Independent suspension

Independent suspension requires additional engineering effort and expense in development versus a beam or live axle arrangement.

This will compromise traction, smoothness of the ride, and could also cause a dangerous wheel shimmy when moving at high speeds.

This offers many advantages such as greater ride comfort, better traction, and safer, more stable vehicles on the road.

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 center height, scrub radius, scuff[clarification needed] and more.

It is a very simple and effective design that uses a strut-type spring and shock absorber that work as a team that will pivot on a single ball joint.

Later, this space-efficient system became widespread with the growing popularity of front-wheel drive vehicles.

One problem with this system is that once the spring or the top plate becomes worn, the driver of a car with this system may hear a loud "clonk" noise at full lock (i.e. steering wheel turned to the extreme left or extreme right positions), as the strut's spring jumps back into place.

In 1981, General Motors pioneered the use of a FRP plastic transverse leaf spring on the third-generation Corvette.

This mechanical communication between the left and right sides of the suspension results in an effect similar to that of an anti-roll bar.

[2][3] Chevrolet Corvettes, starting with the 4th generation in 1984 have combined the dual pivot mounts with FRP leaf springs.

[1]: 4 This type of suspension should not be confused with earlier, rigid axle applications such as those used on early Ford cars.