If you are familiar with the factory version of the (street legal) Racing production vehicles produced by Acura, and Honda then you are familiar with the "Type-R" ("R is for Racing") and their performance upgrades. Although they came in various models such as: Acura Integra (Type R). Acura NSX-R, NSX Type-S Zero, Acura RSX, Acura RL (Legend), Acura TL, Acura TSX, Honda Accord Type R (ATR), Honda JDM Accord, Honda JDM Accord Euro-R, Honda Civic Type-R, Honda CRX SiR, Honda Civic CRX SiRII, they all shared the excitement, of being bred for racing, and available "turn-key" around the corner at the local dealership awaiting your favorite color of choice (preferably white). These Honda's, and Acura's also shared common attributes in the racing genre like lightened curb weights, beefier bracing, increased horsepower, upgraded differentials, tuned suspension components, including springs dampers, improved braking. The suspension is where we will focus for now , as you can add 1000 horsepower but if you cannot get adequate traction, turn the vehicle, or stop the vehicle you cannot begin to enjoy the horsepower. You may be thinking it would make one heck of a drifting machine, but in reality if you cannot control the car, you cannot utilize the power effectively for any purposeful driving especially drifting, as drifting is an art form between a well tuned driver, and his well prepared machine (tuned suspension) you simply do not join the local drifting club with a whipped out, or over powered braking, or suspension system. Lets pick on the Honda for a minute as there are so many stock Honda rides out there with under experienced drivers trying to drive their stock suspension Honda like it is a highly tuned performance suspension Honda race car. The truth be known, their current Honda, and it's relevant suspension parts has about as much ability to become a Honda driven race car as the time and money they have spent on maintaining their Honda and its suspension (likely none). Does this mean that this Honda has no hope, of course not. The Honda suspension can and will be punished, likely by many, but the end for these Honda commuters is far away as the interest of the capable suspension tuner, and the vast array of available suspension parts will undoubtedly help to keep the number of current or previous Honda commuters driving the streets with properly tuned suspensions most dramatically exceeding their original suspension and handling capabilities.
Points to consider
- Your Honda in the weeds is cool cruzin the boulevard, not cool when your Honda failed to make the corner.(Bad Suspension)
- A driver with an ill handling Honda is just another Honda driver somewhere back in the pack, a driver with a Honda on rails gets doused with champagne.(bad suspension / good suspension)
- A very abrupt lesson to learn in your Honda is that you are suffering from the inability to STOP. (bad suspension / brakes)
- The more colors of body panels on your Honda, the more accidents your Honda was involved in. (bad suspension / brakes)
- If you have a Honda, he has a Honda, she has a Honda, her brother has a Honda, and your cousin has a Honda, which is really his dads Honda, who's Honda will not make the corner under throttle...well lets see if all of the Honda owners had a properly functioning suspension then the real question is which Honda driver shouldn't be driving that kick azz Honda.
- Skinny front tires equals doesn't turn (bad Suspension)
- Paint is cool, but if my Honda doesn't turn than the paint will surely be ruined. (Upgrade the suspension...then paint it)
- Wings are cool you often see them on cars in the weeds "literally". (Bad suspension / brakes)
- Finally, if you can't turn it, or stop it , who or what is going to stop it for you. (bad suspension / brakes)
Anti-dive and anti-squat are expressed in terms of percentage and refer to the front diving under braking and the rear squatting under acceleration. They can be thought of as the counterparts for braking and acceleration as jacking forces are to cornering. The main reason for the difference is due to the different design goals between front suspension and rear suspension, whereas suspension is usually symmetrical between the left and right of the vehicle,except banked races like NASCAR where the left suspension and right suspension setups are different.
Anti-dive and anti-squat percentages are always calculated with respect to a vertical plane that intersects the vehicle's center of gravity. Consider anti-dive first. Locate the front instant centers of the suspension from the vehicle's side view. Draw a line from the tire contact patch through the instant center; this is the tire force vector. Now draw a line straight down from the vehicle's center of gravity. The anti-dive is the ratio between the heights of where the tire force vector crosses the center of gravity plane expressed as a percentage. An anti-dive ratio of 50% would mean the force vector under braking crosses half way between the ground and the center of gravity.
Anti-squat is the counterpart to anti-dive and is for the rear suspension under acceleration.
Anti-dive and anti-squat may or may not be desirable depending on the suspension design. Independent suspension using multiple control arms can be an issue if the percentage is too high (in excess of 30%). A percentage of 100% in this case would indicate the suspension is taking 100% of the weight transfer under braking instead of the springs. This effectively binds the suspension and turns the independent suspension into no suspension like a shopping cart. In the case of leaf spring rear suspension the anti-squat can often exceed 100% yet because there isn't a second arm to bind against and the suspension can freely move. Traction bars are often added to drag racing cars with rear leaf springs to increase the anti-squat to its maximum. This has the effect of squatting the rear through transferring weight from the front(uplift), thus weighting down the rear tires for improved traction and a better bite.
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