one another since they
are not connected directly and theoretically allow them to stay in better contact with the road.
The design sought to maximize durability and simplicity over a conventional axle suspension
by using forged steel beams that would pivot from the opposite sides of the truck. The twin Ibeam is secured to frame by a radius rod. The radius rod will maintain the best possible
alignment of the rear axles.

Reaction of twin I-beam suspension when one of the wheel pass over a bump.

Other than the advantages mentioned, the twin I-beam suspension will also provide
good handling and corner behavior for the vehicle while having excellent load capacity. Ford
also claimed that this suspension will reduce tires wear while provide good roll stiffness for
the vehicle. The twin I-beam suspension is applied on trucks and vans, such as Ford F-150,
which is the latest design from Ford F-series trucks.
But none of these systems are more widely used or as versatile and economic than the
MacPherson Strut. For this reason as well as many others shown below, it is the design we
chose to review in detail.

MACPHERSON STRUT
Fundamental form and function of the MacPherson struts
Apart from all the other types of car suspension system out there, we specifically
chose the MacPherson struts to be further discussed in details.

Basically, the MacPherson struts consist of a few main components such as the coil
spring, upper suspension locator, and a shock absorber which are mounted between the top
arm of the steering knuckle and the inner fender panel.
The MacPherson struts assembly can also be briefly described by the telescopic
shock-absorber consisting of a tube, carrying a wheel mounting at its lower end. Followed by
the rod having a free end and being able to slide through the upper end of the tube, it also has
its helical compression spring surrounding the shock-absorber and a resilient connection for
connecting the free end of the rod to a body of the motor vehicle. The connection being
formed in such a way that the plane in which the rod bears against the body of the motor
vehicle is displaced below the free end of the rod and having a member substantially in the
form of an inverted cup fixed at its upper end to the free end of the rod. Then continue by its
lower end to an annular block of elastomeric material connected to the body of the motor
vehicle.
The MacPherson strut has a very basic function, which is to smooth out, dampens
shock impulse and dissipate energy from the shock that is being exerted from the wheel
towards the body of the vehicle. When the vehicle passes over a bump, the suspension and
vibration dampers are compressed. The resulting shock of the vehicle is absorbed by the
suspension. The suspension prevents the sprung mass (body and payload) from making
contact between the un-sprung mass (suspension and wheels). The spring, tends to store
kinetic energy in them and then releasing it. In order to quickly reduce and eliminate this
springing oscillation between the axle and body. The shock absorber would then act as a
damper to dampen the vibration of the vehicles body caused by uneven roads or driving
conditions and to quickly reduce and eliminate road-induced wheel and axle vibration in
order to provide constant contact between the tire and the roadway. This helps ensure good
tracking and braking performance of the vehicle and also the comfort of the passenger.
Detailed set up of the MacPherson strut

The MacPherson strut suspension is generally indicated at 10 in FIG 1 and includes

two upright strut assembly 12 interconnecting front wheels 14 and a vehicle body 16. As
shown in FIG. 2, each strut assembly 12 has an outer tube 18 and a shock absorber 20 fixedly
received therein. The shock absorber 20 has a piston rod 22 projecting upwardly from the
upper end of the strut outer tube 18 to be pivotally and resiliently connected to the vehicle
body 16. The strut assembly 12 also has a bracket 24 secured to the lower end of the strut
outer tube 18 for supporting a steering knuckle 26. Also secured to the strut outer tube 18 is a
lower spring seat 28 for retaining the lower end of a front coil spring 30 placed around the
piston rod 22 and the strut outer tube 18. The upper end of the front coil spring 30 is retained
by an upper spring seat 32 which has an opening permitting the piston rod 22 to extend
upwardly there through and is urged by the front coil spring 30 against the vehicle body 16
by interposing there between a bearing 34 so that the upper spring seat 32 is rotatable relative
to the vehicle body 16. Mounted on the piston rod 22 at a location between the upper spring
seat 32 and the upper end of the strut outer tube 18 is a bumper rubber 36 adapted to function
as a damper for large shocks. The front wheel 14 is thus turn-able about the centre axis of the
strut assembly 12 together with the strut outer tube 18, the coil spring 30 and so on.

In the above described front suspension, there is provided between the front coil
spring 30 and the upper spring seat 32 a spring seat rubber 38 for insulation there between.
The spring seat rubber 38 has a spring constant which sharply increases with increasing
compression force applied thereto. When installed in place, the spring seat rubber 38 is
subjected to a relatively large pre-load from the front coil spring 30 and thus given a large
spring constant. Such spring seat rubber 38, therefore, cannot sufficiently insulate the vehicle
body from shocks, particularly from small vibrations but allows the small vibrations to be
transferred through the bearing 34 to the vehicle body 16. The above described MacPherson
strut suspension thus has the drawback that it cannot effectively insulate the vehicle body 16
from shocks, particularly from small vibrations, resulting in a deteriorated ride quality. In
order to overcome this drawback, the spring seat rubber 38 may be increased in solid
thickness or height. This, however, results in another problem of an increased vehicle height.

Structural analysis of the MacPherson strut

Basically, the MacPherson struts consist of two major components that allows it to
smooth out or damp shock impulse, and dissipate kinetic energy. The first is the coil spring
and the second is the shock absorber (damper).
Coil Spring
A metal spring is used to absorb the impact loads as it is a low cost method to reduce
the collision speed and reducing the shock loading. They are able to operate in very arduous
conditions under a wide range of temperatures. These devices have high stopping forces at
end of stroke. Metal springs store energy rather than dissipating it. If metal spring type shock

absorbers are used then measures should be taken to limit oscillation. Hence, metal springs
are often used with viscous dampers. There are a number of different types of metal springs
including helical springs, bevel washers(cone-springs), leaf springs, ring springs, mesh
springs and such. Each spring type has its own operating characteristics.

Shock Absorber
The type of shock absorber used in a basic MacPherson struts is the fluid friction
shock absorber. It involves the flow of fluid through a narrow orifice (hydraulics), constitutes
the vast majority of automotive shock absorbers. An advantage of this type is that, it uses
special internal valve which causes the absorber to be made relatively soft to compression
(allowing a soft response to a bump) and relatively stiff to extension, controlling "jounce",
which is the vehicle response to energy stored in the springs. Similarly, a series of valves
controlled by springs can change the degree of stiffness according to the velocity of the
impact or rebound. Specialized shock absorbers for racing purposes may allow the front end
of a dragster to rise with minimal resistance under acceleration, then strongly resist letting it
settle, thereby maintaining a desirable rearward weight distribution for enhanced traction.
Some shock absorbers allow tuning of the ride via control of the valve by a manual
adjustment provided at the shock absorber. In more expensive vehicles the valves may be
remotely adjustable, offering the driver control of the ride at will while the vehicle is
operated. The ultimate control is provided by dynamic valve control via computer in response
to sensors, giving both a smooth ride and a firm suspension when needed. Many shock
absorbers contain compressed nitrogen, to reduce the tendency for the oil to foam under
heavy use. Foaming temporarily reduces the damping ability of the unit. In very heavy duty
units used for racing and/or off road use, there may even be a secondary cylinder connected
to the shock absorber to act as a reservoir for the oil and pressurized gas. Another variation is
the Magneto rheological damper which changes its fluid characteristics through an
electromagnet.
The Drawbacks
Likewise, there is no such thing as the perfect system in the world. The Macpherson
strut suspension also has a few disadvantages in terms of quality of ride and the handling of

the car. Geometric analysis shows that it does not allow vertical movement of the wheel
without some degree of camber angle change or sideways movement. This means the tires
will have less contact with the road during cornering. Thus, it reduces the steadiness of
handling of your vehicle and it is not generally considered to give a good handling compare
to others.
Besides, the Macpherson strut has a very tall assembly or we should say that it is quite
lengthy, making the suspension impractical to be applied on super race cars such as Bugatti,
Pagani, Ferrari and so on. It is not really suitable for super cars because supercars must be
low; having low centre of gravity allows the car to have even better stability.

Macpherson strut suspension also transmits noise and friction with the wind directly
into the body shell, leading to higher noise levels. These are all external noise resulting from
external friction of boundary layers. In order to reduce the noise, noise reduction or
cancellation and isolation mechanisms are needed to be applied along with the suspension.
Figure below shows various types of sound insulation that can be installed onto the car.

Besides that, the vehicle will face Scrub Radius Issues. Macpherson strut equipped
vehicles usually have negative scrub radius. The most common scrub radius will be the
positive scrub radius. The advantage of having positive scrub radius is that the tire rolls as the
wheel is steered, which reduces the effort when parking. This also allows greater width in the
engine bay, which is very important in some compact sports cars.

However, negative scrub radius provides centre point steering in the event of a tire
deflation, which provides greater stability and steering control in this emergency situation.
The MacPherson suspension system setup leads to Scrub Radius Issues as it causes higher
difficulties to increase the tire width on the car. The only solution to increase the tire width on

the car is to increase the scrub radius of the tire as it moves through the range of suspension
travel. However, this solution is not recommended as it will then increase side loading on the
suspension and bends the components. On the other hand, there will be lacking of chamber
gain. The structural design of the strut suspension causes little chamber gain as the wheels
roll over a bump. This phenomenon will then causes the tire to roll into positive chamber as
the chassis rolls on the suspension. Thus, this results in overall reduction in cornering power
of the tire.

Improvising the MacPherson struts design

Undesired lateral force that is transmitted from the wheel inevitably exist in the
MacPherson suspension system.This lateral force is liable to cause the shock absorber to have
a side wear and increased in the dampers inner friction.Hence, decreasing the ride
performance from the suspension system. In extreme cases, the lateral force may cause the
shock absorber to bend to a point where it would jammed up the shock absorber tube causing
it to malfunction.

In order for the MacPherson struts to function ideally, the center axis of the coil spring
has to be coincident with the axis of the shock absorber as shown on the left fig. 1.But in
actual situation, the load W acting from the ground would causes a bending moment in the

shock absorber, the friction is increased due to this bending moment, which results in
increased in riding discomfort. One common approach of reducing this friction is by using an
offset strut, shown on the righ side of fig.1.With this type of strut, the friction and side load
can theoretically be eliminated. Besides that, substituting a new side load spring with curved
centerline for the conventional coil spring has been proven to solve these problems and also
with the help of multibody dynamics analysis combining with FEA.
However, the actual side load may not become zero because of an eccentric load may
be created by the deviation between the load axis and geometric center axis of the coil spring.
Apart from that, it is difficult to keep the required amount of offset because of a lack of space
around the suspension and the load axis position is greatly influence by the boundary
condition of the coil spring.

Benefits
Speaking of marketing, customers from all around the world have different taste base
on their needs. For example, a mother who has 4 kids, she does not need a race car
specification vehicle but a sedan. As for a teenage guy who just found his lover, he definitely
wants to impress her in front of all her friends. A race car or a vintage muscle will do the job.
Therefore, it is crucial how a design can tackle the buyers. For McPherson suspension
system, it is not the best but it is the most multi-purpose or flexible one; providing from the
basic to those on race track simple with some modifications. One of the main advantages in
terms of the dollar sign is its low cost.

Picture above shows the structural differences between McPherson (Left) and Double
Wishbone (Right) Suspension system. We can clearly see that the materials required in
McPherson are far lesser than Double Wishbone. Since the McPherson is produce in large
quantity, supplying most of the cars around the world, the manufacturing cost is definitely
lower compared to other stand-alone suspension system. On the other hand, McPherson
suspension system displays low un-sprung weight, this is a great slap to other suspension
system because this reduces the overall weight of the vehicle while increases the cars
acceleration. In the analysis of cars acceleration, it is crucial to have high torque engines
such as the V12 engine. However the weight of engine increases tremendously from V6 to V8
and lastly to V12. This will then affect the acceleration as the overall car body is slower. In
simpler words, we can analyze it base on power to weight ratio. Therefore the weight of the
car plays on the main role in terms of acceleration. Not forgetting that the fuel efficiency will
also be affected by the cars weight. Besides that, lower un-sprung weight also allow much
more comfortable. Picture below displays the data of power and weight for a particular car.

Moving on to the next point, which is size. McPherson suspension system is small in
size which allows the car to breath more. Particularly front-wheel drive cars, whose engine
and transmission are positioned inside the front compartment; they need front suspensions
which engage very little width of the car. Since the McPherson design uses the struts as the
upper suspension link, nothing is placed or connected behind the steering front hub/knuckle.
With this design, necessary clearance will be provided for drive shafts on a front wheel
vehicle. Generally, McPherson suspension is considered as a uni-body (or monocoque)
construction. This is because it has a substantial vertical space and a strong top mount,
whereby uni-bodies can provide and also by distributing stresses greatly increases the set up's

results in the handling stakes. The design of McPherson suspension system is extremely
compact and allows for smaller overall chassis dimensions. One of the main reasons why this
design is very compact is because the strut is vertically positioned.

Besides that, the McPherson strut has a steering arm which is built into the lower
inner portion (highlighted in red colour in the picture above). This assembly is extremely
simple and can be pre manufactured into a unit at the assembly line. By removing the upper
control arm, unlike Double Wishbone suspension system, it allows for more width in the
engine bay, eases any maintenance job, modification or engine design requirements. Without
an upper arm manipulating the boundary, the suspension system designers can directly block
vibration from reaching the passenger compartment. This will then ensure that the passenger
will feel much more comfortable. One of the main reasons why the upper arm is not required
in McPherson suspension system is the presence of telescopic shock absorber which serves as
a link to control the position of the wheel. Therefore, we can say that McPherson Suspension
system is a well-balance design.

CONCLUSION
To summarize, the MacPherson strut represents the most economical, structurally
viable option for use in most modern cars. For this reason, it is the most widely used
suspension system in the world. It is also the reason this review has been focused on it.
Although it has slight room for improvement, and as it stands, it represents a superb product
of engineering and the automotive industry.

References
1)

Heywood, J., Muller, G., & Jurosek, M. (1965). Twin-I-Beam A Unique Truck
Independent Front Suspension. SAE Technical Paper, 650153. doi:10.4271/650153.

2)

Silveira, M.E., Vasconcelos, L., & Christoforo, A. (2012). Numerical simulation of

the kinematic behavior of a twist beam suspension using finite element method.
Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Automation 2012, 2(6), 150-158. doi:
10.5923/j.jmea.20120206.05

3)

Sugiura, H., Mizutani, Y., & Nishigaki, H. (2002). First order analysis for automotive
suspension design. R&D Review of Toyota CRDL, No.1.

4)

Sugiura, H., Kojima, Y., Nishigaki, H., & Arima, M. (2000). Trailing twist axle
suspension design using ADAMS.

6)

R.Evangelisti.(1991). McPherson-type suspension unit for motor vehicles. Retrieved

from https://www.google.com/patents/US5074579

7)

T.Ishida, K.Hamada.(1984). MacPherson strut front suspension. Retrieved from

https://www.google.com/patents/US4482135

8)

E.d.Fontenay.(1993). Macpherson strut assembly or the like. Retrieved from

https://www.google.com/patents/US5232209

9)

J.Liu, D.J.Zhuang, F.Yu, L.M.Lou.(2006). Optimized Design For A Macpherson Strut

Suspension With Side Load Springs. Retrieved from
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12239-008-0004-y#page-2

10)

Y.I.Ryu, D.O.Kang, S.J.Heo, H.J.Yim, J.I.Jeon.(2009). Development of analytical

process to reduce side load in strut-type suspension. Retrieved from
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12206-009-1103-z#page-2

11)

Attia, H. A. (2012). Dynamic modelling of the double wishbone motor vehicle

suspension system. European Journal of Mechanics.

12)

Ancibriana, R., Garciaa, P., Viaderoa, F., Fernandez, A., & De-Juana, A. (2010).
Kinematic design of double wishbone suspension systems using multi-objective
optimisation approach. Vehicle System Dynamics: International Journal of Vehicle
Mechanics and Mobility.

13)

A., A. H. (1996). Dynamic analysis of the multi-link five point suspension system
using point and joint coordinates. ACTA MECHANICA, 221-228.

14)

Earle S. MacPherson, "Vehicle wheel suspension system", published 6 Jan, 1953,

assigned to General Motors Co

15)

Earle S. MacPherson, "Wheel suspension for motor vehicles", published 24 Nov,

1953, assigned to Ford Motor Co