3 ms·

Everybody thinks this is cool, but nobody (myself included) knows enough about car suspensions to comment!

by heironimus 13y ago

cschmidt 13y ago
That must be how car types feel about a lot of HN articles. It did seems to be in a bit of a foreign language to me.
joshrotenberg 13y ago
Heh, same. I stopped after a few paragraphs. TL;DR Tesla Model S suspension is pretty neato.
untog 13y ago
I think it's a symptom of "Tesla = auto upvote on HN" syndrome. If this had been "Ford Focus S Suspension Walkaround" (or "Porche 911", for that matter) I doubt we'd be seeing it on the front page.
- enraged_camel 13y ago
  If all of your comments are this impressive, I guess I'm going to have to go with "untog = auto downvote" from now on.
  - chollida1 13y ago
    I'm not sure your comment was all that appropriate. I think untog's comment is spot on. There are lots of stories that seem to get upvoted for reasons other than their own merit. Pointing that out in this case is probably appropriate.
    - damon_c 13y ago
      He should have used a "==" though... Edit: Oh wait sorry no... I suck!
soss 13y ago
I work for a suspension manufacturer in the aftermarket industry for trucks, and a lot of it isn't that extraordinary. The air springs/shock absorber combination that you see there are becoming more normal across wider applications, while already coming equipped on luxury vehicles for quite some time now. The part that impresses me though is the steering knuckle (they comment on it towards the beginning), and its aluminum hollow construction. We build modified steering knuckles for trucks that provide additional lift height, but out of ductile iron in a cast mold, same as OEM specs/mfg process. So i'm kind of at a loss how they would make it hollowed out, while maintaining stability. Definitely expensive, i know billet aluminum knuckles for corvettes run about $1500/piece.
- cma 13y ago
  Friction stir welding; same thing they are using at space x to get rocket prices way down
  - ericd 13y ago
    The wikipedia article on FSW is a pretty fascinating read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friction_stir_welding http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friction_stir_welding Basically welding using a combination of joining pressure with a very high speed spinning steel bit that heats the aluminum joint via the friction created by it spinning on its surface. That spinning bit travels along the seam heating, and then it's pushed together when it's no longer quite solid, and spun together by the bit. Some interesting discussion of the crystal structure formed and the associated mechanical properties, as well.

Everybody thinks this is cool, but nobody (myself included) knows enough about car suspensions to comment!

cschmidt 13y ago

That must be how car types feel about a lot of HN articles. It did seems to be in a bit of a foreign language to me.

joshrotenberg 13y ago

Heh, same. I stopped after a few paragraphs. TL;DR Tesla Model S suspension is pretty neato.

untog 13y ago

I think it's a symptom of "Tesla = auto upvote on HN" syndrome. If this had been "Ford Focus S Suspension Walkaround" (or "Porche 911", for that matter) I doubt we'd be seeing it on the front page.

enraged_camel 13y ago
If all of your comments are this impressive, I guess I'm going to have to go with "untog = auto downvote" from now on.
- chollida1 13y ago
  I'm not sure your comment was all that appropriate. I think untog's comment is spot on. There are lots of stories that seem to get upvoted for reasons other than their own merit. Pointing that out in this case is probably appropriate.
  - damon_c 13y ago
    He should have used a "==" though... Edit: Oh wait sorry no... I suck!

soss 13y ago

I work for a suspension manufacturer in the aftermarket industry for trucks, and a lot of it isn't that extraordinary. The air springs/shock absorber combination that you see there are becoming more normal across wider applications, while already coming equipped on luxury vehicles for quite some time now. The part that impresses me though is the steering knuckle (they comment on it towards the beginning), and its aluminum hollow construction. We build modified steering knuckles for trucks that provide additional lift height, but out of ductile iron in a cast mold, same as OEM specs/mfg process. So i'm kind of at a loss how they would make it hollowed out, while maintaining stability. Definitely expensive, i know billet aluminum knuckles for corvettes run about $1500/piece.

cma 13y ago
Friction stir welding; same thing they are using at space x to get rocket prices way down
- ericd 13y ago
  The wikipedia article on FSW is a pretty fascinating read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friction_stir_welding http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friction_stir_welding Basically welding using a combination of joining pressure with a very high speed spinning steel bit that heats the aluminum joint via the friction created by it spinning on its surface. That spinning bit travels along the seam heating, and then it's pushed together when it's no longer quite solid, and spun together by the bit. Some interesting discussion of the crystal structure formed and the associated mechanical properties, as well.