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Thread: What kind of advantage do MacPherson Struts..

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    Default What kind of advantage do MacPherson Struts..

    What kind of advantage do MacPherson Struts give you while drifting?

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    Veteran Jonny Rochester's Avatar
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    The advantages are, you can order your whole suspension off ebay in 1 unit and bolt it in.

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    Scammer, DO NOT BUY FROM ME!
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    and they are easy to turn in to coilovers?

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    Senior Member resol's Avatar
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    none.

    they are just cheaper to manifacure in bulk. which is why they are only found on low end cheap run about cars.

    look at the old holden, fords, toyota's they all had a-arm, or wish bone susp. now days for cost they run macpherson.

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    They counteract gravity. Good for keeping the front off the floor.............. Cheaper to produce sounds about right.

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    i would have disagree with all of you.

    the advantages for drift are quite numerous.

    1 the control arm design is less bulky, giving more room for lock.

    2 it is much cheaper and simpler to produce parts to gain control of aligment settings

    3 the toyota strut design allows more simple control of roll center. no wishbone style front end can be modified in this way, you would need a new upright.

    so easier/cheaper to get more lock, easier/cheaper to have control of the suspension geometry.

    mac strut suspension design is generally considered to be inferior to double wishbone ect. but its not a "poor" design. i dont know about right now, but up untill a few years ago at least all Porsche vehicle used mac' strut.

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    dont BMW still use it??
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    They also used torsion bars until 1987 and that was shit. It's only recently that Porsche's road cars have become good handlers. I've driven a couple of old ones and a few newies. The old ones are shit. An ae82 feels as though would it might out handle an early 911. I suppose at the time they were ok.

    However, unlike torsion bars, Mac struts are not shit. But, they do have the not insignificant issue of very little camber gain during roll and compression. Whether this is an issue in drift i don't know. There are other issues with scrub and caster that are more easily and better accomodated by wishbone/a arm designs.
    Also, their design (length and spring position) tends to a lift the centre of gravity and restricts how low the profile of the front bodywork can be although these are not really issues in most road cars.

    The main reason for their use is cost. They are a compromise.
    They are nowhere near the best front end for race purposes, but in the context of the topic, for drift it probably won't matter and the lock point is a good one. In fact, for most road cars it won't matter.

    Sam, I think you are correct, the e46 still had them. Can't be sure about the current 3 series. With new cars it's hard to tell what's good and bad when the electronics mask many of the shortcomings. My brother has a work car, a bmw 120d. Feels nice with the traction/stability control on, tips in nicely etc. But, turn the traction control off and it's an understeering pig!

    Apologies for the off topic.
    Last edited by af300e; 10th March 2009 at 10:32 AM.

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    yes thats a very clever point of the electronics hidinging the neasties, like the evo and its lack of under then oversteer traits of an all 4 drive.

    Now I agree that the macpherson strut front end does have a lack of good camber gain as an unequal length double wishbone suspension does.
    However I think in drift this is a non issue because almost all the cars out there have very stiff springs which dont allow for much roll at all. So with either setup I am sure it would be best to just dial in the about of camber from static and through the castor.

    Things like the scrub radius can be allowed for but its as you said AF, harder.

    I also find your statement about the porsche handling very interesting because of all the hype about how good they where. I have always wondered how that was possible with some much weight behind the rear axle line. I will keep an open mind on this one, oops off topic again.
    Last edited by Sam-Q; 10th March 2009 at 12:44 PM.
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    Veteran Jonny Rochester's Avatar
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    Look under any 1970s Porsche and it looks like a 1950s agricultural vehicle compared to a Toyota. Probably because the basic design dates back to the 40s. But as a starting point, my KE35 would have been worse. I drove a 1974 911, and thought it would be comparable to my "TE37".

    For drifting, rally, V8 Supercars etc... MacPherson struts work very well.

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