Double wishbone vs MacPherson strut.

**nd55** · 04-06-2011 05:41 PM

Last car Mr Honda penned was the Beat. Beat production finished 1996.

Wishbone suspension civics, especially EGs & EKs, were produced on tooling laid out prior to 1990. Production finished 2001.

Ditto NSX, legend, accord and prelude.

**Mikecivic78** · 04-06-2011 07:01 PM

Well it was good that his legacy prevailed, it seems until 2001.

**anjin** · 04-06-2011 09:06 PM

What double wishbone in eg's. Wishbone in the top ok, but the bottom has a lower control arm and a radius rod.

**chargeR** · 04-06-2011 09:42 PM

Originally Posted by anjin

What double wishbone in eg's. Wishbone in the top ok, but the bottom has a lower control arm and a radius rod.

And what would you say the functional difference between that design and an idealised one piece wishbone shaped LCA would be? Nothing. Honda probably just put it together that way (two piece with the rear facing "leg") it that way for packaging reasons and to provide greater fore after stability to moments produced by acceleration and braking. In fact I think it would be rare to find a car with your idealised triangle shaped wishbone lower control arm. Where is the wheel going to go when it turns? Straight into the lower control arm, which is why they tend to taper toward the outboard end.

Besides I have always thought of radius rods as coming from the front of the car and linking into the LCA from that direction, not the opposite as in the case of the EG and DC2.

**bennjamin** · 05-06-2011 02:58 AM

It seems alot other Japanese performance vehicles are frontal macpherson and differing rear setups - as to are most euro cars. Only thing I can't think of is an preference to mass production and part interchangeability

**nd55** · 06-06-2011 01:55 PM

Radius rods tend to have two degrees of freedom and don't support the vertical weight of the vehicle.

**Tai** · 06-06-2011 05:52 PM

BMW and Evo's and WRX's uses macpherson.

It;'s jsut the DC5R was a terrible design and honda's first true Macpherson sports car setup.

**chargeR** · 06-06-2011 08:40 PM

Originally Posted by Tai

BMW and Evo's and WRX's uses macpherson.

Correlation does not imply causation.

**Tai** · 06-06-2011 08:55 PM

Ok guy.

**chargeR** · 06-06-2011 09:16 PM

Originally Posted by Tai

Ok guy.

What I meant was that just because a handful of acceptably handling cars use a MacPherson strut suspension does not imply that the MacPherson strut is actually any good. There is a correlation between MacPherson struts and good handling on those cars but the suspension architecture is definitely not the reason they handle well.

**anjin** · 07-06-2011 12:02 AM

Originally Posted by chargeR

And what would you say the functional difference between that design and an idealised one piece wishbone shaped LCA would be? Nothing. Honda probably just put it together that way (two piece with the rear facing "leg") it that way for packaging reasons and to provide greater fore after stability to moments produced by acceleration and braking. In fact I think it would be rare to find a car with your idealised triangle shaped wishbone lower control arm. Where is the wheel going to go when it turns? Straight into the lower control arm, which is why they tend to taper toward the outboard end.

Besides I have always thought of radius rods as coming from the front of the car and linking into the LCA from that direction, not the opposite as in the case of the EG and DC2.

Thanks for the information - I have worked on ED, EF and DC3 cars and they were all lca and front mount radius rods. Just went and checked an eg and wishbone it is. I learnt something today, which is great. Helps explain why several local eg's are so great on the track.
The really interesting thing is that the AH series (83 to 87) have a similar wishbone structure to the eg ( but with the torsion bar springs setup). What happened for the ed/ef models?

And the idealised triangle wishbone? Look at the tube frame cars.